Dodgers News: Kirk Gibson Discusses Rivalry, Clears Air On Comments
A few weeks after some seemingly disparaging remarks about a certain Dodgers player, Arizona Diamondback manager Kirk Gibson clarified the comments and discussed the alleged rivalry between the two clubs.
Last month, Gibson was speaking about the players that his team sent to Australia for promotion and asked if the Dodgers were too good based on their representation. The Dodgers sent A.J. Ellis and many believed it was a shot at the catcher. According to Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times, Gibson had nothing but praise for the 32-year-old catcher:
Maybe it didn’t come off that way, but I wasn’t criticizing A.J. Ellis. He’s a nice player. He’s an emerging player. I respect him, the way he plays the game and what he’s done for that team.
Gibson also shared his thoughts on the tension between the two teams and the rivalry:
I think that it’s a good rivalry. We’re in each other’s division. We play each other a lot. It’s fierce. That’s the way it should be. We compete the way we should compete.
The two teams will square off in Australia as a part of the MLB Opening Series in March. The 56-year-old said that the focus would be on trying to win the games. He also said that he doesn’t hate the Dodgers any more than any other team and that in reference to the brawl that occurred between the two teams, the incident was apart of baseball.
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