Masahiro Tanaka Runs the Bases & Leaves Subway Series Game

What a surprise, a pitcher ran the bases on Friday night and had to leave the game with an injury. I can hear them and see them now; the anti-pitchers hitting crowd coming out of the woodwork again.

In the first game of the Subway Series this weekend, Masahiro Tanaka tagged up at third base on a shallow fly ball along the right field line off the bat of Aaron Judge. Jay Bruce's throw to the plate was off line and late and Tanaka went into home standing up with a final step that had enough awkwardness to it to suggest Tanaka didn't know if he should slide.

As he jogged back to the dugout after scoring the game-tying run, he shook his head in response to something Judge said. With that, the Yankees starting pitcher was done for the night.

Many Yankees fans will remember Chien Ming Wang running the bases during an interleague game in Houston. Wang scored a run that night, standing up going into home plate, but he injured his foot and his career was never the same. Back to back 19 win seasons prior to that injury in 2008, a season in which Wang was 8-2 at the time, and in five seasons after that, he totaled 14 wins.

This isn't about whose running the bases. It's about are pitchers athletes the way they claim to be. If they are, they should be able to run 90 feet without getting injured. They should be able to swing a bat without going on the disabled list. Stretch, warm up with some purpose and quit finding ways to limit what pitchers should and shouldn't be able to do on a baseball field. They're not allowed to catch pop ups; isn't that enough?