Clemens and Torre suspended by MLB
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- August
- 9
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Just received this release from Major League Baseball:
New York Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens has been suspended for five games and fined an undisclosed amount for intentionally throwing a pitch at Alex Rios of the Toronto Blue Jays in the bottom of the seventh inning of the game on Tuesday, August 7th at the Rogers Centre in Toronto after warnings had been issued to both Clubs earlier in the game. Bob Watson, Vice President of On-Field Operations for Major League Baseball, made the announcement.
Pending appeal, the suspension of Clemens is scheduled to begin on Friday, August 10th, when New York plays at Cleveland. If appealed, the suspension will be held in abeyance until the process is complete.
In addition, Yankees manager Joe Torre has been suspended for one game and fined an undisclosed amount for the intentional actions of Clemens after warnings had been issued earlier in the game. Torre is scheduled to serve his suspension on Friday night.
Also receiving undisclosed fines for their roles in the incidents during Tuesday’s game were New York’s Alex Rodriguez and coaches Larry Bowa and Tony Pena and Toronto’s Matt Stairs and Josh Towers and coach Brian Butterfield.
There is no appeals process for managers, so Torre could be watching the game from the press box tomorrow. Clemens is expected to appeal, so the Yankees can manipulate that process so that all he gets is an extra day of rest and doesn’t miss a start.
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on Thursday, August 9th, 2007 at 5:46 pm by Peter Abraham.
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Chad Jennings
Sam Borden
Josh Thomson
How can a pitcher such as Clemens even defend his own team anymore without hurting the team?
When Clemens came into the Bigs this would have been a non-issue. Now, if he hadn’t hit Rios, people would have been questioning why he didn’t stick up for A-Rod, and because he did hit Rios, he gets 5 games and Torre gets one. It seems like the only way to get away with stuff like this these days is to be the one starting the fights, not the one finishing them.
Peter,,,as always…thank you for the information. As a life long Yankees Fan stuck in SOCAL…This blog is my home away from home….keep up the good work…I may not agree with all of your opinions,,,,but anyone that does not value the service you provide, is either a dolt, a troll or a Sox Fan… ( are those things even seperable ? )
I can’t help feeling like the Yankees got screwed here. Clemens probably deserved 5 games but didn’t Towers deserve the same 5 games for intentionally throwing at A-Rod? He instigated it all, and gets off easy here imo.
Clemens fined $500, that is, 0.0028% of his 2007 salary.
Bob Watson should go in the batters box to see how a 90 MPH fastball feels on the leg. This guy is a joke. Arod shouldn’t have been fined.
Arod gets fined? how lame is that?
Okay I missed the entire incident. Why was Alex fined? And shouldn’t baseball have come down on the Jays pitcher when it was obvious that he threw at Alex? (Didn’t see it but I know they tried to hit him the day before).
The only other option would have been for Farnsworth to “let one fly” and be without him for 5 days.
Roger misses one start and it might give the Yankees a chance to see Ian Kennedy.
As long as it’s not Igawa all is OK.
Towers should have been suspended, no doubt about that.
I have a feeling Arod’s being fined way late for the ‘ha’ thing, thus being the supposed instigator of this thing.
This angers me. Baseball thought that something would happen the next series that they issued warnings to the Jays before the series. So it is blatently obvious that this was because of the HA incident so shouldn’t the manager, and pitcher of the Jays be suspended as well. It doesn’t take a psyhic to know what the Jays intention was.
Roger won’t miss a start. He will appeal and it will be reduced to 3-4 games. He will than serve it and not miss one start. Or he will serve it the day after he pitches and just move around the rotation.
Why does Towers only get a fine? He all but admitted that he beaned A-Rod on purpose. The Blue Jays themselves said that the ‘HA’ incident was a non-issue during the last series against Toronto. Why does this come into play now? I guess all the frustration of playing third fiddle has boiled over.
“Rivera, Far From Losing It, Takes on Role of Mentor”:http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/10/sports/baseball/10yankees.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
I wish this guy were younger, because i love having roger on our team. Good work Rocket, screw the suspension.
I do not like name calling, but Watson is dumb i*diot, if there is such a thing. Suspending Clemens I can understand given the rules. But fining A-Rod and not suspending Towers only dumb i*diots are capable of doing.
I hate that MLB thinks it can get into a player’s head. They believe that Towers accidently hit A-Rod but that Clemens was intentional, so that is how they base the punishment. But they don’t know that. It seems obvious to me that both were intentional, but only Towers and Clemens know for sure.
I realize Clemens did his after the warning, but the warning was caused because of Towers. Any ump worth his salt wouldn’t have issued a warning after the first HBP, then let the Yankees retaliate and then given the warning.
Bad job by MLB.
The Yankees can settle the score with Josh Towers in Toronto on September 11-13 or in the Bronx on September 21-23. Either way he’ll be nervous on the mound.
i’m sure they’re fining arod for taking a step toward the mound, and for yelling back at towers. probably same reason stairs is.
personally, i think a head or knee shot should be automatic expulsion, and something blatant like that should be suspention. warnings should be given to a team if they hit someone, not both teams.
yeah, fining a-rod seems silly.
but the suspension to roger is a non-issue. they’ll use one of their off-days to work around it.
no one will have to come up and make a start.
What can you do to Towers? He is a pitcher in AL.
If there is any thing it is his batters who should be concerned.
I can’t believe Towers and Gibbons weren’t supsended…especially after MLB warned them, but then Toronto went after A-Rod TWICE in the next series. I guess it’s fine because they didn’t hit right after MLB’s warning??? What kind of BS logic is that?
You would think MLB might look to protect the best player in the game…but I guess not when you have a bunch of imcompetent morons like Selig running the joint.
who knows, maybe towers will catch whatever j.wright and karstens had.
You forgot to report how many games Towers was suspended, because I can’t imagine they’d let him off the hook….
Unbelievable.
Clemens was suspended because he hit Rios after the warning. That’s how the rule works. Otherwise, you’d have to suspend every pitcher who hit a batter or determine whether there was intent every time.
The fines were for how certain guys acted when the benches cleared, those who did the most shoving, essentially.
The Yankees weren’t treated any differently than other teams in the same situation.
When the Blue Jays were at Yankee Stadium in July, they were officially warned against retaliation. This time they weren’t.
I think they were stupid to hold a grudge for two months. But in their eyes, what A-Rod did back in May deserved retaliation. Towers probably only did what he was told to do. Pitcher like him has no choice.
If a player did what A-Rod did to the Yankees, say he purposely distracted Jeter, they would have drilled the guy, too. It’s just how baseball works. You can’t physically get a guy like you can in basketball, football or hockey, so you hit him.
On several occasions this season, Yankee pitchers have hit guys after hard slides, etc. It’s just how baseball is.
All that said, they can work around the five games.
i’m a little surprised that no punishment was dealt out to anyone from toronto. other than that, whatever. losing torre for a game isn’t going to kill this team. if he’s going to miss one, it might as well be the one where, in all likelihood, carmona mows down his hitters and hughes gives up a few runs.
Oh, Kasey, don’t be such an optimist.
Suspending Josh Towers would unfairly help out the Blue Jays. What an awful pitcher. The Jays already have their punishment by having him on the roster in the first place.
IMO, if they were going to carry warnings over from the ‘Ha’ game to the NY series, the warnings should carry over throughout the remainder of the season.
I really wouldn’t be surprised if Gibbons instructed his pitchers to “wait until we’re in Toronto” when they came into town last…
“If a player did what A-Rod did to the Yankees, say he purposely distracted Jeter, they would have drilled the guy, too. It’s just how baseball works.”
i disagree
No Arod got fined because he got hit………What a joke.. Toronto started it all.. 1st they did the litsch crap the game before and then towers intentionally hit arod but the yankee player gets suspended..
John GIbbons is a punk mngr. and I know hillebrand is a dick but maybe there is something to what he said… Gibbons is a punk, kinda like how wally backman would be as a mangr. and maybe his act wears out quickly…
The whitesox pitcher got kicked out af a game against the yanks about 2 weeks ago after hitting someone with a knuckleball, the umps in this league stink and think they are celebraties..
abreu got kicked out yesterday for slamming his bat down in the dugout!!!!!!!!!!!
Another joke with MLB…..
again brian buttefield a coach for the jays said the duncan slide and damon were cheap…
the yank telecast showed mcdonald doing a similar slide on jeter yrs. ago..
do these idiots think games are not recorded??
The duncan slide was rough but totally clean and I loved it..
toronto’s mngmngt. from richardi on down are bush league……….
I respect Bob Watson, he DID play the game, so he knows what the score is. He is doing his job.
Peter – I agree with your analysis, but I do have some questions. Did that warning that the Blue Jays got apply to that one series in the Bronx, only? Do you really think or believe that the Yanks would have drilled somebody if they had distracted one of their infielders, be it Jeter or anyone else (whatever happened to bench jockeying?)? And have Yankees pitchers really drilled others for hard slides, etc.?
Good point Andrew.
Also maybe they should have been ticked at their third baseman that doesn’t know the difference between HA and I GOT IT I GOT IT I GOT IT I GOT IT I GOT IT I GOT IT.
If you ever watch a player when they call someone off they repeatedly say it over and over, not just one. But this is all beside the point at the moment. I just don’t get why Alex was fined.
The Jays should get over it already, hopefully everything is over and done with. Now they are crying about a hard slide? What a bunch of babies maybe instead of crying they should worry about winning. On second thought maybe not, unless they play the soxs.
Pete…the Yankees would not have drilled someone weeks later for yelling “ha” at one of their infielders..not under Joe Torre’s watch. In fact, under Torre as manager we have been notorious for refusing to go after hitters. I’m kind of surprised you don’t realize that.
Jennifer – I’m not a pro baseball player, so I don’t know what the code is, but somehow I think they should GROW UP and get over it. It wasn’t that long ago that bench jockeying was a fine art. What about faking out baserunners? How is shouting HA that much different? Maybe Hillebrand was on to something. And he wasn’t the only one to have it out with Gibbons, Gibbons went after Ted Lilly, also. And don’t you think that the Jays could have used Lilly this year?
Also Pete, I dare you to name even ONE instance where the Yankees drilled a guy this year based on a hard slide.
IMO Toronto is mad because they got embarrassed. Blaming A-Rod for this is like presidents having poor approval rates go and start war against somebody for no good reason (sounds familiar?). I don’t understand why MLB is on the side of Toronto. Towers (and Litsch) should have been suspended also.
Yeah kinda interesting that players had huge problems with Gibbons. I forgot about the Lilly incident. Maybe you’re on to something.
I can’t believe how ridiculous this is. Just because Toronto wasn’t warned THIS time? They go after ARod in the first two games and Towers isn’t tossed immediately? I love how the cowards wait until the SECOND series to retaliate.
Pete,
Fair enough, but the Jays got their payback throwing behind A-Rod on Monday. Maybe MLB should have issued a warning after that. I understand why MLB did what they did but I think it’s unfair. It’s obvious that Towers plunked A-Rod on purpose and should have had a matching suspension.
Clemens and Torre get suspended, but Josh Towers doesn’t get anything for drilling A-Rod in the first place?
Yeah. That makes sense.
and MLB could NOT figure out that the game before the pitcher TRIED to hit him and missed and the next game, the pitch was in the EXACT SAME PLACE and this time, it found it’s mark…MLB knows what is up, they were just too chicken sh*t to say something again to Toronto after the first near miss….P*ssies !
Josh Towers has to live with being the mediocre pitcher, Josh Towers. Probably punishment enough.
Motown!!! LOL TOO FUNNY!!
“If a player did what A-Rod did to the Yankees, say he purposely distracted Jeter, they would have drilled the guy, too. It’s just how baseball works.”
yeah right peter, jeter always falls for stuff like that.
“If a player did what A-Rod did to the Yankees, say he purposely distracted Jeter, they would have drilled the guy, too. It’s just how baseball works. You can’t physically get a guy like you can in basketball, football or hockey, so you hit him.
On several occasions this season, Yankee pitchers have hit guys after hard slides, etc. It’s just how baseball is.”
Pete, i agree with this, and i think A-Rod himself agrees with this.
HOWEVER, he and the yankees believed the message was sent the day *before* when they threw behind A-Rod.
THAT is why Clemens hit Rios. THAT is why the benches emptied. it’s not the Yankees’ fault that the Jays couldn’t actually hit A-Rod the first time. you don’t get two-for-one.
it’s ironic, which team came off looking “bush league” this week? not the Yankees.
Butterfield also bitched about 2 hard slides. give me a break. the Yankees are allowed to slide as hard as they want provided they are in the vicinity of the bag. which they were. the Blue Jays looked like a bunch of whiney cry-babies this week.
The Yankees should call up either Ian Kennedy or Steven White to take Clemens’ place in the rotation if doesn’t appeal his suspension.
The BJ’s threw at A-Rod twice for no good reason and received…wait for it…ZERO suspensions.
*MLB IS A JOKE!*
“again brian buttefield a coach for the jays said the duncan slide and damon were cheap…”
“toronto’s mngmngt. from richardi on down are bush league……….”
did butterfield ever even play pro ball? i don’t think so ,and riccardi barely so actually bush league would be a step up for them.
Pete – I know that is how the rule works, but that is ridiculous. Blue Jays get warned when they are in NY, so they don’t take any action. But the next time the two teams play, because no explicit warning was issued, it becomes ok? That is just plain wrong. May not violate the letter of the rule here, but certainly violates the spirit. I’m not saying that you suspend every pitcher who ever hits anyone, but it is incomprehensible that the Blue Jays can have two pitchers, two days in a row, throwing at ARod and others and not be suspended. Yet, the first time — in two series — that a Yankee allegedly throws at a Blue Jay he and the manager get suspensions. Something just doesn’t feel right about this.
Next Yanks vs. Toronto game: 9/11 at Toronto.
Whichever Yankee pitcher is starting that game incl. Wang, Mussina & Hughes has to hit someone first, that way if a Toronto pitcher hits a Yankee/ retaliates after that, he’s ejected from the game, suspended for 5 games & fined, right Bob Watson? If Roy Halladay is on the mound, you most definitely hit someone first.
What a horsesh*t rule that Clemens gets ejected, suspended 5 games & fined but Towers just gets fined cuz Towers obviously hit A-Rod on purpose. M.L.B. could & should look at past interactions when determining punishment cuz what’s to stop Towers from hitting a Yankee first again since he pitches before the other starter. He hits someone again, I don’t care who it is (Matsuii, hoever), you charge the mound. You also have another guy make a beeline to McDonald at SS. Ef it.
B.t.w. time a Yankee or some other team’s player settles that Toronto punk McDonald’s hash. Crybaby bit ch and a chickensh*t one at that since notice how he didn’t say jac k to Shelly Duncan when Shelley slid hard into him? He was the one moaning about Yankee slides into 2B? Well you’re a SS you idiot, you expect guys to sidestep you?
so it goes in baseball. is $$ and 5 games worth the “don’t f*ck with us” message Rog sent to the Jays and league? maybe, depends on how you see it. clemens did what had to be done, imo and i commend him. thank goodness someone has the b@lls to retailiate. how many years did we go without a so much as a brushback to any opposing player?
welcome back rocket i say!
and p.s. joe torre is the real casualty here. like he’s going to stop a legend from defending his teammates? right.
“The fines were for how certain guys acted when the benches cleared, those who did the most shoving, essentially.”
Hi Pete, I enjoy the blog but I am gonna have to politely disagree with you here. You are saying that the officials are allowed to use judgment in handing out penalties to how players acted. That is fine. It needs to be allocated fairly though. I bet Towers is surprised by how small his punishment is.
“The Yankees weren’t treated any differently than other teams in the same situation.”
I am sure I could easily chronicle the inequity of this situation. I have seen punishment handed out fairly and unfairly. Justifying an unfair decision by saying ‘thats how it is’ doesn’t make it right or ‘fair.’ The Yanks were given a bum rap here. Further, the punishment provides little deterrence from future altercations, the main reason why such penalties are inflicted. Towers should have been suspended plain and simple. Many others in that situation have been.
“Towers probably only did what he was told to do. Pitcher like him has no choice.”
I’m sorry but this is just lame. Do you think Wang would ever drill a guy because ‘he was told to.’ On the flip side, do you think Torre told Clemens to throw at them? I don’t. I’m also certain he would throw at them regardless of what Torre says. These are grown men, and have to take responsibility for their actions. Clemens knew what he was doing, protecting his guys no matter what, knowing full well of the consequences which he accepted ahead of time. So should Towers, his manager be damned.
“If a player did what A-Rod did to the Yankees, say he purposely distracted Jeter, they would have drilled the guy, too. It’s just how baseball works.”
An example?
“On several occasions this season, Yankee pitchers have hit guys after hard slides, etc. It’s just how baseball is.”
I cant remember any of them, so perhaps you can refresh my memory. In any case, this is irrelevant. I expect my pitchers to protect my players, penalties notwithstanding. I also expect punishment to be rendered according to the infraction, not whimsically and erratically.
Peace
BJ
I agree, I’m glad that Roger retaliated. As you said it tells other teams, don’t f with us. We haven’t had that presense in a while.
here’s how out of touch with real baseball that toronto management is. they don’t believe in stealing bases because they think it’s a bad strategy. thus they are last in the league with 36 stolen bases. and to prove they are consistant in their beliefs, they don’t defend against the stolen base either. they are last there too, with 96 stolen bases against with a 13% caught stealing rate.
why should anyone take these clowns seriously?
the yankees don’t need to hit them, they should run them into submission and take out ,with a hard legal slide, every shortstop, second baseman, and third baseman they have.
Circumstances should dictate the punishment…..Watson played the in the 70’s & the 80’s, and things have mellowed out a little since then…..Not all infractions are the same nor should the penalties…..He certainly goes out of his way to assure everyone that the Yanks aren’t getting a pass due to his tenure as a GM & player with the Organization…….Shame the Yanks folded in the 81 Series vs the Dodgers, he would have been the Series MVP…He had great World Series filling in for Chambliss…..
Not sure if people have noticed but Seattle is losing early to Bal. If they lose it is a 3 way tie for the wild card lead with the Yankees and Det. Not sure why everyone ignores Seattle, including Michael Kay who never even mentions them.
After the 20 tough games is 3 aginst TB and then 3 with the still possible wild card leader Seattle. Bottom line is we should look at the 26 games as key. Two sets of 13 with a game off in the middle.
Michael Kay also said that the wild card winner will only have to win 90. So that means one of the 3 teams would just have to go 27-21 to win it. Seems easy to me. You mean to tell me that none of the 3 teams are going to go 28-20? I think at least one team will. I think 32-16 or 95 wins is the necessary amount. Sorry had to get that off my chest, couldn’t get through to Kay.
BJ, I agree with you 100%. Remember too that Toronto had already thrown at A-Rod once, and the Yanks did nothing. That evened the score. Towers kept it going and deserves nothing less than an equal suspension to Clemens.
Toronto kept this going by throwing at A-Rod not once but TWICE. The fact that the Yankees get punished for this and Toronto doesn’t is extremely unfair.
The Yanks could be in a three-way tie with Detroit and Seattle for the wildcard if Baltimore beats Seattle tonight.
Here’s why the Yanks will win the wildcard:
After tonight, Seattle has only 7 games vs. the so-so or bad A.L. East teams (4 vs. T.B. + 3 vs. Toronto + none w/Baltimore) to the Yankees’ 21. Seattle has 6 games vs. L.A. to the Yanks’ 3. Seattle has games w/ the following teams the Yanks are done playing after this weekend: Texas (7), Oakland (6 games), Chicago (6), Cleveland (5). They play the Yanks at N.Y. All this negates the Yanks’ 6 games vs. Boston to Seattle’s none & 8 games vs. Detroit to Seattle’s 3. Seattle’s only breather series are…none. 4 w/ T.B. or anyone is never a surefire 3-1 & T.B. doesn’t su ck so bad they would get swept.
Detroit has games vs. the following teams the Yanks are done w/ after this weekend: Cleveland (8 games), Oakland (6),
Chicago (6), Minnesota (6), Texas (3). A makeup game vs. Toronto is Detroit’s lone game vs. a lousy or so-so A.L. East team to the Yanks’ 21. Detroit has as many games vs. Seattle as the Yanks (3) only at Seattle. Half their 8 games vs. the Yanks are in N.Y. Detroit’s only breather series are a pair of 3-gamers vs. K.C. but they’re not breather series if Gil Meche starts both and/ or K.C. plays well/ guns to be the spoiler. All the pressure is on Detroit to go 5-1 or 6-0 vs. K.C. as 4-2 would be ehhh should’ve been 5-1, 3-3 would be disastrous. The Yanks could go 2-1 in their 3 remaining w/ K.C. cuz they have lots of bad to so-so division teams + Boston to beat up on (Boston could beat up the Yanks but it’d probably be the usual 9-7 war where both teams have exhaustion which could carry into the next day’s game).
Cleveland has games vs. the following teams the Yanks are done with this year: Chicago (9 games), Minnesota (6),
Their 8 games vs. Detroit & the Yanks’ 8 are cancelled out. They have only 3 games vs. bad A.L. East teams (T.B.) to the Yanks’ 21 who have twice as many games vs. T.B. as Cleveland (6 to 3). Cleveland has 5 games vs. Seattle including a 3-day 4-gamer w/ doubleheader in the final week of the regular season to the Yanks’ 3. Cleveland’s final regular season series is vs. K.C. & that’s a tough one because all the pressure is on Cleveland to sweep. Also Cleveland better hope they don’t have to use Sabathia and/or Carmona in that series even w/ the 2 or 3-day break between the last regular season game & Game 1 of the A.L.D.S.
In short, the Yanks so-called toughest stretch 8/16-30 is alot of b.s. as far as an important one cuz even if they go 7-7 in it, the schedules of the other three teams more than
negate it. The Yanks have the best all-around team among them, Detroit, Cleveland & Seattle. It’s a matter of the Yanks’ bullpen doing its job. If the pen does its job, it’s over, expect a minimum 13-7 run from tomorrow night through 8/30 (for 76-58 through 8/30) then a 8/31 on Yankee 18-21 wins out of the final 28 games bulldozing to a 94-97 win season. Detroit & Cleveland will beat up each other & fight off Minnesota, Chicago & maybe K.C. so much one of them isn’t making it to the postseason. Seattle has to battle their own division & the A.L. Central too much to overcome the Yanks. The Yanks have only 8 games vs. the Central (all vs. Detroit) & only 6 vs. the West after this weekend (L.A. & Seattle).
The Yanks will play in October AS THE DIVISION CHAMPS…period…I rest my case… LOL !
and now at last a use for Crazy Karl
Just make him the designated hit by pitcher and warm him up replace the starting pitcher and tell him to let one fly
He takes the suspension and one for the team and all New York loves him.
Let the opposing team charge the mound all they want.
Now that would be fun. The suspense. The fidgeting in the batters box. The plunk with a 94 mile an hour fast ball right between the numbers if their lucky.
This might be old news, but get a load of what Josh Towers said about Tony
* “I heard somebody chirping when I was talking to Lyle [Overbay] and I didn’t think it was Alex, and it was Tony Pena running his mouth,� said Towers, who insisted the pitch to Rodriguez got away from him. “What is this guy running his mouth for? This dude is a quitter. He managed a team [Kansas City] and quit in the middle of the season because he couldn’t hack it. He’s going to run his mouth to me? It didn’t have anything to do with Alex the second time.�
Tony could probably kick his butt with one leg and one arm tied behind his back.
I just looked at his stats, every year but one he is a under .500 pitcher. What a load talking bad about someone else.
Mariners are not that strong and will fade soon….Pitching is very suspect, Putz is outstanding of course….Offensively they have some sticks, but this is a teams that goes into funks real easy……The team that has not gone away are the Twinkies……Oh by the way, they end the season in Beantown, right after the A’s…..Wonder if the penalty to Clemens would have been as hearsh had Roger just thrown a knockdown / purpose pitch….He still would have been tossed, but I wonder if he’d still get the 5 games…..
How come nothing happened to the pitcher who hit Cano? Wasn’t that after the warning?
Pete, you can claim that MLB treated the Yankees as they would any other team. But that is blatantly untrue. The umpires did not apply the warning or rules equally and the fines/suspensions are partly based on the umpires actions, are they not? Watson should have considered that and fined the umpiring crew as well.
jeter gave jessica alba herpes?
Oh by the way, the Mariners are something like a plus 5 in run differentials….
I understand, but thinks it’s bogus, why Toroto would hold a grudge against A-Rod and the “Ha” play but it is no different than foul balls near the dugouts or foul lines. I’m sure opposing fans are dead silent when a player makes a play on a ball near the seats. So Toronto decides to retaliate against A-Rod so they sent Litsch out there…and he MISSES! That should have been the end right there b/c everyone knew what was going on at the time. Towers and Gibbons deserve the same, if not more, suspensions as Torre and Clemens for further escalating the situation and in essence, forcing Clemens to throw at Rios. It’s how the game is, and should be, played.
This is absolutely ridiculous – Arod gets beamed twice. Once, was obviously intentional to any bystander with a half a brain. Towers actually hits him in the knee – one of the worst places to get hit coincidentally and he has to miss games because of the injury. And of course its arod both times becuz of the whole HA thing and major leaguer shouldnt miss easy pop ups when someone says ha behind them – thas just dumb. Then, Clemens defends our best player by hitting rios in the back – a pitch in which rios clearly was fine. And somehow clemens and torre get suspended. Baseball is retarded sometimes.
mlb is not going to suspend a starting pitcher for less than 5 games. they may be dumb with the way they hand out punishments, but i would think they know a little about how starting rotations work. no?
You know, Seattle has some strengths, it is not all luck that they are about to be alone in the lead for the wild card. Their lineup is solid from top to bottom. They have the closer pitching the best in the league and the rest of the bullpen is not too bad either. The starters are clearly their weakness, but they seem to be winning a lot more than they are losing. They are in as good a position as any team.
Oh and as for the guy who said the Yankees are lucky because they will be playing so many games against the AL East, let me remind you that the Yankees have struggled with all east teams this year at some point, even if the results have been successful this month.
Seattle won’t be in the mix when it’s all said and done. They’re starting pitcher is way to weak to carry them the rest of the year. Their offense is great but all those guys will come back down to earth because they are “average” at best.
“Toronto kept this going by throwing at A-Rod not once but TWICE. The fact that the Yankees get punished for this and Toronto doesn’t is extremely unfair.”
Hi YankeeJosh, you elucidated my point far more eloquently than me.
These rules are not algorithmic as Pete seems to convey. The powers that be look at the circumstances ‘fairly’ and then enact punishment in an effort to limit these kinds of altercations. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know the yanks go hosed on this ruling.
Whether Clemens misses a game or not isn’t the point. The message here is that you can throw at our number one guy TWICE without repercussion.
What surprises me the most about this is that there isn’t a bigger effort to protect guys like AROD. If nothing else you’d think they would understand the economics of the game. Having a healthy AROD in the game trying to outslug the cheater from San Fran is good for business. The opposite message was sent and will provide the impetus for more of these kinds of dangerous situations.
If the commissioner wont protect our players, you can be damn sure guys like Clemens will. I for one appreciate that.
BJ
This is retarded.A-Rod gets hit twice, definitly intentionally both times. The Jays are out to get the Yanks since that “Got it!” Incident earlier in the year. Well they are out to get A-Rod thats for sure. Then Clemens hits one batter intentionally and hes ejected and suspended for 5 games.
How Towers doesn’t get comparable punishment — especially since he wasn’t tossed from the game after giving up a key hit, Armondo Benitez-style — totally escapes me.
Watson’s suspensions for the Yankees always seem stiffer than the teams that instigate. Bitter much, Bob?
Good point, BJ. Watson has effectively said that it is OK to throw at ARod.
What idiocy.
The Mariners and Indians won again tonight. In both cases it wasn’t even close. Many things have to fall in place for both these teams to collapse. For starters, somebody has to beat them once in awhile.
Typical, Alex gets nailed twice and gets penalized, Towers walks away scot free. Oh well, Toronto can continue to wallow in the depths of the AL East while we are right in the thick of things.
Oh, and Matt Stairs is still a clown.
What a bunch of babies.
Arod pulled a bush league move, and got thrown at for it.
End story.
And this might be the first time ” Yankee Bob” hasnt made an outrageously pro yankees move, so wow he made a fair move once, and we all cry like baybees.
Sack Up Men.
Hi All,
Off topic, but just watched highlights from today’s games. There’s a real nice story that happened tonight as Rick Ankiel made it back to the majors and had a hit and a home run in his first game.
Welcome back, Rick.
Well, just remember, Pete. That extra day of rest of Clemens is totally A-Rod’s fault. Ahem.
As for the process, it’s broken. How can any fair examination of the ‘incident’ ignore the fact that the Blue Jays threw at A-Rod not once, but twice? The idea that the instigating act is not considered or punished is absurd on the face of it. If all Watson is going to do is regurgitate lines from a rulebook, then MLB is wasting their money. A fifty-dollar computer could do his job with little difficulty.
Didn’t the Yankees hit Matt STairs?
There’s no differens if we Red Sox win the Division by 14.5 games or by 6 games!
Did Arod opt out yet?
Look what happened because of ARod yelling HA!
This is it. This is why we need Farnsworth.
Every time we wanna defend our players by throwing intentionally, we bring out Farnsworth. He throws his fastball into the back of whoever and 5 game suspension.
This is his role. No one would also walk towards the mound at Farnsworth so it kinda eliminates bench clearings.
HE WILL EARN HIS MONEY!!
No one does anything anymore as Farnsi will get them. He can come out with a pin striped cape.
“Brett Gardner set the table, going 3 for 5 with a stolen base and an outfield assist (throwing out his rival prospect Jacoby Ellsbury trying to stretch a double into a triple.
http://mvn.com/milb-yankees/”
It’s always good to read something like this.
Marius, You are severely overestimating Farnsworth’s control if you think he can hit a batter on command.
Chances are if he tries, it would still end up waist high over the middle of the plate.
Edwar expected to be returning fairly shortly.
http://mvn.com/mlb-yankees/200.....part-deux/
All hail Edwar…I hope he’s put the Tampa Bay outing behind him and is ready to dominate.
Joe L,
Agreed; If farsworth tried to hit somebody it would either go behind him or go right down the plate.
The most important stretch of the season begins tonight. By the way, read the Boston media and you can sense the panic gripping Red Sox Nation.
http://valentinesviews.blogspo.....-real.html
Didn’t I read here in this very blog that MLB sent someone to talk with the Jays before the last Yankee-Jays match to warn them in no uncertain terms that there was to be no retaliation for the “ha” incident. As I further recall, there was in fact no retaliation immediately after that warning. But apparently that warning had an expiration date.
MLB can’t reasonably go out of its way to warn the Jays not to retaliate for the “Ha” thing in the last series and then not take action when the Jays throw at A-Rod TWICE this series, so obviously in retaliation for the “ha” thing. It’s like the Jays were tweaking Watson and the Yanks. Once MLB takes the extraordinary step of intervening to tell players not to retaliate, they have to stand by that warning too or else look completely foolish in the eyes of the teams and fans. Thus, the Jays GM and owners should have been fined for this latest incident in view of the prior team warning.
Josh Towers didn’t even get suspended. Nobody from the Jays got suspended.
I find that to be f-ed up.
Pete- Jeter would have caught the ball with the “HA” or not. This would be a non-subject. Yanks get their revenge in the form of winning. That’s class, Blue Jays need to get some.
It all starts form the top, Gibbons is a disgrace to the game.
Can someone explain how Mike Lupica attained his exalted status? I don’t think I’ve ever read so illiterate a columnist– or one whose observations are so trite and arguments so poorly reasoned.
Does anyone even read him? I look at his headline, snicker, and turn the page.
Maybe at one time Lupica had some insight. Probably before he became a fixture on the ESPN Sports Reporters. Once he started doing the sports version of Meet The Press, he lost his mind believing he was a celebrity.
At this point, his Sunday column is no better than a parody of a Larry King column from the USA Today. With his shout outs to his family every week (anniversaries, birthdays, someone got a tooth pulled) to his plugging authors like he’s some kind of Oprah. There’s very little sports left in his “Shooting from the Lip” column and I think that’s how he likes it.
I think he fancies himself a bit of a Costas, hoping to shed the idea that he’s merely a sportswriter (I say merely because it’s he looks down on it, not sports fans) and he wants to become an authority on everything from politics to Paris Hilton.
I honestly haven’t read a full column of his in years. I usually check out about half way through it when you can decipher what his real agenda is.
Don’t know why he’s still a fixture in NY, but at the price he’s paid and the fact that newspapers are quickly dying off and becoming less profitable, it’s no long before he gets the axe.
Wait Alex was hit twice!! And we hit one of their players once!! And our players get suspended and fined and theirs only gets a fine!??
Re: Lupica
Lupica used to be somebody. He used to be brash, unsparing, unafraid, an “angry young man” sort of writer. He was engaging, on the money and entertaining. Lupica was like Dick Young before Young became convinced he was better than the people and the game he wrote about. As with Young, Loopy now believes he is better than the people he writes about and, what’s worse, he feels he’s bigger than sports. Now he’s Mr. Hamptons, Mr. Politics, another superficial lefty who has memorized the bumperstickers and slogans. He’s angry about what’s going on in this country, damnit, and he’s not going to keep quiet anymore. Who asked him?
Johnny Carson used to observe about performers that comedians all want to sing and singers all want to tell jokes. Maybe in Lupica’s mind if he can write passionately about sports he thinks he can turn to politics. I can see Lupica mouthing these words to himself in his mirror: “now more than ever this Country needs a voice like mine.” It’s a lesson to us all. Don’t forget where you came from and who you really are.
Dear Loopy Lupica: Trust me on this. You’re nobody, just another curious outsider with his nose pressed up against the window as far as the pols, the old Knickerbockers and the corporate bandits who run this town are concerned. Leave the politics to the other hacks and try to focus on sports again. If you’re burned out, just admit it and take some time off.
Murphydog……That was great….I’ve been searching for quite some time how to express my opinion of one Mike Lupica……You squared up on a fastball and drilled it…..PERFECT….Shame you can’t forward it to the News Sports Editor…..
Pat M:
I’d love to forward it, but would anybody really be listening? With Lupica, it’s a case of “it sells newspapers.” Besides, if the sportswriter thing craters, he’s always got a career as a writer of children’s books.
Hey maybe the OP-ED Page
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