Boston Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine on Monday apologized to third baseman Kevin Youkilis after he made some derogatory comments about Kevin’s physical and emotional commitment on Sunday. In his comment Valentine had said:
“I don’t think he’s as physically or emotionally into the game as he has been in the past for some reason,” Valentine said Sunday. “But [on Saturday] it seemed, you know, he’s seeing the ball well, got those two walks, got his on-base percentage up higher than his batting average, which is always a good thing, and he’ll move on from there.”
Speaking about his apology to Youkilis the teams manager revealed:
“I don’t know if he accepted my apology. It was sincere. The last thing in the world I would want him to think is that this was anything but an answer to a question that seemed like the question was jabbing at him. I was just trying to smooth it over. I guess I didn’t.”
Earlier in the day Youkilis told reports that he was “confused” and a bit “surprised” by Valentine’s comments.
Speaking to WHDH on Monday Valentine said his comments were misinterpreted, noting:
“I think the question was ‘It’s not Youk-like the way he’s playing. I think that was the question I answered. I should have answered that his swing is not where he wants it to be, his swing is frustrating, it affects the emotion.”
Valentine continued:
“I should have been more specific, physical is about your swing, emotional is about not being happy when he doesn’t hit a ball off the wall.”
While Youkilis won’t talk about exactly what was said in his meeting with Valentine he told reporters on Monday:
“Everyone here knows I go out and play with emotion,” and “The only time there has ever been a question is because I’ve been too emotional.”
Do you think Bobby Valentine’s comment was taken out of context or is he just covering for himself at this point?
