Hanley Ramirez and A.J. Burnett got into it during Thursday’s Dodgers-Pirates game after Burnett felt Ramirez showed him up following a home run.
Ramirez hit a two-run homer (the 150th of his career) off Burnett in the bottom of the fourth to give the Dodgers a 4-3 lead. As he was rounding second base, he appeared to put his hands to his eyes in the shape of glasses, upsetting Burnett. The gesture seems to be a ripoff of the “lo viste” gesture developed by the Marlins, for whom Ramirez played before being traded to the Dodgers. “Lo viste” is the players’ way of saying “did you see that?” in Spanish, though it’s unclear exactly what Ramirez intends his new gesture to mean. Regardless, Burnett felt Ramirez was showing him up.
Later in the game after the Pirates had reclaimed the lead, Burnett struck Ramirez out and stared him down. He also clearly yelled, “Sit down!”
“If you’re going to hit a homer, act like you’ve hit one before,” Burnett told reporters after the game according to the Associated Press. “The first batter, (James) Loney, hit one, was very professional about it. Ran hard the whole way. I just thought he did a little something at second base. I could be wrong. It was the heat of the moment.”
As for the “sit down” comment, Burnett said he was just excited to get a hitter out that sent one a long way off of him the last time up. Obviously, there was more to it than that. It’s hard to not side with Burnett on this one. Hanley clearly made the gesture in his direction, which is a classless move. Moments like those are the reason many of Ramirez’s former teammates weren’t sad to see him leave Miami.
