As season continues, Rays act their age
After brawling with the New York Yankees during Spring Training and the Boston Red Sox last week, the Rays’ players are going to their teammates for a fight, evident in yesterday’s tiff between the catcher, Dioner Navarro, and starting pitcher, Matt Garza. After shaking off two signals from Navarro, Garza floated in a high fast ball to the Rangers’ German Duran, who launched the ball into center field for a two-run homer. After the hit the two exchanged words at so close a distance that Garza used his glove to shield his face from the catcher’s mask.
Manager Joe Madden dismissed the dispute as “nothing” and “in-house stuff”, but there was nothing in-house about the two screaming at each other on the mound, or the small fight that followed in the dugout. Boston’s Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis had a similar confrontation last week, but it was quickly broken up and inconspicuous, partially hidden from the scrutiny of the cameras; in comparison, the Garza/Navarro event erupted in the center of the diamond until the pitching coach intervened, while Madden looked on from the dugout.
Whatever it was that made Navarro confront his own pitcher on television is not the issue, it is a matter of how well disciplined—and mature—this team needs to be to think about making it to the postseason. Despite their new look and recent success, the Rays’ players cannot seem to shake off their complex as the little brother trying to prove himself in a pack of older boys; surely, the Rays could use a lesson or two.
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