As most of you know, with me, I will have an opinion about anything to do with Yankees and Red Sox. Last night, in the Sox-Yanks game, relief pitcher KyleFarnsworth threw behind Manny Ramirez's head in the 7th inning. The reason for this was quite clear...Manny had already taken Mike Mussina deep for two homers in the game.
Now I'm not going to delve into how much this pissed me off. And I'm not going to go on and on about how cheap throwing at a batters head (no matter who's head it is) really is. Obviously, anything I say is going to be massively biased. Do I think Kyle Farnsworth is a punk? Yes. Did I think that he was a punk before he threw at Manny's head last night? Yes. Would I have thought the same of Farnsworth if he threw at the head of a player who played for the Kansas City Royals or any other team for that matter? Yes. The fact is that it's just a cheap thing to do, no matter who's throwing at who.
The funny part about all this is all the hooplah this pitch is getting. Naturally, it will be discussed on all the talk shows on ESPN today and probably into tonight. If you were to ask me, I would say that Kyle Farnsworth should be fined and suspended. I know how that sounds coming from a Red Sox fan, but it is still the opinion that I have. A lot of the so-called "analysts" are, in fact, saying something to the same effect. But seeing as my lowly opinion means absolutely squat, that isn't what this post is about.
So there's a contributor to The Big Lead, called The Baseball Friend, and he's apparently a huge Yankee fan. This is what he said in response to Manny getting thrown at and the outcry about what a punk Farnsworth is:
THE BASEBALL FRIEND: First of all, let’s call Manny what he is. He is one of the 10 greatest right-handed hitters of all time. Possibly top five. That being said, he is also a no-class, show-boating, homer-watching embarrassment to the game and he is universally-loathed throughout the sport for the way he carries himself on the field. Please spare me the “Manny being Manny,” shit, ok? You’re a grown-up. Respect the game. Just because you’re also an idiot savant doesn’t give you the right to act that way on the field.
And for all of you Sox fans (I’m looking at YOU, Gammons, you unbelievable whiner who can’t even be professional enough to keep your blatant homerism to yourself for three seconds on camera,) bitching and moaning this morning, let me say this about that:
1. See above
2. The game has been played like this for years. A guy gets a little too comfortable in the box…you make him uncomfortable.
3. Even if Farnsworth DID hit him, that would still put the Yankees about 572 steps behind the Sox in terms of hitting the other team’s superstar. The way the Sox have used Derek Jeter for target practice over the past 10+ years has been disgraceful.
Just know that these aren’t the placid, zipped up, professional-to-a-fault Joe Torre Yanks anymore, and quite frankly, I’m ecstatic. Everyone should know that they’re on notice. Viva Girardi!
Referring to his overallpoint of "let's not make this a bigger deal than it should be", I totally agree with him. Even though this was a Sox-Yanks game and it's always something to watch, it is only April and he didn't actually get hit. But the difference in last night's attempted beaning and "making a guy uncomfortable in the batters box" is that Farnsworth threw at Manny's neck and head. Big difference in what the result would have been.
But there are two main points where I disagree with "The Baseball Friend." 1) About Manny being a showboating, class-less idiot. Okay fair enough. But let's just say that Manny ain't the only guy who watches his home runs. And 2) If the game has been "played like this for years", then why even bring up the "disgracefulness" of the Sox ever throwing at Jeter? You can't have it both ways, Yankee fan. Either throwing at Jeter is just "part of the game" like throwing at Manny was last night, or it's not the right thing to do.
Anyway, I can't spend any more energy trying to get into the mind of this Yankee fan. It's exhausting. Maybe you are having better luck than me. Sounds like this "Baseball Friend" guy just hates Peter Gammons to me.
