A-Rod has pulled some dubious moves on the field in the past that amaze us with how brazen they are. Two that immediately come to mind are trying to slap the ball out of Bronson Arroyo’s hand on a weak infield ground hit to Arroyo. In another game against Toronto, as he was running in between 2nd and 3rd bases, he called out “Mine” to confuse the Toronto infielders who were looking up at an infield pop-up and cause them all to let the ball drop.
Yesterday, Derek Jeter pulled out one of A-Rod’s dog and pony shows when he pulled away from an inside pitch from Ray’s pitcher Chad Qualls when he was trying to bunt, and then spun away and grabbed his forearm as if he was hit by the pitch. The Yankee’s trainer came running out to check him out. Everyone could hear that the ball had hit the knob of the bat, but Jeter’s acting led home plate umpire Lance Barksdale to award him 1st base. Joe Maddon came out to argue and got ejected. Curtis Granderson came up to bat with Jeter on base and hit a 2 run home run that should have been a 1 run home run. That homer put the Yankees on top, but the Rays eventually won the game, 4-3 last night. Ray’s players and fans were not amused.
Jeter later admitted that the ball hit the bat, and when Barksdale awarded him 1st base, he wasn’t about to say, “No, I’m not taking the base. I wasn’t hit by the pitch.”
Yahoo Sports has more on the incident and Yankees.com has a video of Jeter’s Academy Award winning performance.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
