Saturday, March 8, 2008

Clean Play or Uncalled For?

TB's Elliot Johnson collided with Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli at the plate in the ninth inning of today's exhibition game. Cervelli held onto the ball, but his wrist was broken. Girardi has complained that such a play is unnecessary in a spring training game, due to the risk of injury. Maddon, TB's manager, called it "hardball." Chris Matthews has filed suit.

I have mixed feelings about this one. On the one hand we got a young kid trying to make a big league roster. Frankly, I've never seen that many players get hurt in this kind of play so I'm just not sure if it should be off limits in spring training. On the other hand, it's spring training. You may have just ruined some kids chance to make a major league roster, and for what? To score a run in the ninth inning of a spring training game? Will Maddon still think it's just hardball when the Yanks and TB meet again and the Yanks seek retaliation?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It would be a shame if Farny were to be so wild that he nailed Crawford in the head... a real shame.

Fernando Alejandro said...

Might as well put Farnsworth to use somehow.

Anonymous said...

The best way to claim AL East tilte is to beat other teams out of the race. One catcher down, four more to go.
And Kyle the Great Avenger will probably miss his target.