DON’T GET ME STARTED sat through the Yankees-Red Sox game on Wednesday and was subjected to the “homer” attitude of the analysts on the Yanks broadcast.

It had to do with Michael Pineda slapping pine tire on the side of his neck.  When he was given the heave ho in the second inning, the announcers and other media went nuts.  First of all there is a rule that says no foreign substance can be used.  It’s an automatic ejection and a suspension.

When – not if – the suspension comes, what kind of an influence will former Yanks manager Joe (now in the league offices) have in meting out the punishment to Pineda.  The lowest for previous violators were 8 games and the other 10 days.  8 games might mean 3 starts – 10 days probably 2 starts.

Now back to the media.  From the 2nd inning on, all these Yankee “homers” were talking about is making the use of tire par legal for pitchers.  Forget it, guys.  The Yanks got caught.  But for 7 innings and the post-game, all they kept talking about is making it legal.  If that was John Lackey of the Sox, would they also scream for a rules change?  Methinks not.

Manager Girardi appeared on the post-game and said he did not know anything about Pineda using tar but only after the pitcher was caught.  What is this?  Didn’t Pineda get accused in a previous start against the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium of using pine tire on the palm of his hands?  Where was Giradi to send a message to his pitchers?  The Yanks and Girardi got caught.

Then came the dumb (to me) reasoning by the media and Girardi and dumber (to me) reasoning by Pineda himself.  They said the pitcher had difficulty gripping the ball due to the low temperatures. Pineda cried that he couldn’t grip the ball and didn’t want to hurt the batter with an errant throw.  That dear friends is laughable when pitchers have been known to intentionally throw at hitters.  The media climbed aboard. To which I say:

  1.  What about the incident at Yankee Stadium.  This time manager Farrell was alert and took action.
  2.  What about pitcher John Lackey.  He was on the same mound and didn’t complain about the grip.
  3.  How about the Yankee relievers, who held the Sox to 3 runs in relief for 7 innings. I didn’t hear them complain about the grip
  4. There was also the speculation that a lot of pitchers do it.  OK, have the managers do their job and call em on it.

To me, a good rule would be – if a pitcher uses pine tar, automatic 3 start suspension for the first offense; 6 starts for the next offense and season heave ho for the third offense.  Managers will then the message to the hurlers.  But making pine tar legal is the wrong move.

Face it, Pineda was touched for a pair of runs in the first on 30 pitches.  No tar on the neck.  He came out in the second inning, struck out a pair and had 2 strikes on the batter when Farrell strolled to the field and Pineda was caught with the pine tar.

If this was the first time – some griping could be in order.  But there’s word of him being a second offender.  That should warrant a 10 game suspension.  Are you listening Joe Torre. But the announcers talking for 7 innings, over two hours about making it illegal.  And who were the biggest culprits.  I believe it was two former Yankee pitchers. If baseball makes the big mistake of making pine tire legal….then I say bring back the spit ball and raise the mound again and then send a message to God that he should never have weather go below 60 degrees in baseball.

The griping continues and a lot of the media is jumping on the grip gripe.  Many cite the fact that batters use pine tar to grip the bat better.  If the announcers and media campaigned to eliminate pine tar out of the game, I might support them.

I know I’m not going to enjoy the Yanks/Sox game tonight because fans will be subjected to more crying about Pineda using the Pine Tar and calling for a rule change on Don’t Get Me Started.

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