Bochy calls Phillies’ Neris ‘an idiot’ over Posey HBP

Bruce Bochy, like his catcher Buster Posey, chooses his words carefully.

Posey shocked the Giants world when he claimed Phillies closer Hector Neris hit him intentionally with a pitch in a scoring situation in Sunday’s 5-2 San Francisco loss. Said Posey:

“I’m pretty sure he hit me on purpose. It’s just a shame, because I wanted to compete that at-bat. He’s got good stuff, but I guess he thought he couldn’t get me out.”

Neris couldn’t disagree more, according to Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer:

“It’s stupid because nobody who watched that said, ‘Oh he hit him on purpose in that situation.’ “

Posey brought into question the fact that the pitch, a 95-mph fastball, nearly sailed behind him, instead plunking him on the ribs just below the armpit.

Bochy backed his catcher up, and didn’t mince words:

“Well it wasn’t just a little inside. That guy, I’ll say it, is an idiot.”

Bochy also said he wasn’t surprised Neris would act out, citing an incident back in May between him and Eduardo Nunez.

Neris, apparently, had choice words for Nunez as he followed him off the field. It’s safe to say Posey and Bochy’s opinions mirror those of the team; the general consensus is that he is an idiot.

Shayna Rubin is SFBay’s San Francisco Giants beat writer. Follow @SFBay and @ShaynaRubin on Twitter and at SFBay.ca for full coverage of Giants baseball.