Last night Mark Teixeira got hit by a pitch from Ervin Santana and then scored from first on a base hit by Robinson Cano. He smashed into the catcher Bobby Wilson–“he came in high,” agreed John Flaherty and Ken Singleton on the YES broadcast. Neither called the play dirty but they didn’t approve of it either. Wilson was taken off the field and diagnosed with a left ankle sprain and a concussion.
Nobody on the Angels yelled and carried on. According to the L.A. Times:
“It was a clean play, no doubt about it,” said Angels Manager Mike Scioscia, the former Dodgers catcher who was on the receiving end of similar hits. “Mark is trying to score. The ball beat him. Bobby is trying to get the ball and get a tag down. Mark just reacted. It was clean.”
Santana wasn’t so sure.
“I don’t know, because he can score easily,” the Angels pitcher said. “Maybe he’s trying to hit us or something because I just hit him. I didn’t mean to hit him.”
Teixeira said as soon as Wilson moved toward him, he thought the catcher had the ball and was blocking the plate.
“I feel terrible. It makes me sick,” Teixeira said. “You never want to hurt a guyI was going to slide, but as soon as I saw him learning toward me, I thought, ‘OK, he’s got the ball, I’ve got to knock it loose.’ Every time I’m in that position I try to protect myself by lowering my shoulder.”
Whether or not you think the play was clean or not I couldn’t help but think–what would the reaction have been had Alex Rodriguez done the same thing? He would have been roasted, that’s what. Teixeira displayed some chippiness last season. Last night, he proved he’s still got more than a little of the red ass in him.
[Photo Credit: Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times]
It's one thing I don't really like about Teixeira.
If Gauthier doesn't win some sort of award for that photo .... wow.
How can this possibly be legal?
This business is my least favorite part of baseball. Everything else is about skill and technique and even elegance. And then we have this insane plate collision nonsense. (I'm also not a huge fan of the take out slide at second base to 'break up' a double play').
[4] Agree.
[3] It's legal because of the Unwritten Rules of Baseball. Seriously. You can even ask VP Dallas Braden.
[5] I always forget about the Unwritten Rules. I need to get out of my mother's basement more often!
The Unwritten Rules are actually written in invisible ink.
[7] I thought they were unwritten in visible ink. It can be so hard to tell which sometimes.
I think I can count the times Alex Rodriguez has barreled into someone over the last seven years on one hand. He doesn't have a reputation of being player. So unless he followed it up with one of his stupid A-Rod quotes, I don't think he would get roasted, honestly.
[9] Alex would never barrel into someone on one hand. Too dangerous.
It's wordplay Saturday! Diane Firstman will be your host...
The first 3 chapters of "The Book Of Unwritten Rules" clearly explain that anything that goes wrong in a baseball game is - without question, in perpetuity - A-Rod's fault.