John Romano of the St. Petersburg Times calls Yankees’ manager Joe Girardi a hypocrite for not speaking out about how Shelley Duncan spiked Rays’ middle infielder Akinori Iwamura when sliding into second base in a spring training game on Tuesday.
And I don’t mind that Girardi felt Rays infielder Elliot Johnson crossed a line by bowling over Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli in a spring training game last week. No matter what the Rays, or Pete Rose, or anyone else says, baseball has always had unspoken rules about the time and place for aggressive play.
What I do mind is that now Girardi is acting like a hypocrite.
The New York manager continues to tap dance his way around questions concerning Shelley Duncan’s spikes-high slide into Rays second baseman Akinori Iwamura.
Girardi tried to avoid the topic after Wednesday’s game, and then again 24 hours later. He said he still hasn’t seen a replay, despite video on ESPN, numerous newspaper Web sites and several YouTube posts.
And this is only spring training! Can’t wait to see how this plays out when the games actually matter.
