Interesting slant on the Dragons playoff series. I admit, I was no fan of Todd Benzinger when he was Dragons manager and believed ANYONE would be an improvement. But as the season moved along, I’ve become a Delino DeShields fan. He’s done a great job this season with the Dragons.
There is no bad blood between the Dayton Dragons and Lansing Lugnuts, the first-round Midwest League playoff opponents say.
After all, it’s not as if a brawl occurred in any of their 16 meetings and, as Dragons shortstop Billy Hamilton put it, “We don’t hate any team we play, we just beat them.â€Â
That said, there was a level of discord earlier in the season, mostly having to do with the managers.
On June 27, during what became a 9-2 Dragons win at Fifth Third Field, Dayton manager Delino DeShields accused Lansing counterpart Mike Redmond of ordering Dragons second baseman Ronald Torreyes hit with a pitch. It was retaliation, DeShields thought, for Dragons third baseman David Vidal trying to steal third when Dayton had a big lead.
“I saw him give an order to throw at (Torreyes),†DeShields said, reluctantly revisiting the sequence of events. “From the dugout, he was getting the catcher’s attention, pointing. I’ve been around long enough to know what that meant.â€Â
The Dragons responded by attempting a double steal in the eighth inning ahead by six runs, which could be construed as a violation of baseball etiquette.
Read the whole article….you’ll like DeShields when you finish.