The Red Sox’ current rival isn’t the Yankees — it’s the Orioles
COMMENTARY
There is no spoiler alert required before acknowledging that the Yankees are the Red Sox’ chief rival, forever and again. Carlton Fisk didn’t pummel Lou Piniella to smithereens in ’76 just so we’d all someday be chums.
No, the competition is perhaps not as contentious as it once was. The balance of power shifted seismically in October 2004, offering joy, fulfillment and catharsis to those used to playing the nail to fate’s cruel hammer. And the franchises haven’t collided in the postseason since, which is downright strange when you think about it. You’d think the Yankees would want a rematch.
A necessary admission: The state of the rivalry – which commences for the 2017 season Tuesday night, weather-permitting, when the Yankees arrive at Fenway Park for a three-game set — is in a strange place right now as well.
The days of these two big-market, high-payroll American League East superpowers slugging it out for supremacy are becoming increasingly distant memories. With the Yankees rebuilding and the Red Sox built to win now or else, the teams are at fundamentally different stages in 2017 – even as the former has a better record than the latter by a half-game roughly 10 percent of the way into the season.
The fallout from the franchises being at fundamentally different places right now (at least in approach rather than in the standings) has delivered temporary placidity to the rivalry. Seeing the interlocking NY on their hats for the first time this season might stir some latent aggravation for the rival a Red Sox fan is conditioned to loathe. But the Yankees haven’t done much to inspire the hatred lately. They’re just sort of here.
In fact, setting the rich and contentious history aside, it sure seems like the Red Sox’ rival at the moment is not the opponent arriving this weekend, but the one the Red Sox just left behind. The annually underestimated Orioles are actually leading the AL East with a 13-5 record, 2 games up on the Yankees and 2 ½ on the Sox after taking 2 of 3 over the weekend at Camden Yards.
Orioles manager Buck Showalter has a habit of chirping about the Red Sox, whether it’s griping about their payroll advantages or hinting with expert passive-aggression that they were using the flu as an excuse earlier this season. Showalter needles the Red Sox so often that you’d think it was them – and not the Yankees, Rangers and Diamondbacks – who had ditched him as a manager once up a time.
This weekend, as you may have heard, there was plenty to chirp about. The biggest controversy played out over the full series; Friday night, an aggressive, borderline reckless slide by Orioles superstar Manny Machado knocked Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia out of the game. The Red Sox didn’t retaliate the next day with knuckleballer Steven Wright on the mound, but instead waited until the season finale, when hard-throwing Matt Barnes threw a fastball behind Machado’s head.
Then it got weird. As the umpires were sorting it all out, a NESN camera and microphone caught Pedroia telling Machado that throwing at him wasn’t his idea and he would have preferred to have done it in Machado’s first at-bat Saturday, which is the standard protocol in such petty matters.
There’s a lot of stupid involved with this entire scenario: baseball’s macho unwritten-rules culture of “payback,’’ the idea that throwing at anyone’s head is ever a good idea, and Barnes/John Farrell’s to attempt to hit Machado two games after the initial incident. But nothing was quite as odd as seeing Pedroia disavowing his teammate’s tactics to an opponent – one who, intentionally or not, had injured him – in the middle of an a tense inning.
Pedroia is perceived as the ultimate team guy, and for the most part that seems like an accurate image. But Barnes is out there doing what he surely thinks is sticking up for a teammate – and probably acting on an order from his manager — and then he sees that teammate in the dugout letting the opponent know that, hey man, it’s not my idea? A player with a lesser reputation for being team-first might not get away with that. Imagine if it were, say, Hanley Ramirez. He’d never live it down.
The Red Sox have an anticipated week of games ahead at Fenway – the three with the Yankees, and then three over the weekend with Theo Epstein’s World Champion Cubs. But the conclusion of the 10-game home-stand might be the most interesting set of games.
The Orioles come to Fenway Monday to start a four-game series, and let’s just say ESPN’s decision to add the opener to its broadcast schedule isn’t just due to it being Chris Sale’s turn in the rotation. If the Orioles retaliate for the retaliation, well, that doesn’t merely make for compelling television, though it certainly would be that. It’s also confirmation that for the moment, the Orioles and Red Sox make for the most interesting and competitive rivalry in the AL East.
Now, if Pedroia would just respond to dirty slides like Carlton Fisk did, we’d really have something here.
