If anyone ever needed to wonder why I dislike the Yankees so much, Jorge Posada gave a perfect demonstration of what I dislike about them. The sense of entitlement. In the four game series last week in Toronto, Yankee pitchers hit 6 Jays, including Randy Ruiz in the face. Yesterday Edwin Encarnacion hits a homer, his next time up to bat he is hit with a pitch. In the 8th Aaron Hill is drilled in the ribs with a pitch. In the bottom of the inning Jesse Carlson throws behind Posada. Behind him. The ball's about thigh level, not head level, not rib cage level, not even shin high. Right at the level you throw to make a point, without the worry of injuring someone.
And Posada throws a temper tantrum. How dare they throw towards me? A Yankee? Just cause we are using your players for target practice? "You don't want to do that", he yells at Carlson. Now I could understand that reaction, if say the pitch was at his head. Or even at his ribs. Or perhaps, if it were in retaliation for a homer hit in the last at bat. But no, that reaction was just because he is a Yankee and God forbid you come close to hitting one of those. You would think that Posada having been in the league for years would know that if you hit half a dozen or so of the other team's players, intentional or not, sooner or later a pitch will come towards you. Take it like a man.
Now Jesse Carlson has been one of my favorite Jays since early last season, when he came into a game with the bases loaded and no one out and got out of the inning without a run scoring. We named him Cy that day. I know he had a rough stretch earlier this season, when Cito was putting him into every game and he tired. And I know that Cito is doing the same again, and even though he is throwing great now, sooner or later he'll tire again. But Carlson place in my heart grew three sizes larger yesterday.
Carm asked just before Cy's moment with Posada "why are the Jays being hit so much?" Well, because until that moment opposing pitchers knew they could throw at Jay batters without fear of retaliation. After Hill was hit, Rod Black mentioned that the Jays have been hit more times than any other MLB team in the month of September. I think he said we've been hit 16 time, he said the team hit the second most is the Red Sox with 6 times over the same period. We will see if they get as much the rest of the month.
A little later in the day we'll put up links to other people's reaction to last night's fun, but you can share your's here.