The Toronto Blue Jays open an American League series tonight at New York against Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees.
Rodriguez is the biggest pariah I’ve seen in pro sports- I can’t think of another individual so widely disliked inside and outside of his sport.
In fairness, Rodriguez is solely responsible for his lot in life and in baseball.
Having said that, it was interesting to see the fallout from the plunking incident Sunday night when Canadian Ryan Dempster of the Boston Red Sox threw at Rodriguez in his first at bat, eventually clipping him to the delight of the crowd at Fenway Park & beyond.
But, in dramatic fashion, Rodriguez returned to the plate in the 6th and homered off Dempster, sparking a 9-6 Yankees victory.
One the one side, as noted, there’s a large segment of people who applauded the drilling.
By the same token, there’s another contingent who felt Dempster was cowardly, since his teammates and not him will have to face any Yankee repercussions.
Furthermore, Dempster has been having difficulty hitting targets other than Rodriguez, sitting with an ERA over 7 this month and having never beaten the Yankees in 8 career starts.
And finally, there’s the argument that Dempsters’ justice, and by extension, the Red Sox focus, is misguided, losing the game to the Yankees while the Blue Jays were losing at Tampa Bay which allowed the Rays to climb within one game of Boston for first in the East.
I’m no fan of Alex Rodriguez, but if the Red Sox tumble from first and should miss the playoffs, the plunking of Rodriguez by Ryan Dempster will sure to be a focal point of dissection.
I’m Fred Wallace