Dee Gordon wasn’t pleased about his visit to The Bronx, as he took exception to an inside pitch from New York Yankees starter J.A. Happ.
For all the horror stories about visits to New York City, Dee Gordon recently went through one that was literally painful.
The Seattle Mariners second baseman exited the final contest of a four-game set with the New York Yankees on Thursday night after he was struck in the wrist with an inside fastball from pitcher J.A. Happ. Gordon made his displeasure with Happ’s inside pitches quite clear after the game.
“I was pissed off. It was the second time he threw up by my head. You’ve got to get the ball down,” Gordon said of the at-bat, per Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. “You can’t throw that pitch. I got a family. You need to get the ball, you need to get the ball the (expletive) down. That’s twice. If you can’t throw that pitch, don’t throw it.”
Gordon walked in his first plate appearance of the evening. He was replaced in the lead-off spot by Dylan Moore and later Jay Bruce. The Yankees went on to win the game 3-1. He was not in the lineup for Seattle’s game against Boston on Friday night.
Happ (W, 2-3) did not comment on the incident in the immediate aftermath. He did, however, admonish Gordon’s words prior to the Yankees’ Friday night series opener in Tampa Bay.
“I took offense to it. I think it’s absurd,” Happ said, per Brendan Kuty of NJ Advance Media. “I would like to think he was running on emotion when he said it. I would like to give him some benefit of the doubt there. I played with his dad. I’ve been doing this for a little while. It’s sort of like an insult thrown at me. Using each side of the plate is the way the game’s been played for the last 150 years. I think it was sort of embarrassing and disappointed that it was even a headline. I would like to think that he regrets saying it but maybe not.”
Happ was teammates with Gordon’s father, relief pitcher Tom “Flash” Gordon, during the 2007 and 2008 seasons in Philadelphia. His next start is expected to come in next Tuesday night’s home game against Baltimore. He threw five scoreless innings in Thursday’s win.
The Yankees will continue their divisional set against the Rays on Saturday evening (6:10 p.m. ET, YES).
