Is it the media or has C.C. Sabathia just had enough?

In a time where the Yankees-Red Sox Rivalry is starting to get stale... C.C. Sabathia may have stirred it up again last night. Was it REALLY C.C. though.. or was it the media?

Red Sox starter Josh Beckett had already hit Yankees stars Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez last night when Sabathia plunked David Ortiz in the leg. It was the first time that Big Papi has been hit by a pitch thrown by a Yankee... EVER. 162 games, including the Pedro Martinez era when he seemed to target Yankees with a sniper rifle.

David Ortiz walks down to first base after being hit by a
 Sabathia pitch. - Jared Wickerham/Getty Images

The plunking came in the last game of a series that the Red Sox would ultimately sweep the Yankees, but the controversy started in the first game when, Ortiz, after smacking a home run, did a little spin move and flipped his bat towards the Yankees dugout. What followed the flip was a virtual call to arms by the New York Sports Yappers. Michael Kay, for one, spent the majority of his ESPN Radio show the following day going on and on about how the Yankees should have retaliated. They had been shown up and they did not respond. Previously in the same game, John Lester had hit two Yankees, including taking slugger Mark Teixeira out of the game with a bone bruise on his right leg. Kay complained and came up with scenarios where Ortiz should be drilled for the "show up" in that night's game by A.J. Burnett. It was an interesting debate but Kay stretched into something far bigger than what it was. Yanks Manager, Joe Girardi was the only team member that mentioned it after the game and all that he said that he "didn't care for it". What else could he say? That it was just Big Papi being Big Papi? Of course not, as the skipper you have to stand up for your team but was Joe sending a message to Burnett? If it was a message, Burnett didn't get it because he didn't drill Ortiz.

David Ortiz, amongst the MLB players anyways, may be the most "well-liked" player in all of baseball. That's probably why he has never been thrown at by a Yankee before. Yet, he was hit last night by Sabathia.

Did the media drum this up? Ortiz seems to think so. In a post game interview in the visitors locker room he said the following: "It's going to be just Papi talking, and if you don't like it, just get the (bleep) out of here, I want to thank you guys -- not all of you, most of you -- for the stuff today. I finally got hit (by the Yankees). I hope you're happy. I'm done."

Has the rivalry fizzled out so much that the media took this opportunity to try and stir up a fervor? Did C.C. Sabathia just say "enough is enough"???

The Red Sox break of the nearly a century old "curse" by winning the World Series took the wind out of the rivalry. There is a real sense of it being gone in a way. A rivalry that many call the "biggest in ALL of sports." I disagree by the way, there's a little rivalry between Michigan and Ohio State that trumps every rivalry I know of, but that's another debate for another day. The excitement of a Red Sox - Yankees just isn't there anymore. The media still tries to force feed us with the hype and promotion of their broadcasts... but that IS their job.

I agree with Ortiz in a way, but on the other hand I am kind of glad in a way that a pitcher took matters into his own hands. There seems to be a trend where the payback and retribution has been taken out of the game. That's what I grew up watching, if you hit one of ours, we will hit two of yours. It was just part of the game. Of course, just like Michael Kay said MANY times on Wednesday, "I am in no way advocating throwing at some one's head, just drill him in the ribs."

Time will tell if this plunking is the catalyst of the often heated rivalry being restored. We all know that Kay and the rest of the talkers in the media will do their best to keep it relevant.

#STSW

mistakes turn into deception...



Micahel Kay



Mike Francesa

       

The other night I was waiting to leave to a PTA meeting and I was watching the first inning of the Yankees - White Sox game on the YES Network. The Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network owned by the Yankees broadcasts regular home and away season games not on a "major" network.

Here's the set up - top of the first inning; the White Sox's Alexei Ramirez was on first, two out, a 1-2 pitch to Paul Konerko. The next pitch from Ivan Nova was taken for ball two. But with Ramirez running, catcher Gustavo Molina threw him out to end the half inning.

I was happy to see the young catcher showing off his arm and nabbing the base runner to end the inning.

The YES Network's Michael Kay (who also has a radio show on ESPN during the afternoon drive) who was calling the game didn't see it the way I did. As the tag was applied at 2nd base he bellowed

that the inning had just ended on "A strike-'em-out, throw-'em-out double play!"

Ehhhh.... what? 4 outs? I immediately rewound the DVR and played it back to check.. I honestly thought that I may have not been paying attention. No, I was right, Kay was mistaken. I then showed the mistake to my wife and we both had a little chuckle. I am recently unemployed and I made the statement to her that I could call a game better than that. She said I was being picky.

I continued watching to see if he would correct himself... wasted time.. he didn't. I was sure Kay would soon be straightened out on this and then try to make it right (there ARE producers and people helping him right?). But in the top of the second, Kay first said: "Nova faced the minimum three in the first because of a strike-'em-out, throw-'em-out double play." WHAT? Then, apparently not surprised to see Konerko again at bat, Kay plainly added: "Here's Konerko."

I couldn't believe what I was watching... this is the MLBs most expensive EVERYTHING team. As a fan you pay top dollar to go to Yankee Stadium, to eat at Yankee Stadium, to drink at Yankee Stadium. Whenever I go, I ALWAYS "pre-game". They have one of the highest, if not highest salaries.... point is EVERYTHING is top-o-the-line in Yankeeland. Should the professionals BE professional.

The YES Network broadcasts an "encore" presentation of each days game at 1 am and at 10 am the following day. Since I am free, I tuned in at 10 am to see how the Network would handle the "mis-hap".

Kay's call about the strike-out/throw-out double play to close the top of the first was absent. It was edited out, simply clipped as if it had never been spoken, never heard. Are we as fans assumed to be oblivious? Maybe we are just supposed to sit there and be faceless idiots in a semi-hypnotized state and just ignore the obvious.

And then the top of the second, which began with Kay still making a mess of the top of the first, was removed from the telecast... I sat there in amazement that the entire half-inning was cut from the second telecast! The top of the second, with the White Sox's slugging All Star, Konerko, leading off, simply didn't exist, it just never happened. It was completely obvious to me that this move was to protect Kay and Co., rather than serve its subscription audience, YES simply eliminated the entire half-inning. The bottom of the first was followed by the bottom of the second.

Listen, I understand this is not the Kennedy assassination but I am still going to cry "COVER UP"...  Why not just make it right? Why not admit imperfection? Nobody is perfect, everybody makes mistakes? Why try and hide it or pretend like it never happened?

I did some digging on YES because I wanted to see if there was a pattern. After about five or six minutes of searching the WEB, on a website called BobsBlitz.com, I found a recently posted short video/audio clip from Mike Francesa's (formerly of Mike and the Mad Dog) WFAN/YES (radio AND TV) simulcast. I must state that I USED to listen to Mike and the Mad Dog but I stopped after I realized that there was an overpowering undertone of the ol' "I know more than you" coming over the airwaves. Now this clip that I found is a clip that so fully captures another cover up but also struck me as dishonest, arrogant, and "I want you to know that I know-it-all." I had to share this with my readers.

A caller, "Bob from Connecticut," on April 6 asked who was hit with the blown save in the Yankees' 5-4 loss to the Twins the day before, Rafael Soriano or David Robertson.

"Soriano," Francesa authoritatively replied. "The last run that scored was Soriano's."

Bob from Connecticut then began to talk about something else, when Francesa is seen looking down, inspecting something off-camera in front of him on his desk, which is where he commonly spreads daily newspapers.

And newspaper box scores that day told that Robertson was hit with the blown save.

Seconds later, Francesa interrupted the caller to say it just came to him "it was Robertson's blown save!
 I was just doing it in my head," Francesa explained, "the blown save is Robertson's, I was just doing the inning in my head; the blown save is Robertson's."

LIAR!!!! LIAAAAAAAAAAR!

DUDE! You are ON TV TOO!!!! Why not just say "Sorry Bob from Connecticut, I was wrong, I just double checked the paper and it wasn't Soriano, it was Robertson, my bad!"  Will you be less of a radio personality if you admit a mistake? Will your fans respect you less? I mean, it's not like you knew about wrongdoing and covered it up and denied that it never happened to the authorities! (Shameless stab at Jim Tressel).

You made a mistake about who blew the save from a game you were probably supposed to be watching the night before. I mean, if you are being paid to talk about a game... shouldn't you WATCH the game??? Maybe "Dancing with the Stars" was on that night and you never got around to watching the tape... You COULD admit that too, it COULD make you seem more like a "normal" or "common" person. Maybe your fans would relate to you better.... what do I know?

These radio and TV sports guys have been told that they are experts for so long that they believe that they are the authority on the subjects that they talk about... They are pretty far from authority.

Something has to change! Just because there is a microphone in front of your face, it doesn't make you an expert!

#STSW