Was it or wasn't it?

One can understand Joe Girardi's frustration over the Francisco Cervelli-Elliott Johnson collision at home plat on Saturday. And one can also understand Rays manager Joe Maddon's insistence that it was a good, aggressive play by a young ballplayer trying to win a game. But when YES Network broadcaster Michael Kay wondered aloud if the play was appropriate in something as "meaningless" as a spring training game, was he right in how he labeled the game? It depends on whose perspective one chooses to adopt.

Certainly by that point in the game -- the top of the ninth inning -- the game was meaningless to Girardi. He has a (relatively) secure job and he has the majority of his Yankee roster already penciled in. Most of the Yankees on the field at the time of the play have no shot at making the big club out of spring training. But what about Johnson?

Although he is rumored to be headed down to the minors for Opening Day, he has every right to expect that his every move is being scrutinized by Rays management. And in an organization loaded with young talent -- young, unpredictable talent -- a player like Johnson could get the call up anytime. Showing determination and hustle on a play like the collision with Cervelli could be the difference between being called up in June or called up in August, or being called up never.

Did it appear as if Elliott deliberately lowered his shoulder just to nail Cervelli in the gut? Yes. Did it look as if there was ample room for Elliott to execute a hook slide around the third-base edge of the plate? Yes. Is there any way for Yankee fans to know if either of the above answers are dead-certain yesses? No, not really.

Unfortunately, that's baseball. Guys get hurt. Some Yankee fans are getting emotional about the play, and Girardi's mild stoking of the fire won't calm any of that. But emotion aside, there is no clear-cut right or wrong side to take here.

Living in Taiwan, I don't have many chances to listen to NYC-area talk radio, so I don't know what the pulse of the Yankee fans is on this issue. Had it been Jorge Posada who had gone down -- no disrespect to Francisco Cervelli intended -- then Joe Maddon might have wanted to move his club out of Tampoa and to Miami on the overnight train. Yankee fans in Florida for spring training might have started a Battle by the Bay. Posada's hypothetical involvement still would not have made the play any worse, however. Elliott, I think, should get a pass on this one.