Derek Lowe

[Bored 0]

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Some of the Oakland Athletics were furious with Derek Lowe, accusing the Red Sox pitcher of making obscene gestures toward them after he struck out Terrence Long to finish Boston's 4-3 victory in the AL division series Monday night.

 

"It's a situation where if you did anything where you offended anyone, I'm sorry," Lowe said. "I was swinging my arms around. I don't know what I did. I did the same crazy thing I do every game."

 

The A's thought Lowe simulated a sexual act with his arms and made a gesture toward his crotch following the final out, sending Oakland shortstop Miguel Tejada into a rage in the clubhouse moments later.

 

"Derek Lowe is going to be paid back for that sign," Tejada screamed hysterically through the clubhouse, shouting expletives. "My kid is in the stands. He's going to pay."

 

Oakland general manager Billy Beane escorted the crying Tejada away.

 

Tejada was later told that Lowe apologized.

 

"I feel better now that I hear he apologizes," Tejada said after calming down. "He was jumping around and making a scene. They have families up there, we have families up there."

 

Tejada is one of the most emotional players on the A's, and this was probably his final game with them because he can become a free agent.

 

"He takes everything personally, wins and losses, and plays with his heart on his sleeve," first baseman Scott Hatteberg said of Tejada. "He plays with everything he's got."

 

Other A's players were offended.

 

"That's extremely unprofessional," center fielder Chris Singleton said. "That's a shame that's the type of person he is. He was the only one who showed less than professionalism."

 

Hatteberg spent seven seasons with the Red Sox and 11 in their organization. He and Lowe were teammates.

 

"To have that done is absolutely classless and unprofessional," Hatteberg said. "I'm disappointed having known him. I don't think it was aimed at (Tejada), it was aimed at us. I know we show emotion, but I can't think of anything we've done to show them up."

Gee what a guy you wanna look up to huh? So Lowe says he does that every game? I really didn't need to know the guy likes play with his dick after every win.

 

I can't believe I'm gonna says this...LET'S GO YANKEES!!!! The assholes don't deserve to have their curse ended.

[Guest Redhawk]

I don't know, it didn't look that bad to me. He did the same thing when he struck out Melhuse earlier. Just a fist pump, not a "jacking myself off" gesture. Oakland players just need to shut the hell up and think about how they blew a 2-0 series lead.

 

I suppose you also agree with Joe Buck (I think it was him), who got on Manny Ramirez's case for showing some emotion after his 6th inning HR. Heaven forbid someone actually have fun out there.

[Bored 0]

I don't know, it didn't look that bad to me. He did the same thing when he struck out Melhuse earlier. Just a fist pump, not a "jacking myself off" gesture. Oakland players just need to shut the hell up and think about how they blew a 2-0 series lead.

 

I suppose you also agree with Joe Buck (I think it was him), who got on Manny Ramirez's case for showing some emotion after his 6th inning HR. Heaven forbid someone actually have fun out there.

So making an ass of yourself is just having fun? Okey dokey. Gee I don't remember Derek Jeter grabbing his dick and flipping off the opposing dugout after every Yankee series win.

[Guest Redhawk]

Okay, even if Lowe DID do what you're saying he did (and honestly, I don't remember the exact gesture, because my place was a madhouse when he struck that guy out), think about it....

 

1) Manny Ramirez hits a homer and showboats (not that there was anything wrong with it in my eyes).

 

2) Lowe wins the game and showboats.

 

Doesn't it seem like perhaps the A's were doing something to provoke all this? Why would Boston all of a sudden make everything so personal for NO reason? Maybe the A's were saying little snide shit to the Red Sox players throughout the whole series. Bottom line is, we were not on the field so we don't know everything that's going on. Consider that before automatically calling Lowe an ass for celebrating and (maybe) taunting.

[alfdogg 0]

The guy was just pumping his fist, he didn't do anything intentional to taunt anyone.

[iggymcfly 0]

Actually, it was a one-armed version of the "suck it" gesture. I'd think on a wrestling board, people would recognize that. Oh, and it's not a big deal at all. When he strikes someone out to win the fucking series, he's allowed to do whatever the hell he wants.

[LivingLegendGaryColeman 0]

I don't really think he meant to offend either. That game had everyone on the edge of their seats. The whole last three games did. There was pure emotion in everyone. He got out of an extremely difficult situation to move on to another his team hasn't experienced in years. I don't think anyone would have realized what gesture they did when they won and I am sure he did not intentionally go for offended. Maybe some player could've but not Lowe.

 

As for Ramieriez hot shotting, that is Tom Brenaman's call. I do not like Brenaman at all, having to listen to his national calls and his calls of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Manny slumped the whole series and finally hit like he usually does. He pointed to his own dugout in a finally manner and Tom switched around the context, making it seem like he was mocking the A's. He's been a pain in the BUTT this year, even to the point of frustrating "Mr. Nice Guy" Luis Gonzalez, who has gotten in very few ump spouts and nothing major.

 

I may not be right either, I just wanted to throw in my opinions, but please, never say "Go Yankees", unless you are on some strange mind altering drug that you have no control over...

[alfdogg 0]

I'll wait until they show it on ESPN, but until then, my opinion stands.

[alfdogg 0]

I just saw it again, and I gotta say it did indeed look like it was directed at SOMEONE.

[Guest Choken One]

He didn't do any Jerk me off gesture at all...People don't read into an emotional digusted loser like Tejada.

 

Manny? Thats Grandstanding? Standing at the plate and watching the ball (perhaps the most important homer of his career after a long slump) and pointing to his fucking teamates?

 

God Forbid He should have a moment of relief...

 

Sammy Sosa is the real fucking showboat hopping like a crackhead even when he hits a rotuine fly ball...

[nl5xsk1 0]

I didn't listen to the game - was watching it at the bar, so you couldn't hear much - but from what I've heard, there were quite a few audible "fucking"s and "bullshit"s coming from the A's dugout. Regardless of how classless it was for Lowe to celebrate that way, I'd rather have my kid see a borderline obscene gesture than listen to a string of expletives.

 

Methinks that Tejada is pissy that the A's blew another elimination game (is that 9 in a row) and displaced his frustration onto Lowe's actions. Whatever.

[JangoFett4Hire 0]

dude, somebody call that baby Bored a Waaaaambulance! Get over it, Moneyball has been exposed as a fraud. Billy Beane is a joke and Tejeda has no one to blame but himself for this choke job. What did he have? 1 hit this whole series? I'd be more worried about that than was goofy Derek Lowe does after he crushed the dreams of the Oakland A's... oh well A's fans, better get out there and vote, not like you have anything else to do!

 

BUA HAHAHAHAHA

 

*crotch chops to Bored, NoCal Mike and Banky*

[Guest ToddRoyal]

Lowe's celebration did look like a one armed "suck it" gesture, but it also looked like a tiny little 1/2 second part of his celebration. Its not like he was up at the mound pointing at his crotch for 2 minutes or something. And unless Tejada got his kid seats in the upper deck, I'm sure he was right there for all the expletives the A's players unleashed when they got bad pitching calls or the Sox went ahead. Let alone what was probably going on in the stands. Hell, drunk fans were yelling at Damian Jackson, who was half concious, you think they would refrain from shouting obscenities at the Sox/Umps just because Tejada's kid was around? I didn't hear Tejada say the A's players or the drunk fans were "Going to pay!"

 

And as for Manny's celebration, those idiot announcers completely oversold that entire thing. He's NOT the first guy in history to do that. Hell, Barry Bonds "Everybody's Hero" does it EVERYTIME he hits a homerun. Sosa practically does ballet every time he hits a line drive to the center fielder. I have no respect for the Fox announcers anyway, less so after the "That's such a disgusting collision. Both men could be seriously hurt. I can't even stand to watch it. LETS SEE A SUPER SLO-MO REVERSE ANGLE REPLAY! ONE MORE TIME!!!".

Edited October 7, 2003 by ToddRoyal

[JangoFett4Hire 0]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

best post in this self-pity thread.

[Guest Smell the ratings!!!]

OMG excitment and emotion in sports outside NHB, ban Red Sox plz!!11

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

The only clips I saw were live shots right after the end of the game, so I didn't get to see a bunch of replays, but to me it just looked like he pumped his fist in a harmless celebration.

[Slayer 0]

Although I was only half paying attention due to the jubilation of the Sox victory, I too thought it was a harmless fist pumping in the air like most pitchers do when they close out the game on a win (see: Troy Percival after the final out in last years WS)

[TheBostonStrangler 0]

OK, I'm a Sox fan, so I'm slightly biased here, but I don't see either man's actions as anything to really get worked up for.

 

#1: Manny Ramirez. If you watch Manny any time he hits one that he knows is gone, he drops the bat, takes a few steps, and watches the ball before starting to jog. He took slightly longer in this one, but it was just typical Ramirez. Nothing personal against the Athletics.

 

#2: Derek Lowe. It's hard to defend him making the gesture to the A's dugout, but I doubt it was a premeditated thing. He just came in an extremely difficult pressure situation, and somehow pulled it out. Right there, he was just in the moment, and wasn't thinking about it at all. After he had calmed down a little bit, and realized what he had done, he did the only thing he could do, and apologized for his actions. People make mistakes, and when you've won a playoff series, you aren't thinking incredibly clearly. He took responsibility for the action, and apologized. Nothing more he can do, folks.

[CanadianChris 0]

I seem to remember a certain Oakland reliever from years past getting a little over-exuberant at times as well.

 

I remember a playoff game in the '92 ALCS where Oakland had Toronto down and out, then the Jays got something going in the eighth, and they had to go to Eckersley to close the door. He did, with a strikeout of Ed Sprague, and he windmill-pumped his fist and shot this ridiculous glare into the Toronto dugout. Of course, he had to come out and pitch the ninth, where Robbie Alomar promptly lit his ass up with a game-tying two-run homer, and the Jays won in extras and closed out the series in 6.

 

My point? Athletes are human, and will react emotionally in emotional situations. Is it always classy? No, but it's human, so best not to make too big a deal out of it.

[Guest Just Looking]

Like Tejada has any right to talk. I counted at least four very audible MOTHERFUCKER!!'s or FUCK!!'s out of his mouth after he was retired early in the game. Wouldn't his kid have heard that? Besides, if he would have hit better than .100 in the series, it might have never gotten to that point, so he should shut his mouth and start looking at some big-market teams to jump to. Let's see the A's fans defend Tejada now.

[NoCalMike 0]

Ok first of all, Manny didn't take a few steps and then trot. He hit the ball, stood there, walked as he was looking, halfway down the baseline. Now I have no problem with the pointing to the dugout, nothing wrong with that, IMO, but it took him about a minute before he was even at that point. He is a jackass and the only reason he is not getting more flack for it was because the Red Sox won.

 

Derek Lowe, I didn't really see any ill gestures that the A's are claiming, so I really have no comment on this.

 

Once again, showboating is often overlooked when it is the WINNERS doing it. I guaran-fucking-tee that if Oakland had come back to win that game, every media outlet across the US would be all over Manny's ass for being a hotshot, showboat, etc.....

 

And as far as the Red Sox go, you haven't won shit yet assholes.

[nl5xsk1 0]

And as far as the Red Sox go, you haven't won shit yet assholes.

Actually, the Sox have won something ... it's a little thing called a playoff series. The A's should look into winning one of them, it's a lot more fun winning them than losing them.

[the max 0]

Ok first of all, Manny didn't take a few steps and then trot. He hit the ball, stood there, walked as he was looking, halfway down the baseline. Now I have no problem with the pointing to the dugout, nothing wrong with that, IMO, but it took him about a minute before he was even at that point.

 

Half a minute?! Try 10 seconds. When the ball landed, he started trotting and pointing into his own dugout.

[imajackoff? 0]

Watching it live and then the couple of times on ESPN this morning, I didnt see anything incredibly outragous from Lowe's celebration.

 

As for Manny, it was a bush league thing to do. However, what do you expect from someone with such little brain power?

[Guest Redhawk]

Manny Ramirez was bush league? So what about Babe Ruth calling his shot, Bret Boone flipping his bat on EVERY home run, and Danny Jackson acting like Tarzan after the '93 NLCS? Oh wait, they're White so it's cool. Seriously, not to be Jesse Jackson here or anything, but I remember the whole Little League World Series "hotdogging" thing with the Harlem team (one kid waved bye-bye to his HR, another acted like Sosa all the time). It seems like it's only "hotdogging" when Black and Latino people do it. For White people it's "exuberance." ESPN.com's Ralph Wiley wrote a damn good column about it: http://espn.go.com/page2/s/wiley/020823.html

[LivingLegendGaryColeman 0]

I think the major problem is the bad announcer call. Manny DID NOT point at the A's. He pointed at his OWN dugout, in acknowledgement he finally got a hit after struggling all series... I wouldn't call acknowledging my own team hot dogging.

 

The A's would've never had a problem making gestures should they won... but I don't think this matter will get settled.

[Slayer 0]

Like Tejada has any right to talk. I counted at least four very audible MOTHERFUCKER!!'s or FUCK!!'s out of his mouth after he was retired early in the game.

Good point here I had forgotten. I remember seeing Zito and Hudson unleashing some not good words on-camera multiple time as well

[sfaJack 0]

Manny Ramirez was bush league? So what about Babe Ruth calling his shot, Bret Boone flipping his bat on EVERY home run, and Danny Jackson acting like Tarzan after the '93 NLCS? Oh wait, they're White so it's cool. Seriously, not to be Jesse Jackson here or anything, but I remember the whole Little League World Series "hotdogging" thing with the Harlem team (one kid waved bye-bye to his HR, another acted like Sosa all the time). It seems like it's only "hotdogging" when Black and Latino people do it. For White people it's "exuberance." ESPN.com's Ralph Wiley wrote a damn good column about it: http://espn.go.com/page2/s/wiley/020823.html

Wow...that's a really idiotic thing to say.

 

I don't really have a problem with Manny walking/staring/pointing last night, I don't care that Babe Ruth called his shot, and I don't care that the Harlem kids clowned around like that. It's all showboating, it's all equally obnoxious, but it's part of the game, for better or for worse.

 

Stange thing though. You list all these examples of minorities getting shit on by the media, yet you fail to mention that hardly anyone says a peep about Sosa's hop-step, the Rams' "Bob-N-Weave" from their Super Bowl days (hell, ESPN ran that as much as possible), or Michael Irvin's "first down" gestures. As far as I'm aware, those guys get credit for being showmen, not jerks.

 

Your argument of racial bias is asinine, as it usually is when folks play that card.

 

Oh and just so you know, Ralph Wiley is an idiot (no, I didn't read the article you linked...I've read enough of him before).

[Guest Smell the ratings!!!]

keep in mind that this thread was created to bash Lowe, who is white.

 

I think all this is pretty much crap. I was jumping up and down screaming during that game, and not only was I not in the game, I don't even give a shit about either of these teams. Hell, if I was 0 for the series and then won it with my last at bat I would have done friggin cartwheels to first base.

[Guest Redhawk]

1. The NFL banned the Rams' "bob and weave." So don't say NO ONE complained about it.

 

2. Everyone called Michael Irvin a jerk.

 

3. Have you ever heard anything but reverence for Babe Ruth calling his shot? No, but that Harlem kid got blasted for it. Have you ever heard anyone complain about Bret Boone flipping his bat? No, but Ricky Henderson, Barry Bonds and Manny Ramirez all get shit about their post-HR acts.