ARLINGTON, Texas _ The Mike Minor 200th strikeout imbroglio went from the diamond at Globe Life Park Thursday onto social media Thursday night.
Minor, who called first baseman Ronald Guzman off of a foul pop so he could record his 200th strikeout in the ninth inning against the Boston Red Sox, responded to Boston Globe Red Sox beat writer Pete Abraham on Twitter after the game.
Abraham, who apparently has spent too much time going over the "unwritten" rule book of baseball, took exception to Minor's move. "Mike Minor's 200th strikeout should have a big asterisk. That was bush. Chasing a milestone that way is unprofessional," he posted on Twitter.
Two and a half hours later, Minor responded with a less-than-stellar comeback: "Ask me if I care, Pete."
Abraham replied: "Congrats to you and CB (Bucknor) on No. 200," a reference to the home plate umpire who gave Minor a generous Strike 3 call for No. 200.
Then Abraham spent time responding to feisty Rangers fans who were peppering him on Twitter. Someone is even selling "Ask Me If I Care Pete" T-shirts.
Abraham might be right about letting a popup drop for a milestone statistic. But why did the Red Sox care in the first place? Why were they swinging at every first pitch in the eighth inning? They were only down two runs. Was that playing by the unwritten rules?
And how about Tuesday's starter Eduardo Rodriguez, who the Red Sox kept in the game despite allowing 12 runs (seven earned) on 11 hits over the first five innings? Would he have stayed in the game past the fourth inning (after eight runs had scored) if he wasn't sitting on 18 wins and trying to get to 20?
Rangers manager Chris Woodward, who voiced his displeasure with allowing the ball to drop after the game, reiterated his thoughts again before Friday's game. But he also defended Minor and his players for being unjustly labeled. He called it a learning moment for his team.
"I didn't love the idea of dropping a popup," he said. "But our team wasn't happy about some of the other stuff that went on. I'll leave it at that. I know that team plays hard; I know our team plays hard. All year. I'm not going to let one split-second decision ... for our players to be defined a certain way. It's not fair. We work too hard, we put too much time and effort in every day. Mike has worked too hard to have anybody say there should be an asterisk next to his accomplishment. That's ridiculous."
