Padilla: Teixeira Had Issues With Latino Teammates, Should Play 'Women's Sport'
NEW YORK (WFAN) -- It's no secret Yankees first baseman Mark Teixiera has a dislike for Boston's Vicente Padilla.
But the Red Sox reliever took the feud to another level this weekend.
After Friday night's win, Teixeira unloaded on Padilla, who he described as a player without "many friends in the game" for throwing at batters. Padilla punched back the next day in a Spanish-language interview with NESN, claiming the Yankees star had an issue with Latino teammates in Texas.
"The problem is he talks about all the wrong things that others have done, but the things he's done -- against the Latinos (on the Rangers) -- he doesn't open his mouth about," Padilla said, as translated by NESN.com. "He once threatened me and said he was going to hit me with a bat, and that's when we were playing on the same team.
"And then, he also had problems with Frank Francisco, our closer back then. But he doesn't talk about that, does he? Then, of course, he goes on and makes those comments about me."
Teixeira, who has been plunked by Padilla three times in his career, called the reliever's response "comedy."
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"It's funny. It really is," he said Sunday. "I ask you guys to interview every one of my Latin teammates in this clubhouse and ask them. That's why it's funny, because it's completely erroneous."
Teixeira and Padilla were teammates for parts of two seasons with the Texas Rangers from 2006-07.
Yankees starter Freddy Garcia stood by his teammate, calling Teixeira a "really great guy, a good player, a family guy" -- a sentiment shared by second baseman Robinson Cano.
"I don't know anything that happened over there, but he is a nice guy, one of the nicest guys on the team," said Cano, according to the New York Post. "I judge a guy by the way he acts with me. If there's something in the past, I don't know about that."
But Padilla didn't stop there. He also said the Yankees star would "be better off playing a women's sport."
"I just think he's scared to face me," Padilla told NESN. "I don't throw at people to hit them on purpose. I throw inside, and I've always thrown inside. It's not my problem if the ball hits someone. I'm worried about throwing strikes, and I'm going to keep playing my game."
"In this sport, as competitive ball players, we get pretty fired up," he added. "So I think, maybe, (Teixeira) picked the wrong profession. I think he'd be better off playing a women's sport."
Teixeira didn't have much to say about that one.
"I guess women's boxing is pretty tough," he joked. "I don't know if I could handle that."
Was Padilla way out of line? Be heard in the comments below...
