Rays’ David Price chides David Ortiz: ‘This is not war’
If you thought that things had settled down between Tampa Bay Rays pitcher David Price and Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz, you’d best check that thought.
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After beaning two batters on Friday night, helping to cause a bench-clearing brawl between the two teams, Price calmly explained his actions and said that he understood Ortiz’s anger.
Then Ortiz declared war.
“I mean, it’s a war,” Ortiz said via ESPN.com. “It’s on. Next time he hits me, he better bring the gloves. I have no respect for him no more.”
That prompted Price to bring the verbal gloves to Ortiz.
“Kellen Winslow got a lot of crap for saying he was a soldier. You’re not a soldier. This is not war. We have troops fighting for us that are in a war. It’s not a good comparison.”
Price went on to question the habit Ortiz has of admiring his home runs, something that boiled up in last year’s Division Playoff Series between the two teams.
“Sometimes, the way [Ortiz] acts out there, he kind of looks like he’s bigger than the game,” Price said. “That’s not the way it is, not the way it goes. … Nobody’s bigger than the game of baseball. You ask pitchers from 10, 15, 20 years ago — that’s normal, part of the game.”
This may not be one of the oldest rivalries in baseball, but it’s quickly turning into one of the better ones.