Tanaka Will Continue To Dominate Regardless Of What Napoli Thinks

When the Boston Red Sox played the New York Yankees the stakes seem high whenever they are not and the tension can be cut with a knife, so it is not surprise that there is also some trash talking on the field.

Last night when the Red Sox’s Mike Napoli went to bat against Masahiro Tanaka in the ninth inning it was a tense situation.

Tanaka got Napoli down in the count with two strikes and the Red Sox already had two outs. Tanaka needed to take care of business and let his offense go to work to finish off the Yanks.

Tanaka unleashed a down the middle fastball that Napoli knocked out of the park. It was a pitch that eventually helped lift the Red Sox over the Yanks.

As Napoli came into the dugout there was not only celebrating, but also a bit of insult hurling.  He called Tanaka an “idiot” and it was audible on camera.

After the game Napoli talked to the media and owned up to the insult but brushed it off as “nothing towards him,” which would be fine if he did not literally insult him. Still kudos to Napoli for sort-of owning up to the insult.

Regardless, Tanaka is not an idiot. The pitcher has a seven-year, $155 million contract with one of the most prestigious teams in baseball and is earning it as much as any other baseball player earns their multi-million dollar contracts.

His stats show he is anything but an idiot, as well. In his 16 starts he is 11-3 with a 2.10 ERA and has struckout 127 batters while pitching in 115.2 innings. He is not only a player on one of the MLB’s most prestigious teams but also their ace pitcher.

While that pitch was a mistake, Tanaka will likely not forget being called an idiot, especially the next time he takes the mound against Napoli.

None of this, by the way, is going “towards” Napoli.