Yankees react to suspensions
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Mar 14, 2008 
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Brian Cashman has little comment beyond being surprised that Melky Cabrera was involved.
Shelley Duncan spoke to a group of reporters in a voice that was barely audible. He seemed stunned.
“I really haven’t had much time to really analyze it,” he said. “Initially, I feel it’s pretty unfair.”
Duncan denied saying any thing inflamatory before Wednesday’s game. He then launched into a long discourse about his work ethic and love of baseball. He seemed almost on the verge of tears. It was a very unusual scene.
We haven’t had a chance to speak to Joe Girardi yet. Melky Cabrera is back in Tampa.
Meanwhile, the game is tied 7-7 in the ninth inning after a rain delay.
Pete did he seem remorseful or just overly upset at the whole thing?
this whole thing is poppycock.
Uck this whole anti Yankee stuff will just drive you nuts. It almost makes you harken back to the good old days talking about if A Rod is a true Yankee or not.
I don’t give a rats butt what anyone thinks about the Yankees. I love them and that is all that counts. I know there are haters out there, bt who really cares about them.
On the verge of tears? I have to see this, don’t want another Zim crying. No crying in baseball.
They’re playing the 10th?
Hey, I wonder if the Dodgers or Giants (both of whom have 3B questions) have called about Morgan?
“Duncan denied saying any thing inflamatory before Wednesday’s game. He then launched into a long discourse about his work ethic and love of baseball. He seemed almost on the verge of tears. It was a very unusual scene.”
I get the impression, based on this observation and other things I’ve read about Shelley, that Shelley has a very strong sense of what’s right and wrong, at least in his own mind, and that he’s blown away that he is being seen as a bad person. I know, he’s a pro athlete, and 27 years old (?), but that’s still the impression I’ve got of him.
There are worse impressions to have of a professional athlete.
One thing, lets face it if Shelley wasn’t on this team we would HATE him! He needs to tone down some of his antics a little. This forearm bashing scares me. I can picture him doing it one day and injuring someone! Maybe he needed to be knocked down a few pegs and become humble.
damn right Jenn ! first time they stand up for themselves and this crap is the fallout. If there wasn’t anything wrong w/ what TB did why did they give the league office a heads up ? Shelley answers back for the teams sake it may suck now but it’ll only benefit for later.
And for once can our captain say something !! something dammit !! where the hell is Jeter on this ! this is why at times I can’t stand him as my captain !
Brandon, Jeter apparently has no problem with Shelley’s style of play this from Newsday’s blog…
It was reported elsewhere that several veterans talked to Duncan about his style of play and told him to tone it down. I asked Duncan about that this morning, and he said not one player has talked to him. I spoke to four veterans today about Duncan’s play — Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, Jason Giambi and Derek Jeter — and all said they would tell Duncan not to change anything.
Trying to kick someone in the jimmy with long, metal spikes is traditionally viewed as ‘wrong,’ and will cause others to look at you as a ‘bad person.’ Sorry, Sloth. It’s not worth crying over, though.
Joe thanks but for once I’d like him to step it up for the teammates and not stay in the safe zone.
Jennifer, the forearm bashing and the like may be nothing more than a “little kid in a big body” – immaturity. I’ve known a few people like that over the years, and they have no idea how they can rub some people the wrong way. This is a case where the vets on the team, the team leaders – Derek, Mo, Jorge – are the ones who need to make the determination of what is OK or not. It is difficult for those of us who are not part of the culture of the clubhouse.
i have a 2 hour drive to PA when i finally get out of work. something tells me avoiding sports-talk-radio might be a wise move. i’m already wired off of too many cups of coffee today…………………
Man, Gomes is full of it: “No matter what Shelley wants to say, I think the bottom line is what he did really could have hurt Aki. Whether he was trying to lodge the ball out or not, I don’t know. But Aki does have a cut on his leg and he could have really injured Aki.”. How can you say that, when the thing that started it all was a play that put one of our kids out for MONTHS? Didn’t that hurt, Johnny? And everyone just gives him a free pass for that. What do you think he came running to Shelley for, to give him a big hug? Please.
Btw, I’m also sick of it being reported that “Cervelli blocked the plate.” He was near the plate, but nowhere close to blocking it. Johnson could have slid and made it in. It’s funny that he says “otherwise I’d have been out”, while now he was… out! Come to think of it, he was probably out because he plowed into Cervelli. Cervelli had just received the ball a split second before, it would have taken an amazing tag to nail Johnson if he had slid.
This lack of perspective from the collected media and oppression of dissenting viewpoints depresses me sometimes. (Note: I think MLB had to suspend Duncan, at least to make a point, and if Cabrera threw a punch, then MLB is right here too. But the double standard is nauseating)
“Trying to kick someone in the jimmy with long, metal spikes is traditionally viewed as ‘wrong,’ and will cause others to look at you as a ‘bad person.’ Sorry, Sloth.”
McLovin, I presume. Anyway, did Shelly actually try to kick him? If he had “tried” to kick him what exactly stopped him from going forth with his actions? There was only space and opportunity for Shelley had he really wanted to damage Iwamura.
So not only is he a dirty player…but he acts like a cry baby when punished?
Yikes kid has a LOT to learn about the big leagues.
Just wait until he gets an at bat against Kazmir….
The second baseman was apparently cut on his inner thigh by spikes. So perhaps Sloth was slightly off-target. But that is still too close for anyone who has a pair.
McHiney, McHenry….whatever. Are you really a Redsux fan?
awww Shelley
I just have sensed over the years that Jorge is doing more of the motivating and standing up for the teaam than Jetes.
It’s going to offend some people but I feel he’s the Teflon captain, if I was getting jumped by someone and me and Jetes were boys I feel like he’d be the one to run away & later tell me he was running for help to stay politically correct. IDK just how I’ve felt about him over the past years.
“On the verge of tears”??…Pete are you making stuff up?
You gotta be kidding me.
“The second baseman was apparently cut on his inner thigh by spikes. ”
yet no blood showed thru his uni… i’m guessing it was more like a flesh scrape.
waaaaah!
I guess the revenge advocates think this is all worth it.
Anyone hear Paul O’Neill’s comments during the YES broadcast of yesterday’s game? He basically said Elliot Johnson’s play was clean, and one that anyone trying to make a team would have made.
Yes, our catcher got hurt worse than their 2nd baseman. But I don’t think you’ll hear O’Neill or most anyone saying Shelley’s play was clean.
Encouraging intentionally violent responses is not the way to win championships, or frankly the way to live, IMO.
I don’t buy that Melky punched a guy, let’s see the video on that again.
What I find laughable was Rays executive Andrew Friendman saying “I don’t think Jonny’s intent was to hurt Duncan.” Of course I’m smart enough to know that this is just rhetoric and he’s looking out for his player and his organization, but does Friedman really want to say such nonsense out loud? He could’ve skipped the comment. If Gomes’s intention wasn’t to hurt Duncan, why was he running full speed at him from behind?
Brandon…we’re agreed…the real guy behind the scenes is jorge.
regardless of whether or not Johnson’s play is considered clean or not (i personally to not), Maddon’s ignorance toward this is the bigger issue at hand.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDEbaRUJc6k
So it does look like the collision at the plate could have been avoided… in fact if he slid feet first he might have such under the tag… I believe someone on the Yankees did this exact same thin earlier in the same game.
Shelley’s slide wasnt that bad, i can see him trying to hit the glove, but if you notice tampa’s left fielder held gomes up enough. I think the gomes situation could have been worse if the left fielder didn’t get there in time.
The funniest thing to me about all this are the Rays fans who are coming on here talking tough.
I didn’t even think they were Rays fans, let alone tough guy Rays fans.
They get their shot at Duncan tomorrow. Let’s see how it goes.
Shelley pulled his leg back, why is this fact ignored? If he wanted to, he could have extended his leg and really done some damage. He didn’t and yet he still gets suspended and gets bashed by idiots like Gomes. Frustrating.
Brandon, I don’t know if you follow hockey, but think of the Yankees like the old Edmonton Oilers. Gretzky was the captain of that team. He lead by example, while Messier was the emotional leader. Jeter leads by example while Posada is the emotional guy. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems kind of hypocritical. You support Alex being Alex, yet you rip Derek for being Derek.
Cashmoney is probably not happy with what happened but understands where Duncan is coming from. When he was on m&mdog he did not sound happy. From newsday:
Brian Cashman said he has no issue with either the way Duncan plays or the slide itself. Does he like the way Duncan plays, Cashman was asked?
“Oh, absolutely. I’d take 25 Shelley Duncans.”
I have no problem with Jeter on this issue. Its not worth talking publicly about it. It really isn’t.
This is Tampa’s season. It may be the biggest thing to ever happen to their franchise.
No sense keeping it going. Unless of course, Duncan gets drilled tomorrow.
If he does, then its game on against this team the rest of the year.
If he doesn’t get hit tomorrow, you just move on with getting ready for the season.
Unlike the Rays, the Yankees actually are playing for something this year.
“I just have sensed over the years that Jorge is doing more of the motivating and standing up for the team than Jetes.”
For years, I’ve been saying that Posada should be the captain. Jorge sets a great example, is outspoken, and leads the team. Jeter is an awesome player and a “winner”, but a captain he is not.
As far as the suspensions go…3 games for Shelley is fair, as is 2 games for Gomes, but 3 for Melky is not. Shelley incited the incident and Gomes escalated it. Melky’s punishment should be the least of the three.
I don’t have any problem with Jeter being the captain or uncaptain like. But he definitely learned the “Torre way” from all of the years being with him because he is exactly like him. He wants to be loved by other teams and everyone just like Torre did. He should speak up alittle more some times but he cares way too much what other people will think about him so he doesn’t.
Awww Shelley, keep your head up! We love ya and that’s all that matters
As for Jonny Gomes and the rest of the crybaby snitches, are they even really worth the waste of pixels? Let them feel good about themselves if they want, in the end the pics are there for the whole world to see of Gomes flying into Shelley and then getting punked harmlessly flopping to the ground like he was Anderson Varejao (uh, except without the premeditated intent to flop, of course. lol)
I do think Melky should appeal his suspension though. I’d at least like to know where/what this ‘sufficient evidence’ is that he threw a punch….although frankly, I’m pretty old school about these matters and I’d be proud of him if he did. But it’s fine if he didn’t too, and I actually suspect that he might not have because the it was originally reported no punches were thrown…then a couple hours after the game I started hearing about “a punch may have been thrown.” Hmm a couple of hours after the game, aka in just enough time for the D-Rays to go whining to Bob Watson (who everyone knows has a total hard on for us) about some phantom punch?
I almost feel bad for Longoria; what with his team whining about him getting hit by a pitch that barely grazed his jersey and then the little girl tears about him all of a sudden supposedly getting punched, he looks like a complete pansy before he’s ever even had an official Major Lg AB!
CaptainsCorner, it’s not just the Torre way, it’s also the Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods way Jeter adheres to.
Jeter oozes confidence and busts his butt day in and day out. He is the perfect Yankee captain.
Jeter doesn’t always stick his neck out. With this thing now, it being spring training and involving Duncan, I’ll give him a pass for not speaking out. But last year I was disappointed he didn’t take a stronger stand on the Torre situation. Mo, Damon, Jorge and a couple other guys did. It’s probably not smart politically to rock the boat with ownership, but I respect those guys more for doing that.
Was Shelley seriously on the verge of tears? I want audio if not visual.
I think this is an absolute joke. I hope they throw at Shelley tomorrow. Let’s see Watson suspend 50 guys for opening day. Although, I bet Bob Watson would make sure 48 of the 50 suspended were Yankees.
How Gomes who wasn’t involved in the play at 2b and ran up to Shelley to attack him from behind gets fewer games than Shelley and Melky is a disgrace.
I really hate Bob Watson. He’s got a bone up his tush for the Yankees ever since he was let go.
As for Derek Jeter, I’m tired of seeing him laughing and joking with opposing players in the middle of games. I think it’s disrespectful.
Michael Jordan NEVER did that after the tip off. That guy was an assassin and he did whatever it took to bring the other team down. His focus was laser. He wanted to beat you.
When the Bulls used to play the Knicks when they were good under Riley, Jordan wasn’t kootchy kooing Patric Ewing during the TV time outs.
Jeter likes to smile and chat with a runner in scoring position.
I love the guy and what’s he done for the team, but I feel that his edge has softened with age and success.
Chad Curtis complained about Jeter’s fraternization and he was booted off the team.
“This forearm bashing scares me. I can picture him doing it one day and injuring someone! Maybe he needed to be knocked down a few pegs and become humble.”
Seriously?