Yankees v. Rays: Round 1

Yankees v. Rays: Round 1

I know I’m a few days late on this one, but here are my two takeaway points on the Yankees/Rays dust-up this past week:

1. 1. Everyone did the right thing.

2. 2. This is going to make the matchups in the regular season very interesting.

Yes, the Yankees were upset when Tampa Bay minor leaguer Elliot Johnson plowed through the wrist of their young catcher, Francisco Cervelli, causing a fracture and resulting in surgery and rehab. Was it a dirty play? Should Johnson have held up and conceded the plate to Cervelli? That’s a matter of opinion. I fall into the camp that says “if you’re wearing a uniform, you’d better be playing hard” so it was OK in my book.

So, the Yankees complained about the hard-nosed play because their guy got hurt. Fine. But baseball is all about “The Unwritten Rules” and rule number one is: settle all problems on the field. (Actually, I have no idea what rule number one is – they’re unwritten – but it sounds authoritative doesn’t it?) All the quotes in the papers won’t make Cervelli’s wrist heal nor will they provide the Yankees’ response to Tampa Bay’s hard style of play. The only answer was for one of the Yankees to show the Rays that the play was not appreciated and would not be accepted and forgotten.

As expected, Shelley Duncan stepped forward and provided the Yankees answer to Tampa Bay. Wait, Shelley Duncan? Where was Jeter? How about ARod? Jorge Posada? No, those are the guys who have been letting this kind of play slide for years under the Joe Torre regime. There’s no way one of those guys would have retaliated. It took the young, boisterous, gregarious Shelley Duncan (a guy who isn’t yet assured of a roster spot) to take it upon himself and shoulder the load on this one. Loudly and clearly he stated to the Rays (and all of MLB for that matter) that the Yankees are not to be treated disrespectfully. One hard slide into the right thigh of Akinori Iwamura and a statement was made: don’t f*ck with us. One hard slide and he made a lot of enemies in the Tampa dugout. One hard slide and he earned a huge amount of respect from his teammates.

And so the brawl – if you can call it that – began. Jonny Gomes roared in from right field and shoved Duncan in the back and all the players hauled themselves onto the diamond from their dugouts, bullpens and clubhouse massage tables (I’m looking in your direction Mr. Giambi). Yelling. Finger pointing. A lot of hullabaloo. And then some more quotes in the papers. But this is not over. This is just Round 1. These two teams will meet 19 times in the regular season so there’s plenty of time for some more retaliation.

The thing of it is, everyone did what they are supposed to be doing out there: play hard and watch your teammate’s back. This is why I love this stuff. I don’t want to see anyone get hurt, but injuries happen and when they happen because of good, hard play, I can’t complain too much. The two teams have another Grapefruit matchup this Saturday and then play their first real game on April 4^th. This should be fun to watch!