Yadier Molina says Adam Jones made some uneducated comments about his opponent after the World Baseball Classic championship game, and the Puerto Rican team captain is demanding that Jones apologize for it.
After the United States dominated Puerto Rico with an 8-0 win on Wednesday, Jones said the U.S. team was motivated by the Puerto Rican players planning a celebration and having championship T-shirts made before the game was even played. Puerto Rico did, in fact, have a celebration, but Molina says the team was going to have one either way.
“Adam Jones … is talking about things he doesn’t know about,” Molina told ESPN. “He really has to get informed because he shouldn’t have said those comments, let alone in public and mocking the way [preparations] were made.
“He has to apologize to the Puerto Rican people. Obviously, you wanted to win; he didn’t know what this means to [our] people.”
Although they only took home a silver medal, Molina implied that award means more to the people of Puerto Rico than the gold means means to the U.S.
“That’s why I’m sending a message to [Jones], saying, ‘Look at this, right now you’re in spring training working out, and we’re with our people, with our silver medals,'” he said. “You’re in spring training and you’re working … you have no idea how to celebrate your honors, you don’t know what it means.”
Puerto Rico had gone 7-0 in the World Baseball Classic prior to the championship game. The country was incredibly excited about the run, and third baseman Carlos Correa echoed Molina’s sentiments.
“It’s funny because they have been talking about that, but it’s all about the country; it’s not about our team,” Correa said. “Our country has been behind us since we have started [the tournament]. When we were in Mexico, we told the governor in Puerto Rico that if we made it to the finals, we need to plane to get back and celebrate with our people.”
Like it or not, the World Baseball Classic created plenty of drama this time around. With the war of words between Puerto Rico and the U.S. and Adrian Gonzalez unloading on the tournament, no one can argue there was no entertainment.
