And the Rivalry Heats Up
Posted on April 24th, 2014 in Uncategorized | 11 Comments »
It was a good game for the Sox last night, and a ridiculous one for the Yankees, marred by Michael Pineda’s bizarre decision to slap a huge wad of pine tar on his neck. By contrast, Boston’s John Lackey pitched a great game. Credit where it’s due, and as to Pineda, I suppose it’s a reminder that athletes aren’t always the sharpest knives in the drawer.
11 Responses
4/24/2014 8:34 am
So I will ask the obvious question. Every team in baseball must have talked about pine tar after Pineda’s previous game, how and when to use it. Do you believe that in between innings Pineda just went into the locker room on his own, got on a good smear somewhere no one could see him doing it, went back to the dugout and waited to take the field with the glob on his neck, all without anyone on the team noticing or saying anything, and the first Yanks to realize it were the ones in the national TV audience? Or to put the same thought in fewer words, what did Joe know and when did he know it?
At least Pineda didn’t claim this time that it was dirt and sweat.
4/24/2014 8:53 am
Girardi’s not an idiot—I can’t imagine he would have condoned that.
I also thought this quote from the Times was indicative of the fact that the Yankee coaches weren’t very happy about the episode:
“[Pitching coach Larry] Rothschild said he spoke to Pineda after the April 10 incident. Asked if he could have helped Pineda deal with the slippery ball in a different manner, Rothschild said, “What, you want me to show him how to cheat better?”
So, yeah, I think he probably did go to the locker room, or just reach under the dugout bench, and put something on his neck. I almost think the latter, because if he had some privacy in which to do it, wouldn’t he have done a better job of it?
4/24/2014 8:54 am
Plus, don’t forget that Pineda’s probably going to get suspended, and the Yankees already lost Ivan Nova to injury, so they’re scrambling for starters. Girardi would have wanted to avoid that.
4/24/2014 9:59 am
Ah, now you are a Girardi apologist. That’s funny.
Pineda gets hit around hard in first inning with no pine tar. Comes out in the second with pine tar. Sure, it was only Pineda who knew about this … keep on wearing those Yankee colored glasses.
Even Yankee fanboy John Sterling lays some blame on Girardi.
“Joe Girardi had to know what was going on with Pineda,” Sterling said.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/raissman-yes-voices-stuck-tar-pit-article-1.1767145#ixzz2zoeSFgZs
That’s right, root for those All-American Yankees … Pineda, AFraud, Clemens, Andy P …
4/24/2014 10:14 am
Your line of reasoning makes sense, RB, but I still don’t get it as it actually played out. Your starter just had a very rough first inning played under miserable conditions. (I was there and wound up with sand in my eyes from the wind, and I was in the stands, not on the field!) Wouldn’t your pitching coach be talking to him between innings? Asking him if he has blisters or trouble gripping the ball? The thing doesn’t make sense, and saying it was just one bad apple acting on his own and no one else had any idea what he was doing in between innings … I am trying to picture it and I can’t.
4/24/2014 1:57 pm
Chris, Everyone who follows baseball (almost everyone) knows that while John Sterling may be a Yankees fanboy-true, true-he is also a complete idiot who wouldn’t know a rock if one hit him in the head. If he says x, there is a 100 percent chance that y is true, and I can think of no better proof that Girardi didn’t know than John Sterling saying that he did.
Harry, I just can’t picture the pitching coach going to Pineda and saying, hey, try some pine tar, just put it on your neck instead of your wrist this time.
Brian Cashman sounded genuinely pissed from what I read in the paper, and you can be sure he discussed this with Girardi the first time around.
4/24/2014 1:58 pm
Sorry about the sloppy punctuation in graf 2 there.
4/24/2014 3:06 pm
John Sterling - get under the bus says Richard Bradley!
I wonder how that conversation between Cashman and Girardi goes today?
Good to know the Yankee manager has no idea what’s going on in his dugout. I’m with Harry on this one, it kinda strains credulity that Pineda just did this on his own or that he was under no scrutiny whatsoever.
Well, if you can’t stomach John Sterling’s take, how about Cashman’s:
“He did what he did, but we’re also responsible that somehow he got out of our dugout and was on the field in that manner,” Cashman said. “That never should have happened.”
Seems to me Cashman is calling out Girardi and Rothschild here.
Bottom line, Pineda must be a complete moron. Your team is gonna have to wand him between innings.
The unfortunate thing is that John Lackey’s outing was overshadowed by this nonsense.
I suspect CC won’t pull such shenanigans. I’ll bring my binoculars tonight just in case.
4/24/2014 3:16 pm
Chris-you’ll be surprised to hear that I agree with you about most of this stuff.
Cash man does seem to be calling out Girardi and Rothschild.
Lackey pitched a helluva game.
Pineda is clearly not Harvard material.
Have fun at the game! And yes, I’m jealous.
4/24/2014 3:17 pm
That said, John Sterling is utterly brain-dead.
4/24/2014 5:12 pm
Not surprised. We are tweaking each other.