In the second inning at Fenway Park, Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell noticed Pineda going to his neck with his throwing hand after a wild first inning where the Yankee righty foreshadowed reasons for going back to pine tar, the same substance he was accused by broadcasters of using in his previous starts against Boston.
Unlike last night, however, Farrell decided not to have umpires check Pineda for contraband despite it was as much a secret as Jose Canseco opening a Juice bar at The Ballpark in Arlington.
Could have had something to do with Boston's starter that night; Clay Buchholz has a habit of keeping his hair slicker than Pat Riley's even on chilly nights like last. Funny, because in baseball, players wear hats, so hairdos are usually saved for the postgame show. Instead, John Lackey was throwing--well (11 strikeouts)--so Farrell had little problem trotting to the Boys in Blue and ratting out the guy who got him the time before.
Either way, it's Pineda's problem. It's a Yankee problem. But it's not in the impending suspension or Pineda's missed starts in an already-plagued Bronx rotation.
It's Pineda's head.
Clearly he doesn't believe he can throw the ball without Stick'em.
Clearly he's dumb enough to have tried this again after the first uproar.
Clearly he didn't care that he left a skingraft of goo on his neck much like a burglar posting a score on Facebook.
Clearly Brian McCann couldn't get enough pine tar on his shin guards to make a difference.
If you're a Yankee fan, you're hoping this isn't a watershed moment early in a season where even the pinstripers could be considered overachievers. With a hodgepodge of aging Hall-of-Famers, old rookies and AAAA-roster fillers, nobody is feeling bad for them despite the losses of Robinson Cano to the Mariners and Mariano Rivera to retirement.
# # #
The NFL schedule release is the biggest non-story of 2014. But since it's the NFL, it makes headlines.
Sadly, there have always been leaks that never come to fruition, which is OK since nothing is official until the schedule itself is released. But when teams offer contests to pick the schedule and offer prizes like $100,000 (St. Louis Rams) or season tickets for life (Buffalo Bills) and a story comes out that one of these two teams may play on Thanksgiving, it sours the sentiment of fans who entered these longshot contests thinking they'd get at least one freebie.
No. The Bills will not play the Lions on Thanksgiving.
But they will end another regular season in Foxboro.
As of right now, the Raiders have the toughest schedule based on last season. The good news for Oakland is that never holds once the season starts.
Meanwhile, fanatics are penciling-in wins and losses like spoiled 16 year-old girls on YouTube filming their Christmas present requests.
Hopefully, they'll remember to bring this list and check it twice after their team's first preseason game when their favorite player is lost for the season and we revisit another redundant NFL topic: Why we should cancel the preseason.
# # #
Hershel Walker says he can still play in the NFL at 52.
Great timing for a league who has had it up to their Riddells in class-action concussion suits.
Then again, you can just blame this on one of Walker's 52 personalities.
Or, then again, you can blame those on the concussions, too.
# # #
Anyone in Buffalo actually following the NHL playoffs? No, not the Blackhawks-Blues series. The whole thing?
# # #
# # #
No comments:
Post a Comment