Ryan Dempster made it obvious that he was intentionally trying to hit Alex Rodriguez during Sunday’s Boston Red Sox-New York Yankees game, but did you realize that Dempster likely had this planned for a while?
Ottawan Citizen sports writer Wayne Scanlan tweeted that Dempster told him he planned to “drill” A-Rod the first chance he got.
“Met Ryan Dempster in Detroit. Said he had issue with A-Rod and would drill him first chance he got. Man of his word,” Scanlan tweeted shortly after the incident.
Scanlan also says Dempster had a problem with A-Rod after getting snubbed by the third baseman.
“A-Rod snubbed Dempster at a public event. Dempster was not impressed.”
[Video: Ryan Dempster hits Alex Rodriguez intentionally]
Scanlan deleted his tweets, but they certainly explain a lot. There definitely seemed to be a personal motivation behind the pitches, and this would explain it.
It’s hard to believe that Dempster threw at A-Rod with such intent and wasn’t ejected, while manager Joe Girardi got tossed for simply arguing with the umpires. And like Girardi said, it’s awfully easy to hit someone intentionally when you don’t have to come up to bat yourself.
