The Message was as clear as the four pitches Ryan Dempster fired at Alex Rodriguez.
It’s open season on A-Rod and open season on the Yankees.
The Yankees were disgusted with the feeble five-game suspension handed down to Dempster yesterday by MLB. With off days, the Boston right-hander will not miss a start.
“He should have gotten more,’’ CC Sabathia said. “I thought he’d at least miss a start. Even with the unwritten code, you don’t throw at a guy four times. He violated every code in every way.’’
This was a dumpster move.
MLB should have come down harder on Dempster. Earlier this season, Ian Kennedy, who was with Arizona at the time, was hit with a 10-game suspension after he hit the Dodgers’ Yasiel Puig and Zack Greinke.
When manager Joe Girardi was asked if all this means it is open season on A-Rod, he said, “That’s my concern. We’ll find out. I sure hope not.’’
On the field, it was a great day and night for the Yankees as they swept a doubleheader from the Blue Jays, winning the first game 8-4 and the nightcap, 3-2 on a ninth-inning RBI single by Jayson Nix that scored Ichiro Suzuki. But right now, there’s never a day without some news relating to Rodriguez.
Now, if you don’t like Rodriguez and the fact he is appealing his 211-game suspension, which players are allowed to do, you can follow Dempster’s lead and plunk him, even if you miss at first.
What’s the big deal? You only will get a five-game suspension.
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At this stage, MLB is not going to go out of its way to help Rodriguez, who has become Public Enemy No. 1 with the PED scandal and his war against the Yankees organization. It is clear by this ruling Dempster was treated with kid gloves in his role of going after Rodriguez, finally hitting him on the fourth try.
On the first pitch to Rodriguez, Dempster threw behind him, meaning the Red Sox right-hander was going after A-Rod from the start. Dempster, according to reports, was fined, $2,500, a measly $625 a shot at the A-Rod dunk tank.
Girardi, on the other hand, was fined $5,000 for screaming at home plate umpire Brian O’Nora.
Dempster did not appeal so he began the suspension immediately, telling Boston writers, “Just taking my suspension and putting it in the past. No point carrying on the appeal process. We have other things to worry about. … I thought about appealing, but at the end of the day, MLB does a really good job of thinking through punishments before they hand them out.’’
Sounds like he’s happy to get away with it.
The Yankees did come back and win that game Sunday, inspired by Rodriguez’s booming home run to dead center off Dempster in the sixth inning.
“It got us fired up,” Sabathia said. “It got us going and it definitely woke us up.’’
“Alex did it the right way,’’ Robinson Cano said.
Rodriguez, who had a rough day at the plate, did not make himself available to the media at any time yesterday.
“You just can’t throw at someone because you don’t like him or disagree with the way something’s being handled,” Girardi said. “If a player is suspended for throwing at someone, they’re going to get their appeal. Are we going to throw that out, too? So, I mean, this is what’s been negotiated.
“That’s pretty scary,’’ Girardi added of Dempster’s target practice. “When you start talking about throwing at people because you don’t like them, there’s something wrong with that. That baseball is a weapon. It’s not a tennis ball. It can do a lot of damage to someone’s life.
“I’ve always felt we’ve had a close-knit group but [this] can definitely help. It brings you together under one cause and that can always help. That person can be my worst enemy, right and you are just not going to throw a baseball at him and I’m going to defend that person.’’
Girardi is defending his player because throwing a baseball at someone is wrong.
A five-game suspension is not enough. It’s open season.