We can officially say good-bye to the Big Papi “Big Hug” era up in Boston.  You remember those years.  Ortiz hugs everyone, and when there is a runner on any base the Yankee and Red Sox players are slapping each other on the back, yukking it up, it’s all good.  Sure, the fans still hate each other but on the field, it was different from years gone by.

Now, that started to change last year when the Red Sox were caught stealing signs by having one of their coaches communicate with his Apple watch.  They only got a slap on the wrist for that but Gary Sanchez set a modern day record running to the mound to call pitches verbally.  The funny thing is that the Boston and Yankee rosters are made up of mostly good guys – you wouldn’t expect things to change now but last night, they did.  A few observations:

• Tyler Austin’s slide, while technically legal, did cross the bag, and his spike did clip the shortstop’s leg.  They had words at 2nd base, the benches cleared for some reason and that was that.  But you sensed this would linger.  SU says if the roles were reversed and that was Didi that got spiked, the Yankees would also have taken exception to that.
• David Cone picked up on what was going to happen.  Kelly threw inside to Austin and Cone said he thought that was intentional.  Michael Kay and Paul O’Neill seem to have missed the intent part.  The umpire could have warned both benches then but hey, this is baseball, and it’s hard to measure intent on a cold night.  Of course, 2 pitches later, he clearly nailed him with intent.  Austin rightly went after him – SU has no issue there.  When he first emerged from the scrum, Kay thought he was bleeding from the mouth but fans like SU knew it was chewing tobacco juice dribbling out of his mouth.  It’s a good look.  Austin always has his cheek puffed out as do many players these days – unreal as why risk oral cancer?  So stupid.
• The best part of the fight was the presence of Judge and Stanton pushing the pile towards the Red Sox dugout.  When you include CC and Marcus Thames, the Yankees certainly outweigh the Red Sox.
• SU did not like Judge in the middle there.  This is how guys get hurt and the reality is that Kelly and Austin put the stars at risk.
• SU did like that Phil Nevin, the Yankees’ 3rd base coach has some fire.  He got ejected for whatever reason and Red Sox manager Cora was seen waving for him to get off the field.  SU says let’s beat the rush and start hating Cora now: douche bag move and not very managerial.

Bottom line: this will linger throughout the season.  The Red Sox hitters need to worry about Tommy Kahnle who is legitimately a lunatic and throws high 90s and Betances who is a nice guy but has no idea where his 100 mph fastballs are going.  We know Chris Sale will keep things alive as well.

The sad part is that guys get hurt and in baseball, it’s easy to break a bone.  It’s all stupid but hey, it’s baseball and like hockey, the fans like the occasional fight – especially in a 4-hour game.  Stay tuned.