"It's great to be young and a Yankee."

Win.

I don't know where to begin with this one.



One thing I do know is that in years of watching baseball, The 2nd Inning Incident is the most sickening, disgusting rejection of sportsmanship and integrity that I've ever seen.

I get that drilling players is "part of the game" (allegedly), but that's not a acceptance I've ever really been on board with. But I get it, nonetheless. The thing is, is that it's not like hockey where it actually IS part of the game (allegedly). In baseball, it's more of a thing that's limited to onfield retaliation.

You pull a Manny and take your sweet ass time at the plate after you take the opposing pitcher deep? Then you're plunk susceptible. You try to break up a double play by sliding with your spikes up into the SS? Susceptible.

But as I understand the stupid "rule," it doesn't generally give pitchers carte blanche to wage war on people because of personal vendettas.

(But, of course, if Dempster wants to play the "Eye for an eye" game, then the Yankees are more the eager, willing, and able to be dealt into the hand.)

I'm not saying anything that everyone doesn't already know. Sigh. That Dempster 4 pitches to A-Rod were evil, classless, dangerous, uncalled for, gutless, and pathetic.

I mean, it's a great message to send, really. Like to all those impressionable kids everyone's so worried that A-Rod's lies have irreparably destroyed? I'm glad they got to see such a lovely example of rosy sportsmanship. I swear, it's like some primitive social ecosystem that avenges moral sins with violent punishments.


Should've put a "Draft/Unedited" watermark on it, if you weren't going to take the time to route it through editorial.

Fenway, of course, disagrees. They were super excited about it. Sometimes it like they have pseudobulbar affect, that symptom of ALS when you burst out crying or laughing at inappropriate times.

I mean, they were cheering when A-Rod's fielder's choice drove in a run. They were happy when they put him on base with the HBP.

And John Farrell? Apparently believes that Dempster was just aligning with a well-thought out strategic direction that involved "establishing inside fastballs."

Dempster walked 1 batter all game. I'm not sure if that really helps an argument for control. That's the thing about Boston.

A lot of times they act like those Occupy Wall Street protesters who are realllllly fired up about shit, but when asked to clarify the source of their anger, or--even better--confronted with logic that repels them back into their vat of hypocrisy..., then the OWS-ers don't know how to be anything but passionately principled.

For example, our pal in the stands with the A-Looser sign. I'm so curious about a lot of things going on here, starting with how this guy managed to set down his blue and red markers, survey his work, and then think, "PERFECT! Yeahhhh this'll show him!"

The other thing I'm very curious about is what the hell does "T.O," stand for here? Congrats, bro. You just earned a place alongside this guy.

Dempster was a dick, but the homeplate ump was even worse. Why would he think it'd be a fair game, with our best pitcher now nibbling at the plate, because 1 mistake from his end tosses him from the game. The bullet's out of his chamber, and he did nothing wrong to deserve that.

Girardi argued like I've never seen him argue before. Like, to the point where he might get thrown into the People We Need Urine Samples From For Steroid Investigation Stuff.

He was incensed big time. It was awesome to see that kind of non-manufactured ire, it's rare, really. Most of the time the whole fit-pitching thing is of the trying-to-light-a-fire-under-team's-ass persuasion.

This was more like a trying-to-set-fire-to-Fenway type of anger. Good for him for getting A-Rod's back. It was probably more related to the fact it put his win chances at a significant disadvantage, though.

(I thought MLB was all branding itself the Crusaders Against Unfair Advantages. I guess there are grey areas. And by grey areas, I'm referring to the Yankees away jerseys.)

Dempster didn't get thrown out for reasons no one really has been able to articulate. HOWEVER, reasons HAVE been articulated about why Dempster did it. Wait for it.

A-Rod snubbed Dempster at a public event. Dempster was not impressed.
— Wayne Scanlan (@HockeyScanner) August 19, 2013

HAHAHAHHAHHAAHHA. Seriously. I can only imagine what "snubbed" means. Did Dempster want an autograph? Did A-Rod take the last slice of pecan pie at the dessert buffet? Snubbed him HOW?

Oh my God, say what you will about A-Rod, but he is like flypaper for every whiny insecure pitcher in the league.

(cough...Dallas Braden...cough)

A-Rod is basically the Regina George of MLB. Everyone hates her, but everyone wants his attention.

Anyways, so then the Yankees rally because they're pissssssed. They come back to tie the game. And then A-Rod drives in a run to put the Yanks in the lead.

(But since A-Rod was out at 1st, Fenway cheered. Because let's be honest, wouldn't you rather have A-Rod off first base, than Sneach off homeplate? C'mon. Everyone knows an A-Rod out trumps run prevention.)

Unfortunately, amidst all the wild and crazy drama, there was our flubby Tubbo dumping around on the mound, looking extremely confused and uncomfortable.

He's been pretty unremarkable all season, so I think the consensus among Yankee fans was that Fatso was probably trying very hard to bean a player, but couldn't find the control necessary to throw out of control.

Irony!

But, you know, even if he HAD managed to get a coveted HBP on the board, his velocity was so low that the only message he would be sending is "Don't you miss the simple joys of being able to jump into a McDonald's ball pit?"

I realllly wanted to find a stat on how many times HBPs there have been in history between the Yanks and Socks. It's been added to my rotation of Things to Google in Downtime. I'll keep you posted.

A-Rod was only one of 4 HBPs tonight, though. GGBG got drilled by Morales because he didn't share his Halloween candy with him 2 years ago, and De La Rosa nailed both Nix and Cano because they went to go see Elysium without inviting him.

The Socks took a 6-3 lead, and things didn't look good.

Until A-Rod led off in the 6th and took Dempster deep. He's closing in on 650 career homeruns, but I'd venture to say that the one he hit in this game was probably in his top 5 favorite of all time. Outside of the ones he hit in the 2009 playoffs, this definitely would be my choice.

(A-Rod's got the highest BA on the team, by the by. Also, I just read this on ESPN: "The Yankees hitting has been much better since Alex Rodriguez returned to the lineup. They're hitting .303 in 13 games with A-Rod after hitting .240 without him. They're scoring about a run and a half more per game and hitting a homer much more often.")

That was a clutch hit, because it closed the gap to 2, and fired up the team to go out and load the bases up for GGBG, who roped on into right for a bases-clearing triple.

AND HERE COME THE YANKEES!

7-6.

Once Round Boy got yanked from the game, the NY pen gave up only 2 additional hits, and 0 runs. And to top it off, they managed to get around the whole plunk-and-you're-done stipulation, by taking revenge on the only guy who was just as guilty as Dempster:

Home plate ump Brian O'Nora.

I don't know. It's not like Boone Logan is a knuckleballer or anything. So I'm delightfully intrigued by Chris Stewart's egregious non-catch that cleared a path straight into the ump's face.

There was something very creatively Sean Avery about it all.

It was a good game to win. And it was a good game for the Yankees because they all rallied around A-Rod. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, maybe? But maybe it was more of a realization that the guy has been getting it pretty badly. That's your teammate there.

It sort of reminded me of the end of "School Ties." After Brenden Fraser went from school hero to school outcast, he finds himself in the middle of a cheating scandal. He didn't do it, but everyone hates him for lying about being Jewish, and some REALLY hate him because he was so popular and good-looking and athletic.

He's got no one on his side, it seems. Until he goes to confess to cheating, and he finds that one of his classmates has already told the dean the truth, effectively exhonerating Brendan Fraser.

It was a good day for the Yankees. And a good day for Yankee fans. I was proud of A-Rod today, and I don't know how many Boston fans can say with any modicum of honesty that they were proud to be Red Socks fans today.