Pirates fans are livid

[George Anderson]

or 3) they simply didn't hear him. I honestly don't know why you insist on completely ignoring the possibility that it's not a black or white option. There are more than two possible reasons.

Second, why do you keep insisting on including Billy Hatcher in on this? He has not said nary a word about what he heard or didn't hear. Why are you assuming Hatcher didn't hear anything? He hasn't said anything on the matter.

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Five people were all easily within ear shot of Hughes voice but only one person heard a racial slur. You can believe that one person Brandon Phillips who obviously was holding a grudge against Hughes if you wish or you can believe the other four who heard the same thing but don't have a grudge to hold against Hughes. I choose to believe the four who had no axe to grind.

The Pirates interviewed the Reds to see if anyone heard racial slurs. I have a hard time believing had Billy Hatcher who was likely standing within fifteen feet of Phillips heard a racial slur he would not have spoken up to the Pirates or at the very least the media by now.

I think we have gone as far on this as needed.

[Brutus]

Five people were all easily within ear shot of Hughes voice but only one person heard a racial slur. You can believe that one person Brandon Phillips who obviously was holding a grudge against Hughes if you wish or you can believe the other four who heard the same thing but don't have a grudge to hold against Hughes. I choose to believe the four who had no axe to grind.

The Pirates interviewed the Reds to see if anyone heard racial slurs. I have a hard time believing had Billy Hatcher who was likely standing within fifteen feet of Phillips heard a racial slur he would not have spoken up to the Pirates or at the very least the media by now.

I think we have gone as far on this as needed.

...or I can believe that it's possible Phillips did think he heard something. Maybe he didn't, but that doesn't mean he's lying. It just means he thought he heard something he didn't.

If Billy Hatcher had heard it, do I think he would go voluntarily running to the media? Absolutely not. No media member has interviewed Hatcher about it. Base coaches aren't in the business of contacting media members voluntarily. So I'm perplexed why you think we'd have heard from Hatcher. That's not even in the realm of likelihood. If Hatcher heard it, we would not have known because he hasn't been interviewed and there'd be no reason for him to call up John Fay so he can say, "hey, that Jared Hughes guy... he's a racist."

That's not even remotely likely. Billy Hatcher's silence on the issue tells us nothing whatsoever... except that first base coaches aren't targets of the media. They're not typically involved in postgame or pregame interviews.