It was never in Tommy La Stella’s intention to sign with a team on a short-term contract. That’s why when the Giants offered him a three-year deal, he was ecstatic.
When Mike Yastrzemski's new Giants teammate, Tommy La Stella, hit a walk-off home run against San Francisco last season, Yastrzemski had an understandably mad reaction in right field.
You could clearly hear Yaz yell one word that rhymes with "duck" when the Giants lost 7-6 to the Los Angeles Angels on Aug. 17. Myself, and so many others, figured it was just frustration from another tough loss.
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"You want to know why I had that reaction? Because that ball hit the wall and came down and hit me in the mouth," Yastrzemski told KNBR's Mark Willard on Tuesday night. "Everybody was like wearing me out, like 'Why are you swearing on TV?' I just got hit in the mouth with a baseball. I was in pain. And everyone's like 'Why would you show your pitcher up like that?'
"If you go back and watch the video, you can clearly see that ball almost take my teeth out."
Upon further review, he's not wrong. Warning: NSFW
Yastrzemski said he was told by a Giants staffer about his one-word reaction going viral, and made it clear it had nothing to do with closer Trevor Gott.
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"You try and not say the 'F word' after getting hit in the face with a 100 mph ball off the wall," Yastrzemski told him "... So not only do we lose on a walk-off home run, but that ball happens to also hit me in the mouth."
La Stella hit two of his five total home runs last season in that four-game series against the Giants. Yastrzemski can laugh at the situation now, but he certainly is happy La Stella is on his side in 2021.
