A Little Baseball Talk for Friday.

From an article in The Daily News on 11 April 2014. Thank you, Mark Feinsand. 

The Red Sox didn’t utter a peep to the umpires about the substance on Pineda’s hand, so it didn’t become an issue during the game.

“No one said a word,” crew chief Brian O’Nora said. “The Red Sox didn’t bring it to our attention, so there’s nothing we can do about it. If they bring it to our attention, then you’ve got to do something, but they didn’t bring it to our attention.”

“Nobody asked me,” Pineda said. “Nobody said nothing about that.”

Perhaps Boston’s silence was the product of a pair of incidents last season in which two Red Sox pitchers were accused of doctoring the ball themselves.

Clay Buchholz — Pineda’s opposing starter Thursday night — was accused by Blue Jays TV analyst and former World Series MVP Jack Morris of throwing spitballs during a start against Toronto in May.

Then during the World Series, a photo on Twitter showed a strange green substance on Jon Lester’s glove during his Game 1 start, which Lester later said was rosin. MLB opted not to take any action based on the lack of evidence and the fact that the Cardinals did not complain.

Red Sox manager John Farrell said he was made aware of the substance on Pineda’s hand in the fourth inning Thursday night, but when the pitcher returned to the mound in the fifth, his palm was clean.

“That’s the extent of it,” Farrell said.

Farrell went to great lengths to downplay the issue, making it clear he didn’t have a problem with Pineda.

If anything, his message — and that of other Red Sox pitchers — seemed to be that if you’re going to do it, don’t get caught.