Sports

KNOBBY’S NOT A HIT WITH O’S HARGROVE

Mike Hargrove is fed up with Chuck Knoblauch crowding the plate. Yesterday the usually mild-mannered Baltimore manager let his feelings be known after the Yankees leadoff hitter was plunked twice in a 10-5 Orioles win at the Stadium.

“Knobby has a real habit of putting his arm, sticking his arm out over the plate,” said Hargrove. “I’ve seen him do it a long time now. This is one of the first times I’ve seen him actually get a base for it.”

Baltimore starter Jose Mercedes hit Knoblauch on the left side in the first inning. Knoblauch, the Yankee DH yesterday, jogged down to first, no harm and no cry of foul from Hargrove.

But when Knoblauch was hit on the left elbow in the fourth, Hargrove came sprinting out of the dugout to confront home-plate umpire Mike Everitt. Hargrove’s contention was that Knoblauch leaned into the pitch, forget trying to avoid being hit.

Many in the crowd of 39,819 booed Hargrove for arguing Everitt’s call but television replays showed that Knoblauch didn’t attempt to avoid being hit in the fourth. In fact, his arm seemed to move down and in on the pitch.

“I played with Cesar Tovar in Texas, when I first came up and Cesar used to do that all the time,” said Hargrove. “If you’ve got the courage to do it, it’s not a bad baseball play. You get on base. I understand that. But to do that is not legal, obviously.”

Knoblauch wasn’t able to get anything started on either occasion. What was obvious, however, was the huge ice-filled ace bandage that was wrapped around Knoblauch’s left elbow after the game.

He remained in the players’ lounge and did not speak to the media so his condition remains somewhat of a mystery.

Knoblauch did stay in the game. He flied to left in the seventh, walked and scored on Paul O’Neill’s two-run homer in the ninth, which tied the game, 5-5, and was called out on strikes in the 11th.

A team official, who was told that Hargrove had criticized Knoblauch, declined to ask him if he wanted to respond. Hargrove was quite adamant.

“I thought it was deliberate,” said Hargrove. “If you watch the replay you’ll see. Chuck does that all the time.”