Please Do Not Get Smudges On The Yankees' Uniforms; They Have To Last All Season

rickchand|published: Mon 10th March, 18:00 2008

I'll admit to not being 100 percent up to date on the unwritten rules of baseball; I'm still working on that whole wearing-a-shirt-at-the-dinner-table thing. But it seems to me that if you're a runner heading home, and the catcher is blocking the plate, you do what God intended. You run over the sucker like Mr. Plow.

Yankees' manager Joe Girardi disagrees, however. And Don Zimmer disagrees with the disagreement.

So there was Zim Sunday, saying he was "dumbfounded" to hear that Girardi had taken exception to the way Rays rookie Elliot Johnson had bowled over Francisco Cervelli at the plate on Saturday, a collision that left the Yankees' catching prospect with a broken wrist. "What happens if our man slides in with the plate blocked and breaks his leg?" Zimmer said. "Their guy blocked the plate and our guy bowled him over. What's that got to do with spring training? That's the way you play the game."

Girardi had said on Saturday that the play was "uncalled for" in spring training. But instead of whining about it, catchers should be proactive and start wearing spiked shin guards.

Joe Girardi's Stance On Collision Stuns Mentor And Tampa Coach Don Zimmer [New York Daily News] Where's The Line Between Playing Hard And Playing Dangerous? [AOL Fanhouse]