January 31, 2005

Slappy. The blue-lipped one talks to Bob Klapisch about what will likely be his legacy as a Yankee:
In the heat of the moment, you do things sometimes out of instinct. I thought it was a smart play, and we almost got away with it. We put an umpire in the position of having to turn over a call like that in Yankee Stadium. It gave us a shot. (Umpire) Jim Joyce told me, 'if you'd knocked the crap out of (Arroyo) it would've been legal because he was in your way.' So if I had a chance to do it again, I would've tried to run him over. Even though I probably would've hurt someone with my weight and velocity, dropping my shoulder down.
Of course, right after the game, Rodriguez maintained that he hadn't done anything wrong (oh goodness no!) and was simply in his normal running motion. ... And now he's admitting he'd injure another player in order to cheat (though he would have had to go way out of the baseline to hit Arroyo)? I suspect he won't be digging in at the plate at any time this season against Boston.

Slappy also boasted: "My approach is to win championships. The only way to do that is to be myself, and to take care of my world. With my talent people will follow naturally."

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