So AJ Burnett threw a meatball and Reid Brignac [9th place hitter, by the by] deposited it over the wall for a two run tweet... AJ was [understandably] annoyed. On the half-inning break, he went to the clubhouse. Going in, he slapped the door open with his palms. The edges of the plastic lineup card holder lacerated his palms, but not so badly that he required stitches. He told the trainer that he had stumbled and scratched his palms in the process. Later, after the game, he 'fessed up. Meantime, full of adrenalin, he overthrew in the third and was yanked.
Now, here's the interesting part. Of course, the Yanks were in a hole. Of course, the long men gave up more runs, and the Yanks ended up on the short end of the stick, 10-5. "Fans" are now comparing AJ to Kevin Brown, who once punched a wall and broke his pitching hand. "Fans" are unfavorably comparing AJ to Paul O'Neill, because Paulie had "fire" and came through in the clutch [obviously, these "fans" are forgetting Game 2 of last year's World Series...{{Recap - Phils won Game One in NYC. AJ pitched a gem and the Yanks went on to win the WS in six games.}}]
Of course, Mister Torre covered for Paulie. Once, O'Neill jammed his thumb in the process of blasting a water cooler, and it affected his swing [causing him to slump at the plate for several weeks]. Hell, our Captain, Mr. November, Derek Jeter, scored the winning run in one of those colossal 2001 World Series games and while doing so, stomped the plate to the point that his ankles took a beating. In the regular season, he probably would have missed a few games. Mickey Mantle used to smash things with regularity. Once, while golfing, he muffed a shot. Whitey Ford gave him some guff, so Mick swung his club at a tree in frustration. Naturally, he missed. He DID follow through, though, and gashed his shin for several stitches.
Proclamation time! So many of these "fans" have the attention spans of gnats and/or the video game baseball mentality, that they truly do not understand. Have patience, learn the game, and stop pissing us fans off who actually know something about the game. By the way, those of you who have never played the game, stop pontificating. OF COURSE it was a stupid thing to do for AJ to whack the door. He was frustrated. That's an emotion. Baseball involves emotion. People are emotional. Numbnuts who want to immediately trade AJ [guess what, geniuses? With AJ's contract, you could not GIVE him away! hahaha!] could greatly use perspective. Too bad y'all sit in mom's basement, not getting any [perspective! Damnit - focus!]. For many reasons, I wish there was adult baseball in America. Not just for professionals, but neighborhoods, even. Guess the concept of neighborhood unity kinda went away with the advent of Suburbia, but that's the topic of another post, I guess.
So, give AJ a break. He's a good guy and respected in the clubhouse. He'll be back. Meantime, Chicken Littles and Negative Nancys, the Yankees are in First Place. Oh, and icing on the cake? Best Record in Baseball. Like the Ol' Perfesser always used to say: "You could look it up".
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