ANAHEIM — Mike Ford hasn’t precisely unfold his wings because the Yankees designated him for project and subsequently traded him away final summer season.
The primary baseman has suited up for eight completely different groups in 2022, 4 on the big-league degree and 4 down in Triple-A. Getting into play on Monday evening, the 30-year-old was hitting .225 in 60 complete video games throughout each ranges, batting .179 within the Main Leagues.
So when Ford stepped as much as the plate for the Angels within the backside of the fourth on Monday, after Anthony Rizzo had given New York a lead with a towering house run within the high of the body, Yankees followers in attendance at Angel Stadium weren’t involved within the slightest.
That is when Ford ambushed a first-pitch cutter from starter Frankie Montas, walloping a solo house run 395 toes down the fitting area line. It was Ford’s first house run within the large leagues this yr, his first MLB house run not in a Yankees uniform.
What occurred subsequent was much more notable than Ford’s first large fly since Might 22 of final yr. Leaning again to admire his work, Ford flipped his bat emphatically, placing his proper index finger as much as his lips, shushing two occasions.
The rapid assumption was that Ford was gesturing towards the Yankees dugout. Was it a pleasant expression towards a few of his former teammates and coaches, or did it include malicious intent, directed at a workforce that just lately let him go? Might it have been a message to followers heckling him?
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After the sport, Yankees supervisor Aaron Boone was requested about that play, an vital blow in what turned out to be a 4-3 loss for New York, their third in a row.
“I am hoping that wasn’t the case and he was trying some other place,” Boone mentioned. “If he did, yeah, that will irritate me. However I am not so positive that was the case.”
Boone added that he isn’t searching for “issues to get mad at,” specializing in the truth that his workforce did not get the job carried out between the traces.
Whether or not Ford speaks out concerning the second or not, we’ll by no means know for sure what the slugger’s motive was. Boone has a strong level, although. Relatively than specializing in a controversial celebration from an previous good friend, this workforce wants to concentrate to the truth that they’ve misplaced three video games in a row to lowly opponents, failing as soon as once more to mount various runs on offense.
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