I know a lot of people are thinking that Bengie should shut up and be thankful he’s making bank for playing a sport for a living, but I’m on his side for this one.  From his blog:

That’s why ESPN’s sarcastic depiction of me running in slow motion down third base and getting thrown out at home in the Marlins’ game was hard to take. I appreciated Henry Schulman’s blog entry about it.

Until recently, I had thought of ESPN as a network run by professionals who know sports. I thought the people at ESPN, because they focus only on sports, actually understood the game and what pro athletes do to reach the highest level of their sport.

In that Marlins game, which we won, Nate Schierholtz went three-for-three with his first home run of the season. Matt Cain pitched six innings of no-hit ball. And the one highlight ESPN shows of that game is me getting thrown out at home? And they’re doing it just for laughs?

Look, you can say I’m the slowest guy in baseball or in  all of sports or in the entire world. I don’t take issue with that because I AM the slowest guy. I have always been the slowest guy. I can’t challenge that criticism. But ESPN’s intention was not to criticize but to humiliate.