Hours after David Ortiz all but called the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry dead, the Boston slugger did his best to add some life to it.
Ortiz hit a long homer to right-center off Esmil Rogers in the top of the 16th to give the Red Sox the lead — briefly — before they eventually held on and beat the Yankees, 6-5, in 19 innings on Friday night (and Saturday morning) at Yankee Stadium, thanks to a Mookie Betts sacrifice fly.
The blast by Ortiz, on an 0-2 pitch, finally put the Red Sox back on top after Yankees pitching had held them scoreless from the seventh inning on.
Still, the game hardly had the feel of the battles between the two teams a decade ago when they were at the top of the AL East.
And new faces aren't the only reason for the difference, according to Ortiz.
"We play with so many rules now that the rivalry we used to see five or 10 years ago is not the one you're going to see in today's game," Ortiz said before the game. "Teams pay more money to players and they want those players on field. They don't want a guy hit and on the DL. That's why MLB created all the rules. The rivalry will continue, it's just not gonna be at the same level when you see all the on-field fights."
Those seemed to be a staple of the fierce games at Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park in the past.
The difference is primarily because of those new rules, according to Ortiz, who said teams play in fear of suspensions.
"Definitely," Ortiz said. "The rules right now are very strict and back when I first got here it was a little wild. … Right now, when you have a guy throw a pitch close to a hitter on the field, there's always a warning and concern. That was a big part of what this rivalry used to be."
So instead of Pedro Martinez and Don Zimmer wrestling during the playoffs, the games have become more sterile.
"Because that stuff ain't happening anymore, it seems like the rivalry's not the same," Ortiz said. "It's still the same the way we play the game. We want to beat up each other the professional way."
In the 16th, Ortiz showed he was up to the task again.
When reminded of Ryan Dempster's plunking of Alex Rodriguez when Rodriguez played while appealing his Biogenesis suspension in 2013, Ortiz chuckled.
"That was 88 [mph]," Ortiz said of Dempster, a light-thrower compared to Martinez. "I'll take 88 all day."
Despite his apparent nostalgia, Ortiz said he understood the new world.
"It's a lot of money," Ortiz said. "You don't want to have a guy making $20 million on the bench missing two weeks because a guy hit him on purpose or missing two weeks because he swung at somebody."
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