Yasiel Puig wasn’t exactly overflowing with love for his old club when he returned to Los Angeles on Monday as a Cincinnati Red. When talking about the crowds at Dodger Stadium, he said, “I’m sure that when I played here, there were more fans.” He also showed how little he cared for the past by showing up too late to the ballpark to receive his NL Pennant ring. And when he talked about his teammates on the Reds, he maybe not-so-subtly took a shot at his old Dodger boys:
“That’s one of the most beautiful things I have with my new team,” Puig said in Spanish. “This support, and to be by each other’s side every day and talking in the locker room, on the bus, on the flight, on the field, off the field, we always have good communication, and that’s what makes me not feel as much nostalgia as you might think I would feel for the Dodgers.”
But if Puig has any ill will towards L.A., the way to show it isn’t by passive-aggressive sniping in press conferences. The answer isn’t fighting the whole roster, either. The best revenge would be just smacking the shit out of the baseball when the Dodgers’ ace throws it across the plate in the first inning. And what do you know, Puig did just that with Clayton Kershaw on the mound, belting a dinger to center for the first runs of the game.
Imagine if every Major League team bothered Yasiel Puig.