Rick Sutcliffe Irks A-Rod and Mark Teixeira With Cheating Talk
Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira have placed Rick Sutcliffe at the top of their Not Speaking To list after Sutcliffe suggested on the air that they are cheaters:
Rick Sutcliffe has no problem with Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez, even after being confronted by the two players on Tuesday night for something he said during an ESPN telecast two weeks ago.
Following Teixeira’s home run off Texas’ Derek Holland on May 27, Sutcliffe suggested that A-Rod might have tipped Teixeira off to the catcher’s setup location. The mere suggestion upset both Teixeira and Rodriguez.
“They were adamant that they weren’t doing it,” Sutcliffe said. “All I said was that when I played, there were ways of getting that info to the guy at home plate. They were upset thinking I had accused them of doing that, but I never did that. There’s no way I could know. We shook hands, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s all over.”
I’m not sure why Teixeira and A-Rod would react so strongly to this. Sign stealing and tipping and such ethically dubious behavior is as much a part of baseball as crotch-grabbing, chaw-spitting and slumpbusting. For Sutcliffe to point out that they’d successfully employed such tactics was actually a compliment. I guess the steroid talk has made A-Rod touchy, and now he’s dragged Teixeira into his delusional, paranoid world too. They need to leave Rick Sutcliffe alone, and concentrate on finding a way to beat the Red Sox.
Pitchers take offense to this. If they thought they were doing it, they are likely to be thrown at and could be injured. Players and coaches who see players trying to steal signs often remind them they are likely to get someone hurt. Teixeira and Rodriguez get hit enough whether on purpose or by accident that they don’t need teams gunning for them.
June 11th, 2009 at 12:07 pm[...] Jonesin’ finds that Rick Sutcliffe angered ARod and Teixera by accusing them of [...]
June 14th, 2009 at 9:41 pm