Lou, Pete Rose on Rays' side

Cubs manager Lou Piniella, a longtime Yankee and former Rays manager, sided with the Rays in the flap created by Yankees manager Joe Girardi over a collision at home plate Saturday, in this brief from the Chicago Sun-Times:

Crash dummy?
Piniella weighed in on the flap between two of his former teams, the Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees, over Rays prospect Elliot Johnson breaking Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli's right wrist on a home-plate collision.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi said the play was excessive for spring training, but Piniella disagreed.
''How do you tell a player to not play hard?'' Piniella said. ''I can see his viewpoint, but it's part of the game.
''Hard, fair play is part of the game, whether it's in spring training or part of the season.
''These kids are trying to make the team just like everybody else. I'm sure there was no intent to hurt anybody. It just so happened there was an injury.''

Pete Rose also weighed in on the Rays' side, on an XM radio interview: "There’s one play to play the game of baseball and that is to win. If you try to win and you are within the rules, that’s the only way to play. People pay money to watch a game and it’s the players’ responsibility to win the game. “You can’t tell a player to not bust their chops because it’s a spring training game. I don’t know why Joe Girardi would get mad, he’s a catcher and that’s what happens. It was just a freak play; if the player slides normally the catcher could break his wrist too.”

And so did Angels manager Mike Scioscia, who a) was famous for his ability to block the plate, and b) if Maddon's former boss, in this from the Orange County Register:

PLATE COLLISIONS
It happened in a spring training game, in the ninth inning, involving the faceless Tampa Bay Rays.

Yet there was plenty of relevance Saturday when base runner Elliott Johnson plowed into New York Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli, breaking the prospect's right wrist.

Rays manager and long-time Angels coach Joe Maddon called the play "hardball." His counterpart, Joe Girardi, went with "uncalled for."

Scioscia, who as a player was once famously knocked loopy at the plate by Jack Clark, not surprisingly sided with his former lieutenant.

"A baseball game is a baseball game," he said. "Nobody wants to see someone get hurt, but that's the nature of sports at times."

Scioscia also said there's a greater chance of injury by going the opposite direction, by playing less than 100 percent.

Just before the start of the 1986 season, Scioscia's Dodgers teammate Pedro Guerrero ruptured his patella tendon easing into a slide during an exhibition game.

"You're much less likely to get hurt playing aggressively as opposed to trying to put a governor on it," Scioscia said. "You're not minimizing the risk when you lighten up effort."

Comments

[JPPC]

hilarious! i find it amusing that the yankees organization found it necessary to find a manager (girardi) who would light a proverbial fire under the team. hysterical! that's almost a prima facie acknowledgement that they're a bunch of bloated, overpaid, prima donnas -- and they are! -- who are unable to light a fire under themselves because they're so spoiled rotten, babied and coddled. it's just too funny. yankee nation, do you enjoy the feeling of karma biting you on the @$$? get used to it. oh and please let little jorge block the plate. you know he wants to. i'm trying very hard not to make a joke about his chin. so i'll just end here!

[Kevin in North Carolina]

Here is another example where the Yankess just expect other teams to bow down before them...I'm so sick of the prima donas, and I hope the Rays continue to show some backbone...I'm actually excited about this upcoming season for them...

[Kevin in North Carolina]

Here is another example where the Yankess just expect other teams to bow down before them...I'm so sick of the prima donas, and I hope the Rays continue to show some backbone...I'm actually excited about this upcoming season for them...

[Sim]

The Yankees are soft and will be exposed yet again this year. I thought they brought Girardi in to light a fire under these guys. I hope the Rays play this hard all year. Their athleticism reminds me of the Marlins a few years ago (without Josh Beckett of course).

[cak]

Faceless? The Rays have gotten more national publicity from this than anything else they've done in a while. I like the effort and hope it translates into success later in the season. Am remaining cautiously optimistic and am looking forward to opening day for the first time in many, many seasons.

[Pete]

The Yankees are a joke nowadays. If they are such an authority on the way the game should be played during Spring Training, then why are they signing Billy Crystal?? Girardi should ask Crystal to suit up as Catcher and start him against the Rays. I would pay good money to see that collision!

[rayray]

Homeboy Sweet Lou to the rescue.

It's unfortunate some got hurt.

We're irking the Evil Empire, & with a nickname like that and all their monetary advantages, great & rightfully so.