Good for 'Dorf. Anybody know if his air outs were scary fly balls or cans o' corn? Somehow I don't think the answer to that question will be on the backpages tomorrey.

Either way you look at it, his plan was essentially the same. Kick some balls. It's kind of like soccer only less boring. Seriously, though, rule 1 of any sport: Don't piss off the team with this guy on it: http://media.scout.com/Media/Image/21/215981.jpg

Not the best play he could have made, but at least nobody broke any bones (no pun intended).

This definitely looked purposeful, and over the line. Sit Shelley for a few days.

Still, sometimes you gotta cross the line and take the punishment, just so that other teams don't run right over you.

I haven't seen anyone suggest that Johnson's was an inherently dirty play, just that it was inappropriately aggressive for a spring training game.

Which teams are these?

That's not to say that Duncan doesn't deserve a fine and perhaps even a short suspension for what he did today. But someone has to take on the role of "bad guy" to discourage other teams from treating the Yankees like pin cushions.

Somewhere Billy Martin is smiling today.

5 I think he's putting himself at least at the head of the class for first outfielder called up. He would provide an interesting dimension.

Shelley, don't be a hero
don't be a fool with your spikes
Shelley, don't be a hero,
all I can say is yee-ikes.
and as Shelley started to go
Zim said keep them dirty spikes lo-o-ow
Shelley don't be a hero
don't be dir-ty...

(oy)

Oye!

I love it.

A fan can dream.

I'm out, but I leave youse guys with this:

How many days might "Army Of One" be suspended? He'll most certainly be back fer the St. Paddy's Day donnybrook avec Boston, oui?

From baseball-reference, HBP's

2007: 9-9
2006: 7-6 BOS
2005: 10-6 NYY
2004: 18-15 NYY
2003: 11-7 NYY
2002: 14-5 NYY
2001: 9-6 NYY
2000: 9-2 NYY

Doesn't appear one sided to me.

2007 was the first time they didn't finish in first place since 1997. They have among the best records in the league.

They aren't pincushions. Far from it. If Jeter wants to stop getting hit, I'd suggest he stop diving over the plate. I also suggest he start turning on the inside fastball so that pitchers stop trying to pitch him there.

And he's only 64? I seem to remember him looking much older when he was skipper..

Ha ha hah!

Spring stats:

BGarder: .313/.389/.500, 16 AB, 1 2B, 1 3B, 3 SB, 0 CS
Ensberg: .333/.429/.556, 18 AB, 4 2B

I'd rather the guy that gives a different skill set from the other bench warmers.

Joe Girardi said yesterday that if he saw a replay that showed what Shelley Duncan did was dirty, he would have a meeting with him.
Girardi and Duncan met this morning.
Duncan said later he didn't want to talk about the meeting. Let's see, 2 + 2 …
"We talked," Duncan said. "Whenever you have private conversations with people you like to keep it between them."
Duncan said he saw the replay. "When you do something, it never looks the same as what you thought you did," he said. "So it didn't look the same as what I thought I did."
Asked whether he would do the same thing again, Duncan paused. "A lot of time situations don't repeat themselves."
So there you have it. The only question now is what sort of punishment MLB levies against the participants. Duncan and Jonny Gomes will likely be suspended.

___________

Shelley should be in politics, a master of stating the obvious. I am glad Girardi APPEARS to have stepped up. I am (I admit) disappointed in the ongoing 'Jeter gets hit all the time' stuff (Jeter can be gotten out inside AND he leans over the plate.) and I blink when I read people dumping on Madden for making his team play (inappropriately?) hard in spring, and then demand the Yankees get meaner.

I am with JL again: there was nothing dirty by the practice OR the rules of baseball in the catcher bang-bang play. And as we discussed, Girardi could as easily have told HIS kid not to block the plate on close plays in spring.

I'm going to post this again, as people seem to read things and not absorb them (never let the facts get in the way of an opinion?):

"There is no language in the rulebook that is available to the public that prohibits a runner from using his hands to avoid a tag or any other reason. It is. however, outlined in the supplemental rulebook given to umpires in section 6.1. It reads: "While contact may occur between a fielder and runner during a tag attempt, a runner is not allowed to use his hands or arms to commit an obviously malicious or unsportsmanlike act--such as grabbing, tackling, intentionally slapping at the baseball, punching, kicking, flagrantly using his arms or forearms, etc. to commit an intentional act of interference unrelated to running the bases."

Notice the rule allows for contact. If Rodriguez lowered his shoulder and ran over Arroyo, this would have been perfectly legal."

__________

NOTE: I am personally comfortable with a rule amendment to make home plate contact on the shoulder-ram level illegal, but it is not right now, AND it is steadily in use. And as to spring training no-nos ... obviously there IS no clear unwritten rule on this.

Shelley was way out of line. This was like a crunching hockey bodycheck followed by a two-hander to the head.

By the way (in reference to the idea that Alex could have flattened Arroyo legally): am I the only one old enough to remember bunts down the first base line - forcing the pitcher to field it - as a legal but vicious way of retaliating to a brushback pitch?

HBP
2007: KC
2006: BAL
2005: TOR

Hit Batsmen
2007: BAL
2006: BOS
2005: BOS

NoMaas' claim is wrong.

I remember reading about it, but I've never seen it done. I do remember Rob Dibble fielding a bunt and throwing the ball at a baserunner.

Also remember Joey Cora's 2 drag bunts in the '95 ALDS, though they weren't in retaliation for anything...

Like the shoulder block at home, a spikes high slide at 2B is also a "part of the game". If Maddon thinks ST is the proper place to foster a feisty attitude, then he can't caomplain when his team is on the receiving end.

Should Duncan have slid hard into Aki? No. Should Johnson have crushed Cervelli's wrist? No. Either two wrongs don't make a right or both players were playing "good hard" baseball. You can't split the baby.

26 I am pretty sure No Mass meant that over the past three seasons the Yankees led in HBP...not in each of the last three seasons.

Fire da bum!

Me, I say he's (belatedly) recognizing he made a mistake with his own talk. To use a historical reference (from way before Three Finger Brown) "Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?" You're at least partly responsible for what follows when you have authority and talk that way.

Johnson's crushing Cervelli's wrist remains, as JL said, a legal, fair, hard, common-enough play. With a caveat that there MAY be some spring training concepts (like All-Star game concepts) that are problematic - but as I said, there really don't seem to be clear guidelines on this IN the game.

Hard slides into 2nd when the play is close are part of the game. When you are out by 5 steps following on vows of vengeance - that's dirty. You are sticking to this view without looking at the play. It had ZIP to do with 'good hard' baseball, it was a two-handed retaliatory stick swing after a check.

Nor am I just re-stating an opinion, I have now twice posted the umpires' rulebook. That isn't an opinion William, it is a citation.

I also said I would be wide open to amending the rules to prevent injury. And common sense makes it easy for Girardi to tell his catchers to let the run score. Cuts both ways.

Interesting, the NL has 6 of the top-8 teams, which is a little odd considering how most people often say the best way to limit HBP in the AL is to make the pitcher bat.

I just saw a good video of it on ESPN-HD, Duncan's foot was high going in, I don't mind a hard slide, but make it clean.

Similarly, Johnson's bone crushing collision at homeplate also employed excessive force. It's funny how Maddon encourages one, but abhors the other.

I definitely don't think Girardi is being a wuss. First off, we don't know what he said. He may have reprimanded Duncan for being too aggressive, but not for "protecting" his teammates in the first place. Who knows...he may have even patted him on the back. Or, he may have said just because the Rays play dirty in ST doesn't mean we have do.

To be honest, it doesn't really matter. What I definitely don't believe, however, is Girardi doesn't stand by his original comments (mostly because he has consistently reiterated them since). I also don't believe Girardi is offended by having a player go out of bounds if the intention is correct. In other words, Girardi hasn't been apologetic, and I like that.

By the way, I did look at the play. Duncan's slide is definitely hard, but I don't think it close to as violent as the pancake Johnson put on Cervelli. Again, you can't have it both ways. Either both plays aren't acceptable, or both of them are.

Finally, your citation is far from conclusive. The way I read the rule, a full body collision at any base is malicious and unsportsmanlike (for the life of me, I can imagine how anyone could lay such a hit on someone without expecting a serious injury).

I also think it's foolish to tell a player to not try to make a tag. That's instinct. NFL style collisions are not MLB fundamentals, so again, common sense would dictate that players not use them in the Spring.

The real point is less 'high going in' than out by several long strides FOLLOWING declaration of intent.

I trust Girardi knows which is the better way to go, and will lead that way going forward.

Those who cite the number of times Yankee hitters have been plunked have to acknowledge that several Yankee hitters hang over the plate, and make themselves easy targets. Not every Yankee HBP must be avenged, as I see it.

Also, unless a pitcher naturally has it in him, or h