Joe Girardi Explains Perfectly Why Hitting A-Rod Was Vigilante Justice Gone Wrong

After Alex Rodriguez was hit by a Ryan Dempster pitch during Sunday night's game against the Red Sox, nobody was angrier than Yankees manager Joe Girardi who was ejected and then directed some foul language towards Dempster.

After the game, Girardi had cooled off, but he was still convinced that Dempster hit A-Rod on purpose and that the pitch was ultimately a case of hypocritical vigilante justice with Dempster exacting revenge for A-Rod's involvement in the Biogenesis scandal (you can see video of Girardi's comments below).

"One thing you can't do is start changing the system because maybe you don't like it," said Girardi. "Ryan Dempster has been a player rep, has been very involved in the union, and he knows, [this process] is what they decided to do. So [Dempster] can't change it just to take pot shots at [Rodriguez]."

"It can't happen," Girardi later added. "You can't just start taking pot shots because you disagree with the way the system is set up. You voted it in as players...If you don't like it, speak up [during union meetings]. But you can't change the rules."

Girardi is absolutely right. One of the biggest issues for players while negotiating the drug policy was that players would be given a certainly level of due process. As a player, Dempster fought for this system, and yet on Sunday, he may have tried to exact his own justice.