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So much for spring training not meaning anything.
Of course, the results on the field don’t mean anything. Still, Troy Tulowitzki’s home run in Monday afternoon’s game against the New York Yankees certainly did.
Tulowitzki wasted no time in getting back at his former team, hitting a home run just over the right field wall on Marcus Stroman’s second pitch. Rounding the bases, he was pretty pumped up.
In his first Yankee at-bat, Tulo takes his former teammate deep. pic.twitter.com/2lbrKfX1J2
— MLB (@MLB) February 25, 2019
As he was after the game. When he was asked whether this home run meant something to him, here’s what he said:
“No doubt about it. Extra special. That was the team that basically told me I couldn’t play any more. It’s spring training, it is what it is, but it was a big day for myself . . . For me, it was extra emotion. It was the biggest Spring Training homer I ever hit. With that being said, yeah I got a little pumped out there. Anybody who tells you, you are done, you are going to have a little extra fire.”
(Note from Tom: Tulo’s got a different view on this that I do, I thought the team expressed that they were releasing him so that he wouldn’t be in the way of the young middle infielders coming up. I’d think that the front office would never say “you can’t play anymore”. But then I can understand how Tulo would see it this way)
Here’s Stroman’s post-game interview.
#BlueJays’ starter Marcus Stroman, talking Tulo: pic.twitter.com/ey98FZSFb7
— John Lott (@LottOnBaseball) February 25, 2019
That’s one of the friendliest post-game interviews I’ve ever seen. But then again, who could be mean to Tulo? (Right, Matt Gross?)