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What a bum. Anyone noticing a trend on the Yankees?
Anytime that a Yankee pitcher gets tooled on by another player, they go head hunting.
Personally, I agree that pitching inside is a must. However, headhunting is something completely different. IMHO Rivera threw at Shea's head, and it seemed fairly obvious to me. If Rivera feels Shea is crowding the plate, and he's got to send a message to Shea, he should bowtie him. Today, Rivera's pitch was right at Shea's ear with a tail on it! From my perspective, Rivera's lost some mph on his fastball, b/c the old Rivera never would have needed to headhunt, nor would he have gotten beaten by Shea Hillenbrand. This is not unlike the shift Clemens underwent from his prime Boston days to his current style in NY. When Roger was a red sox he had pinpoint control and hit triple digits on his heat. The last five plus seasons he's been in the mid 90s, and he's had to throw at guys to keep them honest. Personally, I understand why pitchers do it, and I think Pedro's gonna have to put some fear in hitters soon too, but I personally don't have to like it! Who knows what will happen to Rivera, but he's not invicible anymore! He wasn't throwing 97 the last two days, he was throwing 93mph!
Another thing to think about was the hour of the day. What made this worse in my eyes, was the fact that the shadows in Fenway at the time were such that is difficult to pick up a pitch. Thus, it really could have made for a dangerous combination. Helmets are great, but these guys don't wear helmets that protect you from a 93mph fastball at your ear!
Classy organization all right.
Anytime that a Yankee pitcher gets tooled on by another player, they go head hunting.
Personally, I agree that pitching inside is a must. However, headhunting is something completely different. IMHO Rivera threw at Shea's head, and it seemed fairly obvious to me. If Rivera feels Shea is crowding the plate, and he's got to send a message to Shea, he should bowtie him. Today, Rivera's pitch was right at Shea's ear with a tail on it! From my perspective, Rivera's lost some mph on his fastball, b/c the old Rivera never would have needed to headhunt, nor would he have gotten beaten by Shea Hillenbrand. This is not unlike the shift Clemens underwent from his prime Boston days to his current style in NY. When Roger was a red sox he had pinpoint control and hit triple digits on his heat. The last five plus seasons he's been in the mid 90s, and he's had to throw at guys to keep them honest. Personally, I understand why pitchers do it, and I think Pedro's gonna have to put some fear in hitters soon too, but I personally don't have to like it! Who knows what will happen to Rivera, but he's not invicible anymore! He wasn't throwing 97 the last two days, he was throwing 93mph!
Another thing to think about was the hour of the day. What made this worse in my eyes, was the fact that the shadows in Fenway at the time were such that is difficult to pick up a pitch. Thus, it really could have made for a dangerous combination. Helmets are great, but these guys don't wear helmets that protect you from a 93mph fastball at your ear!
Classy organization all right.
