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BALTIMORE—Orioles first baseman Chris Davis said he was sorry about the dispute he had with manager Brandon Hyde in the team’s dugout on Wednesday night.
Davis’ argument with Hyde, parts of which were caught on camera, resulted in him being removed from the game in the bottom of the fifth inning and leaving the ballpark before the end of the game.
He said he became frustrated when he missed fielding an errant throw by second baseman Jonathan Villar on Aaron Judge’s groundball to start the fifth inning. The Yankees’ Gio Urshela followed with a home run in a game the Orioles lost, 14-2
“For me, that was kind of the breaking point,” Davis said. “I think it’s quite obvious the offensive struggles that I’ve had for quite some time. I feel like night in and night out, I’ve still done a good job of being there on defense.
“I try to pick guys up, but at that spot at the game, at that point in the series … I hit a breaking point. It’s going to happen when you have that much frustration, when you’re constantly having to deal with failure, you’re going to have episodes where you let down and, unfortunately, it was in the dugout. I wish it didn’t happen then. I wish it happened underneath, but it happened and I can’t go back and change that.”
Davis and Hyde spoke on Friday for about an hour and Davis believes that their relationship, which Hyde continued to refer to in positive terms, remains strong.
With more than three years remaining on his seven-year, $161 million contract, Davis continues to struggle at the plate. He’s batting .182 with nine home runs and 31 RBIs.
“It all boiled over,” Davis said. “And it wasn’t just from that play. For me, it’s been the past couple of weeks.”
Davis feels bad that the incident was captured on television.
“I wish it hadn’t happened in the dugout, but it did,” Davis said. “We made amends. We talked about what happened. We talked about what we want to do going forward.”
Throughout his woes at the plate, which included an 0-for-33 start to the season, Hyde remained publicly supportive.
“It’s been awesome,” Davis said. “One of the reasons we were able to move on from this is where we were.”
Davis wanted to clear up one impression that he said isn’t true.
“Probably one of the things that I’ve heard the most that just isn’t true is that I don’t care, that I don’t show enough emotion, that maybe I don’t care because I’m not blowing up every other at-bat,” Davis said.
“I’m one of the older guys on the team. I understand that. An example is set, and I didn’t do a very good job at that the other night.”
Davis is not in the lineup for Friday night’s game because the Orioles are facing Houston left-hander Wade Miley.
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He is a role model for many impressionable young people, I’m a CD fan, have been, that was INEXCUSABLE, if anyone else who’s had a crappy experience at work let it boil over & went after their boss that way, we wouldn’t have a job & we’d be in jail...go O’s...
You got that right.
I really want to know what was said during that exchange.
The sooner we part ways with him the better the team will be. He’s not getting paid to make defensive plays
Shamus, I agree. Davis isn't being paid 23 million a season to be a "defensive specialist". As far as his offensive troubles are concerned, he really doesn't do anything to try to improve. Every time he comes to bat, the defense shifts to the right and plays him to pull. What does Davis do? He tries to pull the ball, and usually hits right into the shift. If he would try to occasionally bunt or "dink" the ball down toward third base, he would get a few hits and raise his average. Also, if he did this, teams would be more hesitant to employ such a pronounced shift when he comes up. I know Davis is paid to hit for power, but he needs to re-learn how to hit and make contact before he thinks about being a slugger again. Furthermore, if Davis was a real "team player", he would go to the minor leagues and try to get his batting woes straightened out.
Bite the bullet and let him go. Still paying him, but he’s hurting the team in more ways than helping. Tired of watching the bat on the shoulder strike outs and walking off like he doesn’t care. Sure, we have young players in the minors, but now is the time to see if they can play in the majors.
Chris Davis is a jerk: he's taking up 25% of the team's payroll...in the last two seasons, he's been the worst hitter (statistically) the sport has ever seen...and he says he's trying his best. Please read this article (https://www.si.com/mlb/2018/08/08/jd-martinez-boston-red-sox-houston-astros-astroball) about Boston's J.D. Martinez and all of the work Martinez put into becoming a great hitter. And then tell me if you really think Chris Davis put in the effort Martinez did?
Agree with you totally . A dumb jerk.
What can they do hope all is smooth over and our manager can do his job,yes Davis needs to put some hard work in on fixing his problems cause we are stuck with that damm contract
Well if he would have punched Hyde you could say he at least hit something.
I’d keep him until the end of the year. They clearly want Mountcastle to have a full season at Norfolk and Davis’ play helps keep the possibility of again earning the number one draft pick alive.
Exxxxxxxxx-cellent, 33rd St.
Where is the evidence that Davis is actually working on improving his hitting ? I see none when he is at the plate. The man obviously has no pride and could care less. After all, he is set for life.
Remember how Cal adjusted his batting stance and swing angle when he slumped ?
Sometimes the next at bat...lol... go O’s...