Now the Arizona team is not exactly playoff bound but who knows whether a hand fracture will heal correctly and how much hand strength will Goldy lose as a result of the fracture? How long will it take for him to recover to full strength and will it affect even next season. The result was a fractured bone which led the Diamondback power hitting first sacker to the disabled list for a stint. Why was McCutchen so sure the pitch was a deliberate attempt to hit and injure him? It just so happens that Arizona's arguably best player Paul Goldschmidt was hit in his left hand a day earlier by a Pirates reliever. He was hit in the spine with a fast ball from Arizona's reliever Randall Delgado in the ninth inning with the Pirates leading by four runs with one out in the ninth. The recipient of the pay back pitch was the Pirates best player, last years' MVP and current All-Star Andrew McCutchen. Yesterday it happened in Phoenix at a game between the Diamondbacks and Pirates. Should the pitch and its result be handled by the baseball commissioner, or is it a crime to be prosecuted in the courts? A Pitch for Justice examines the unwritten rules of baseball on the twenty-year-old rookie who threw the pitch, the game itself, and our legal system.It seems that every few weeks baseball's unwritten rule of retaliation rears it's ugly head. Brooks must confront a possible criminal conspiracy among team members, an uncompromising widow bent on avenging her husband's death, corruption in the grand jury, and a national debate over the inherent risks of baseball and the accountability of its players. What began as a feud between two teams ends in a shocking criminal case and ensuing trial when the pitcher is investigated for murder. Have you ever watched a baseball game where tempers escalated and you feared that retaliation by one side could result in an incident with serious injury? What would happen in today's society if a player were critically injured in such a circumstance? What if the unthinkable occured and the player died? Is it just a tragic part of the game? Or could it actually be murder? It is up to veteran prosecutor Jaime Brooks to investigate the matter and handle the prosecution.

A Pitch for Justice by Harold Kasselman