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Youkilis, Proctor react »
June 1, 2007
Whether he meant to or not, Terry Francona seemed to indicate the beanball battle with the Yankees -- which culminated tonight with Kevin Youkilis nearly being hit in the head by Scott Proctor -- may not be over.
In his postgame press conference, Francona was asked about his actions immediately after Youkilis was hit.
''I was actually there with [Youkilis at first base] because I . . . when things like that happen, the last thing I want to have happen is Youkilis to end up getting something where he's going to get penalized by the league,'' Francona said. ''I understand he was upset; the ball was pretty close to his head. But my responsibility is to keep him on the field and keep him in games.''
It had appeared Yankee catcher Jorge Posada had tried to convince Youkilis the pitch wasn't intentional, and Francona was asked what Posada had said.
''To be honest with you, I couldn't tell you word for word,'' he replied. ''But what Posada was saying, nothing was inflammatory, if that's what you're asking.''
When asked specifically if he felt Proctor were throwing at Youkilis, Francona said: ''I don't know. It's dangerous to ever try to get into somebody else's head. I don't know. I just . . . again, I know Youk thought it came pretty close to his head. Which I understand.''
A reporter then said, ''So as far as you're concerned, it's over and done . . . ''
Francona interrupted, ''I don't like when guys speak for me. You can ask questions if you . . . ''
The reporter then asked: ''Is it over and done?''
Said Francona: ''I don't know that . . . I thought I gave a good explanation. That was my explanation.''
Since Francona really didn't give an explanation, good or otherwise, as to whether he felt the incident was over -- and since he declined to say it was ''over and done'' when asked directly -- you might be advised to keep an eye on the last two games of the series.
Posted by Art Martone 
at 11:32 PM | Permalink
