It was a brilliant tactic designed to help his team win.
It was a lowlife action that wouldn't be tolerated in little league.
Both are reactions to the exact same play. And it became the talk of the
Blue Jays and their fans at the
Rogers Centre Wednesday night. It centres on the
Yankees'
Alex Rodriguez, the highest paid player in all of baseball, and it happened in the ninth inning of a game New York was leading 7-5 at the time.
It started when Jays third baseman
Howie Clark went to catch a harmless pop fly off the bat of
Jorge Posada. Rodriguez, who was on base at the time, had no business taking off on the play, but decided to run in between Clark and his shortstop
John McDonald.
With his back turned, Clark heard what he thought was his teammate calling him off so he could make the catch himself. "Mine!" the voice shouted and following the rules of the game, Clark immediately backed off. Except it wasn't a Jays' player issuing the call. It was Rodriguez, who watched with great glee as the ball plopped down on the field allowing a run to score.
The umpires could have and some say should have ruled it interference, called Rodriguez out and sent everyone back to their respective bases. But they didn't. The play is being called 'bush league' by players, fans and commentators alike, something that just isn't done in professional baseball.
But Rodriguez, who stood on third with a giant smirk on his face, was boasting about his actions afterwards. "I just said, 'Hah!' That's it,'" he laughs. "Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I don't know what my intention was. I didn't say, 'I got it' or anything like that." But that's not what Clark remembers. "I heard a 'Mine' call and so I let it go. What do you do? It makes you mad."
And it ruffled more than a few Jays' feathers. "The thing about the Yankees, one of the reasons they're so respected, is they do things right. Always have," proclaims a disgusted Jays' manager
John Gibbons. "That's not Yankee pride right there. That's not the way they play. I thought it was bush league."
Clark was stunned that he'd been so blatantly duped. "This is my 16th season and it's never happened once," he complains.
But Rodriguez remained unrepentant for his actions. "Honestly, I couldn't care less," he sniffs, calling the Jays 'desperate' for the win. "They have their opinions. We're looking not to be swept."
His teammates aren't so sure. "I wasn't sure that was allowed," outfielder
Johnny Damon admits, before adding, "If it is, maybe we'll keep on doing it." New York wound up
winning the game 10-5, but lost something they may never get back - the respect of their baseball cohorts.
Expect the Jays to respond when the two teams meet again in the Bronx on July 16th.
MLB:
The Blue Jays take
-
MLB:
The Yankees take