Did he or didn’t he?
Replays made it sound as if David Cone, working as a YES color commentator, dropped an F-bomb during the second inning of yesterday’s Yankees-Rays game. But the former Yankees and Mets pitcher-turned broadcaster steadfastly maintained he did not use the obscenity.
“Did I? No,” Cone said after the telecast. “Did you hear it? My answer is, ‘No I didn’t.’ ”
The fuss began when Cone and YES play-by-play man Michael Kay were discussing David Ortiz’s eruption in the Red Sox’s dugout in Baltimore on Saturday. The two talked while YES showed tape of the incident.
Ortiz had begun a trot to first base, thinking he had walked, but was called back by ump Tim Timmons who ruled what Ortiz thought was ball four a strike. Ortiz eventually struck out, then took a bat to the phone used to call the bullpen, shattering the cover and sending pieces flying around the dugout.
After Kay talked about Ortiz’s reaction to his ejection from the game and his tantrum in the dugout, Cone offered his view.
On the YES telecast, as presented on Deadspin.com, here’s what Cone said:
“There’s a way to snap, Michael. I have no problem with Ortiz getting thrown out of the game, I have no problem with anything, but when you start smashing up the bullpen phone and shrapnel’s (—-in’) flying around people’s eyes, that’s completely irresponsible.”