After hitting the game-winning home run in last night's top of the ninth, Red Sox First Basemen Mike Napoli could be heard saying "what an idiot" in reference to Yankees Starter Masahiro Tanaka, the NYDN's John Harper reports.
In his two at-bats prior to the go-ahead shot, Napoli had struck out on Tanaka's signature splitter, making the fact that the latter went with his fastball on the 1-2 pitch strange.
Still, insulting a guy who'd got the better of you multiple times is something that doesn't sit well with many Yankee fans, forcing Napoli to release this statement after the contest.
"Nothing towards him," Napoli said to the aforementioned Harper. "I thought he would throw me a splitter in the dirt."
While that excuse does seem to work, Tanaka supporters everywhere are probably not going to buy it, as Napoli is obviously a Red Sock.
Because of that, this event looks like it will revive this rivalry in 2014, and definitely make tonight's rubber game much more interesting, even if it doesn't involve the Bombers' ace.
In case you don't already know, this evening's matchup won't begin until 8:05 pm ET, due to it being nationally televised on ESPN.
I know that conventional wisdom dictates that as a Yankee fan I should want to lynch Napoli. But as a veteran of many, many beer league softball dugouts, isn't this taken a little out of context? I'm sure Tanaka himself felt like an idiot.
ReplyDeleteYea that's kinda the way I'm looking at this. Napoli's a grown man, what'd you expect him to do? Say "I'm awesome."
DeleteTry saying something like, "I was expecting the spliter but when the pitch came in high, I gave it my best shot"!
DeleteNow there, I can be PC if I try real hard.
As I have never hit a ball over any wall in my many years playing the game, form the east to the western USA and other country's in between. I would have said nothing except, "We Won"!
I see this as a non issue. It's only an issue because it was caught on tape. We've seen much worse said (if you can read lips)
ReplyDelete