Clay Holmes And The Yankees Didn't Hit Heston Kjerstad On Purpose, But Brandon Hyde And The Orioles Still Had Every Right To Be Pissed Off Last Night
We all saw what happened in Baltimore last night, as an ugly scene unfolded when Clay Holmes hit Heston Kjerstad right in the earhole with a 97 MPH fastball. Direct shot and Heston who dropped like a bag of bricks. Scary situation all around, but obviously unintentional by Holmes. The Yankees weren't throwing at him and if you think they were then you probably walk around with a fake accent pretending to be someone you're not and simply don't know baseball. Nothing about that screamed intent, raining, 0-2 count, close game. Not the time to try and retaliate for whatever the Yankees thought the Orioles were doing in their earlier series. I was at the game last night but Hubbs wrote up a great rational piece on the incident after it happened, he made some great points and thought it was well done. It started to kick up a notch when Holmes and Hyde started to jaw, and then someone from the Yankees dugout has word for Hyde. Again, I think Hyde has every right to be mad and to not want to hear from anyone in that uniform or dugout. Let sleeping dogs lie.
We saw Hyde say something to Holmes as Kjerstad was getting up and apparently Holmes was trying to see if Kjerstad was okay. That is fine and dandy, but there is a time and place. After you ear hole a guy with 97 I get that you want to check on him but you also have to understand that the guy's manager probably isn't thrilled with you and doesn't really want your input or opinions at that time. Nice gesture but I get why Hyde would be pissed. Wells kind of rolls his eyes and makes a face and again, I'm sure he didn't appreciate the words from Hyde but I believe Brandon has every right in the world to not want to hear from a guy who just planted one of your guys directly in the dirt after a rocket to his head. Just like the Yankees, their childish assistant hitting coach Casey Dykes, and the rest of their team was mad when Judge got hit on his hand back in New York. They were mad and I understand why. Same thing here with Hyde and the O's, but it is different when it's literally 97 to the head.
Just because it wasn't intentional doesn't mean you can't be upset. This isn't like he got hit in the butt, once someone gets hit in the head you throw out all other emotions and logic, that is a step too far. Intentional or not, the Yankees would have done the exact same thing if the roles were reversed and I wouldn't have blamed them if Judge got hit in the head and an O's assistant was yelling at Boone. It's about standing up for your guys and showing them that you won't take shit like that laying down.
Head shots are a different animal, all logical thinking goes out the window when a pitcher almost put 97 MPH through someone's ear canal. And that is why Brandon Hyde didn't appreciate Casey Dykes yelling at him from the dugout as he's walking Kjerstad off.
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Casey Dykes is the same guy who was on the top step screaming after Gleyber Torres was grazed on his hand by the O's a few weeks ago. Fast forward to last night, who was smiling in the dugout as Kjerstad is on the ground? Dykes. Who was yelling at Hyde? Dykes. Who was Freddi Gonzalez going after? #78….Dykes.
Freddi went right after him and rightfully so. Screaming at Hyde for whatever reason in that situation is crazy. Give Kjerstad all the time in the world to get up ad walk off, trying to rush him off or waving at him and just yelling at him from the Yanks dugout is a clown move.
Pretty ironic that Dykes has this bible quote in his twitter bio….
and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.
Great stuff Casey, way to lead from the front.
Between that petty shit, Aaron Judge having 0 awareness and his passive aggressive comments after the game, the Yankees really need to open their eyes. They can't act like the victims and try and be the big, bad bullies. This is the 10th Oriole they've hit so far this season. Maybe 1 of those was intentional, the one to Gunnar. The Orioles have hit 3 Yankees. 0 were intentional. 8 games the Yankees have hit an Oriole, it's part of the game, I get it. The Yankees also lead baseball in hitting guys, but that's a story from another day. But everything goes out the window when it's at the head and you've got jerk offs in the dugout screaming and yelling at a manager who is simply upset his guy was hit in the head. Good for Brandon Hyde for acting the way he did, and good for Aaron Boone for acting how he did. He knew it was one of his guys who set it off, he said as much in the comments. I think he lost control of the dugout and was embarrassed. He didn't want it to get there but it did, he went straight to Hyde to kind of break it up which I appreciate. Usually he takes things to another level but he tried to deescalate things.
It sucks that Kjerstad got hit, but you knew something was going to happen sooner or later. Intentional or not, something was going to set someone off and it just happened to be this event. These teams hate each other, they are both playing like dogshit, they're neck and neck for the division and it's a billon degrees everywhere. It's nice to have the fire back in this rivalry, I just wish it didn't involve headshots. But Kjerstad is in the lineup today which is a great sign. I don't think things go any further from here simply because the Orioles can't afford to lose a pitcher for 10 days. Best thing they can do to get revenge is to win this game. That has been a tall task for the O's the last week but let's see if this made the guys blood boil a little bit. Again, no issue with Hyde going at their dugout or Dykes, no the pitch wasn't intentional, yes it was a pussy move by Dykes to yell at Hyde and Brandon was standing up for his guy, I love to see it. Again, I don't think anything happens today but we'll have to wait and see.