One of the complaints about interleague baseball is that, with a few exceptions, the games are between teams with no historical rivalry which means less games between teams that do have such background to their meetings. On the surface this week's series between the Royals and the Rockies would fit the bill unless the thought of Clint Hurdle managing against the team he played against boils your potatoes. Leave it to those two rapscallions, Ramon Ramirez and Yorvit Torrealba, to gin up some controversy where none existed. The Denver Post reports that the two players had a conversation before Ramirez walked Torrealba on four pitches in the ninth inning, a couple of which appeared to be in the general direction of the catcher's head and back.
Ramirez insisted afterward that the ball was wet from perspiration, saying "it slipped." Torrealba wasn't buying it. He said he was prepared for Ramirez to throw at him, though he wouldn't reveal why. "Ask him. It's all good," Torrealba said. "Every time I talk about stuff, I get fined or suspended."
Ramirez was traded by Colorado before the season and some Rockies said that he told them he was going to do some drilling when the two teams met. He pitched Monday and in the eighth inning on Tuesday without incident, however. We'll see if the two teams continue bucking for inclusion in our next edition of Old Boss, New Boss this evening.
