Twice As Nice for Manny as Sox Beat Yanks

The New York Tabloids have Manny on the Mind (NY Post / NY Daily News)

This just in, Manny Ramirez loves to hit against the Yankees, and man does it show. For the second night in a row the Red Sox made short work out of a Yankee starter as Mike Mussina only lasted 3.0 innings while giving up five earned runs. On the other side of the mound Josh Beckett showed why he truly is the ace of the Sox staff as he threw for his longest outing of the year (105 pitches) and pitched 8.0 strong innings.

So the Yanks and Sox split this series and won't meet each other until July 4th weekend. Again, the schedule just seems extra wacky this year, and seems rather odd these two won't meet each other for over two months, but it is what it is I guess.

I lost $5.00 to Ms. SawxBlog after Farnsworth and the Yanks threw behind Manny late in the game. I thought for sure Beckett was going to retaliate right away, however smartly, he didn't. Since both benches were instantly warned it wasn't worth the risk of ejection and suspension, however this most certainly isn't over, and A-Rod can expect to get one in the ribs come July. My suggestion to Girardi and his team is to not have your starters throw meatballs to the bad man, and then there'll be no need for "intimidation" tactics.

Good game for the first place Sox though, and they look to take on the last place Rangers in a four game Patriot day set.

Season Series:
Sox - 3
Yanks - 2

Comments

[RationalSoxFan]

I was also on the edge of my seat wondering what Beckett would do. I wrote about the Yankees getting a lot dirtier since Joe Torre left, have you noticed that too?

I'm glad Beckett did not retaliate - we just needed to win, not to fight. But, a pitch high and tight to A-Rod later in the season seems likely.

[Dogzilla]

http://www.moviegoods.com/movie_item.asp?path=%2FAssets%2Fproduct%5Fimages%2F1020%2F&file=209830%2E1020%2EA%2Ejpg

[Troy]

Since Torre has left the Yankee's have become just big school yard bullies. They think they're intimidating but they're not. I think it has a lot to do with Hank Steinbrenner to be honest. He runs his mouth a lot, and come later in the season, his mouth is going write checks that his ass can't cash.

Good move on Manny and the Sawx part to not do anything about it this game. There's no needs to do something stupid and get suspended for a game or two.

[Centerfield Hixon]

I think the commissioner should step up and send a very strong message to pitchers who choose to throw intentionally at the heads of batters by suspending Kyle Farnsworth for a significant period of time. What would the headlines be today if he hit one of the best hitters in Major League Baseballs history in face. At 98 miles an hour, he could have seriously injured Manny, ended his career or even worse, killed him. I honestly don't think I am exaggerating the potential for serious harm here. It is totally bush league and unacceptable. However, if the past is a predictor of the future - our weak ass commissioner will turn another blind eye, just like he did during the steroids era. When I think of our commissioner, I think of the Saturday Night Live Weekend Update skit with Seth Myers and Amy Poehler called, REALLY? REALLY, Mr. Commissioner, you didn't know that Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds were taking steroids to help them break all of these home run records? REALLY? How about the open bottle of Andro in McGwire's locker? Shouldn't that have tipped you off that you might have a game full of flat out cheaters who were tarnishing a game much bigger than you or any other player? REALLY?
Stop the freaking madness - ask Farnsworth to grab some pine in the dugout for a month and think about the consequence of his actions as his Yankees plummet in the standings!

[JT]

Farnsworth is such a piece of crap. Throwing at Manny's head is the only reason we are talking about his ass. That or another blown save. Question is who do the Red Sox drill now, ARod or Jeter? I don't care really.

[Derek Hixon]

For better or worse throwing at batters is a part of baseball. Pitchers, especially at the MLB level have to throw inside to really have a chance against these hitters.

I mean Pedro was probably the most intentional offender of this, he hit batters, and threw inside ALL the time, but he also was leading the league in K's and had a great K to BB ratio.

Throwing at the head is never forgivable (Tony C anyone?). Hit a guy in the ass or back, but no need to go high. This certainly isn't over by a long shot.

And Dogzilla, a photoshop of that is now in the works!

[RationalSoxFan]

Derek,

Absolutely true - pitchers can and should pitch inside, and occassionally hit a batter by mistake doing so - just like Mussina did twice against Ellsbury last night - just got too tight inside. And now and then a batter deserves a message sent - in which case the buttox is the appropriate location to hit him. Never in the head area!

Very bush league.

[Troy]

It might be a good thing all that happened otherwise, we might be talking about Ortiz going hitless again last night. We're in the middle of April and he's batting .111

Also, as a side note, I don't think I've ever seen Tito get up from his seat that quickly as he did when Manny almost got hit.