Seriously, I don’t doubt that
there was genuine bad blood between Joba and Youkilis. The Yankees-Red Sox rivalry
has gotten nasty at times, despite the fact that some of the players actually
enjoy each other’s company (see Derek Jeter and Dustin Pedroia after being teammates
during the last World Baseball Classic). Now, I don’t expect Joba and Youkilis
to really become friends and they don’t need to be—seriously, who likes all of their
coworkers? But I never thought that there was going to be tension between
Joba and the Yankees new third baseman to the point where it was going to wreak
havoc with the team’s chemistry.
But perhaps Youkilis could
benefit from the Yankees’ superior media operation. If he had only returned Joba’s
call in the offseason when the Yankees pitcher called to make peace, the story
wouldn’t have blown up the way it did. And Yankee fans shouldn’t overreact to
Youkilis’ stated love for Boston and the Red Sox. He played there for eight
years and we can’t expect him to start bleeding pinstripes just because he
signed with the Yankees. All we should expect is that he will bring the same fire and clutch hitting to the Yankees that he did before his time in Boston
came to an ugly end.
But teammates do not have to
love each other for a team to win. I distinctly remember that Derek Jeter was
no Roger Clemens fan when the Rocket was throwing 95mph fastballs at his head.
But spring training started in 1999 and Jeter and Chuck Knoblauch pranked their new colleague by
showing up in the batter’s box with full catcher’s gear, getting a big laugh
out of the notoriously intense Clemens. The prank lightened the mood in spring
training and the Yankees never looked back.
I’m not saying that the
Yankees are going to win another title if Joba comes up with a similarly
hilarious prank to pull on his new teammate. The Yankees have plenty of
problems that are a lot worse than any feud between Joba and Youkilis and that’s
where the focus should be.
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