After weeks of very little mention of the Jays in the media. Suddenly everyone is talking about us. Wonder why? We'll link to a bunch of them. I've got a bit of a rant first.
Over at Deadspin, Barry Petchesky wrote this:
•Jorge Posada? More like Jorge Pissedoffa, amirite? The Yanks' catcher sparks a bench-clearing brawl with the Blue Jays. Pitcher Jesse Carlson suffered a pretty nasty head wound, making this the worst day of casualties in the history of Canadian wars.
I'm normally one that thinks you can joke about anything, but this, at a time when young Canadians are brought home in body bags from Afghanistan far too often (over 130 killed now), that line isn't just insensitive, it is ignorant. I guess there isn't much news about Canadians soldiers being killed where ever Barry lives.
Anyway I could mention that Canadians were in World War 2 years before the Americans were or that we fought in the toughest battles in World War 1. But I'm sure history lessons wouldn't mean that much to Barry since current events don't matter to him.
When you are sitting safe behind a computer it is really easy to belittle what brave young men and woman are risking all thousands of miles from home. And the dead are someone else's children, but sometimes you have to use a bit of brain power.
Whoops looks like Tao of Stieb beat me to this. Glad I'm not the only one that hates this.
More links after the jump.
As well as the crap noted above at Deadspin the great folks that ran Fire Joe Morgan are writing there today. I love this piece about a knowledgeable fan's least favorite term
What is going to happen is: some guy wrote an article called "10 Scrappiest Players" and I am going to make fun of him. As we all know by now, "scrappy" is a meaningless, arbitrary, clichéd adjective that sportswriters use to describe baseball players they like. Often, these players are small, white, terrible at baseball, David Eckstein, or all four of the above. You know what you're saying, random dude who wrote a very minor Internet-only baseball article that never thought he would get trashed and over-analyzed for little to no reason? You're saying that they look like they're giving it their all. And you know why they look that way? Because they're bad, and it literally takes them the maximum physical effort to accomplish basic baseball tasks like throwing the ball from short to first. When David Eckstein throws the ball to first base, he has to wind up like a shot-putter, spin around forty-three times, and launch it at an angle 89 degrees from the horizontal. Afterwards, he undergoes an IV drip for a fortnight and he's so out of breath that he requires several months of acupuncture to regain the power of speech. For this we laud him.
The rest of the links are about last night's game.
From Mike Wilner's blog:
Seriously, and you wonder why the Yankees inspire so much hate? They hit two Blue Jays, after having hit a Jay IN THE FACE the last time the two teams played, and Jorge Posada - a 13-year veteran who has seen plenty of baseball’s give-and-take - reacts like a high school bully to a pitch that wasn’t even ribcage-high? Please. Wouldn’t want to offend the delicate genius.
The National Post:
"As he ran past Carlson, he gave him a little shove with his elbow," the umpire said. "It was very unsportsmanlike. The pitcher wasn't looking for anything like that and [Posada] ran past him, didn't say anything and just gave him a shove with his elbow. It was very unsportsmanlike. It was cheap shot."
Nice to know some Yankee fans are as classy as the players:
Third-base umpire Derryl Cousins was struck in the knee with a full soft-drink bottle thrown from the stands and had to leave the game.
There are differing opinions on whether there was an intent on the pitches:
Umpire Joyce said he did not think any pitchers – including Carlson and Melancon – were throwing at batters. Carlson denied he tried to hit Posada in retaliation for Hill getting plunked. Barajas thought the pitch that struck Hill was suspicious. "When you got two outs and one of the best hitters on your team is up and he gets drilled square in the back, it doesn't look good," Barajas said. "I'm not saying they did it on purpose, but you see that happen, and it kind of makes you wonder".
Johnny Mac's part:
One angle of a TV replay appeared to show Toronto's John McDonald aiming a punch at Girardi, but McDonald said that was not the case and another TV angle proved him innocent. McDonald said he was trying to pull Mark Teixeira away from the pile and that most players involved were simply trying to pair off to keep anyone from injury. "Any veteran player knows that unless you're the guy that's actually mad, your job is to go out there and try to separate guys," McDonald said. "The last thing you want is for anybody to get hurt in a situation like that."
Richard Griffin at the Star wrote:
"We don't know for sure if there was intent or not (hitting Hill)," catcher Rod Barajas said. "But when you've got two outs and one of the best hitters on your team's up and he gets drilled square in the back, it doesn't look good." A photographer on the field identified Derek Jeter as the player that had Carlson pinned to the ground but he didn't say he saw him throw the punch. The Yankees hit six Jays in four games at the Rogers Centre and two more last night.
Hmm.
If you want the New York view the Post story is here.
"The ball is thrown at me -- I was surprised the ball is thrown at me to tell you the truth," Posada said. "We weren't throwing at anybody, and it's unfortunate."
"He was just right there on the line to go to the dugout," Posada said. "I want to leave it at that. I don't really want to talk about it. It's something that shouldn't happen. We got carried away, but hopefully we can end it tonight." While Posada declined to discuss the specifics, Joyce made it clear that he felt Posada was to blame for the entire incident. "It was very unsportsmanlike," the umpire said. "It was a cheap shot." Although Posada claimed he didn't do anything to incite the brawl, he is likely to be suspended for his actions. "I hope not," Posada said of a suspension. "I didn't start anything."
And columnist Mark Feinsand in the Daily News:
Jorge Posada can say whatever he wants, he is 100 percent responsible for the bench-clearing brawl that took place between the Yankees and Blue Jays on Tuesday night. He ought to know better.
Even SBNation.com mentioned it. This one I note only because they quoted something me.