The other day, Joe Girardi told the media he thought Brad Penny deliberately hit Alex Rodriguez in Thursday’s Yankees-Red Sox game:
“Penny’s control was pretty good,” Girardi said. “I thought it was on purpose. That is all part of baseball.”
Now Penny, who’s been on the Red Sox for about five minutes, has fired back a response:
“I don’t give two [expletives] what Joe Girardi says,” Penny said yesterday. “I’m coming inside. I don’t care.
“Anybody can say that. We can say that about the time they hit our guys.”
Um, Brad, you guys do. Constantly. Your team’s co-owner, John Henry even tweeted about it on June 10:
Q: What’s the consecutive game streak for a team hitting another team’s hitters? So far they lead us 9-2 this year in hit batters.
What’s the consecutive streak of Yankee players being sent to the hospital by Red Sox pitchers? Two, Alfonso Soriano and Derek Jeter, by Pedro Martinez. I must have missed Henry’s outrage over that.
Penny continued:
“I’m just trying to pitch inside. Maybe he should worry about managing and not trying to be the commissioner.
“Why wouldn’t he say that the night before? Don’t wait a day, then say it. He should worry about managing and let the umpire crew do their job.”
Guess Penny missed how the umpires “did their job” and issued a warning to both teams after Penny hit A-Rod, which hamstrung the Yankees from responding.
And if waiting a day to respond is so horrible, maybe Penny ought to complain about Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell whining on WEEI the day after Joba Chamberlain hit Jason Bay last month, and threatening retribution:
“Those things aren’t forgotten. We know there is a history there between the pitcher in New York and our guys here and not to say that he was specifically out to do that but I think history speaks for itself and we’ve got a number of games left with these guys.”
At any rate, Penny has nothing to worry about. Only Yankees get suspended for brushbacks against the Red Sox, and not vice versa. Joba Chamberlain has already gotten more punishment from MLB than Pedro Martinez ever did.
Heck, Bob Watson even punishes Yankees when they don’t hit anybody! The Red Sox could put up a billboard next to the Citgo sign saying “We’re gonna hit A-Rod tonight” and Red Sox Bob wouldn’t do anything about it. (Come to think of it, Penny basically did broadcast it, given that he had missed with his first brushback pitch!)
I’m sure I will hear Boston fans accuse me of whining, but I’m just tired of hearing their own whining about this issue. For all the complaints in Red Sox Nation about Jason Bay being hit by Yankee pitches three times this year, and for the now 9-3 plunking differential, there are other numbers to be considered. From 2003-2008 the Sox hit more Yankees than vice versa every single year, for a total of 69 vs. 52 plunkings. I wish reporters would cite those numbers instead of only talking about this year’s HBP stats.
And while it is true that Kevin Youkilis has been hit by Yankee pitchers seven times over the last three years, let’s look at the numbers of the Yankees’ two top players vs. the Red Sox’ two top players since 2003:
Player Times HBP
Jeter 12
Rodriguez 11
Ramirez 6
Ortiz 0
Yes, that’s right. Despite feasting on Yankee pitching for the past seven years, Ortiz has never been hit once by a Bomber pitch. Not even by accident.
Tell you what – when the HBP totals on Bay, Youkilis, and Ortiz rival the A-Rod-Jeter HBP totals, then the Sox will have a point. Until then, please spare me the sanctimony.
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