Keep your spikes down, Shelley.
Well, the D'Rays and Yanks met up again following the Cervelli incident and wouldn't you know, the shi!t hit the fan. Not only did one of our pitchers intentionally hit a D'Rays batter, Shelley Duncan went spikes-high into someone's leg, sparking a bench-clearing brawl. Which was incredibly and completely stupid. The intentional HBP okay.....I get that. You want to make a point that barreling into our catcher, breaking his wrist in ST is stupid, I can understand that. Our team got pushed around enough the last few seasons, standing up for ourselves needs to happen. But not like this. Duncan did something very dumb. However, the D'Rays acting like we're lower than dog sh!t and uber-unprofessional is utter hilarity in the face of the comments they made following the Cervelli collision. Not only did not one of them say, "gee, I hope he's okay", they practically sounded proud of themselves for having done it. So I don't think either team comes out on top here.
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I really hope this isn't a portent of things to come between these two teams, but I have a feeling that's only wishful thinking. One thing about this I am happy about is it's showing the Yankees are not going to be the league's punching bags this season.
My feeling is that it's okay to play hard, even in ST, but the line should be drawn when a bone is broken or someone bleeds. Shelley's spikes could have done worse damage, and heck, it takes all the fun out of baseball. If players are ejected from the game, I'd rather it be for arguing w/ the ump over a bad call ala Lou Piniella or Billy Martin style. That's at least entertaining.
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I have no problem with it. It was the right thing to do considering the way the Ray's acted afterward. If they said they were sorry or asked about how Cervelli was doing that would have been another issue. Since they decided all was fair in love and war....so be it. I love Shelly!!! This reminds me of an incident in 1998 between the O's and the Yanks. Tino was HPB square in the back by Armando Benitez. The benches cleared and it was an all out brawl with Strawberry flying into the O's dugout and Graham Lloyd running in from the bullpen. It was right after Boomers perfect game and although the team was well on it's way to a magical season, I always felt that it solidified that team and made them that much tougher. We've lost that edge and I would more then welcome it's return. Shelly just executed poorly but the intent is what matters.
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I have no problem with playing hard. No issues with plunking another team's player (no head shots, obviously)
The sliding feet up showed a distinct lack of class and unfortunately makes us look like the biggest group of hypocrites since I don't know when
We cannot state "It's only Spring Training - lets go easy" then do this
However - I agree that we shouldn't and won't be the punching bag for anyone this or any season - but pitchers retaliating should suffice
Thoughts from the Garden of England
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