COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Everyone who's encountered Starling Marte has ribbed him for being a bit of a numbskull.
You've probably done it, too, from the seats at PNC Park or the front of the TV. Shaking a fist when he strays too far off first base. Cussing him out for lunging at a slider several feet outside.
I've done it forever, beginning with when we first met in the Dominican Republic. He was 17. He was summoned by Rene Gayo, the Pirates' Latin American scouting director who signed him out of abject poverty to an $85,000 bonus, to come to my hotel for an interview and photo session. He went to the wrong hotel. And then another wrong hotel. We all shared a good laugh when, breathlessly, he finally arrived without a wallet to pay the cabbie.
This is different.
This isn't just dumb. It's indefensible. It's unforgivable. It's selfish, self-centered and self-absorbed.
This is cheating.
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