When I led Tuesday’s Hot Clicks with Yermín Mercedes’s 3–0 homer off of Willians Astudillo, I didn’t expect it to become the driving event in a multi-day news cycle. Sure, Mercedes violated baseball’s ancient, informal code of honor by giving himself the green light, but nobody on the Twins seemed too mad about it. It could have easily blown over, except one very important person was mad about it: Mercedes’s own manager, Tony La Russa.
“He made a mistake,” La Russa told reporters before Tuesday night’s game against the Twins. “There will be a consequence he has to endure here within our family.