Justin Turner was not ready for someone else to be the trickster. He's supposed to be the guy who gets in your head. He's supposed to twitch, tweak and torment the pitcher, not the other way around.
Luckily for the Yankees, Wandy Peralta does not care at all about Justin Turner's preferences.
The 38-year-old Sox DH is having a downright ridiculous season, and a mea culpa is due for that Twitter dude who valiantly claimed all offseason long that he'd be a better 2023 option than Giancarlo Stanton. Not even that close, really. Turner has pummeled the entire league, hitting .285 with 23 bombs and 94 RBI, and has come through in the clutch more often than not (nearly), hitting an insane .363 with a 1.010 OPS in 158 plate appearances with RISP.
Against the Yankees? Just as crazy; .395 with a 1.242 OPS in his first nine games of the season. Absolutely outrageous dominance.
But, again, Peralta could not possibly care less. He figured the only way to upset Turner's apple cart on Tuesday was to make him uncomfortable, and in a one-run game, he rocked him to sleep on three pitches in an at-bat that totaled 27 seconds.
While @PitchingNinja cut the clip off right when Turner whiffs on the final changeup, one helpful Twitter user clipped the entire thing, where you can see the Sox stalwart throw up his hands in frustration immediately after missing strike three.
Red Sox Justin Turner got frustrated when Yankees' Wandy Peralta quick-pitched him, a very normal thing
The Yankees are likely poised to say goodbye to Peralta at the end of this season -- and, quite frankly, probably should've said goodbye to him at the trade deadline, and might've secured a nice haul in return for the crafty lefty.
But, if the Yankees had pulled the plug on Peralta, we never would've found out if anyone in this uniform could stop Turner from wreaking havoc. Wandy might be the first person to knock the veteran off his game in the entire 2023 season, and for that we're extremely grateful.