Alex Rodriguez became a public enemy in Boston last fall for swatting a ball out of Bronson Arroyo’s mitt in the ALCS, a move the Red Sox would later call “bush league.” But Yankees-Orioles isn’t quite Yankees-Sox when it comes to bad blood and biblical rivalries.
Yesterday it looked just like Brian Roberts’ face played the part of Arroyo’s mitt when A-Rod tried to break up a double play sliding hard into the Baltimore second baseman in the fifth inning of an eventual 8-5 Yankees win. On the slide, Rodriguez’ left hand accidentally caught Roberts in the nose as he slid through the fielder’s left leg at second and sent Roberts to the ground clutching his face for several minutes.
Initially it looked like A-Rod possibly took out Roberts’ exposed knee, but it turned out that his hand clipped Roberts in the face.
“That will be another two-week story,” Rodriguez joked afterward.
Not quite. A brewing controversy was quickly extinguished when Roberts said he thought the play was completely “inadvertent,” and said A-Rod apologized to him twice before the game ended.
“I tried to turn it quick and when the ball flew out I had no idea what happened,” Roberts said of the botched double-play try. “I just know my face hurt after that.”
Rodriguez was called out at second for the Yankees’ second out of the inning, and the throw to first didn’t get Gary Sheffield in time.
“I thought it was his hand,” Roberts said of what came up and hit him in the face. “But I just had no idea how it got there or what happened.”
Baltimore medical staffers quickly plugged Roberts’ nose with cotton right there at second base and he remained in the lineup for the remainder of the game, while A-Rod was called out. Before jogging off the field, Rodriguez tapped the fallen Roberts on the shoulder.
“He asked me if I was alright,” Roberts said. “Obviously it was very inadvertent.”
Despite the collision and a bloody nose, Roberts remained in the game and played for the first time with cotton balls in his nose.
“That was a new one,” Roberts said.
Rodriguez, on the other hand, went 3-for-5 for the day with one RBI.
