Josh Donaldson emerges from shadows to bury Orioles with zero self-awareness

Just a day after Baltimore Orioles manager Brandon Hyde went sicko mode on the New York Yankees, the team in pinstripes was defended by an unlikely source -- their former third baseman. Josh Donaldson was a borderline villain in The Bronx by the time he was unceremoniously let go. Still, even Donaldson felt the need to step in the ring against Hyde and an army of Orioles fans who feel as though they've been wronged for reasons I don't quite understand.

The timeline of events, as far as I understand them, is the following: Heston Kjerstad was struck in the head by Yankees pitcher Clay Holmes, who was immediately sympathetic and checked on the Orioles youngster in the aftermath. Hyde, then, proceeded to exit his dugout, pick a fight with the Yankees dugout and bowl over catcher Austin Well. A benches-clearing 'brawl' is the only way this series of events would ever end, so that was the natural next step.

Brandon Hyde is wrong and everyone knows it, even Josh Donaldson

Hyde also aimed an expletive at Holmes, who again, lost control of a breaking pitch in the rain and showed remorse. The Orioles manager claimed the Yankees dugout was jawing with him, though that only occurred after he picked a fight with Holmes and then Wells, who tried to stay out of it.

I have no horse in this race. In fact, I typically can't stand the Yankees or their fans. As an extremely-biased third party (towards the Orioles), it's still pretty clear Hyde doesn't have much of a case. Donaldson agrees, which is why he tweeted the following.

"No you hate the Yankees because year after year they have beat down your hopes and dreams of winning. First, by beating you on the field. Second, even if they have a down year they can go reload. Enjoy this little stretch your players will be a Yankee, Dodger, or Red Sox," Donaldson said.

I'm not exactly sure what Donaldson is getting at. Maybe he's been out of the loop since he retired, but the O's have new ownership and (hopefully) will raise payroll in the near future as their former top draft picks age past arbitration status. For now, though, Donaldson is right to come to the defense of his former teammates, even if he chose his words extremely poorly.

Yankees fans hated Donaldson near the end of his tenure with the team. In fact, acquiring him in the first place was an undeniable mistake from Cashman and Co. In this case, though, all sides can agree the Orioles look far worse than New York.