MAKE BASEBALL, NOT WAR
It’s still Spring but the bad blood is flowing in the land of Major League Baseball. We all know about how Tampa Bay’s second baseman Elliot Johnson ran over New York Yankee Double A minor league catcher Francisco Cervelli last week fracturing his wrist – and the continuing complaints by new Yankee manager Joe Girardi. “It’s just disheartening in a spring training game,” Girardi said. “I just don’t understand it.”
The problem with that argument, of course, is that Johnson like all players are taught to play hard each and every out, Spring, Summer or Fall. As Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon put it: “We try to play the game the same way on March 8 as we do on June 8.” So the question always is what is playing hard and what is playing dirty. What is the right way to play baseball?
Yesterday things turned a whole lot worse for both teams. Shelley Duncan – who by the way was one of the loudest complainers on the Yankees – went into second base spikes high. You can take a look at a freeze frame to see where his left leg and spikes were in relation to Tampa Bay second baseman Akinori Iwamura.
One brawl and a day later there’s no surprise that the Yankees and Rays see the same play with completely different eyes. “I saw it a couple times,” Duncan revealed. “I still don’t understand why they were as upset as they were.” Duncan explained further: “The ball beat me by quite a bit, and when you’re out by a mile, there are only two things to do: try a weird slide around the base or to slide hard into his glove … I slid hard into his glove.”
Maybe I’m missing something here but his spikes are a heck of a lot closer to Iwamura’s groin than they are to his glove.
According to Joe Maddon, “What you saw today is a definition of a dirty play.” Maddon continued: “There’s no room for that in our game. It’s contemptible. It’s wrong. It’s borderline criminal. I can’t believe they did that. That was a blatant attempt to hurt Aki. And it was set up, it was planned, it was premeditated; it was all of the above. I don’t know what the difference is between that and a high stick in hockey. It was that bad.”
It’s always hard to know what an athlete’s thinking in the midst of action but it doesn’t help Duncan’s case to go back a few days and read his take on the Johnson-Cervelli incident: “They showed what is acceptable to them and how they’re going to play the game, so we’re going to go out there to match their intensity – or even exceed it.”
There’s not much doubt that on Wednesday March 12, Duncan exceeded it. Let’s hope that come the real season the Yankees can make baseball, not war. It’s our National Pastime after all – and we’re 5 years into a real war. Enough blood, it’s time for baseball.
Tags: Aki Iwamura, baseball, Francisco Cervelli, Joe Girardi, Joe Maddon, New York Yankees, Shelley Duncan, spikes, Tampa Bay Rays
This type of play builds chemistry within a team. Nobody likes seeing anyone get hurt, but a situation like this rallies a team to come together. It lites a fire under their asses. Every player like to see a teammate who has their back. It’s no different than the inforcer on a hockey team; a baseball player likes to know that a pitcher will throw the high heater when the times get tough.
This situation has been over exaggerated because it’s the Yankees. Everything with the Yankees is a circus. I will tell you this, Shelley Duncan brings some character to the Yankees. They were a very boring and bland before he was brought up last year. He brought some emotion and excitement back to the Bronx. I have no problem with this type of play.
I think Maddons coments about the play being intentional, planned and premeditated are ridiculous. To think that Girardi or Duncan had planned to spike Iwamura is plain stupid, and to call the Yankees out on a play like that is crazy. The Yanks don’t need to take out Rays players, if anything they would need to take out some people from the Sox. I could see if they truly considered the Rays to be such a serious threat in the coming season that they would try and take out some of their star players but Iwamura while good hasn’t proven himself to to be a great talent yet. I think it was just a player playing hard. PERIOD!
The game of baseball is turning into a joke. People throwing the ball at each others heads 90mph and people have personal vendettas that they are taking out on the field. The game is going to turn into the NHL and become the second to worst sports (NASCAR!). Stricter rules need to be placed in baseball to help keep its quality and this preseason crap is not going to cut it.
Of course your teamates will get mad with you if you get hurt by one of the your oppenents. It brings your team together to show their support of the team. Clearly, he must have done it on purpose considering that his spike is far from the glove that he said he had hit. I mean sometimes, these things happen and you cant control the way you land, but honestly making a big deal about it is pretty ridiculous to me.
This is yet again another conspiracy by the New York Yankees. The devil rays are the worst team in the league and one of the most unexciting teams. Because of that they are the hardest games to sell tickets to. The yankees front office came up with a plan to draw people to the stadium to watch the crappy devil rays. this gives people reasons to see a game in the middle of july vs. the worst team in baseball…they’l be thinkin maybe theyl get in a fight and it will be worth the ticket price. If you enjoy baseball boycott any devil ray yankee games until they jus play ball. and drawing any attention to a preseason game is worse than what happened on the field.who cares it doesnt matter the games dont mean anything!!!!!
AB5
First of all, I think the original play between Johnson and Cervelli at home plate was fine. It is unfortunate that the catcher was injured (and I’m a Yankee fan, by the way) but it happens. What do you expect from a bunch of rookies in spring training? They play the game hard because they want to make an impact. If they don’t put on a show, what’s the point? They won’t get noticed and they’ll prolong their minor league careers, instead of zooming up the ranks to the big leagues. Johnson was just proving that he’s a fierce competitor and that he’s willing to play hard, even risk injury, if it meant a win for the team. There’s nothing wrong with that and Duncan is the same way. He was a blessing in disguise when he was brought up last season and the Yankee dugout certainly needed it. He’s like a firecracker and most of the youngsters are. Before the Yankees brought up the likes of Wang, Melky, and Cano, how often was there laughter and smiles seen in that dugout? Not too often, because the veterans keep up this persona and they’ve forgotten how to enjoy the game. Look at the impact of these kids, even more recently with the likes of Joba and Duncan. These kids can teach the old guys (some of which are overpaid and barely get their uniforms dirty) a little something. As for the “dirty playing,” I think thats just a ridiculous excuse that has kept these ballplayers down. What happened to the days when they were men? They hated each other and they certainly played like it. Nowadays, you see them making polite chitchat while on base…it’s pathetic.
-M
You do have a point in the fact that it was a ridiculous slide especially for spring training, but to be honest I belive that a little bad blood adds a little spark to the game. It’s not like any of the teamates took it out off the field, most of them are friends outside the diamond but when you add a little bad blood it makes the game that more interesting which is more of a motivation for the team and gives the fans a little more excitement.
I can’t wait for opening day, it is always one of the most exciting times of the year for any true sports fan, and you are right your friend Carl has no clue what he is missing out on. I’m just looking forward to sitting back cracking open a nice tall cool budweiser and watching the Yanks kick some serious butt.