Shelley + Melky = 2 morons

by matthaggs on Mar 14, 2008 2:58 PM EDT

Shelley got 3 games for that stupid slide, and Melky got 3 for apparently punching Longoria during the fracas.

This means the Yanks will start the season with a one-legged leftfielder, an armless centerfielder, and a guy from the end of the bench DH'ing or playing first.

Well done boys.

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shit

well, lets mail in this season. theres no hope. these 3 games will cripple the yankees.

"It's great to be young and a Yankee"

by stillmonster on Mar 14, 2008 6:14 PM EDT 0 recs

I'm irritated

that Melky got 3 games for a punch that I didn't even see reported and Gomez only got 2 games for tackling Duncan and causing the benches to clear.

"Have faith in the Yankees, my son. Think of the great DiMaggio."

by jscape2000 on Mar 14, 2008 6:33 PM EDT up 0 recs

Didn't pick up on this the first time

but Kevin Long, Bobby Meachum, and Joe Girardi all received fines. No one from the Devil Rays was fined.

"Have faith in the Yankees, my son. Think of the great DiMaggio."

by jscape2000 on Mar 14, 2008 8:11 PM EDT up 0 recs

are there

any Yankee fans from New York anymore? Anybody with a pair watch this team anymore? All this self-righteous nonsense is for girl's high school field hockey.

I'm not condoning the behavior but I'm glad we're not rolling over either. I read all the NY papers today and the veterans are trying to reign Shelley in a bit but they all like his "fire" and I can't say that I don't. And I wish I had seen Melky punch someone. Maybe we can call him Punchy McReserve from now on.

This little melee is better than having a manager asleep on the bench while the rookie kid gets eaten by bugs during the playoffs. This team needs to get a bit hopped about things.

It also is sending a message to TB who thinks that they're going to play "hard ball" with the Yankees all year that they might get knocked around if they try it. They're not exactly princesses in Tampa. In fact, they pride themselves on the brawl.

So let's give the self-righteous bally hooing a break. I'm a fairly small, fairly feminine female and I think I might be the toughest person here.

Haggs, grow a pair for g-d's sake.

"The secret of managing is to keep the guys who hate you away from the guys who are undecided." -Casey Stengel

by bxgrl1 on Mar 14, 2008 7:38 PM EDT 0 recs

hear hear...

3 games with those two on the bench is not gonna break the Yanks. And I too am happy to see a little fire under some butts.

let's move the f on already...

You don't realize how easy this game is until you get up in that broadcasting booth. -Mickey Mantle

by NumberSeven on Mar 14, 2008 7:42 PM EDT up 0 recs

Sorry

but that's retarded. "Self-righteous" ?? How about common fucking sense?

His "fire" will be great when he's sitting on the bench, along with the starting centerfielder.

Tampa Bay did nothing wrong on the field. It was a clean play. What Gomes did was stupid, but Duncan started it.

The TB manager was stupid after the first game, but the slide home was just baseball. The catcher getting hurt was an accident. His helmet hit the guy in exactly the wrong spot. If Cervelli doesn't want to get hit, then stand to the side and make a swipe tag.

What Shelley did was stupid, and his stupidity combined with Melky's has the Yanks playing with 23 men for 3 days. It's not a huge deal, but the Yankee OF being what it is can't afford to lose Melky. Yeah it's only 3 days, but what if the always fragile Damon slams into the CF wall -- what if Matsui hurts himself because he's in LF earlier than he should be? How many runs will score because Damon can't reach second base with the ball???? As we saw last April, every game counts.

And if any of you really think Girardi endorsed or encouraged that idiotic move by Duncan, I don't know what to tell you.

What Duncan did had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with who is managing the Yankees. That was all Shelley. All you need to do is look at the comments - or lack thereof - by the manager and the rest of the guys in the clubhouse.

I like Shelley Duncan, but he acts like he's in the WWE sometimes. The kid needs some Ritalin. And it's all well and good until Cano or the like gets beaned or taken out at second base for something Duncan does that rubs another team the wrong way.

by matthaggs on Mar 14, 2008 8:57 PM EDT up 0 recs

Amen

I totally agree. You've echoed all my thoughts and comments on the subject so far.

"If you lived in my grandfather's house...and you wanted to eat, you had to be a Yankees fan." --Joe Biden

by SenorSwanky on Mar 14, 2008 10:57 PM EDT up 0 recs

I understand your point

but I wasn't nearly as appalled by Duncan's actions as you. Melky is a bit of a different story because making stupid errors in judgement has become a pattern for him.

Call Duncan's slide a dirty play if you will, but this ordeal does send a message that the Yanks won't be taking crap as they did in years past. It's up to the fans to determine whether that's a good thing or not.

I'll say one thing, Maddon did a helluva job escalating this ordeal because he showed no concern for Cervelli's injury whatsoever. He had some kind of "that's his problem" kind of hard ass attitude and that probably steamed the Yanks.

It wouldn't have taken much. Maddon could have said "you hate to see that happen to anyone....yada yada yada" and that probably would have been the end of it.

Oh well, these suspensions will probably matter more in Games 2 & 3 because Halladay is pitching the opener and this team can't beat him to save their lives.

by anaconda on Mar 14, 2008 11:46 PM EDT up 0 recs

Good point

re: Maddon.

I don't understand the "sending a message" stuff. It just showed me that the Cervelli's injury got Duncan all wound up and he went and did something stupid. I'm not "appalled" by his slide, but it was a poor decision on his part. The message sent was: "We're very capable of bush league baseball."

If there was a horizontal line drawn, and on one end was "tough" and the other was "punk", what Shelley did the other day would be just past the halfway point on the punk side. And if Melky really did punch someone (and it seems he did), then he's all the way at punk. I have no problem with tough, you want tough. Acting like a punk I can do without though.

And call me crazy, but I'd prefer to start the season with our best team on the field.

And this notion that everyone thinks the Yankees have been "taking crap" for years doesn't make sense either. Yes, they have two pitchers (Pettitte and Mussina) who don't throw at batters intentionally, but they've had plenty of others that do.

Pete Abe says it best. Read the whole thing, but here's a snippet:

"Another pesky fact: Since 1996, the Yankees are the only team in the majors to have had at least one pitcher suspended each year for intentionally throwing at a batter."

http://yankees.lhblogs.com/2008/03/14/today-in-the-journal-news-219/

by matthaggs on Mar 15, 2008 11:27 AM EDT up 0 recs

That's because

Bob Watson has been harder on the Cashman Yanks than on any other team in baseball.

"Have faith in the Yankees, my son. Think of the great DiMaggio."

by jscape2000 on Mar 15, 2008 11:39 AM EDT up 0 recs

i'm

pretty sure duncan doesn't need any ritalin. he's amped up enough as it is. plus, it's a banned substance unless prescribed anyway.

by tombradylikesdudes on Mar 15, 2008 12:28 AM EDT up 0 recs

agree and disagree

Why slide into the 2nd baseman spikes high? Why not just "forget" to slide and bowl his ass over? It's at least a little more defensible than spiking. (Since Duncan had claimed 1st base, Aki needed to tag him, so play at second is no different essentially than a play at home).
There's a reason Torre often took the high road, and I happen to think to a degree he was right about it: when you play goon squads like the rays, they want nothing more than to make you play down to their level (see: hockey). They want you thinking "retaliation" and not "win the game".
No idea how cabrera got suspended, as the press never reported a punch from him. The question is whether any other TB player threw a punch, or did MC wade in there first, fists bared?
The guy you retaliate against is the guy responsible; PeteA has it right - the team should have waited to retal at the 2/3A level and not against a player who had nothing to do with the original play. And certainly not on a meaningless out at second base.
As for sending a message: what good is served sending a message in spring training? Send it when it matters, when your team is up 10 runs in a regular season game, steal extra bases, move runners over, play relentless scoring baseball. Beat the crap out of their team every time you play them.

Hell, for that matter, win the World Series, even. THAT sends a finer message than any retaliatory play I can think of.

6. As for "growing a pair" -- spring training isn't the time for retaliation or brawls. There's a difference between aggressive, hard baseball and foolishness. Duncan's play was foolishness -- does he play hard - yes. But spiking a guy? In spring training? That doesn't take balls or guts, in my book.

Given this team's 5 year failure to reach the world series, should we be focused on retaliation or should we be focused on winning?

by detroit yankee on Mar 15, 2008 12:12 PM EDT 0 recs

winning, of course...

and good points all, hutch.

but, if the yanks are going to retaliate and get wrapped in this junk, i'd rather have it happen now- not during the regular season.

and as for:

"Why slide into the 2nd baseman spikes high?"

I don't think the specific act was premeditated by Shelley. Do I think he wanted to take action? Yes. But I think he powered around first, thinking maybe this was his opportunity, slid into the bag like you're supposed to and then kind of realized he had to do his thing and got his spikes up...

Poor judgement? Yes. Criminal (as stated by Maddon)? Hardly. The veterans have stepped in and let him know how it should go. But Shelley needs not be villified. Not that you did- but some people's reaction to his slide is a bit over the top, IMO.

You don't realize how easy this game is until you get up in that broadcasting booth. -Mickey Mantle

by NumberSeven on Mar 15, 2008 1:29 PM EDT up 0 recs

Overreaction

Thats the best way to describe everyone's treatment of this episode. I for one still think Shelley's slide looked worse than it actually was. his leg was high and thus his cleats were also high but its not like he kicked Iwamura to the ground or something. It was clearly intentional. I think the most troubling thing about the whole slide was that it really showed what a spaz shelley is: he couldnt pull off a take out slide properly.

As for melky, I still havent seen what he did.

How Johnny Gomes gets less of a suspension than either Duncan or Cabrera makes no sense to me, though. He flat out jacked Shelley from behind, right on the small of the back.

Lost in all the mayhem is that Cervilli broke his wrist on a play that probably did not need to happen. I dont know where I stand on the debate over the original play, I can see both arguments. On the one hand, are you going to tell a guy trying to make the team to just lay up the way A-rod did the other day? On the other hand, it's spring training, do we really need to be bowling catchers over to impress a manager you are probably not going to play for? I dont know the answer.

On a related note, my Dad always talks about the day he lost all respect for Pete Rose: the 1970 All-Star Game when he ran over Ray Fosse. He had 16 home runs at the break that year. He never hit more than 12 in a year after that.

by seanp23 on Mar 17, 2008 2:43 PM EDT 0 recs

i don't care,

kinda like the intensity in 'em

we got a broken wrist, rays got spiked & punched.

alls fair in love & baseball

Andy is the man.

by smoly81 on Mar 18, 2008 12:14 PM EDT 0 recs

High Road

Shelley is young and stupid. Frankly, I agree that they should be punished--not necessarily for their actions (because I didn't think the slide was as bad as everyone suggested) but because Girardi, Shelley, and the lot of them were stupid.

Sure we want retaliation ... and we play the bastards 19 or so times in the regular season. There's plenty of time for payback. You don't strike when emotions are high. You let everything die down and wait until the 7th or 8th game and WHOOPS ... that one got away!

That's how it's done. That's playing the game smart. Torre would have taken the high road, and provided he didn't forget it, he would have retailiated at some point in the season.

Shelley and Girardi were stupid on this one. Sorry.

"Baseball is the background music of my life." -George Will

by Ronster22 on Mar 18, 2008 5:00 PM EDT 0 recs

I think you summed it up

in your first sentence. Although I tend to think that Shelley's not going to get considerably smarter as he gets older.

Definitely a dumb move, and the motivational aspect of this was accomplished as soon as Cervelli's wrist was broken. Didn't need to give them motivation as well.

I always feel pressure. What I don't have is fear. -- El Duque

by LateInningRelief on Mar 20, 2008 12:43 PM EDT up 0 recs