Too many sports fans – and some media members -- have gone soft, seduced by style over substance, or by the new tendency to dismiss as wrong-headed or quaint almost anything that’s old school. Simply because it might not fit with some hip trend of excusing any flamboyant on-field behavior as a product of someone else’s culture or, worse yet, of a new generation.

 “That’s what young people want to see,” they’ll say. Or, “You just don’t get it because you’re not from there.”

  Soft, soft, soft.

  Which brings me to last night, and how perception of an action is so colored by the outcome. Specifically, Brian McCann’s action last night, when he literally stood in the middle of the third-base line, perhaps 15-20 feet from home plate, and blocked the path of Carlos Gomez so that he could let him know exactly how he felt about Gomez’s trash-talking trot around the bases.

   I had never seen a catcher do what McCann did, blocking a hitter’s path to the plate. Then again, I had never seen anyone be quite some over-the-top classless after a home run as was Gomez.

   I heard Billy Wagner interviewed on the radio today, and he was asked about what happened. Wagner said if it had happened when he played for the Astros, Gomez wouldn’t have made it past first base because Jeff Bagwell would have started a fight with him.

  Old school.

  Maybe Wags was exaggerating. Maybe not. But I can see some people rolling their eyes right now reading this, because that’s their tendency in all these situations, to dismiss as archaic or Neanderthal thinking the notion that you just don’t let a hitter preen and talk trash to your pitcher and your teammates from the moment he leaves the batter’s box.

  Others are thinking (or are about to write in the space below this blog, or on Twitter): “Well, how ‘bout keeping him from hitting home runs to begin with?”

  Soft.

  In the past, no hitter would have pulled that stunt against the likes of Bob Gibson, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez … against any hard-throwing pitcher or a team with a hard-throwing pitcher going the next day. Because he’d have gotten a fastball in the ribs as a message, and wouldn’t get tossed because umpires would not have given warnings beforehand.

  One more thing about last night: If the Braves win the game, if they score a couple of runs in the next inning like they did after rookie Alex Wood’s blowup after being ejected last week at Washington, McCann’s gesture last night goes down in Braves lore. If it happens in a playoff game, it goes down in baseball lore.

  He reminded me of Carlton Fisk last night, although I don’t remember Fisk – or anyone, as I said before  -- ever standing directly in the path of a runner on a  homer. Then again, Fisk and others never had to deal with quite as knuckleheaded a move as we saw last night from Gomez.

  By the way, can you even imagine if Chipper had done something like that at third base late in his career, when he was in full-on icon mode and seemingly every week provided a new moment to remember from him? They’d have made posters of that moment. Maybe they still will, given the tension and drama etched in the faces of McCann and Gomez in the photos from last night’s incident.

 Folks, let’s be clear: It was an extraordinarily bold move, and if you’re a Brewers fan and the roles are reversed, you’re heaping praise on Heap (McCann’s old nickname, for those who don’t know; heap, as in his locker is a heap, a mess).

  I mean, when have any of you, regardless of age, ever seen a catcher stand in the middle of the basepath, literally blocking the path of a runner on a home-run trot? At any level of baseball? Not to mention with his mask up on top of the head, in position to stop him and let the guy see his face and know exactly how he felt.

 Here is MLB Tonight crew’s take on the situation and a comprehensive look at the history between pitcher Paul Maholm and Gomez:   And I must say, I agree with all of them and the points they made. Maybe because I’m of a similar age or slightly older than a couple of those guys.

  Whatever  you think about it, know this: To a man in the Braves clubhouse, from the manager through the roster, they loved the fact that McCann, for the second time in two weeks, stood up for his pitcher after he saw a hitter show up his guy and, in McCann’s view, disrespect his teammates.

  And if you don’t think that it means something that in both instances – at Miami with Jose Fernandez, and last night – the player in question apologized afterward and said how much he respected McCann, then I’d suggest you’re not looking at it from the perspective of those inside the game or who’ve followed baseball long enough to know this sport is different. Thankfully.

  It’s still substance over style.

  • Heyward difference: The Braves are 3-1 with a .268 batting average (33-for-123) and 17 runs in four games that Heyward's started since returning from the disabled list for a broken jaw. And they are 0-2 with a .119 average (7-for-59) and one run in the two games he’s not started since returning from the DL (they’ve been easing him back into the lineup).

  So that’s the reason for hope in what has been an otherwise bleak period for the Braves offense: They are 8-12 with a .203 average, 60 runs and a 3.32 ERA in their past 20 games, averaging 3.0 runs per game in that period and scoring two runs or fewer in 10 of those 20 games.

  By the way, the Dodgers are also 8-12 in their past 20 games, with a .242 batting average, 69 runs and a 3.93 ERA. In that span, they haven’t won more than two in a row and have a pair of four-game losing streaks. If the Cardinals end up with the NL’s best record and the Braves with the second-best (St. Louis is a half-game ahead right now), the Braves would likely host the Dodgers in a division series.

  The Braves are 3-5 with a .192 average, 13 total runs and a 3.13 ERA their past eight home games, and have been shut out in three of their past four.

  And how’s this for an oddity: The Braves went 3-0 while batting .274 and totaling 19 runs in their first three games against the Brewers in 2012. In nine games against them since then, the Braves are 2-7 with a .196 average and 13 total runs, including five – five! -- shutout losses.

  Now come the Phillies, against whom the Braves are 8-7 this season. However, the Braves batted just .135 while being swept in a three-game series Sept. 6-8 in Philadelphia, all three games decided by one run including losses by scores of 2-1 against Cliff Lee and 3-2 against Cole Hamels.

  The Phillies have gone 6-9 with a 4.52 in their past 15 games since that sweep against the Braves.

  The Braves will face Lee on Friday in the second game of the four-game series, and need to get the job done tonight against right-hander Tyler Cloyd. They won’t face Hamels, who’s done for the season.

•  Tonight’s matchup: It’s David Hale, making his second major league start, against the aforementioned Tyler Cloyd, a righty who is 0-3 with an 11.77 ERA and .403 opponents’ average in his past three starts, allowing allowing 25 hits, 17 runs, two homers and two walks with 10 strikeouts in 13 innings. In each of those three games, he gave up five or more runs while lasting five or fewer innings, including four innings twice.

  Cloyd is 4-8 with a 5.22 ERA in 17 career games (16 starts) over the past two seasons, including 2-6 with 5.91 ERA in 10 starts this season. Right-handed hitters have a .331 average with five homers and a .573 slugging percentage in 124 at-bats against him this season, while lefties have hit .277 with a .374 on-base percentage and one homer in 112 at-bats.

  I’m real interested to see Hale again, after the Marietta native opened eyes by limiting the Padres to four hits and one walk with nine strikeouts in five scoreless innings in his major league debut on Sept. 13. He hasn’t pitched in a game since then.

 • Downs down: Veteran lefty Scott Downs’ September woes continued last night when he gave up two hits and one run while recording two outs. He has a 16.88 ERA and .632 opponents’ average in nine appearances this month, with 12 hits and five runs allowed in just 2-2/3 innings, with two walks and two strikeouts. He got one or no outs in his previous eight September appearances.

  • Etc. By the way, Carlos Gomez has hit .289 with seven extra-base hits (four homers), 14 RBIs and a .644 slugging percentage in his past 13 games. Not that it makes what he did last night any less ridiculous.

  • We'll close with a terrific tune from Son Volt's Jay Farrar, which you can hear him do live by clicking here.

“DAMN SHAME” by Jay Farrar

Hang a left on the high road
See where it takes you
See where you take it
Take it high, take it low.

With caution to the wind
And a drive on wedding vow
Take it on to level it out
Smoke beats water anyhow.

Mmm …

A fool's paradise
Meet the forgotten nightmare
See the light vanishing
Hear silence never ending.

Hail to the century
See how it treats you
See how you treat it
21st century glue.

Mmm …

It's a damn shame
It's a damn shame
It's a damn shame
It's a damn shame.

Mmm …

It's a damn shame
It's a damn shame
It's a damn shame
It's a damn shame.