April 2nd, 2023 at 10:30 am 
by Ron Cervenka To say that there is a ‘history’ between 33-year-old (now) Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander Madison Bumgarner and 32-year-old Dodgers infielder Max Muncy would be a bit on an understatement. The simple truth of the matter is that the two absolutely hate each other.
As every Dodgers – and baseball – fan knows, the ‘history’ between the two began when, on June 9, 2019, Muncy hit a home run off of Bumgarner that splashed down in McCovey Cove, more affectionally known as a ‘splash-hit,’ when a Giants player hits one, that is.
As Muncy began his home run trot, Bumgarner, who has a very lengthy reputation for being a hot head, hollered to Muncy “Don’t watch the ball, you run.” Muncy’s epic response (which even achieved T-shirt status) was: “If you don’t want me to watch the ball, you can get it out of the ocean.”
(NBC Sports)
The stage was set for Muncy’s first at-bat in Saturday night’s game between the D-backs and Dodgers at Dodger Stadium against the former Giants nutcase, who was signed by Arizona as a free agent on December 17, 2019.
With one out in the bottom of the first inning, Mookie Betts on third base, and Freddie Freeman on first base, Bumgarner hit Muncy with a 76-mph curveball on his very first pitch to him to load the bases, and make no mistake about it, it very much appeared to be intentional. But for reasons that only he knows, home plate umpire John Tumpane did not see it that way (or is unaware of the ‘history’ between the two) and no warning was issued to MadBum.
Dodgers left fielder Chris Taylor followed with a fly ball to short right field but deep enough to allow Betts to tag-up and score, to give the Dodgers an early 1-0 lead.
Had Bumgarner legitimately gone after Muncy instead of (apparently) intentionally hitting him, and had he gotten him out, he would have been out of the inning and the score still 0-0. But instead, he next walked Dodgers second baseman Miguel Vargas on four pitches to load the bases, bringing Dodgers center fielder Trayce Thompson to the plate … and we ALL know what Trayce Thompson did. Yep, he hit a monster grand slam home run deep into the Left Field Pavilion to make it 5-0 Dodgers.
(Jon SooHoo)
Thompson would hit two more home runs on the night to give the Dodgers a dominating 10-1 win over Bumgarner and the D-backs.
How’d that work out for you, MadBum?
Play Ball!
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Posted in 
It is fun sticking it to Buttgarner. Actually if he had not played for the Gnats, I would probably be a fan. He has grit and at one time was a great pitcher. Especially in the playoffs.
I will not dispute that Bumgarner is a very fierce competitor which, as you noted, is a good thing. But intentionally hitting Muncy was pure ego and selfishness, and it resulted in him taking his team out of the game very early.
As my mother often said to me as a young boy:
“Good things happen to good people – and bad to bad.”
I totally agree that hitting Muncy was a Bush League move on his part and hurt his team. However, to his credit, it was a 76 mph breaking ball and not a 90+ mph fastball at the head. So, the intent was not to injure him, but, to send a message. Dodgers got the message and then the last laugh.