Orioles' Buck Showalter Angry At 'Hypocritical' Yankees For Irene Scheduling Saga
NEW YORK (WFAN/AP) -- The Yankees have once again found themselves on Buck Showalter's bad side.
Bombers manager Joe Girardi asserted last week that the teams should have played a doubleheader Friday because of the looming Hurricane Irene.
The problem? That would have been just two days after former Orioles pitcher Mike Flanagan took his own life.
"It's silly to me. I don't understand why we didn't play a split doubleheader," Girardi said on Friday. "Someone's got to step up, and they did it all over the country. They did it in Philadelphia, they did it in Boston, they did it in Florida. Football games have been moved up. Soccer games. Golf has been canceled, 18 holes. Why we didn't play a split ... I have no idea."
Instead, the Yankees and Orioles will make up one half of their scheduled Saturday doubleheader on September 8, New York's last true off day of the season. Yesterday's nightcap, an 8-3 Yankees win, was rescheduled from the other half of Saturday's rainout.
The Orioles' manager wasn't pleased with the talk coming from New York, going so far as to call the Yankees "hypocritical."
"I felt that some of the stuff was a little disrespectful to Flanny, quite frankly," said Showalter on Sunday. "That didn't sit with me very well. I can tell you that."
Flanagan's body was found Wednesday afternoon about 250 feet behind his home. He won the Cy Young Award in 1979 and helped the Orioles win the 1983 World Series. After his retirement, he worked for the Orioles as a coach and in the front office before settling into a job as color commentator on the team's broadcast network.
"Their opinion on what the Baltimore Orioles should do for their fans and for their organization isn't really that relevant to me personally," Showalter said, according to the Newark Star-Ledger. "I can tell you that."
Flanagan was scheduled to work this weekend's series against the Yankees.
"I respect where they are in the season and what their people are saying about the competitive part of it, but it means something to us, too," said Showalter. "Sometimes we confuse some things from a real-life standpoint compared to what we're actually doing here, OK? Obviously, there's more, but I'll stop there."
Does Showalter have a point? Sound off in the comments below...
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