“Would Be Picking Up His Teeth” — Red Sox Veteran Rips Framber Valdez After Fight Breaks Out in Astros Camp

One thing is for sure: with the playoffs approaching, the players seem wound up. Because a pair of unfortunate incidents occurred in two different games on Tuesday. One had the benches cleared, and another was a snapshot of clubhouse drama between two players. Starting with later, the Houston Astros had a messy time playing against the New York Yankees on Tuesday. And no, it wasn’t Aaron Boone getting ejected, with benches clearing or more, but it involved Framber Valdez. The left-hander not only gave up a backbreaking grand slam to Trent Grisham but also gave a 93 mph pitch that ended up hitting his own catcher, Caeser Salazar, right in the chest!

Here is what went down—so with the Yankees threatening, Salazar tried to wave off Valdez before a pitch to Grisham. But instead of listening, Valdez shook him off and threw anyway. And that’s when Grisham managed the grand slam. And if that was not enough, during Volpe’s at-bat after, Valdez seemed crossed with his catcher, and this time, a 93 mph ball just hit him. Revenge much?

Valdez later apologized and insisted that it was nothing more than miscommunication between them. Through an interpreter, he said, “We just got crossed up… I excused myself with him, I said sorry, and I take full responsibility for that… it’s just stuff that happens in baseball.” But do you buy it? Because not everyone is.

Frye Daddy, who is never one to mince his words, said, “BULLS—! He’s lying through his teeth! He knows he fucked up big time and just wants it to go away. His body language and facial expression tell you everything you need to know. There’s no excuse for what he did, and he’s lucky he did that to a rookie who’s afraid to retaliate. Try doing that to Mike Piazza or Todd Pratt or Rick Dempsey! He’d be picking up his teeth off the floor!”

That kind of reaction shows how tense the situation had become. Now, Valdez and Salazar both had downplayed the incident after the game. Salaze, in fact, blamed the crowd noise for crossing up the signals. But, well, a pitcher ignoring his catcher’s call and then drilling him on the next at-bat? Even if both of them say whatever, the story is simply a lie in front of baseball fans. Plus, things escalated even further when apparently players confronted Valdez for his in-game actions, according to Michael Schwab. Things got so bad that even coaches had to intervene to calm down the situation. And this is not a good time.

Right now, the Houston Astros are playoff-bound and want to stay locked in. But such clubhouse matters rarely go under the rug. And as Frye pointed out, character questions do tend to linger on, and if the Astros falter down the line, then this fiasco will be remembered for sure, time and again. But as we said, this Houston Astros is not just the only bizarre and drama-filled incident that happened in MLB!

Not just Red Sox-Astros, even Giants-Rockies get into a feisty brawl!

If you tuned into Tuesday’s Giants and Rockies game, expecting a slow game, you were surely surprised. Because the fireworks started at the top of the first inning itself. Kyle Freeland, the Rockies’ veteran lefty, served a sweeper that Rafael Devers absolutely crushed. Now, instead of jogging down, Devers seemed to have lingered at the plate for a moment, watching the ball go. Admiration, sure? Mocking? Maybe too!

Freeland then got mad and started chirping rather flowery words at Devers. And the former Red Sox cornerstone was not about to back down, and so within seconds, the benches were cleared and both teams stormed the field. But it didn’t end there. This stretched to 8 minutes of hurling words, shoving, and even a few punches. By the time the order was restored, Freeland was ejected without even recording a single out.

Devers, although he got to stay in the game, and the Giants eventually won 7-4. But clearly, the brawl stole the show. Afterwards, Freeland explained why he snapped there, saying, “I found it extremely disrespectful to show me up like that in the first inning.” Clearly, he was referring to the unwritten baseball rule—don’t admire your homer too long. Meanwhile, Devers, on the other hand, said, “I didn’t do anything wrong. I didn’t do anything different from when I hit a home run. I don’t know why it bothered him.”

Even Logan Webb ended up throwing a jab at Freeland, saying that he is surprised that it hadn’t happened before with that guy and that he runs his mouth all the time. For him he was thrilled. “Rafi got him good,” he said. So yes, another crazy night of drama in MLB, and given how intense every passing day is getting, more such incidents won’t be surprising.