Sunday, April 1, 2012

The day Ubaldo Jimenez lost my respect

In case you haven't heard, the Rockies squared off against the Cleveland Indians this afternoon at Salt River Fields and Cleveland's starting pitcher just happened to be a former Rockies ace — and argubly the only ace they've ever had — by the name of Ubaldo Jimenez.

Once the Indians confirmed that news a couple days ago, we knew we were going to be in for an interesting ball game, first and foremost, because it's always interesting when a player matches up against his former team. In this case, though, there was even more interest because of the circumstances we've learned that surrounded Ubaldo's departure last season, and because Troy Tulowitzki went public with the following response to Ubaldo's poor attitude and his comments during the winter.

"There's a certain point in this game where you go play and you shut your mouth. And you don't worry about what other people are doing."

So obviously tensions were high when Tulowitzki stepped in for his first at-bat in the first inning. The first pitch of said at-bat was a Jimenez fastball... that drilled Tulo right on the left elbow (which eventually sent him for x-rays that were thankfully negative). Mhm, Ubaldo went right after him, and then, according to those in attendance, pounded his chest and invited Tulowitzki to join him in front of the mound after Tulo called him something unpleasant.