Buster Posey is rarely critical, so when he is, his words carry weight.
And on Sunday afternoon, the Giants' All-Star catcher stole headlines when he said that Phillies' closer Hector Neris hit him with a pitch in the bottom of the eighth inning on purpose. Posey believed Neris felt he couldn't get him out, and after Sunday's game, he made his thoughts heard loud and clear.
"I'm pretty certain that he hit me on purpose,” Posey said. “It’s just a shame because I wanted to compete that at-bat. He’s got good stuff, but I guess he didn’t feel like he could get me out.”
On Monday evening, Giants' manager Bruce Bochy was asked if he was surprised about Posey's comments, and he gave an emphatic answer. Bochy defended his catcher, and described Neris as an "idiot."
"It wasn't just a little inside, you know. The same guy, I mean, I'll say it. He's an idiot. He showed it in Philadelphia when he was having words with Nunez so I think that caused the radar to be up a little bit on what happened there and it wasn't a glancing blow. It was on his ribs, on the back side of his ribs, so I'm not surprised. I would have been upset too."
