Alex Rodriguez is used to having bad days off the field. Yesterday he had one on the field, too.
First, he learned the price for repeatedly throwing at him was a measly five games and then he struck out five times in the Yankees’ sweep of a doubleheader against the Blue Jays.
Rodriguez also hit into a key double play in the eighth inning of the nightcap.
Afterwards, Joe Girardi didn’t sound too concerned with the third baseman.
“It’s the first time he’s probably played two games in one day,” Girardi said. “I’m OK with everything. It’s just a tough day.”
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It started when Major League Baseball announced Ryan Dempster would be suspended only five games for “intentionally throwing at and hitting” Rodriguez on Sunday in Boston.
Girardi made it clear he wanted the right-hander, who will continue to be paid while suspended, penalized for more than the standard five games, but he didn’t get his wish.
“I definitely think it was light,” said CC Sabathia, who was on the mound at Fenway Park that night and did not to retaliate. “I know in this situation he should have gotten more. I don’t know about anything else, but given that he threw at Alex four times, he should’ve gotten more. He’s not going to miss a start.”
Both Dempster and Girardi, who was ejected after arguing vehemently with home plate umpire Brian O’Nora for only issuing warnings to both teams, were fined. Girardi was fined $5,000, while Dempster received a $2,500 hit.
Dempster did not appeal the suspension and began serving it last night. On Sunday, Dempster denied plunking Rodriguez intentionally, but his refusal to fight the ban is an implicit concession he threw at the third baseman.
Now, Rodriguez and the Yankees have to see whether the relatively light sentence will make the third baseman a target as he plays while appealing his 211-game suspension levied by MLB after its Biogenesis investigation.
“That’s my concern,” Girardi said. “We’ll find out. I sure hope not.”
Sabathia was confident the penalty, while light, was enough to discourage other pitchers.
“If nothing happened, then I think it would have been a bigger deal or open season,” Sabathia said. “I think the suspension will shut it down a little bit.”
Sabathia added he thought Dempster’s actions were particularly egregious because he wasn’t retaliating for another play.
“It’s definitely a different scenario,” Sabathia said. “And even with the unwritten code, you don’t throw at a guy four times. He violated every code in every way.”
Girardi insisted that no one in the front office was trying to impact Rodriguez’s playing time.
“I have never had any instruction from them,” Girardi said. “I have never been told to play him or not play him. The lineup is mine [and] how to treat my players is mine.”