Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.
Two starts ago, Michael Pineda was called out by John Farrell and the Red Sox in the post-game media conference for having what appeared to be a foreign substance on his arm. Pineda defended himself, saying it was a combination of dirt and sweat, and not pine tar.
On Wednesday night, the same two teams met again in Boston, and 1.2 innings into the game, Farrell took in-game action. The umpiring crew gave Pineda the once over, and discovered pine tar on his neck, promptly ejecting him. The Yankees went on to lose the game 5-1.
The team is expecting Pineda to be suspended, potentially for 10 games, says USA Today’s Bob Nightingale. While Joe Girardi has come out and said that pitchers need to be able to have something to help grip the ball in certain weather conditions (per Peter Gammons), General Manager Brian Cashman seems to feel differently.
"I think we are all embarrassed. This is a terrible situation. We all took ownership to it. Obviously, there is clearly a failure and breakdown for him walking out of that dugout with something like that."
Pineda said that he couldn’t feel the ball and just didn’t want to hit anybody. He apologized. We’ll see how long that lasts.