In life, and baseball, discretion is always the better part of valor. In the case of Michael Pineda, his crime was a lack of discretion. At Fenway Park on Wednesday night, it was almost impossible to believe there was another blotch of pine tar on Michael Pineda, this time on his neck. It's placement was daring, begging the Red Sox to call him out for his attempt to improve his grip on the baseball, despite the age old "unwritten rules" that keep teams from blowing the whistle on each other for accepted gamesmanship.
It was clear that Red Sox manager John Farrell was left without a choice. After Pineda's first performance against Boston on Sunday Night Baseball, with the Yankee Stadium lights, and ESPN cameras gleaming off the pine tar on his right wrist, there was no way Boston could have allowed Pineda to continue unchallenged. If Farrell had not acted, the Red Sox would have faced glaring questions about their competency, if they had not intervened for a second time. The decision to act was not a matter of rivalry, nor a matter of competitive balance, but recourse for disregarding the common baseball courtesy of not placing your opponent in the unnecessary position of facing questions about being asleep at the wheel, for allowing their opponents infraction. Boston is a sports town that is notorious for grilling their teams for even the slightest mishap, and Pineda's sticky neck simply could not be tolerated. Not twice.
The Yankees for their part had their organizational party line well underway during the YES broadcast mid-game studio break. Jack Curry deemed that Pineda had been caught at the "cookie jar" for a second time, a klaxon call that signaled there would be no damage control for Pineda's faux pax. Yankees GM Brian Cashman wanted nothing to do with covering his pitchers lack of discretion, and nor did Girardi. Each had done their part dancing around the first incident 10 days prior. The Yankees were embarrassed, and Pineda alone would answer for his misdeed.
It is no great secret that professional baseball is governed by a host of unwritten rules that allow the game to control itself through unofficial channels. The first of those edicts is the use of discretion. If a pitcher is looking to improve their grip on the baseball during a cold night, keep the pine tar out of sight. Hide it in the glove, deep under the bill of the cap, or discreetly on the belt, but do not make the effort obvious to millions of viewers. Pineda did not just violate that commandment, he commenced with the subtlety of P.T. Barnum.
In the end, the incident will have little impact on the game itself. Pitchers and hitters alike are seeking every advantage, and baseball will largely leave it to the clubs to keep each other in check. Though there is little question that Michael Pineda's true punishment is not his 10 day league suspension. It is the year long chore of fielding every obligatory question about pine tar after every start, and no longer being given the benefit of the doubt. A harsher lesson than most for a lack of valor.
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