It will be interesting to see if tempers flare at any point over the next three nights at Camden Yards with the New York Yankees in town.
If you recall, the Orioles and Yankees weren't exactly on the best of terms this spring, though there was no major incident. In one game, Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie, who gets the ball on Wednesday, hit both Mark Teixeira and Francisco Cervelli, drawing the ire of Yankees manager Joe Girardi, who yelled at the Oriole pitcher from his spot adjacent to the visiting dugout at Ed Smith Stadium. According to a couple of Orioles, Girardi yelled at Guthrie to start throwing strikes and not to pitch inside if his command was so off.
That obviously didn't sit well with several Orioles, including the coaching staff. So when Yankees closer Mariano Rivera hit Felix Pie on the lower leg in a game later in the spring, somebody on the Oriole bench started giving Rivera the same advice that Girardi gave Guthrie. Rivera looked very uncomfortable with the situation, and even took a couple of steps toward the Orioles' dugout before Girardi and the catcher came in for a mound visit. The Orioles obviously know that Rivera, one of the classiest players in the game, wasn't throwing at Pie intentionally, but it appeared that they wanted to give Girardi a taste of his own medicine.
Girardi did acknowledge after the game that he felt what was said to Rivera was in response to his comments toward Guthrie.
Don't get me wrong, we're not exactly talking about a heated situation here. It's probably a classic case of much ado about nothing, but it's at least worth keeping an eye on.