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David Price says baseball shouldn't be compared to war in response to David Ortiz

Mark Townsend
·Yahoo Sports Contributor
David Price says baseball shouldn't be compared to war in response to David Ortiz

Not a lot has made sense during the on-going battle between the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox. From the "unwritten rules" violations last Sunday at Tropicana Field, to the multiple beanballs and ejections at Fenway Park on Friday, to David Ortiz's emotional and personal comments where he "declared war" on David Price, the feud comes off as rather silly, especially to people who may only follow baseball casually.

On Saturday, though, Price, who definitely helped to escalate the situation by hitting both Ortiz and Mike Carp during Friday's game, restored some common sense to the situation and put things in a better perspective by dismissing and distancing himself from Ortiz's war comments.

First, here's what Ortiz had to say immediately following Friday's game.

Here's how Price responded while speaking to Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal on Saturday.

"He was mad, so I get it," Price said. "We all say stupid stuff when we're mad. [I have] been there. I'm sure he probably wishes he wouldn't have said some of the things he said. You can't relate the game that we play to a war.

"Kellen Winslow got a lot of crap for saying he was a soldier. You're not a soldier. This is not war. We have troops fighting for us that are in a war. It's not a good comparison."

Obviously Ortiz's comments were made in the heat of the moment, which has come back to bite all of us at one time or another in life. And he obviously didn't mean it to come across like what the Red Sox and Rays have going on compares to men and woman sacrificing their lives in battle. Still, Price is right when pointing out that Ortiz could have been wiser with his words.

Sure, a lot of sports fans won't be offended because they're so used to hearing professional sporting events referred to as wars and battles. But some definitely will be, and understandably so. For some, it's a sensitive subject and a word they don't like to hear thrown around lightly, especially in the sports and entertainment worlds.

Price also added on Saturday.

"For as many people as I quote-unquote 'lost respect from,' I gained respect from a lot more people," Price said. "And I know that's a fact."

"Sometimes, the way [Ortiz] acts out there, he kind of looks like he's bigger than the game," Price said. "That's not the way it is, not the way it goes. ... Nobody's bigger than the game of baseball. You ask pitchers from 10, 15, 20 years ago -- that's normal, part of the game."

In other words, he doesn't regret drilling Ortiz with a fastball in the hip on Friday night. But who would after Ortiz referred to him as a little girl on the field and a little [expletive] following Friday's game?

By the way, many people were just as offended by those comments from Ortiz. Again, understandably so.

It's difficult to say Price took the high road in all of this. Really, nobody has. But he at least shows that he gets what's going on and understands how to keep the game within the game. Not a lot of athletes at his level are able to do that. And that's not necessarily an indictment on Ortiz, either. Some athletes are highly emotional, and that's not always a bad thing. In this case, though, the heated comments reflected poorly on Ortiz.

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Mark Townsend

is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!