ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Rookie catcher Bobby Wilson remained sore and was resting in the Angels training room after a largely sleepless night, according to a team spokesman. Wilson was unavailable for comment the morning after Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira barreled into him while trying to score in the third inning.
While Angels manager Mike Scioscia called it a "clean play," after Friday's game, some of the Angels players were less certain.
Torii Hunter is a friend of Teixeira's, but he said he thinks the anger of being hit by an Ervin Santana fastball a couple minutes earlier contributed to Teixeira's decision to hit the catcher.
Wilson was up the first-base line gathering a throw from Bobby Abreu and left the plate unblocked. Santana also said Thursday night that he thinks Teixeira was upset about being hit by the pitch.
"He had the plate, we know that. He could have slid feet-first or gone to the right and swiped it with his hand," Hunter said. "But that's baseball. Sometimes, catchers get hit. We can sit here and analyze all day if it was dirty or bad, but there's nothing we can do about it.
"It's early in the game, the third inning, and you don't expect something like that. The guy's upset. He's on a mission. Tex is a great guy, but even good guys get upset sometimes. I've been there."
The Yankees, of course, had a different perspective. Someone asked New York manager Joe Girardi why Teixeira didn't stop to help Wilson up or check on him after the collision.
"This isn't a family reunion softball game," Girardi said. "I don't ever remember anybody helping me up."
The Angels had four major league caliber catchers when they left spring training, but they're down to two after Wilson was placed on the 15-day disabled list for a concussion and sprained left ankle. The starter, Jeff Mathis, broke his right wrist in Monday night's game against the Detroit Tigers. The Angels called up Ryan Budde, 30, from Triple-A Salt Lake to back up Mike Napoli, who has struggled with his throwing.
"You're always trying to prepare for some extreme circumstances," Scioscia said. "The bright side of this is it's in an area we do have some depth."
Mark Saxon cover the Angels for ESPNLosAngeles.com