Remember Joe Girardi crying about the Rays being too aggressive in a spring training game? The comments came after a Yankee catching prospect, Francisco Cervelli, had his wrist broken when a Tampa Bay player took him out at the plate. Well, those two teams played today. Any guesses what happened?
The benches cleared after New York’s Shelley Duncan slid into Rays second baseman Akinonori Iwamura with the spikes raised after singling off third
baseman Evan Longoria’s glove and trying to stretch the hit into a double.
Yeah, it’s the same Shelley Duncan who answered a 10-year old Red Sox fan request for an autograph with “Red Sox Suck!”
And if anyone is surprised by Shelley’s action, take a look at his post-game comments from the last time the teams played:
Duncan, who asked Girardi before the games started what was expected of him on the bases, said because the New York Yankees are playing the Rays on Wednesday, he won’t know what to do until he rounds third.
“I don’t know, that will be determined between third and home,” the ultra-aggressive Duncan said.
Hmmm. Sounds a bit premeditated to me. Duncan had one double last year – does anybody think he was really trying to stretch the single? Girardi’s reaction will be interesting after his soap-box stand following the play that started the war. I’m expecting some major league backpeddling.
