KANSAS CITY – Carlos Beltran would be wise to stay loose tonight when the Royals’ rookie second baseman steps into the batter’s box againstDavid Cone or any other Yankee hurler.
After the Yankees watched Jeff Montgomery drill Chuck Knoblauch in the left elbow in the ninth inning of a 13-6 Royals romp last night at Kauffman Stadium, retaliation was running rampant through the World Champions’ clubhouse.
Sure, Dan Naulty hit Scott Leius and Carlos Febles in the seventh and eighth, but the struggling reliever who couldn’t find the plate for most of his outing did it with misbehaving forkballs. Montgomery, on the other hand, came with a heater after there were two outs in the ninth and caught the red-hot Knoblauch flush on the elbow.
“That’s for you guys to decide,” a still fuming Knoblauch said when asked if he believed Montgomery used him for target practice. “You guys watch a lot of games.”
Forget about taking a press box poll. Canvassing a solemn Yankees clubhouse told you every uniform knew Montgomery was retaliating for his mates getting hit.
When Derek Jeter made the final out of the game, Knoblauch stared at Montgomery from second base and continued to glare at the Royals as they gathered behind the mound to celebrate their first win over the Yankees in 13 games. As Knoblauch moved toward the third base line, he flipped a piece of gum in Montgomery’s direction that landed far short of Montgomery.
Did he say anything to Montgomery?
“No, he wouldn’t look at me,” said Knoblauch, who filled the stale clubhouse air with several loud obscenities on the way to the shower.
So, is there a history between Montgomery and Knoblauch?
“There is now,” said Knoblauch.
Then the fiery second baseman, who went 3-for-5 drove in three runs and hiked his average to .363, mocked Montgomery’s fastball.
“He doesn’t throw hard enough,” Knoblauch said when asked if getting hit would keep him out of tonight’s game.
Naturally, tonight’s starter – Cone – refused to say whether Beltran, the Twins’ leadoff hitter and center fielder who hit one of the Royals’ five homers last night, should tread lightly in the box. However, Yankee pitchers have become very good at protecting their hitters during the past two seasons and Knoblauch is their hottest stick.
“You can’t be obvious, you have to pick your spots,” a pitcher said when asked if it would be unwise for Beltran to dig in too deep.
Montgomery, of course, downplayed his drilling.
“Guys are always upset when they get hit,” said Montgomery, whose best attribute is control. “I was just out there trying to do my job.”
In other words, Montgomery was paying the Yankees back for Naulty’s actions.
“I was all over the place and hit two guys and they felt they had to hit a guy,” said Naulty, who was rocked for four runs, four hits and walked two in three innings and gave up homers to Febles and Joe Randa. “It’s unfortunate that Knobby had to get hit because I was all over the place.”
The Royals hit Andy Pettitte all over Kauffman Stadium which had some life injected into it by fans participating in a “$Share The Wealth” demonstration that was designed to accentuate the canyon between the small- and big-market baseball teams on a night when the financially-challenged Royals hammered the rich Yankees.
In 31/3 innings, Pettitte was spanked for seven runs and seven hits and watched his record go to 0-1 as his ERA swelled to 5.51.