The Pulse: Most believe D-backs were right for hitting McCutchen

Much has been made of the retaliation shown by the Arizona Diamondbacks last week, when Randall Delgado hit Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen in the back, seemingly to avenge his teammate, Paul Goldschmidt, who was hit by an up-and-in fastball thrown by Ernesto Frieri the night before.

While much of the media, both in and out of the market, has flung criticism at Delgado, manager Kirk Gibson and the D-backs, fans have plotted their opinions across the spectrum.

To get a better feel for where fans stood on the incident, we used our Sanderson Ford Poll Question of the Day to ask:

Were the Diamondbacks right to throw at the Pirates’ Andrew McCutchen?

We provided four answers:

• Yes, hit our guy and we hit yours

• Sure, had to avenge Goldy’s injury

• No, it wasn’t the right time

• No, because you never throw at someone

To most, the issue was black and white. The oft-referenced “unwritten rules” must be upheld, the majority thought, and a simple precept should be enacted: Hit our best and we’ll hit yours.

Indeed, of the 1125 votes tallied in the poll, a sizable 721 voted in that way, while just 84 voted on the opposite end of the spectrum. That is, 71 percent of all voters believe you either always retaliate or never retaliate, with 64 percent of which believing retaliation is the way to go.

Another 15 percent thought that retaliation was called for, just at a different time. And the other 13 percent believed that retaliation was necessary, not because Goldschmidt was hit, but because he was hurt.

In total, the poll shows that 93 percent of fans believe retaliation has a place in the game; 78 percent believe the D-backs were right to retaliate when they did on Saturday.

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