NEW YORK -- Yankees outfielder Andruw Jones was accused by Texas Rangers catcher Yorvit Torrealba of stealing signs and giving pitch locations to hitters from second base during the fifth inning of Wednesday night's 12-4 New York win.
"I certainly didn't appreciate it that much, but that's not an excuse," said Jones, who was at second when Torrealba began yelling at him while the catcher was having a conference at the pitcher's mound with left-hander Derek Holland. "When (their pitcher) is leaving pitches over the plate, and they're getting hit, they're just trying to make excuses. Those things happen.
"He's just trying to make excuses (because they're) getting their butts kicked."
Torrealba said he was not making excuses, but that he noticed something and so did the middle infielders. So he said something about it to Jones during the visit to the mound.
"We could all be wrong, but we could all be right, so I decided to say something," Torrealba said. "I don't take it personally. I don't take any credit away from them. I don't even think they needed to do that. We were making a lot of bad pitches, and they hit a lot of mistakes."
Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira said Torrealba also made similar accusations toward him on Tuesday night.
"He said something to me two nights ago," Teixeira said, "but there's really no reason to get into it because I didn't have anything. Guys get paranoid. I told him I really don't know what you're talking about and that was it."
Rangers manager Ron Washington said that many teams try to steal signs, adding that Alex Rodriguez has been known for trying to do it.
"Will it stop? I don't think so," Washington said. "Do you think this is a secret that guys are doing that? To me, it's not a story. I think that's between the guys between the lines."
Yankees manager Joe Girardi didn't appreciate Torrealba's accusations toward his players.
"I don't care for that," Girardi said. "He's yelling at one of our guys and I don't appreciate that. I've said I'm going to protect my guys."
Holland was tagged for six runs and seven hits in five innings. He gave up home runs to Teixeira and shortstop Eduardo Nunez. The Yankees wound up hitting a combined five homers on Wednesday night.
"That's why people (give) multiple signs when people are on second base," Jones said. "I'm sure our pitchers do the same thing, because we might think they're trying to give location of the pitch when people are on second base. I mean, I've been part of the game a long time. Sometimes (with) those things, they think you're giving the hitter what's coming or whatever, but he was just (upset) over us hitting so many home runs. I mean, were we giving location on first base too when those guys hit all these home runs? I don't know."
In the first two games of their three-game series with the Rangers in the Bronx, the Yankees have scored 24 runs and belted a combined eight homers.
"As a team you're always careful of that, and as a catcher you're always careful about that," Girardi said. "You know he talked to Tex about that the other day. He talked to Jonesy. I don't really worry about it. They're going to do what they're going to do, and we're going to do what we're going to do."
Richard Durrett covers the Rangers for ESPNDallas.com. Mike Mazzeo is a regular contributor to ESPNNewYork.com.