Jonny Gomes, the emotional leader of the A’s, supplied a defense against Eric Chavez’s criticism of Oakland’s dugout celebration during Saturday’s 13th inning.
“We’ve got 17 rookies who are here. These guys are playing the game to have fun,” Gomes said yesterday in response to the comments. “When you take fun out of the game, you’re going to have 17 rookies crumble.”
After Saturday’s 10-9 Yankee win, Chavez told the Post’s Joel Sherman that following each of Oakland’s three homers in the 13th inning, he saw the majority of the team’s bench doing “an orchestrated clapping, chanting” celebration. Chavez labeled it “high school-ish” and “pretty unprofessional,” while also saying, “I am all for having fun, but that crossed the line.”
Yesterday, the A’s joined Gomes in both defending and explaining.
“We’re a team that likes to have fun. We were just doing that. Long game, we got a couple [important] hits. We were enjoying it,” infielder Cliff Pennington said. “I love Chavy. Everyone’s entitled to their opinion.”
Outfielder Collin Cowgill said: “We just came back to take the lead. We were just excited. We weren’t trying to be disrespectful.”
And manager Bob Melvin said, “We play the game hard and we respect it out on the field. … We play the game right on the field definitely, and if you keep things loose in your dugout, there’s nothing wrong with that.”
Melvin also said that “you can pick some things out of any dugout.”
This season the A’s have had a celebration after big homers, modeled after something in the movie “Weekend At Bernie’s.” Pennington did admit, “[Saturday’s celebration] was different. Something brand new. First time we’d done it. Just having fun.”
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Saturday’s celebration was based on a song that Gomes played daily back in spring training.
Oakland bullpen catcher Casey Chavez, Eric’s brother, declined comment on Eric’s quotes, saying he wasn’t in the dugout.
Eric Chavez, who spent 13 seasons with the A’s, said nobody from his old team said anything to him yesterday about his comments, saying: “I didn’t talk to any of them.”
Interestingly, after his fourth-inning two-run homer yesterday, Nick Swisher lingered at home plate instead of immediately running. Asked about it, Swisher replied, “Like Jonny Gomes says, what’s the hurry? I’ve been waiting since I was six years old to do that.”