All the expected answers
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- March
- 12
Retaliation is part of baseball, always has been. So is pretending that it doesn’t exist. It’s comical at times.
“Shelley made a hard, aggressive slide and I would have to took at the replay to determine exactly what I think,” Joe Girardi said. “I will have to look to see how high it was. Some players are taught to try and break it up, like Shelley was. He went after his glove with his feet.”
Go after the glove with your feet? That’s a new one. The Yankees should try and sign Ronaldinho.
Girardi also said that if he sees video that shows it’s a dirty play, he’ll have a private talk with Duncan.
Then there’s Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon. Here’s what he said:
“What we saw today is the definition of a dirty play. 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.”
Borderline criminal? Calm down, Joe.
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on Wednesday, March 12th, 2008 at 5:32 pm by Peter Abraham.
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Peter Abraham
Joe Maddon got a taste of his own medicine and didn’t like it.
Maddon is just pissed because his team sucks. Today is the most pub they get all year. Congrats Tampa!
Tough All Spring!
CRYBABY
I don’t think we have seen the last of this rivarly. Now Tampa Bay has another team to watch out for.
Haha, rbizzler.
“Tough all spring”
I love it!
again
Maddon - Tough All Spring!!!
Im going to the gym now to my kick boxing class maybe I can do some borderline criminal roundhouse kicks. Criminal you have got to be kidding me.
Like said in the last post by many it is now even if Tampa decides they want to rachet it up some more the onus is now on them.
who cares about Tampa anyHoo ?
Maddon = HIP - O - CRIT
I read some people have seen the slide. Is the video somewhere online yet?
Show Maddon a picture of Cervelli in his full arm cast, then come and tell me what’s right or wrong.
He should just shut up. Or, more appropriately, some of his veteran players ought to tell him to cool his jets.
He’s going to get his own players hurt running his mouth and playing ST games as if they are the World Series.
I’m all for him looking to change the culture of the Rays. After all, that’s his job.
However, the MO he has chosen is going to get his own guys hurt.
If that happens, that’s life.
Ball is in his court as to what to do about it now.
My suggestion. Let it go. He got off easy today.
Pete, what’s your take on what happened today?
Oh, so NOW Maddon’s willing to talk to the NY press? He ducked them after Girardi criticized Johnson’s play, but he’s full of quotes today.
Has he ever expressed any sympathy for Cervelli? His quotes are definintely not going to help defuse the situation.
Wouter - it was on ESPN - might even be on ESPN.com by now
It’s funny, you could take the yanks quotes and the rays quotes from today, switch the teams from a week ago and they’re saying the same thing. Manager backing the player, one team saying the other is dirty.
If Maddon had even just said some some acquiescence in the media, probably wouldn’t've escalated.
These two games have certainly set the stage for an interesting year between the Rays and Yanks.
this team needs an enforcer type and someone who can bring some swagger along. My opinion is no one is more perfect for this than Shelley. 6′7 and solid muscle plus being a young player, he can do whatever and we ll have deniability for it. Whoever on the receiving end can cry about it.
And, not surprisingly, I like what Girardi said. He’s not criticizing his own player, but also he’s not saying anything to escalate the tension.
I’m just upset that Kazmirs gonna waste all those 1-0 shutouts on us now instead of the Sox…
Dont forget Scott! You OWN FENWAY
Joe Maddon, to paraphrase from Howie Rose, is the “hip-hippiest critter I’ve ever darn seen!”
This is the same man who never mentioned anything about being sorry Cervelli got hurt, and when asked about talking to Girardi about any hard feelings, condescendingly said they could talk about wine or politics. He could have handled this so much better to ease tensions, but he escalated it, and Girardi isn’t Torre, he called Maddon’s bluff.
It’s quite the dirty slide. But running over a backup catcher when the game a) doesn’t count and b) is pretty much over is also uncalled for.
The two teams need to get over this and move on. Just play baseball.
ps - Jonny Gomes has been a Yankee problem for years now… If anyone deserves a bean basket.. its definately Gomes.
I guess the medicine Maddon want’s to dish out doesn’t taste so good in his mouth after all. I quote SJ44 - “He should just shut up”.
Here’s a quote from the late, great Frank Zappa that describes Maddon:
There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life.
Nice Soccer Reference Pete
Kepner is reporting that Giambi asked to skip the trip today due to a minor lower back problem.
http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/
I haven’t seen that anywhere else.
ps - it’s funny that ESPN’s article is saying Heath beaned Longoria in the midsection but the SI’s article said Heath grazed Longoria. No ESPN (aka Red Sox nation) bias there.
Thanks for the tip Rishi, but it doesn’t seem like it’s online yet. You may not now (I haven’t been posting during the offseason), but I’m a Yankees fan stuck in Europe. So, no ESPN for me (which generally is a good thing ;o) ).
To me, this was Girardi’s first test as Yankee manager and he passed it with flying colors.
Here’s what ticked me off about Saturday. Well, two things.
First, Johnson had room to slide without the take out. He did and he chose the takeout. Ok, fine. Don’t like it but, it happened.
Second, Maddon used the platform to run his mouth about playing the game hard and not inquiring about Cervelli was WAY out of line to me.
You got a guy seriously hurt and you are acting like you are tough guy.
Now, under Torre, this wouldn’t have happened. He would have shown more respect toward the Yankees. If, for no other reason, than to be respectful toward Torre.
Instead, he decided to tweak and test Girardi.
Well, he got his answer today. He doesn’t like it, too bad.
You don’t take out guys in ST. You just don’t do it.
I was at my nephew’s game on Saturday night and I asked a couple of scouts about the play. Both of them said you don’t take out a catcher in ST. One scout (a non-yankee scout) told me something would happen today.
He even predicted Duncan would be the guy.
His explanation? They can afford to lose him for a few days if he is suspended and he is a very aggressive guy.
Turns out, he was right.
I think it was pretty clear before today that Duncan was heading north with the team due to the way he was playing. However, now there’s no chance in hell he gets sent down.
First test for Girardi and he passed it with flying colors.
The issue that ticked me off more than anything was what Josh said. Maddon didn’t even inquire about Cervelli. He was too busy acting like a tough guy.
He’s been in the game long enough to know that was out of line.
He was testing Girardi. He had too much respect for Torre to do something like he did on Saturday.
With Girardi? He wanted to tweak him to see how he would react.
He got his answer today.
This is not a team that is going to take crap from anybody.
Think about it for a minute. Shelley Duncan backed up a AA catcher with his actions today.
To me, that makes him a great teammate. He didn’t use the excuse, “well let the AAA team handle it since Cervelli is a minor league player”.
That’s BS.
Maddon whining about it now? He needs to shut up.
He started it and the Yankees finished it today.
Unless of course, Maddon is dumb enough to keep this going.
Duncan should not have slid in with spikes like that…but at the sametime I like that he was sticking up for his team. Maddon needs to calm down…saying it was boderline criminal is just a joke. It’s part of the game Joe. Your team started it and now it’s over..deal with it.
I disagree SJ44,
I defend Johnsons split second choice to take out Cervelli, Navarro is out and he wants to make the team. Cervellis broken wrist sucks. Its unfortunate, but you cant blame the kid. Like i said, for many players its just March. But for others its way more than that.
Bad luck happens.
BUT, I also defend Shelleys comeback. Because thats baseball.
I believe both parties are right in their actions, even peskyass Jonny Gomes charging in from the OF, cause you have to protect your players…
I do agree with you here that the main person at fault is Joe Maddon… for running his mouth and trying to call bluffs that the Big Kids are not gonna run away from.. Hes an idiot. And he played the situation terribly.
Shut up Joe. You couldve defended the kid, but at least apologize for the misfortune. Dont be a dick.
Johnny Gomes was quoted after as saying “That is not the Yankee way.” That was part of the problem. The Yankees had become too laid back under Torre. Now under Girardi this “will be the Yankee way”. The Yankees will defend themselves and will not be pushed around or shown up.
Maddon continues to show the world why only a cheap skate outfit like Tampa Bay would hire this bush league mgr.
Fair point Derek. That’s why I think Maddon’s veteran players are going to tell him to chill out.
Its not like he is out there taking the hits! lol
Maddon: Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Whatever.
What gets lost in all of this is the fact that Maddon didn’t even express any sympathy for Cervelli. Somebody ought to punch that jackass manager in the face.
Pete on ESPN Sports Center
Joey can only dish it out, I guess.
They should have hit Eva in the temple. Hey maddon, do you want to talk about life now you punk?
Wow, Maddon should quit his day job and do standup…his crybaby routine is HILARIOUS!
SJ44 - again, you nailed it.
This is getting ridiculous. The Devil Rays can change their name and play as hard as they want but at the end of the day they are a 95 loss team. I do think that Duncan’s play was worse than the play at the plate (evidenced by him getting thrown out immediately) but this has escalated way too much. I think Girardi overreacted to begin with and then Maddon decided to be a huge d*ck. The only good that can come of this is the Yankees taking the games against Tampa seriously so we don’t lose 8 games against a crappy team this year. I don’t think this shows any sort of change in the way the Yankees will or will not respond to being thrown at or anything else.
no. 27: Devil rays a 95 loss team? okay buddy, learn baseball.
I guess Maddon didn’t want to talk about his iPod or restaurants anymore like he did the other day.
I love how it is always the other teams does something it is ok. The Yanks do anything is ALWAYS wrong and they are not allowed to retaliate. Also to hear Gomes say that is not the Yanks way just once again proves that teams believe that the Yanks will NEVER retaliate so you can run over them and treat them anyway you want. Then he says I hope no one gets hurt, well someone already did. Why aren’t the Yanks allowed to stand up for themselves like any other teams would?? Would the R. Sox allow that to happen to them?? Absolutely not. Every team thinks throw at the Yanks, plow over the catcher anything you want it is fine because the Yanks will not do anything back..Atleast the Torre Yanks wouldn’t. Well the Yanks need and needed to change that and get someone back. I would of hit one of there players and then that would of been it, sliding into 2nd was stupid. Maddon sounds like an absolute moron. So flying into a catcher in spring training is not dirty but sliding hard into 2nd is? Did he not think that the Yanks were going to do something back after someone broke there wrist?? Just pathetic…
The Rays lost 96 last year, how many you think they’ll lose this year?
If no one’s said it:
Now watch the Rays roll over for the RS this season
Also there talking crap and playing dirty isnt going to get them to be a real major league team. If they want to be a real team then spend money. It is like the junior high kids trying to play with the high school kids.(yanks and r.sox). Maddon is managing the youngsters and is teaching them the wrong way to play. They are obviously jealous of the bigger market teams but they have to expect to get retaliation back from other teams on how dirty and stupid there manager has taught them to play.
But Joe M, it is a hard baseball play. I thought you liked baseball played that way? Or is it what is good for the goose isn’t good for the gander.
Enjoy your 15 minutes in the spotlight, Maddon. Your team will be playing the role of comic relief for the remainder of the season.
“Borderline criminal” ? With this sort of melodrama maybe you can book an appearance on “Dr. Phil”.
Maddon is a dufus. He is responsible for this by encouraging his team to play like they have in the preseason. F him.
Duncan is a doofus for that slide. This nonsense should have ended in the first inning.
now i didn’t see todays play, but to say that “going after the glove” is a dumb idea. it works. i saw duncan himself do it twice last season for the yanks, one time it worked brilliantly, the second time the fielder held on to the ball. it a gustgy play, but can work. that pic there looks wayy high though. usually go for the glove is when the glove is down trying to tag the feet/legs of the runner.
Hasn’t there also been bad blood between Tampa Bay and the Red Sox for the last couple of years? The Rays might want to rethink their team philosophy, particularly with regard to its practical application. It could be a long and somewhat unpleasant season if they don’t dial it down a wee bit.
It seems clear that what Shelley did was intentional, but come on… since when is getting a little riled up “criminal”? While I’m sure it was intentional, I also doubt that the intention was actually to HURT someone, just the Shellster’s way of showing that the Yanks could play tough too.