Red Sox Report: Valentine Rips Yankees Girardi
Friday, March 23, 2012
One thing that we have learned about new Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine so far is the fact that the man is not afraid to speak his mind.
Thursday night in Fort Myers was another example of Valentine’s brutal honesty with the fourth estate. Following Boston’s 4-4 exhibition tie with the visiting New York Yankees, Valentine unleashed on his rivals.
To set the stage, Boston tied the game in the bottom of the 9th on a suicide squeeze where Jason Repko bunted home Ryan Sweeney. It was a classic example of the National League brand of baseball Red Sox fans should expect to see on occasion this summer which is a far cry from the way the team played under Terry Francona.
After the 9th inning was over, Yankees’ manager Joe Girardi told the umpires that his team was out of pitchers so they called the game. That didn’t sit well with Valentine.
“They had plenty of pitching,” he said. “Probably too long of a ride. They could have known that going in.”
What seemed to bother Valentine even more was the timing of Girardi’s revelation that the Yankees were out of pitching. Righthander Clay Mortensen had been warming up for Boston and took the field with his teammates to start the top of the 10th inning before the umpires waved everyone off.
“It was regretful that Mortensen warmed up though and then we were told that they weren’t going to play extra innings. I didn’t think that that was very courteous,” Valentine said. “The umpire came over and said we couldn’t play. I don’t care about not playing. Why do I have to warm up my pitcher who’s trying to make a team? Come in in a tie game against the Yankees and maybe help him make a team and instead he has to walk off the mound and take a shower. That’s just not very courteous.”
Girardi issued what can best be described as a lame excuse in defense of his handling of the situation. “Usually there's communication between the umpires and the manager and it didn't happen tonight for whatever reason,” Girardi said on his way to the team for the two-and-a-half hour ride back to Tampa. “I didn't know they had another guy.”
Ironically, the Yankees DID have plenty of pitchers available to continue the game. They simply did not want to. The fact that New York did not want to play past 9 innings so that they could get back to Tampa is no big deal. How Joe Girardi handled it is.
Score one for Bobby V. He has demonstrated that he will not take any BS from anyone despite how politically incorrect it may seem. It’s refreshing to see.
NOTES:
-Second baseman Dustin Pedroia suffered what the team called a “right forearm contusion” in Thursday night’s game against New York. Pedroia was hit by an Adam Warren pitch in the bottom of the 4th inning while swinging. At first it appeared that he took the pitch off the wrist but it was the forearm instead. He is listed as day-to-day. Then again, aren’t we all?
-Valentine indicated that pitcher Diasuke Matsuzaka may return to the mound around June 1st which is a bit sooner than some anticipated. Dice-K tossed two simulated innings Thursday and, according to his manager, he “looked pretty good.”
-Much was made Thursday about the return of Terry Francona to Fort Myers. For the first time since leaving the team last fall, Francona returned to see one of their games as a working member of the media for ESPN. As you might expect, he was warmly welcomed by many of his former players.
Francona did say that while he enjoys working for ESPN, he would like to return to the dugout sometime soon because that’s where his passion is. He did admit that he needed a break from the game following last year which he claims wore him down by season’s end.
-There seems to be much speculation about the final two spots in the Boston rotation with the season-opener less than two weeks away. Where once it was thought that Daniel Bard had the 4th spot in the rotation locked up and it was simply a battle for the 5th spot, that may no longer be the case. Some believe that the 4th and 5th spots are still very much up for grabs with Bard, Alfredo Aceves and Felix Doubront all in the mix for those two spots. Last night’s starter, Aaron Cook, is also a candidate but may need more time to work his way up to be able to throw 80-100 pitches per outing which is needed for a starter. Of the four, Aceves has clearly been the most impressive with an ERA of 1.00 this spring. However, his versatility may also work against him if they feel that he is more needed in the bullpen.
This is a story that bares watching over the next week or so.
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