April 24, 2014

Tar Nation

Michael Pineda comes up with an interesting excuse for using pine tar on the ball:

“It was a really cold night and in the first inning I (couldn’t) feel the ball,” Pineda said. “I don’t want to like hit anybody so I decided to use it.”

Pineda was ejected by home plate umpire and crew chief Gerry Davis after Red Sox manager John Farrell came out to complain about the shiny blotch on the right side of Pineda’s neck, which was clearly visible to television cameras broadcasting the game.

“I fully respect that on a cold night, you’re trying to get a grip, but when it’s that obvious something has got to be said,” Farrell said.

So if Pineda had been more subtle about using the substance, that would have been okay? Brian Cashman seems to be taking this seriously:

Cashman seemed angered by the failure of anyone on the Yankees side to have spotted the pine tar on Pineda before it was spotted by the Red Sox, especially in light of allegations that Pineda had pine tar smeared on the palm of his pitching hand the last time he faced the Red Sox, on April 10 at Yankee Stadium.

“We certainly are responsible, and there’s certainly failure on our part as an organization as a whole that he took the field in the second inning with that on his neck,” Cashman said. “He’s responsible for his actions, but we failed as an organization for somehow him being in that position. I don’t know how, none of us know right now, we’re scratching our head right now, how that took place.”

I suspect Pineda will miss his next start. The Red Sox went on to win the game 5-1.

1 thought on “Tar Nation

  1. James

    “So if Pineda had been more subtle about using the substance, that would have been okay?”

    Yeah, apparently.
    I also find this weird.

    Here’s what I think the deal is. Farrell wants to just play along with the other managers and the rest of baseball and leave the Sticky Substance trick alone. But, if Pineda insists on making it so blatant, Farrell is going to be in a very… sticky situation after the game if he says nothing. He’ll be asked a lot of questions that he’ll have no non-embarassing answers for. So, he felt forced to report Pineda’s transgression. That’s what he (Farrell) was trying to convey, only he couldn’t exactly come out and say it.

    ReplyReply

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