Phil Hughes controls one of the best Twitter accounts in baseball, and a large part of that is the ex-Yankee hurler’s willingness to teasingly tweak and troll former teammate Alex Rodriguez.
Hughes replied to a tweet by A-Rod that Tuesday’s controversial interference call on Trea Turner “could determine the outcome of the #WorldSeries” with a GIF of Rodriguez slapping the ball out of Red Sox pitcher Bronson Arroyo’s glove from Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS.
Turner was ruled to have interfered with Houston first baseman Yuri Gurriel in the seventh inning of Game 6, which the Nationals went on to win, 7-2, to force a decisive Game 7 on Wednesday night.
“Sad moment if they don’t overturn it,” Rodriguez’s tweet added. “Clearly safe.”
Rodriguez, currently an analyst for Fox’s World Series coverage, similarly was ruled out against Boston in 2004. In the eighth inning of Game 6 of the ALCS at Yankee Stadium, his slow roller along the first base line was fielded by Arroyo. With his left hand, A-Rod slapped the ball out of Arroyo’s glove as the pitcher attempted to apply a tag, and the ball rolled away, initially enabling Derek Jeter to score from first base. But the run was disallowed after the umpires ruled out Rodriguez for interference.
