Think about this exciting, 10-inning, 8-4 Yankees triumph over the Rays Sunday afternoon at Tropicana Field, the kind of win that can consistent an until now shaky group, as the baseball identical to the “Ocean’s Eleven” remake.
Aaron Boone’s bundle pulled off a impressive feat. However the Yankees’ adversaries enthusiastically anticipate their next encounter.
For if the Yankees forestalled a Rays sweep, they didn’t try not to additionally aggravate this contention on account of their pitchers hitting four Tampa Bay batters over the course of the end of the week, when every Friday and Saturday and afterward twice on Sunday.
“It happens basically every series with them, and it’s something that we’ve got to stop,” said the v, “because being a hitter and having that in the back of your mind is not a good feeling.”
In the lower part of the first inning Sunday, Meadows took a 93-mph Jordan Montgomery fastball to his front shoulder, irritating the Rays’ dugout and inciting the umpires to caution the two seats against any further such violence. Montgomery in any case hit Meadows again in the fifth inning, this time to his left side (back) hand, although the umps crouched and chose to allow the Yankees’ southpaw to remain in the game because of an absence of aim; the Rays didn’t protest this a short time later.
No, what left the Rays salty was the volume of HBPs and the general late history of violence between these two clubs, which Tampa Bay feels has been one-sided — since the beginning of 2018, including a year ago’s American League Division Series, the Yankees have hit 30 Rays while the Rays have hit 17 Yankees — and not appropriately took care of by the game’s sheriff.
“Do I personally think the guy was trying to hit him? I do not,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said, referring to Montgomery’s first HBP of Meadows. “But this continues to roll over. It’s been so grossly mishandled by Major League Baseball last year. … There isn’t any recourse because it’s just carryover and, intent or not, most major league players are going to look at you and say, ‘It doesn’t feel good, and I don’t care whether he did it on purpose or not.’ ”
Money added, “Major League Baseball is here to protect its players on both teams. On all 30 teams. And I don’t think they did that last year. They could have done a better job and maybe [then] we move past this.”
With respect to’s MLB’s purported “gross mishandling,” Cash acknowledged he was alluding to Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman getting a simple three-game suspension (which was abbreviated on appeal to two) for tossing behind Mike Brosseau’s head last Sept. 1: “Oh yeah, without a doubt. And I know [Masahiro] Tanaka’s over in Japan, but he got off scot-free. He hit Joey [Wendle] definitely intentionally [the same night] and nothing we can do about that.”
The Yankees, diminished to execute this dig out from a deficit (twice) triumph, communicated no words that need defending about the circumstance. Said Montgomery: “I wasn’t trying to [hit Meadows], … but I understand the umpires are trying to control the situation, I guess.”
“Definitely no intent, but I understand their anger,” Aaron Boone said. “You see Meadows get hit up around the shoulder, I’d be upset on our side, whether it’s intentional or not. I think it was clear that Monty was really struggling to find his command there in the first couple of innings and it got away from him.”
Their resentment spread all over. Said Rays catcher Mike Zunino about the four hit players in the arrangement (according to the Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin), “If it is coincidence, it’s crazy it happened three days in a row.’’
Asked how the Rays could “stop” this, Meadows said, “For us, I think we do a good job as a team of not retaliating, just continuing to play the game and let our playing do the talking. And that’s probably a good strategy to have.”
The Rays are the Terry Benedict to the Yankees’ Danny Ocean. They’ll be back for the spin-off, Friday night in The Bronx. When so many discover the game too long and short on activity, baseball ought to be appreciative for Yankees-Rays (although no doubt, possibly more policing to guarantee things don’t turn crazy).
