This Ketel Marte thing gets weirder and weirder, at least linguistically. Marte returned to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday during their game against the Philadelphia Phillies. Before the game, Marte, speaking through an interpreter, answered questions about his apparent no-call-no-show of the Aug. 17 game against the Boston Red Sox, which mostly served to generate more questions. “It was a moment of frustration. I’m the type of person that when something happens in my life, I don’t like to talk about it. That morning I woke up, my body was sore and I couldn’t react. No one made the decision for me, I’m the one who made the decision.” decision not to run,” Marte said, raising some interesting philosophical considerations about whether the body or the mind dictates agency. He said he would “stand before my teammates like a man” and “ask for forgiveness.” He also, in one of the more direct responses, indicated that he had nothing to say to the fans. Home Diamondbacks fans made their own opinions clear, booing Marte when he came up to bat. After the game, it was unclear if Marte still had nothing to say to the fans. He showed up to the press conference wearing a yellow or neon green highlighter hat (depending on your opinions on the color) that said LET THE BRIDGES I BURN LIGHT THE WAY This line, I’m told, originated on Beverly Hills 90210; in neither case does it stand up to further scrutiny, although the intended sentiment (burning bridges = good for me!) is obvious in one reading, the speaker is metaphorically burning the metaphorical bridge before he can. cross it, thus closing that passageway forever. In that case, in what “way” is the bridge illuminated? The bridge would probably be too far away to illuminate the alternative route, unless the speaker chooses another nearby bridge, in a sort of Thames River situation, the speaker is metaphorically burning the metaphorical bridge after crossing it, thus leaving him unable to return. This would be a very attention-grabbing form of bridge burning. It could also mean that the speaker is illuminating his future path by backlighting a burning bridge. Unfortunately, this still doesn’t seem quite right, since normally a traveler would like the path ahead to be illuminated directly, rather than by a burning fire several steps behind. calls in a way that makes sense. The less strained conclusion is that Marte is an intriguing tourist. The yellow/neon green highlighter elephant in the room wasn’t addressed until Tuesday, when both Marte and Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo tried to unravel the message. Marte told reporters: “I didn’t know he had that hat on. I didn’t know, I just put it on,” and he said it was just a hat. Meanwhile, Lovullo attempted a closer read. “I want to get over this Ketel thing as quickly as possible,” Lovullo said. “I think if you cut those words out, maybe I’m taking some responsibility. You feel like you’ve done some things and want to improve. That’s how I read it.” Ah well, then it all makes sense now! Recommended
