Odor, Rangers won’t apologize
Replays and commentary of Rougned Odor’s brawl-triggering encounter with Jose Bautista kept playing on the TV sets in the Texas Rangers clubhouse at Oakland Coliseum before Monday’s game, and the topic was inescapable amid the player banter, too.
The player at the center of the ugly episode tried to go about his business, likely unaware of the full consequences of what had happened in the eighth inning of the previous day’s game vs. the Toronto Blue Jays.
Odor, a third-year second baseman from Venezuela, on Monday spoke to reporters for the first time about the incident, which has dominated highlight shows and sports headlines all over the country.
He kept his answers short and expressed no regret, saying it was part of the game.
Asked about whether others might believe he’s a dirty player, hard-nosed Odor said, “I just play the game how I play. I just play the game to win games.”
On the altercation around second base, after Bautista’s hard slide prompted words between them: “I think it’s over. It’s in the past. I respect him. He plays hard.”
On the likelihood of any league-imposed discipline after his right cross to Bautista’s jaw: “I know I’m going to be suspended for a couple of games.”
Asked later in Spanish if he was concerned about how other teams might react to him, Odor said, “I’m not the one who slid.”
Indeed, it was Bautista who tried to wipe out Odor at second, moments after getting hit in the back by reliever Matt Bush in what appeared to be retaliation for the Toronto slugger’s bat flip after his dramatic threerun homer in Game 5 of last year’s American League Division Series.
Odor brushed off the bat flip as a reason for escalating his confrontation with Bautista, saying he was merely protecting himself.
And manager Jeff Banister came to his defense, arguing that Odor was taking the majority of the blame for an incident he did not start.
“I’m not going to criticize a player for playing hard,” Banister said. “Things happen during those situations that they’re ugly, they look bad, it’s not good for anybody. I think you guys (reporters) are being a little one-sided on the view. Look, the whole situation, that was not a pretty situation at second base.
“It got escalated because they’re two guys who have a lot of passion for the game. They played hard. Do we want that to happen? Absolutely not.”
Now that it has, there’s a growing belief that Odor, 22, might become a marked man because of an aggressive playing style that can irritate opponents and might at time cross the line of accepted on-field demeanor.
Plus, this is not the first time he has been in the middle of a brawl.
While in the minors in 2011, Odor slid hard into second base and wound up starting a melee in similar fashion as Sunday’s after punching the opposing shortstop, who objected to his slide.
Veteran third baseman Adrian Beltre, a peacekeeper during Sunday’s fight, acknowledged he talked with Odor afterward but would not reveal what he said. Like Banister, he defended Odor’s style.
“The way he plays is wellreceived in this clubhouse,” Beltre said. “That’s what matters. The outside doesn’t matter.”