Al Alburquerque has raised some eyebrows after kissing a baseball during yesterday’s playoff game against the Oakland A’s. The Detroit reliever came in to the game during the ninth inning to preserve a tie score and send the game to extra innings.
Here is how it went down. Alburquerque had runners on the corners and threw a pitch that resulted in a ground out by Yoenis Cespedes. When he saw the ball was in his glove, before throwing it to first baseman Prince Fielder, he gave the ball a small peck. This was nothing graphic just like a grateful gesture that he did his job for his team. Alburquerque’s teammates have said in the past that he is one of the most animated players they have ever played with. So did his peck cross the line?
First of all I want to say that I think it is disgusting to kiss a dirty baseball and I hope he washed his face right after, but that is clearly besides that point. It probably was not the best idea, but he being that he is such a boisterous player I am sure he did for the attention. I can’t imagine that he would expect it to overshadow the entire playoffs series.
“I don’t know, I just do it,” Alburquerque said of kissing the ball. “It’s just emotions. What do you do? When you win, you feel happy. When you do something good, you feel happy. Everyone have a different emotion. It was emotions for me.”
The Tigers’ players did admit to getting a good laugh from the entire incident in the locker room. I really do not think it was all that awful. It is not like he went up to Cespedes and laughed in his face, but there is a conduct players must follow so I understand the controversy.
