If you missed it earlier tonight, New York Yankees’ starting pitcher Michael Pineda appeared to have pine tar or some other substance on the heel of his pitching hand Thursday night as he pitched against the Boston Red Sox.
Pictured below:
#RedSox broadcasters @DonOrsillo and @Jerry_Remy talking about Pineda having pine tar on his hand. #Yankees pic.twitter.com/dvGIKzfPJH
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) April 11, 2014
Now we do not know what exactly is on his hand, and we do not know if he actually used whatever it is to illegally doctor baseballs, but I think we can all agree on one thing: that is definitely not dirt on his hand.
Miguel Pineda said he had nothing but dirt on his hand during #Yankees win over #Redsox
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) April 11, 2014
No, no. I said it was not dirt, for there is no way that the shiny, goopy substance pictured above is dirt.
Pineda says he doesn't use pine tar #Yankees
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) April 11, 2014
OK then.
The Red Sox did not complain during the game, leading most to believe that Pineda was not doctoring the ball and therefore was not doing anything so terrible (no matter how jarring the visual was). But for him to say it was just dirt shows that he feels there is some reason to deny what it actually was. I’m not saying what that reason would be and I am definitely not suggesting that it means he is guilty of something illegal. But Pineda feels there is some reason to lie about it.
Because that’s definitely not dirt.