Bad blood finds way back into rivalry

WE have come full circle in the 98-year saga of the Yankees and Red Sox, haven’t we, in graduating from the Curse of the Bambino to Nunee’s Revenge. Much to the chagrin of CC Sabathia, Eduardo Nunez did not even attempt to lay down a bunt Friday night as he did in so enraging the big lefty on Thursday by reaching base that way as the game’s second batter of the opener of this four-game series in the Bronx. Instead, following indirect exchanges of insults between Sabathia and Jim Rice, Boston’s Hall of Fame left fielder who does television work for NESN, plus some additional attendant silliness, Nunez took out the big stick and went deep on Sonny Gray with a man on the third inning to erase a 1-0 deficit and give the Sox a 2-1 lead they never relinquished on their way to a 4-1 victory at the Stadium on Friday. “Bunt this!” he might as well have said with his bat a couple of hours after insisting small ball was his game even though the man affectionately known as Nun-EE through his tenure in pinstripes from 2010 through 2013 as much for his erratic play in the field as a play on his name, has cracked eight home runs in 137 at-bats since joining the Sox via a trade from San Francisco on July 26. Nunez, who pulled a 2-0, 92 mph twoseamer into the second row of the lower stands, laughed heartily when reminded of his pre-game assertion that he lacked power.

“The ball was just flying,” he said. “I got a good swing on the ball and it just happened. It’s not like I’m looking for power.”

It is not like Nunez or the Red Sox were looking to create a controversy when he reached base on as Sabathia throwing error on Thursday. He wasn’t even looking to violate what apparently is the newest of the Baseball Encylopedia of Etiquette and Unwritten Rules. Why, the man only had the audacity to attempt to take advantage of an opponent’s weakness.

It certainly wasn’t Lou Piniella barreling into Carlton Fisk at home plate in 1976, it wasn’t Pedro Martinez tossing Don Zimmer to the ground at Fenway in Game 3 of the ALCS, it wasn’t Jason Varitek shoving his glove into Alex Rodriguez’s face in 2004, and, truth be told, it was not even A-Rod with his slap play on Bronson Arroyo in Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS.

But Sabathia’s verbal slap against Nunez, absurd as it was, did at least injected a whiff of controversy and emotion into a rivalry that has essentially been running on muscle memory for the last dozen years. The verbal crossfire between Sabathia and Rice, and to an extent, Nunez, did add some extra flavor to a competition that has become vanilla no matter how many primetime and marquee network slots it still commands.

Fact is, the teams have neither met in the postseason since the momentous 2004 series in which Boston came from down 3-0 to win in seven, nor have finished closer than within six games of one another in the standings since 2007.

Rice got personal in advising Sabathia to, in so many words, push away from the table and stay away from ingesting chicken, donuts and burgers. Sabathia, who called on the Red Sox to meet him in center field before Friday’s game if they had an issue with his comments that followed his 6-2 victory, returned the volley in calling Rice “bitter.”

The Red Sox, by the way, did not take the big lefty up on his invitation to meet up in the outfield. But manager John Farrell ridiculed the notion that Nunez had breached etiquette, explaining that Nunez simply looked for a way to take advantage of an opponent’s weakness, just as he and teammate Andrew Benintendi had done in bunting against Sabathia in Fenway on Aug. 19.

Nunez said he did not share Rice’s opinion regarding Sabathia, who has dealt with knee issues the last couple of years, but the lefty’s one-time teammate did say, “If he’s hurt, go back to the DL. It’s not my problem.” He called the controversy “a joke.”

When Friday’s game ended and the Sox had increased their first-place lead over the Yankees to 5 ¹/2 with two games remaining in the series, Nunez was the one who was laughing at the latest turn of this rivalry.

From the Curse of the Bambino to Nunee’s Revenge.