Bochy on Muncy’s shirt before Bumgarner’s start: “That’s poking the bear. Poke the bear enough, you can’t be upset if he bites back.” pic.twitter.com/QksGKMOUzn
— KNBR (@KNBR) June 21, 2019
LOS ANGELES — A battle that does not feel like it belongs in this universe, between Mad Max and MadBum, now involves an irritated bear.
Subplot B of what will likely be Madison Bumgarner’s last start against the Dodgers as a Giant is the game-within-the-game matchup with Max Muncy, whose splash homer June 9 resulted in a barking Bumgarner following him around the bases, and a bemused Muncy revealing to media he told Bumgarner to “go in the ocean and get it.”
The splash hit has created waves that still are crashing. Muncy wore a shirt for batting practice that said, “Go Get It Out of the Ocean.”
“That’s poking the bear,” manager Bruce Bochy said before the game at Dodger Stadium on Thursday. “You poke the bear enough, you can’t be upset if he bites back, either. Some things are best if you just let it go.”
Muncy will be batting fourth for what appears to be Bumgarner’s farewell to his blood rivals. He has a 2.52 lifetime career against Los Angeles, always rising to the occasion like he was pitching in October.
Bumgarner is “fiery. Helped us get three rings,” Bochy said, mostly shrugging at Bumgarner’s anger with how Muncy briefly admired his homer. “I’ll miss that as much as anything when I’m gone. The way that this man plays the game and the fire he plays with.”
The fire was lit long before game time, six weeks before a trade deadline that likely will see Bumgarner don a different jersey for the first time in his career.
