Did smoking, profanity cause a rift between Mark Teixeira and Ron Washington?

There's a story in today's Daily News about Mark Teixeira and Ron Washington not exactly being BFFs when Tex was on the Texas Rangers. But what are the reasons behind it? Among other things, according to the article, "former teammates and a club executive said Teixeira complained of Washington's penchant for profanity and smoking in the dugout."

While I don't doubt that the two of them had a conflict - Washington acknowledges as much in the article - I wonder if those two things are really some of the reasons the two of them reportedly didn't get along.

First of all, unless Mark is challenging Tony Dungy these days, he has to be used to hearing profanity, even from the manager. But if this is the case, guess Teixeira won't be palling around with Jets coach Rex Ryan, eh?

Second is the "smoking in the dugout" accusation. Did Washington do it? It's possible. However, as Squawker Jon noted, even famous Mets smoker Keith Hernandez went to the clubhouse to get his tobacco fix. Joe DiMaggio would smoke in the Yankee tunnel. Even Jim Leyland, the famous smoker/manager in the game, doesn't get away with smoking in the dugout anymore. There are laws at almost every stadium these days banning smoking.

At any rate, as a former smoker, I wouldn't blame Teixeira for complaining about this if it happened. I don't really like breathing tobacco smoke now (I always said I wouldn't become one of those hectoring, judgemental ex-smokers when I quit, but it does bother my lungs.) And if I were a professional athlete, I'd be peeved to be around smoking in such an enclosed space during the game.

Anyhow, in an interview with the News, Washington didn't directly address what caused friction between them, but said something happened:

"It was a one-night thing where something happened in a ballgame and I called him on it. From that point on, I guess he disliked me," Washington told the Daily News. "Other than that I always felt I gave him the respect that he deserved.

"More than anything else we didn't get a chance to get to know each other," Washington continued. "If he'd have stayed around long enough, he'd have understood better what I meant by questioning him on some things. But the next thing you know, it was out of hand.

"I never had animosity toward him, but when I had something to say to him I said it."

Saying that you gave somebody "the respect that he deserved" isn't always a compliment, though!


According to the paper, Washington said he never heard the smoking/profanity complaints. But he does say:

"One time I had something to say and he was the guy I said it to," Washington said. "He said something back. And I went right back at him. It was just about the game of baseball, his ideas versus my ideas. But I am the manager."

 When asked about the issue, Teixeira responded:

"I really don't know what he's talking about. That was a long time ago," Teixeira said. "I was here for four months with him and I was on the DL for a month."

Wonder what the real story is here.

What do you think? Tell us about it.

My thoughts on Yankees-Twins, Game 1

I was pretty grumpy for the first half of last night's game, between CC Sabathia looking shaky, and Jorge Posada's passed ball contributing to a run. (I wondered on Twitter whether Jorge would blame CC for it!) And the fact that the Yanks looked flummoxed against Francisco Liriano for the first five innings ticked  me off.

But then the sixth inning came, Jorge Posada redeemed himself, and Curtis Granderson proved to be something sort of Grandish (I wonder how John Sterling called his big hit -- I hope it was better than the TBS announcers, who muffed it!)

I really thought that after the Yankees scored  four runs in the sixth inning, that Joe Girardi should have had a reliever ready to go, especially since CC may be needed to pitch on short rest in the series. Sabathia looked D-O-E-N  DONE, as Jerome from Manhattan would spell it! As great as Sabathia has been for the team this season (they wouldn't be in the playoffs without him), he labored yesterday, throwing 27 pitches in the sixth, 111 overall. He walked three batters his last inning, including the tying run. Yet he ended up with the win, thanks to Mark Teixeira's homer (another call the TBS broadcasters messed up on.)

I thought CC should have been pulled earlier -- getting the Yankees the win, not CC the win, should have been the priority. Others disagreed with me on Facebook.  Fortunately it all worked out, though.

But how about the messed-up call on Greg Golson's catch last night? The Yanks had to get 28 outs, thanks to that. Joel Sherman wrote this in support of instant replay in his blog today:


... "this is strictly about the blown call. There is a way to get a high percentage of them corrected, so why would we not want to do that. One argument I hear is that it would eliminate the human element. Stop. The human element is that Jorge Posada has trouble catching the ball, not umpires messing up.

After years of cheerleading for Jorge, Sherman's really down on him, isn't he?

Anyhow, had a late night watching  the game, so I'm way off schedule. Coming later today -- more thoughts on Carl (Iron Man) Pavano!

Austin Kearns' homer gets special John Sterling call, but what about Mark Teixeira's baby?

Missed opportunity -- I should have written something earlier trying to predict John Sterling's home run calls for new Yankees Austin Kearns and Lance Berkman. At any rate, Kearns hit his first Yankee homer last night, and I heard Sterling exclaimed, "Austin Powers," over it. Good one! I was wondering if there would be an Austin, Texas related call -- like "Keep Austin Weird" or something like that --t, but "Austin Powers" is pretty good.

Anyhow, I'm guessing that Berkman, aka Fat Elvis, will get some Presley-related call from Sterling whenever he hits a homer. Squawker readers, what do you think the call will be?

So  Mark Teixeira was back with the team Thursday, after missing two games on baby leave. I half-expected Sterling to have some baby-related call to announce the arrival of William Charles Teixeira. Wouldn't that have been cool?

What do you think? Tell us about it!