Hey Rays, Shelley Duncan Doesn't Understand Why You're Upset

After yesterday's Yankees-Rays game devolved into a brawl thanks to Shelley Duncan's hard slide, Joe Girardi was asked if he thought it was a dirty play. He said he wanted to watch a replay but would speak to Duncan if he thought the slide, which drew blood from Akinori Iwamura's leg, was dirty.

Well, Girardi spoke to Duncan before today's game with the Pirates, Billy Crystal started at DH in place of Duncan, so that should tell you what he thought. Duncan wouldn't reveal the content of that conversation but he did express his ongoing confusion about why things escalated so quickly.

"I saw it a couple times. I still don't understand why they were as upset as they were."

Shelley, I'm guessing it was because you tried as hard as you could to injure one of their teammates. Your reason for it, I'm assuming it was the home plate collision heard around the world, doesn't much matter and you should hope your teammates do the same thing if someone takes such a cheap shot at you. While it wasn't "borderline criminal" as Rays manager Joe Maddon claimed, it was a dirty play and I imagine that Girardi told you not to do it again.

Duncan will likely be suspended and MLB told Peter Abraham that any suspensions will be served during the regular season.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

3-13-2008 @ 4:42PM

roger childress said...

I did not agree with the catcher incident that started this whole thing off...especially it being pre-season...I don't thi nk it should be like that in regular season..but that is what it is so so be it.HOWEVER...scummys attempt /or warning was way over the line and has NO place in baseball at all.If this is what the Yanks have to do to win games there will be a lot of hurt Yankee members before the year is over.Funny how Yanks fans can rationalize most anything ...HYPOCRITEs...Better hope this kind of play,if it continues, doesn't come back to haunt you...cause it will.

3-13-2008 @ 5:32PM

ryanck said...

I think another major problem was Duncan was basically claiming he was going to do something like this in the papers earlier in the week...damn YANKS

3-13-2008 @ 5:38PM

Toca said...

Hey Roger, What was the runner suppose to do? If the catcher is blocking the plate he can either:
1) avoid trying to score the run (besides being the object of the game, this would be a one way ticket to the minors for this guy)
2)slide in to the catchers shin guards and risk injury to himself
3) try and knock the ball loose the way the game has always been played.
If the catcher or yankee coach felt this type of play should not be part of spring training, then why block the plate?
I'm neither a fan of the Yankee's or Ray's but Girardi is wrong on this one.

3-13-2008 @ 5:57PM

Joe said...

Amazing how people can translate a hard slide by an aggressive player in spring training into an entire teams attitude regarding this.
1) Duncan was sttempting to make it safely to 2nd. {he was also trying to pay back the D-ray's, but that can't be proven }
2} As for the D-rays,how could they think this wasn't going to happen after Saturdays play at the plate. For Rays manager Joe Maddon to call it borderline criminal is a bit far fetched. This after saying it's ok to mow down a catcher in a meaningless pre-season game. Can't have it bolth ways Mr Maddon. :-}

3-13-2008 @ 6:10PM

tobrien28 said...

Maddon is an idiot. First he is pleased as punch that a player of his broke someone's wrist IN SPRING TRAINING and then complains that there is retaliation. One justification for colliding at home was that it was a "Pete Rose like play". Shelley had a "Ty Cobb kind of play". Neither was right, but the Yankees wouldn't have retaliated if the Rays didn't start this off.

3-13-2008 @ 6:12PM

Also if Shelley was wrong to retaliate why wasn't Johnny Gomes wrong to tackle him? There is a double standard because nothing the Yankees do will ever be "right".

3-13-2008 @ 9:13PM

Elizabeth said...

Shelley started at 1B today

3-13-2008 @ 9:11PM

numba1stunna74x said...

NICE CLEAN PLAY ..JUST LIKE THE ONE AT HOMEPLATE....

3-13-2008 @ 9:35PM

bet the super bowl said...

I love all the drama. And before the season even starts. This is great!

3-13-2008 @ 9:51PM

Toca...please reread my msg....I said "I....reapeat I" don't like the play.I said it is part of the game and so be it.For ME pre-season should not be the place where a player should be putting themselves or anyone else in a position of possible hurt.ONE more time that is how I feel...I realize that is not how the game is played and ergo said ...so be it.
Joe....There is a giant difference between these plays...for one....at least the Rays player was putting himself in the position of getting hurt himself by what he did.Second...you said can't.. be proven...Of coarse it can be proven...by the words of
Scummy himself.If you say you are going to pay back and then attempt to do so what in Gods name do you call it but QUILTY. Third...since when did this game become a game of useing your spikes...your bat...your helmut or whatever to attempt to hurt someone...its one thing to throw a ball close to someone to protect your part of the plate...its totally different to use any of your equipment to go after a player....and no one needs to slide into a plate with their cleats held up as Scummy did.....STOP RATIONALIZING.
to brien......YOUR RIGHT...but that is a totally different discussion and ONLY a side bar to the real issue. However...to say that one play(that is used in baseball all the time) is comparable to the other (which I know players would flinch if it were allowed) is again RATIONALIZATION.

3-14-2008 @ 9:26AM

not one of these posters (and even Girardi himself)answered this question:
What should the runner have done going into home plate? As I said above, if the catcher is blocking it, the runner has 3 things he can do. And the option he took is the one EVERY player, (including Girardi himself when he was playing) would have chosen. If he slides, he could hurt himself. He doesn't try to score, you can potentially kiss your Big League career goodbye. It's not like the runner tried to hurt the Spankee's catcher. If anyone saw the play at the plate, it was a bang-bang play and an unfortuante accident. It was quite different than going into 2nd base with your metal cleats 3 feet in the air on play where he had NO chance of being safe.

3-14-2008 @ 11:18AM

Bob said...

If Maddon had not "justified" the home plate collision and issued some sort of apology, this may have quietly died. The retaliation, especially the use of cleats was wrong but, the more I see replays of the home plate collision the louder I cheer for Shelley Duncan.