NEW YORK — We’ve waited a long time for this. The Red Sox and Yankees are in first and second place respectively, and national television networks still love them, but everybody knows the rivalry has been somewhat tepid since the passionate, angry golden days of 2003 and 2004.
But some of the old hard feelings resurfaced Thursday and Friday when pantload CC Sabathia called the Red Sox “weak’’ and challenged anyone who doesn’t like it to “meet in center field . . . I’m out there early every day.’’
And all this because Sox infielder Eduardo Nunez had the audacity to do his job and lay down a bunt in the first inning of Thursday’s 6-2 Yankee win. Nunez swung away in third inning Friday night and belted a two-run homer in the the Sox’ 4-1 victory.)
Sabathia’s subsequent tantrum (he fired a fusillade of f-bombs in the direction of the Red Sox dugout after fanning Rafael Devers to end the inning) and postgame remarks triggered an avalanche of colorful commentary from all corners of baseball America. The fallout featured old school vs. new school, fat-shaming, tales of Nolan Ryan and Frank Robinson, and a classic back page from the New York Daily News (’’F#&* Boston! — CC challenges ‘weak’ Sox to fight after Yanks hand them Bronx beatdown’’).
There’s a little history here. New York’s Three Balloons Lefty (Sabathia is listed at 300 pounds in the Yankee press guide) was angry when both Andrew Benintendi and Nunez attempted to reach via bunts during a weekend game at Fenway in August.
Sabathia is 37, with bad knees and a lot of excess weight. Traditionally, teams would try to exploit this, though in recent times there seems to be some sort of code not to embarrass fellow members of the players association. None of the Yankees attempted to bunt on Curt Schilling when the big blowhard made his famous bloody sock start in the 2004 AL Championship Series. Similarly, I’ve always wondered why teams don’t run every time on Jon Lester since they know he has a phobia about throwing to first base.
Sabathia seems to think it’s unmanly to bunt.
“It’s just kind of weak to me,’’ he said Thursday. “It shows me what they’ve got over there. It just gets you fired up . . . Scared. I mean ‘Let’s go, let’s play. Swing the bat’ . . . I think they think I’m a bigger guy who can’t field my position [Sabathia made a throwing error on Nunez’s bunt, allowing him to reach]. So ‘We’re going to try to bunt instead of swinging the bat.’ ’’
CC’s rant inspired the single greatest stream of commentary in Jim Rice’s 15 years as a NESN analyst. Asked to react to Sabathia’s remarks, Rice said, “What is he talking about? Bunting is part of the game . . . If you tell him to leave some of that chicken, that donut, that burger weight — maybe his leg will be OK that he can field that baseball. That’s just stupid.’’
Wow. A manifesto of mean from Jim Ed. Great stuff.
Apprised of Rice’s remarks Friday, Sabathia said, “He’s right. I’m fat. He won that . . . I hope when I’m that old I’m not that bittter.’’
In the same session, Sabathia doubled-down on his anti-bunt rant.
“That’s just me,’’ he said. “It doesn’t matter who is bunting or who I’m playing. I get pissed when people bunt, period. Everybody knows that. And they got the reaction . . . If my son bunts on me, I’m going to cuss him out.’’
To the surprise of no one, the insufferable Shill chimed in from the Twittersphere with, “Shut your mouth and get the out. Not complicated.’’
Yankee manager Joe Girardi tried to chalk up the nonsense to Sabathia’s competitive nature.
“I think it’s the good that is coming out of CC and why he’s good in these types of games,’’ said the manager, as Sabathia is 11-5 with a 3.71 ERA and 8-0 with a 1.44 ERA after Yankee losses this year. “It’s the competitor in him . . . To me, it’s an old-school mentality. It’s things you might have heard out of a Bob Gibson or a Nolan Ryan or a Roger Clemens. If you tried to bunt on them in certain situations, they would get angry.’’
Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley remembered it the same way.
“That was Nolan,’’ said Eck. “I loved watching him finish warming up in the first inning. He’d throw the last one, then step on the grass in front of the mound and put marks in the grass. If was like, ‘You better not be bunting on me, trying to put the ball down here.’ Everybody got the message. I loved it.’’
Jim Kaat, who won 283 games and 16 Gold Gloves, added, “Guys started bunting on me late in my career. I remember Luis Aparicio doing it. I think I made seven errors one year. But hey, a guy has to do what he has to do. If Don Baylor [Baylor had a notoriously poor arm] was playing left field, guys were going to run on him.
“I remember pitching against the Indians in 1975 and Frank Robinson was taking a lead off first and when he was distracted I tried to run over with the ball and get to the bag before he did. He beat me to the bag, but boy was he mad. I said, ‘Frank, I’m old. I’ve got to get outs any way I can!’ ’’
The Red Sox won’t face Sabathia again this season unless the two teams meet in the postseason, but Boston is committed to its totally appropriate strategy.
“That’s what we do,’’ said John Farrell. “That’s what every team does. And if we get another chance, we’re going to do it again.’’
Nunez, who was Sabathia’s teammate in New York, laughed and said, “I told CC, ‘I’m sorry, but that’s what I have to do.’ I feel sorry for his pain, but that’s my job. It’s all baseball. It’s a joke. What do you want me to do? I think he’s wrong.’’
Sabathia is totally wrong. But he’s also making the rivalry great again and we thank him for playing.
Dan Shaughnessy can be reached at dshaughnessy@globe.com.
