Toronto

Safe to say that Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista can expect something a little high and perhaps a lot inside the next time he faces Texas Rangers pitchers Cole Hamels and Sam Dyson.

After Bautista's blast heard around the Rogers Centre, Toronto and the rest of Canada -- the decisive three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning Wednesday evening -- the colourful Jays hitter posed, then tossed his bat in brash celebration before trotting around the bases.

Given the emotions of the crazy inning -- and the fact they ended their ALDS hopes with a 6-3 loss -- the 'take that' pose from Bautista didn't exactly play well in the losing Rangers locker room.

"He needs to respect the game a little more," said the man who served up the pitch rocked out of the park, Rangers reliever Sam Dyson. "He's a huge role model for the younger generation coming up playing this game. He's doing stuff that kids do in backyard baseball and it shouldn't be done.

"I told (Edward Encarnacion, who was next up for the Jays) it can't happen, it needs to stop and he just said 'whatever.' If they want to act like that, it's whatever."

Hamels wasn't impressed, either. Though he was already chased from the game, Hamels saw Bautista's overblown celebration and questioned its professionalism.

"It's tough. It's hard to be politically correct, but you just want to be able to play the game the right way," Hamels said. "You've got a lot of kids that are watching. You just want to be a ball player and I think there is a certain amount of respect you have have.

"We understand there is a huge level of excitement when things don't go your way. I can't answer for his mind-set. It's tough to see. A lot of us, in this room, we don't carry ourselves that way."

Bautista's long, loving gaze certainly sent the Rogers Centre crowd into a frenzy and was another act in the wild seventh, one where emotions were high on both sides. Though Dyson didn't address Bautista personally, he took it up with Encarnacion, sparking the first of two dugout-clearing melees in the inning.

The second came at the conclusion of the four-run Jays inning and Dyson was in the middle of that scene as well, , tapping Troy Tulowitzki, the last out of the inning, on the rear just outside of the batters' box. The Jays shortstop didn't appreciate the love tap and apparently told Dyson as much.

"I didn't say a word to him, I just tapped him on the butt, that was it," Dyson said. "Just don't touch me and things kind of escalated from there. It was just a nice gesture on my part. He took it another way."

There was no mistaking how Dyson felt about Bautista, however though he wasn't surprised.

"I knew (Bautista) hit it pretty hard. It's just not acceptable regardless of what level you are at. I didn't look at the bat, I just saw him stand there. I think if you watch his replays throughout the year, I think you understand ..."

For his part (and predictably), Bautista had a different view of the celebration, the high point of a wild afternoon and early evening under the dome.

"I can't really remember what was going through my mind, to be quite honest with you," Bautista said. "I didn't plan anything like that and so I still don't even know what I did. I just enjoyed the moment, rounded the bases and got to the dugout."

While the fans, like their home-run hero, certainly saw it differently -- and will put the Bautista homer high in their memories of a wild night at the Rogers Centre -- the Rangers similarly won't apologize for getting fired up at Bautista's show-up.

"My team's perspective is that we play the game right, hard, all 27 outs," Texas manager Jeff Banister said. "We respect everybody."

They have a little less respect for Jose Bautista, however. And likely a long memory.