Pineda ejected for having pine tar on neck

The Yankees expect that Michael Pineda will have to serve a suspension after the right-hander was ejected from Wednesday's start against the Red Sox at Fenway Park for pitching with pine tar smeared on the right side of his neck. Official Rule 8.02 states: "The pitcher shall not apply a foreign substance of any kind to the ball." Pineda admitted that he applied pine tar to himself before the second inning, saying that he was having trouble gripping the ball on a cold evening and did not want to hit any batters. "I know I made a mistake," Pineda said. "I feel so sad today. It was a really cold night and in the first inning I [didn't] have a really good grip on the ball."In the annals of illustrious moments in pitching history, I’m not exactly sure where Michael Pineda’s pine tar on the neck ranks among such past incidents as Whitey Ford’s turpentine ball, Gaylord Perry’s Vaseline, Rick Honeycutt’s thumbtack in the glove, Mike Scott’s physics-defying "splitter," Joe Niekro’s sandpaper on the finger and flying emery board, Kenny Rogers’ mystery substance or even Clay Buchholz’s extra sweaty forearm, but suffice it say it was one of the lamest attempts at cheating you’ll ever see. I mean: Where was Derek Jeter’s veteran leadership? You can’t allow Pineda to take the mound when his neck is oozing in goop and gnats are sticking to it like they flew into a Venus flytrap. Pine tar is the latest buzz word in baseball after New York Yankees pitcher Michael Pineda was found with the sticky substance smeared on his neck during Wednesday night’s game. Pineda was ejected and faces a suspension after appearing to pull the stunt for the second time this month. Pitchers aren’t allowed to use pine tar, which is considered an unfair advantage for gripping the ball.