The Shot Heard 'Round Argentina

[Dan Farnell]

BUENOS AIRES -- The Buenos Aires Dolphins will soon be playing postseason baseball for the fourth consecutive season. But this year, something is different. Of course, there are the rumors. Upset with what has been minimal legislative opposition to his new taxpayer-funded stadium, Dolphins owner Jorge Lopez has flirted with moving the team to various Latin American locales. But what is really going to be different for the Dolphins will be the man on the mound in the first inning of the first game of the playoffs.

In the previous three seasons, the Dolphins have started their unquestioned ace, Abilio Boye, in game one. This year, it will be second-year phenom Manuel Reyes. Why? It’s a simple question. One which reporters ask often. Sometimes, a simple question can yield wildly different answers.


Abilio Boye

If one asks Buenos Aires GM Jake, the story is rather straightforward. According to him, “The decision not to rest Abilio for game one was strictly baseball. It has nothing to do with stadiums, or congress, or strip mining the Andes, or anything else. Just baseball.” Boye has struggled this season. Of that, there can be no dispute. He finished the year with an ERA (3.33) higher than any season since 2116, his first year as a full-time starting pitcher. His WAR this season (2.23) is the lowest in the same time span.

But if you ask the players, a different story emerges.

One player, who would prefer to remain anonymous, said, “The Boye decision is revenge. Pure and simple. And it comes straight from Lopez. When Abilio heard about the stadium thing, and he saw the tweets, and you (Dan Farnell) asked him about it, he said “‘We’ll see about all that.”” Well, from what I heard Lopez didn’t like that quote much at all.”

Another player who also opted for anonymity corroborated Pat Vinson’s account, saying “I believe Lopez told Jake not to start him. I believe it was retaliation.”

As for Boye, the man in the middle of the diamond and all the drama, he declined official comment once it became clear he would not be starting game one. But on Friday night in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the pitcher’s actions spoke louder than words.

With his team sitting on 99 wins, Boye was tapped to start against a Puerto Rico Coqui club with which he famously brawled last season. Boye threw a stellar 8 innings of 1-run, 2-hit ball. But it was the hurler’s bat that made the biggest impression. In the 4th inning, with his Dophins leading 2-1, Boye got a fastball from Miguel Lopez that he did not miss. The ball was gone when it left the bat. But Boye was not. Some hitters will stare at a home-run, admiring its flight. It’s much rarer, perhaps even unprecedented, for a hitter to turn his attention away from the ball’s trajectory and toward his owner’s seat just outside the luxury suites behind home plate of the Ballpark of San Juan. When the ball landed, Boye pointed directly at Jorge Lopez, then he used his thumb as a blade and made an unmistakable motion left to right across his throat. He then sprinted around the bases before stomping on home plate.

Boye would return to the mound in the following frame and would exit five scoreless, no-hit, and nearly perfect innings later. The only baserunner that Boye surrendered in the five innings that followed his home run was a walk in the 7th to Jesus Contreras.

Asked after the game about the incident, Boye said only, “Like I said, we’re gonna just have to wait and see. We’re gonna have to just wait and see.” Cryptically, the star pitcher declined further comment.

-Dan Farnell

Dan Farnell is the beat writer for the Buenos Aires Dolphins. He is also the author of the best-selling lifestyle manual Oh Jeez, This One Looks Like It Could Get Dicey: A Guide to Avoiding Conflict. He is currently sweating profusely.