The story of the night was Tex leveling Angels catcher Bobby Wilson in retaliation for being drilled in the elbow (again). I know the HBP was probably not intentional. I know Tex probably could have done a hook slide and made it.
But the ball did beat Tex to the plate by a step, and that's all the time Tex had to make up his mind.
I'm not proud of Tex for railroading the catcher, but I totally understand it. It seems like our guys get hit so often with no retaliation, because 9 times out of 10, the Yankees take the high road, but it's this clip that will be on loop at Sports Center for the next month. The people who want to hate the Yankees got another piece of ammo last night, but they were going to find something to bitch about either way.
Not surprisingly, the Arod-Dallas run in was still a hot topic. I'm with Tex on this one:
Mark Teixeira said he’s never heard of such an unwritten rule. “Once we heard his comments, we’ve been laughing about it ever since,” Teixeira said.
Am I the only person really frightened by the Rays? I feel incredible about the Yanks' hot start. Through Thursday, the Yanks were 11-4, on pace for 119 wins.
But the Rays are on pace for 122 wins.
Now they've locked up Ben Zobrist until 2013 with options for 2014 and 2015; if both options are picked up, the 29-year old will earn $30. This is a great deal for the Rays so long as Zobrist's 2009 .070 surge in BABIP isn't a fluke (and he finds his currently absent power stroke). And he is a one hit wonder, they've only sunk $15M over 3 years into a player who covered every position but pitcher and catcher last season.
That's a tradible mistake (but I don't think it's a mistake).
You know who doesn't scare me right now? The Red Sox admitted that Jacoby Ellsbury has hairline fractures in four of his ribs.