Mark Teixeira is not a dirty player, but his take out of Los Angeles Angels catcher Bobby Wilson was reckless and unnecessary.
I've seen the replay of the collision and it's quite obvious that Teix lowered his shoulder and intentionally barreled over the catcher. The problem was that Wilson never had the ball and was nowhere near blocking the plate. It was too forceful a play when force wasn't required.
Perhaps the frustration of too many fruitless at-bats is starting to get to Teix. Maybe he was upset, as Ervin Santana suggested, about getting hit with a pitch. Regardless, there wasn't any need for him to take the catcher out on that play when he could have easily slid around the tag.
I genuinely believe that Teix wasn't trying to hurt the kid, just as I believe that Ken Huckaby wasn't trying to hurt Derek Jeter when he slid with all his equipment into Jeter, knocking him off the third-base bag and dislocating his shoulder to start the 2003 season. But there are some baseball plays that are so reckless that they raise all sorts of questions. This is definitely one of those times and I can't blame the Angels players for being upset and questioning his motives. I just hope this doesn't have long-term ramifications.
A couple of days ago, I wrote a post about rumor mongers owing Teix an apology for steroids implications. Now I think Teix should apologize to Wilson for his overly aggressive play. It would go a long way toward keeping the peace.
I've seen the replay of the collision and it's quite obvious that Teix lowered his shoulder and intentionally barreled over the catcher. The problem was that Wilson never had the ball and was nowhere near blocking the plate. It was too forceful a play when force wasn't required.
Perhaps the frustration of too many fruitless at-bats is starting to get to Teix. Maybe he was upset, as Ervin Santana suggested, about getting hit with a pitch. Regardless, there wasn't any need for him to take the catcher out on that play when he could have easily slid around the tag.
I genuinely believe that Teix wasn't trying to hurt the kid, just as I believe that Ken Huckaby wasn't trying to hurt Derek Jeter when he slid with all his equipment into Jeter, knocking him off the third-base bag and dislocating his shoulder to start the 2003 season. But there are some baseball plays that are so reckless that they raise all sorts of questions. This is definitely one of those times and I can't blame the Angels players for being upset and questioning his motives. I just hope this doesn't have long-term ramifications.
A couple of days ago, I wrote a post about rumor mongers owing Teix an apology for steroids implications. Now I think Teix should apologize to Wilson for his overly aggressive play. It would go a long way toward keeping the peace.
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