Dodgers’ Dalton Rushing downplays incident with Giants’ Jung Hoo Lee
SAN FRANCISCO — The Dodgers concluded a peaceful but unsuccessful game here Tuesday, and then the waves hit: On social media, catcher Dalton Rushing had become the new enemy among San Francisco Giants fans.
In the sixth inning of Tuesday’s game, Rushing struck out Jung Hoo Lee at the plate to end the inning. Lee, who had tried to go around Rushing and then reach behind him to mark the plate, then slipped awkwardly and stood up uncomfortably.
Television cameras captured Rushing, who had walked toward the Dodgers’ dugout, looking at Lee, shrugging his shoulders and saying something.
Bay Area news site SF Gate said Rushing was “crassly dismissing the hurt with an NSFW phrase,” with the first word a four-letter expletive. Rushing said Wednesday that he said nothing disparaging about Lee.
Lee left Tuesday’s game at that time with what the Giants described as a quadriceps injury, but he was in the Giants’ starting lineup Wednesday. In an indication that this may not be a crisis after all, neither Dodgers manager Dave Roberts nor Giants manager Tony Vitello were asked about it during their respective pregame interview sessions Wednesday.
Rushing was not in the Dodgers’ starting lineup Wednesday, but he is expected to be Thursday, and he said he plans to check in with Lee to make sure he isn’t seriously injured. Rushing said he had already checked with Lee’s fellow South Korean, Dodgers infielder Hyeseong Kim.
“Making sure he was okay. That’s the most important thing,” Rushing said. “That’s the only thing that matters. I hope he didn’t take it the way it was presented. I’ll be sure to say something to him face-to-face (Thursday), to make sure he’s okay. Nothing was really directed at him. He’s a great guy.”
Rushing said he did not know Lee had been injured.
“No, I thought it was just a weird slide,” Rushing said. “As long as he’s doing well and he doesn’t think I’m picking on him or any of those guys over there, that’s the most important thing to me. I don’t care what anyone says or says. I was just trying to play the game, play hard.”
Rushing said he wasn’t frustrated with Lee.
“It was kind of an awkward slide, and that’s all it was,” Rushing said. “There is nothing else that has been added.”
If he wasn’t frustrated with Lee, was he frustrated with himself? No, he said.
“I’m playing with fire,” Rushing said. “Anyone who’s ever played with me, anyone who’s seen me play knows that. Whatever people want to think about it, I hope it’s not negative. I just hope he’s OK.”
Rushing declined to say exactly what the cameras caught him saying.
“I used a word, but that’s not what was said. I’ll leave it at that. There was no direction to him.
“I just think some people make something out of nothing.”
