It seems somebody didn't get the word that this is Spring Training. Or maybe this is just the Yankees establishing how they are going to pitch this year. With a lack of depth in their opening rotation, I'd have to say intimidation may be a good strategy.
JT Snow was hit in the seventh by an inside pitch. Riske had a wild pitch hit Jeter. Then Sturtze drilled Mike Lowell in the hip, despite it being fairly obvious Riske wasn't intentionally going for Jeter. As usual in these incidents, the he's defending his own excuse came out after the game.
BostonHerald.com - Boston Red Sox: Tempers heat up as Sox, Yankees get reacquainted
“I wasn’t too pleased with it,” Francona said of the Sturtze pitch. “Derek got hit with a split. We knew it, they knew it. He got hit with a split-finger and Lowell gets one in the ribs. I wasn’t too pleased with it.”
Lowell downplayed the incident. “I didn’t make anything of it,” he said. “He was just protecting Jeter. They thought we hit him. Not a big deal.”
Intimidation may be the Yankees only viable strategy since Johnson is 42 and Mussina shouldn't even be a starter any more (a slight exageration... Mike's 4.05, 3.40 and 4.59 ERA in the last three years are good enough for a starter, but not for the position he holds in the Yankees rotation). Pavano, Small, and Wright are hurt. That leaves Chacon, Wang and Small. So where are the saviors going to come from this year?
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