His slap at Bronson Arroyo's glove while running to first in Game 6 is seen by Curt Schilling as "bush league" and "not unexpected."

01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, October 21, 2004

BY SEAN McADAM
Journal Sports Writer

NEW YORK -- For a few weeks last winter, it seemed certain that Alex Rodriguez would be a member of the 2004 Red Sox. Weeks of negotiations -- with the Texas Rangers, the Players Association and Rodriguez himself -- finally broke down when Red Sox ownership ultimately deemed the cost too high.

Not long after, an injury to 2003 ALCS hero Aaron Boone put the New York Yankees in the market for a third baseman and Rodriguez became a Yankee.

Rodriguez has since become a central link between the two franchises -- one that didn't deem him worth the price, and one that did. Never was that more clear than in the eighth inning of Game 6 Tuesday night.

As the Yankees tried to rally against the Boston bullpen, Derek Jeter singled home Miguel Cairo to cut the Red Sox' lead to 4-2. With Jeter on first, Rodriguez hit a dribbler to the right of the mound. Bronson Arroyo fielded the ball and began racing toward Rodriguez and the first-base bag.

As the two neared one another, Rodriguez attempted to swerve out of the way, nearly leaving the baseline. As he did, however, he slapped at Arroyo's glove, jarring the ball loose and sending it rolling down the right-field line.

The sellout crowd at Yankee Stadium became delirious as Jeter raced around to score from first, but after Red Sox manager Terry Francona bolted from the dugout to protest the call, the six-man umpiring crew convened and overturned the call.

Standing at second base, Rodriguez threw his arms up in amazement and slowly jogged off the field. A day after the incident, Rodriguez' behavior remained the talk of the Boston clubhouse.

In an interview with ESPN's Karl Ravech and Harold Reynolds, winning pitcher Curt Schilling didn't hide his feelings.

"I saw that bush-league play from the clubhouse," said Schilling.

A surprised Reynolds asked Schilling: "Bush league?"

"Absolutely," Schilling said without hesitation. "First of all, Bronson was not in the baseline -- his glove was. I've never seen anything like that. Someone in the baseline is one thing, [but] he could break his arm on a play like that last night.

"That's not the way you play the game. Bottom line: would Derek Jeter ever do that? No chance."

In a final swipe at Rodriguez, Schilling said: "It's not unexpected, though."

Others in the Red Sox clubhouse were just as direct in their criticism of Rodriguez.

Kevin Millar labeled Rodriguez classless and suggested: "If you want to play football, go strap it on for the Green Bay Packers."

Such a direct rebuke of a high-profile player -- even an opponent on an arch-rival team -- is rare in the collegial world of major league baseball, where players share agents and regularly fraternize with opposing players.

But the Red Sox' dislike for Rodriguez is not a new development, either. The animus crested when Rodriguez squared off with catcher Jason Varitek on July 24 after being hit by a breaking ball by, ironically enough, Arroyo.

Several veterans noted at the time that other Yankees -- such as Jeter and Gary Sheffield -- never would have injected themselves into such a fray, but rather, would have merely taken their base.