Willson Contreras, Payton Tolle nonsense epitomize Yankees fans' hatred of Red Sox

Some people run towards trouble. Others create it where it wouldn’t have existed otherwise. Both themes were evident during the Yankees-Red Sox clash on Friday night, when the benches cleared following a pair of inside pitches to Red Sox catcher Willson Contreras.

Contreras began barking at Yankees pitcher Will Warren after drawing a walk in the fifth-inning at-bat, leading to both dugouts and bullpens emptying in response to his anger. 

It was frankly a ridiculous overreaction to a couple of pitches that didn’t come close to grazing him. In fact, the only way they would’ve nicked his flesh is if he leaned his elbow further over the plate than it already was. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said the same, telling reporters postgame that the fuss was made over a bunch of nothing.

Willson Contreras drama sums up Red Sox's manufactured hate of Yankees

After tensions cooled, both teams were issued warnings before play resumed, which Boone also thought to be laughable. “The warnings and the barking seemed kind of ridiculous."

We all know how much the Yankees and Red Sox despise each other. And Boone is a big part of that history. But stirring up drama for no reason other than to stir up drama is a telling indictment. And speaks to why Yankees and Red Sox fans have so much pent-up beef. This is all the Red Sox do. Create chips on their shoulder and pretend they're playing the role of the underdog.

That wasn’t the only “something from nothing” storyline we saw surface from the game. Boston starter Payton Tolle pitched a gem to lift the Sox to a win (and the eventual sweep), piecing together seven scoreless innings as he impressively cut through the Yankees' lineup.

Tolle revealed he’d been sick prior to the game, and Red Sox media then essentially likened his performance to Michael Jordan’s playoff flu game, acting as if no player has even battled through an illness in an effort to step up for their team. As expected, the glazing ensued. From his incessant screams on the mound after securing a random out in the second inning to stuff like this, Tolle has become an insufferable Red Sox figure faster than we could have expected.

Kudos to Tolle for braving the elements, but this falls into the same category as Contreras’ complaints: Hoopla. It's just how the Red Sox like it, and the Yankees let them off the hook by allowing them to fuel themselves with all of it in their four-game sweep.

Hopefully the series in August contains more sensible things to talk about with the Yankees at full strength after they've snapped out of their midsummer swoon.

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