Winning pitcher Johan Santana took exception with Kevin Youkilis staring back at him after being plunked in the fifth inning of Friday night's 5-3 Mets' win over the Red Sox at Fenway Park. "I just told him to just take his base," Santana said. "That was about it. But he was still looking at me and talking and it fires me up. I've got respect for everybody and I respect this game but at the same time, I'm going to play hard. If you're looking at me like that, you're going to get it back because I'm a gamer and that's what I'm going to do."
Youkilis said that he was merely joking after getting hit, and that he told the pitcher, "(Expletive) -- that hurt."
"I was joking around," said Youkilis. "He told me to head to first base. Whatever. I was headed that way. I don’t know. Maybe I should have ran to first base. Like I’ve said, I’ve changed a lot of my ways of playing the game. Maybe I need to revert back to getting (ticked) off, throwing my bat down and going down to first.
I’m not going to change my ways now. I’m pretty happy with going out there, enjoying the game and having fun.
"Everyone always told me in my career that I shouldn’t get so serious, you should enjoy the game and joke around," Youkilis added. "When I do do it, I change my ways and joke around a little bit, I guess it’s the wrong thing. What are you going to do? Win some, lose some, I guess."