Listen, I know this is a strange word to throw around for two teams expected to finish third in their respective divisions and on the outside looking in of the American League playoff picture but hear me out.
The White Sox and Blue Jays kicked off their three-game series last night in Toronto. Danny Farhquhar served up home runs in both the 7th and 8th innings. This put the Jays up 4-2 and Roberto Osuna shut the door in the 9th.
Reynaldo Lopez looked strong giving up only 2 hits and 1 earned run in 6.0 innings. Josh Donaldson took Lopez’s lone mistake, a hanging a breaking ball, the opposite way for a solo shot in the sixth. Donaldson made sure to take a long look at it as it left the park before trotting around the bases. While crossing the plate he made a whistleblowing gesture towards the White Sox dugout.
Hey Josh Donaldson are we going to have issues? #WhiteSox pic.twitter.com/65dJgJSrCS
— Chuck Naso (@ChuckNaso) April 3, 2018
Darryl Boston, White Sox first base coach, uses a whistle to shift White Sox outfielders and occasionally celebrate a big defensive play. As Donaldson approached the plate, Boston let out a few quick, high-pitched chirps as CBS Sports, Dayn Perry, explains. These chirps struck a chord in Donaldson and prompted his response. All Boston could do was laugh.
As he crossed home, Donaldson looked into visitors dugout, blew a fake whistle … Boston laughing hard.
— Daryl Van Schouwen (@CST_soxvan) April 3, 2018
All of this follows a bench-clearing confrontation in August of 2017 between Blue Jays ace, Marcus Stroman, and White Sox shortstop, Tim Anderson.
Tim Anderson had to be held back after he and Marcus Stroman stared at each other. Benches emptied. #WhiteSox #BlueJays pic.twitter.com/DkP6GBBA2y
— Aldo Soto (@AldoSoto21) August 2, 2017
Now, no punches were thrown but both Stroman and Anderson took to social media following that game to continue their feud.
Lions never concern themselves with the opinions of sheep. ⚡️ #HDMH
— Marcus Stroman (@MStrooo6) August 2, 2017
#TwitterFingers👀🤔#MyHandle #@Timanderson7
— TA7 (@TimAnderson7) August 2, 2017
Stroman is not slated to pitch in this series. We’ll have to wait until the Jays come to the South Side in July for any potential fireworks between Anderson and Stroman.
Again, I’m not ready to call this any sort of rivalry but I would not be surprised if it started to pick up steam over the next few games. I’ll be curious to see if Gonzalez brushes Donaldson back in tonight’s game.
P.S.
While digging up tweets from last night and all the way back in August, I stumbled across this one.
Josh Donaldson has a dead arm but no injury, John Gibbons says. "We don't think it's a big deal, it's just dead" #BlueJays
— Ben Nicholson-Smith (@bnicholsonsmith) March 29, 2018
Uhhhhhh what? Probably want to get that looked at.
