Guardians’ Naylor: ‘Baby’ gesture not aimed at Yankees
CLEVELAND (AP) _ Josh Naylor‘s postseason “baby” has grown into one thing greater than he supposed.
Cleveland’s fiery first baseman insists he wasn’t taunting New York pitcher Gerrit Cole or the Yankees in final season’s playoffs with an emotional dwelling run celebration in Game 4 of the American League Division Series.
That’s when the Canadian rounded first base after connecting, playfully swinging his arms as if rocking a child and appeared to scream a vulgarity towards Cole. Three months later, Naylor says his gestures have been an try to encourage his teammates.
“I was doing that all year, but probably not as aggressive as I did there,” the native of Mississauga, Ont. mentioned Saturday at Cleveland’s Guards Fest. “It was extra so to get the blokes fired up. I feel the media made it appear to be I used to be doing at him (Cole) instantly.
“I was doing it at the bench and I really wanted to fire up my guys because we were winning that series.”
When requested if he regretted his actions, Naylor initially mentioned “maybe.” Not solely did the Yankees rally to win Game 4 in Cleveland and even the sequence, however the AL East champions beat the Guardians 5-1 in Game 5 to advance to the ALCS.
Naylor was mocked by Yankees followers all through the ultimate sport with chants of “Who’s your daddy?” And New York second baseman Gleyber Torres trolled Naylor throughout the Yankees’ postgame celebration by mimicking his “baby” motion.
There have been different moments of unrestrained emotion by Naylor final season whereas serving to the Guardians, who had baseball’s youngest workforce, win 92 video games. He trash-talked with followers in Chicago following a late-inning grand slam that he punctuated by slamming his helmet right into a dugout wall. In May, Naylor broke Cleveland supervisor Terry Francona’s glasses with a head butt following a walk-off homer towards Minnesota.
Naylor mentioned he meant nothing private towards Cole or the “phenomenal” Yankees. He additionally understands that his celebration was obtained in another way in Cleveland than in New York.
“I was just trying to fire the guys up a little bit and get us some how, some way that win,” he mentioned. “It wasn’t anything personal. It was just to get the guys going. Like, we can do this.”
New York followers are unlikely to provide Naylor a previous on future journeys to Yankee Stadium.
And to a point, Guardians pitcher Triston McKenzie thinks Naylor’s “baby” celebration rattled the Yankees: “It’s loopy that you just guys (the Yankees) gained that sport, you gained the following sport. Rock the child at us and we’re nonetheless in your heads rent-free.
“For me, if we had that much of an impact on them and we lost, I can’t wait for this year.”
McKenzie then clapped his arms.
“I cannot wait.”
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