Yanks And Jays Developing Heated Rivalry
Posted August 8, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The American League East is probably best known for the decades-old rivalry that exists between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, but it appears the Bronx Bombers and the Blue Jays are developing a little feud of their own.
It all started back on May 30th when Yankees superstar third baseman Alex Rodriguez allegedly barked something at Jays infielder Howie Clark while the rounding the bases behind him. Clark, who was trying to catch pop up, thought he was being called off by shortstop John McDonald and let the ball drop in keeping a Yankees rally alive. Words were exchanged, and the Yankees went on to win the game.
At that point it was clear that the Jays would exact some revenge against A-Rod and the Yankees, though a four-game set a few weeks later at Yankee Stadium yielded little to no drama. That all changed Monday, however, in what ended as a 5-4 win for New York.
In the series opener at Rogers Centre, rookie Jesse Litsch threw behind A-Rod, whose eyes got wide, and the AL MVP frontrunner later slid hard into second base upending McDonald. Two Blue Jays were hit in the late innings, but with the game close the collective cool was kept. At least for one day.
But Tuesday night the gloves came off, when Jays starter Josh Towers hit Rodriguez above the knee in the third inning. This time more than the slugger’s eyes grew wide – he walked towards the mound jawing at the hurler, while Towers pointed to first base telling A-Rod to move along.
But before he could, both benches and most of each bullpen had convened in the middle of the diamond. No punches were thrown, but shoving and angry words were coming from every angle. And no sooner had the dust appeared to clear and most of the players had returned to their positions, when words between Towers and apparently, Yanks first base coach Tony Pena, had them pushing, shoving and jawing again.
The Yankees began pouring it on that same inning and went on to take a 7-0 lead before the Jays could score once. In the seventh, Yanks starter and former Jay Roger Clemens hit Jays all-star Alex Rios in the shoulder with the first pitch, and was ejected along with manager Joe Torre. Rios muttered a few things in the direction of the Hall of Fame hurler, but that was the extent of the physical confrontations, at least until Wednesday’s season finale.
After the game, the war of words continued.
“The whole focus is to win games,” said Rodriguez, who was limping afterwards. “They’re a good team, we have a lot of respect for them but the only thing that matters is winning games and we’re not going to let any distractions get in our way.”
“I was caught off-guard a little bit, the ball got away and then he came after me,” said Towers of his part in things. “I just asked him to go to first base.
“I heard somebody chirping when I was talking to Lyle (Overbay) and I didn’t think it was Alex and I asked who it was,” Towers continued. “And Tony Pena is running his mouth and I was like, `What’s this guy running his mouth for? This dude is a quitter, he managed a team and quit in the middle of the season because he couldn’t hack it. He’s going to run his mouth to me?’ So I ended up getting into it with Alex a second time.”
Replied Pena: “I don’t care, I have no comment. Let him talk.”
(Photo by Dave Sandford/Getty Images)
