I didn't know Pete Rose played for the Devil Rays.
How tacky. You break a guy's hand in Spring Training? For reals? I mean, was scoring that run the difference between the pennant and a trip home in tears or something? I can understand doing your best Charlie Hustle imitation when something is at stake and you need everyone playing like their butts are on fire, but in Spring Training? Girardi was right to be pissed off. That is just flat-out unacceptable. What next...beaning someone in an All-Star Game? Good grief. I mean, their manager didn't seem all that bothered by it (in fact, he was rather proud it happened), and Elliot Johnson showed no remorse for having done it. It's a **** exhibition game, it means jack and diddly squat. And you're playing "hard" and "all out"? For what, exactly? Bragging rights at the Sizzler? Get the eff out of here. Girardi even said that one of his players went up to him before a game, asking if they should barrel into a catcher like that in ST and he said absolutely not. That there's a difference between playing hard when it matters and doing something like this when it doesn't. Cervelli will be out 2 months with a fractured wrist....wonderful. Hope it was worth it, Elliot Johnson!
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BTW, here's how cool the Rays' manager is: "Several New York writers waited to ask Maddon questions but he hid in his office and sent a team spokesman out to say he wouldn’t answer any questions." HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Coward.
I don't think the guy ran in hard thinking about breaking someone's wrist. Last year, Devil Ray infielders averaged $380k in salary, Durham Bull infielders averaged $50k.
He slid in hard with $330k on his mind.
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I could care less what the pay discrepancy is. The point is, it's Spring Training. It's an exhibition game. Doing something like that where the injury risk is high, is rather dumb. Like I said, if this was a lose or die situation, I can understand going all out. But in a **** Spring Training game? What if this was Jorge or some other big-name catcher? It would still be as appalling, AFAIC.
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I realize you could care less, I was just trying to relate it from the players point of view.
If he pulls up, it could be a mark against him making the team.
With $330k on the line, I'm coming like a freight train.
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You know, I think I can confidently state that if he chose to slide into home, rather than break our catcher's wrist, it wouldn't have made a difference between making the team and not making the team. And if Maddon is dumb enough to tell a kid he didn't make the team, simply because he didn't do his Pete Rose impression, then Maddon is the one with the problem.
Other managers have come out and said they don't condone this kind of play during ST, Girardi hasn't been the only one. You should want to play hard and show your manager you have the goods to make the team. No one is suggesting that players play like a bunch of blindfolded little leaguers. However, I see a difference and so do a lot of other people, between playing hard and barreling into a catcher during Spring Training, when there's a better than 75% chance you're not making the team anyhow.
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ok farnsy, it's time to show'em what you got next wednesday when the rays come back to town...
raoul...are you having fun down there?
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I'm not going down until Friday. Hoping to catch the Red Sox/Yankees on Monday.
I just hope nobody comes in hard from third in that one.
Ok Beth, I relent to your arguments. I didn't know that particular player was that far down the food chain.
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well listen have a great time and get joe to take
you to some decent vending machines :)
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To briefly and belatedly chime in on the Johnson-Cervelli collision, I see Raoul's point about team competition, which to me speaks to the atmosphere that Maddon has created. Yet in the end, I ultimately agree with Beth. This just wasn't necessary, and it looked as though Johnson could have done a lot instead of barrel into Cervelli, whose leg--and not body, importantly--was blocking the plate. he could have slid, and he could have avoided leaving his feet. If this were the regular season, we wouldn't have this debate, I'm quite sure. But under these circumstances, and given Johnson's aggressiveness, it wasn't necessary, especially in the 9th inning of a Spring Training game with the Rays in the lead. It's like drilling a back-up quarterback helmet-first in the fourth quarter of the first pre-season game.
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