Yasiel Puig on being late, getting benched: ‘It was my mistake’

Think back to when you were 23 years old. Depending on who you are, you might have still been learning how to be an adult at that point. On the one hand you could handle the responsibility, sure, but on the other hand you were still making mistakes and then learning from them.

If only it was that simple for Yasiel Puig of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and maybe it would have been if he had not already irked the Major League Baseball world and (arguably) the general public with his antics on the field (not a big deal) and his multiple reckless driving charges (actual big deal).

As you likely know by now, Puig arrived late to batting practice on Friday night. Manager Don Mattingly benched him for that transgression, which is standard operating procedures for most MLB clubs. For his part, it sounds like Puig knows this one is on him as he apologized to his teammates. Here is what Puig said about the incident from ESPN.com):

"I asked him for forgiveness as well as my teammates. It was my mistake. I’ll be here early tomorrow.”"

You might think that’s all there is to it. Nothing to see here, right? If you think that then you have clearly never read the stylings of LA writers like Bill Plaschke and Mark Saxon. This is a weekend’s worth of column fodder, my friends.