More than Retaliation

During today's Yankees-Rays game, the anger from the previous match-up where a Ray's player ran over the Yankee's catcher boiled over. In the first inning, the pitcher for the Yankees hit the first batter with a pitch (Correction: They didn't hit the first batter, the Rays scored a couple of runs before the Hit by Pitch). The ball may have slipped out of his hand or it was in retaliation. I am OK with this. Getting hit by a pitch is part of the game. Pitchers use it to tell the other team that there are consequences for their actions. It has been a part of baseball forever. There is an unspoken agreement between the manager and pitcher that if one of their players is harmed by an opposing player, you bean them. It's an eye for an eye. But, when Shelley Duncan slide spikes up into Akinori Iwamura, it crossed the line.

Sliding into a player with your spikes up is like boarding in hockey; there is an intent to injure. If anyone asks around the league whether leading with your spikes is OK, they will look at you like you are the most incompetent person on the earth. It was OK that Duncan slid hoping that Iwamura dropped the ball, but going in spikes up is bush league. He deserved to get shoved by Jonny Gomes. What is even more disturbing is that Duncan failed to acknowledge that he slid spikes up. He said that he was just sliding. Players have to make the conscious effort to lead with their spikes. What I understand from Duncan's interview is that he isn't man enough to admit that he made a mistake. Spikes up is not a good baseball play. It doesn't show that you are trying to go the extra mile. It shows that you are immature. I congratulate Shelley Duncan for being the biggest pile of crap in baseball. I hope that he eventually realizes that it wasn't effort that propelled him to go spikes up. He made a bush league play and hopefully the league punishes him for it.