Photo by Kelly O'Connor of sittingstill.smugmug.com

Photo by Kelly O’Connor of sittingstill.smugmug.com

He did it again. Reprising his role as the “pitcher who can’t hide his pine tar”, Yankees starter Michael Pineda took the mound in the second inning of Wednesday’s game with pine tar smeared on his neck. John Farrell then decided that enough was enough and requested that the umps inspect Pineda for an illegal substance. It didn’t take long for them to discover pine tar on Pineda’s neck and eject him from the game. Meanwhile the Red Sox offense jumped out to a 4 run lead, powered by run scoring hits by Dustin Pedroia, A.J. Pierzynski, Mike Napoli, and Brock Holt. Boston’s offensive attack was backed by a stellar 8 inning performance from John Lackey, in which the right hander allowed just a run on 7 hits, while striking out 11.

  • While pine tar is illegal for pitchers to use, most teams turn a blind eye to the official rule. But should that be the case? If the league is out to criminalize cheating of any sort, shouldn’t all cheating be treated the same? (Pineda’s pine tar opens up can of worms)
  • Tweet of the day: Make note of where you were when this happened, it’s a story you’ll be telling your grandkids.