From the Tampa Tribune’s Scott Carter.
During Piniella’s pregame media session, the reporter asked if Piniella had talked with Rays reliever Travis Harper since Harper’s tumultuous eighth inning in Tuesday night’s 20-11 loss. In two- thirds of an inning, Harper was rocked for nine runs and eight hits – including four home runs – during the Yankees’ 13-run inning.
“Just forget that, all right,” responded Piniella, who tossed in a few expletives after taking exception to the question because he felt the reporter was inferring he left Harper on the mound too long. “You think I did that intentional? You think I’m going to let a guy get beat up like that. No, I’m not.”
After reiterating his intention was not to leave Harper hanging, Piniella stepped into his bathroom office, pushed a chair across the floor, then returned and calmly fielded questions.
He later returned to the reporter.
“You want to see where I threw the chair? Go on in there and take a look exactly where the chair is at so you can look at it. All the [expletive] you want to do is cause [expletive] headaches and problems.”
As we all know, even a 26 run inning wouldn’t be enough for Lou to get fired. And his Devil Rays do occasionally mess with the script, taking two of three from the Yankees earlier this week, despite Tuesday’s monumental meltdown.