Reds: Hypocritical Zach Davies disliked Joey Votto’s gesture following HR

We’ve reached a level of utter ridiculousness following Zach Davies’ postgame comments about Joey Votto’s gesture following his home run in the second inning of last night’s game. The Cincinnati Reds first baseman clobbered a home run off Davies and while rounding the bases made a gesture that Davies felt was disrespectful.

To be clear, Davies was not talking about Votto’s pointing to the back of his jersey, something that Votto described after Tuesday’s win is a tribute to the television show Ted Lasso. Votto said that his pointing to the back of his jersey is a reference to Jamie Tartt, a character in the television show.

No, no, it wasn’t pointing to the back of his jersey that ruffled the feathers of Davies. According to Bruce Levine, a baseball analyst for WSCR-AM and a contributor to the Marquee Sports Network, Davies didn’t like that Votto pointed in the direction of the Cubs’ dugout following his round tripper.

Reds first baseman Joey Votto wasn’t being disrespectful to the Cubs.

Per Levine, Davies said in a postgame interview, “He hit a ball out that’s on me. But, if there is disrespect, that is an issue.” Oh, I see. So when Joey Votto points at the Cubs’ dugout, that’s disrespectful, but when Javier Baez jaws with Amir Garrett, makes a sweeping gesture with his bat, and then throws it at AG following a walk-off hit on Monday, that’s perfectly fine.

But let’s take it a step further, and add some context to Votto’s finger-pointing. The six-time All-Star was not pointing at the Chicago dugout, let’s drop the ego Cubs’ fans. Votto spoke with Bally Sports Ohio broadcaster Jim Day after the game and spoke about the gesture toward the Cubs’ dugout.

https://twitter.com/BallySportsCIN/status/1420593353029263364

Day asked Votto, why he held up his index finger toward a fan in the crowd as he rounded third base and headed for home plate. Day surmised that Votto was perhaps predicting a multi-home run game on Wednesday. But that wasn’t the case. Here’s what Votto said in response to Day’s question via Bally Sports Ohio:

"“A group of people came to the game tonight, and a boy told me I was going to get four hits tonight. And I didn’t get four hits, but I ended up hitting a second home run that he and I were bantering about mid at-bat, and that was a real treat. I was pointing to him, actually”"

See, there go the Cubs again, thinking it’s all about them. All kidding aside, even if Joey Votto was pointing the finger at the Chicago dugout, who in the world is Zach Davies to call out the former MVP after what Baez did on Monday night?

So it’s okay for the Cubs’ shortstop to show emotion and throw a bat in Garrett’s direction, but in no way is it acceptable for a player riding a hot streak like Votto give a little bit back to the Cubbies? C’mon!

This rivalry has reached a new level, in my opinion, and it’s good for the game. That said, the hypocrisy from the Cubs’ side of things is ridiculous. Not to mention Major League Baseball, who reportedly are only going to fine Baez for his actions on Monday night despite suspending Reds’ players Amir Garrett and Nick Castellanos for similar actions earlier this season.