Alek Manoah, Toronto Blue Jays (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
Alek Manoah started to pester Gerrit Cole before Manoah even threw his first pitch in the highly-anticipated matchup between the two aces.
If batters are expected to be in the box within a certain time frame, and pitchers need to throw the ball before the pitch clock hits zero, shouldn’t we have some expectations about when away pitchers need to make their way to their own dugout before games begin?
New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole would probably say so. His opposing starter for Saturday’s game, Alek Manoah, decided to make his way from the Toronto Blue Jays dugout to the team bullpen right in the middle of the first inning. As a result, the game had to be paused so Manoah, Alejandro Kirk (catcher) and the rest of the Blue Jays starting pitcher staff could cross the field and get to the dugout.
Ooooh, so menacing! This series is getting petty fast.
Alek Manoah disrespects Gerrit Cole’s work in first inning
This might seem like nothing, but everyone knows how methodical and locked-in Cole is on game days. We’ve seen him perform poorly after rain delays or other interruptions. Anything that gets him off his groove like this could throw him right off his game.
Could this have just been an accident? Maybe they lost track of time?
Come on, let’s not be naive. Players know when the game starts and participate in 162 of these a year. The pacing on these is almost exactly the same every single time. They knew exactly what they were doing.
It’s fine that Manoah has a weird one-sided personal grudge against Gerrit Cole. But interrupting a game because you lost track of time is either careless or an outright strategic move. Either way, it’s tasteless and disrespectful to the game, and especially Cole.
Let the man work.