Farnsworth to be suspended
-
- April
- 19
The Daily News is reporting that Kyle Farnsworth will be suspended for three games for intentionally throwing at Boston’s Manny Ramirez on Thursday night.
Farnsworth threw a 96-mph behind the neck of Ramirez after the Red Sox slugger had twice homered earlier in the game. Both teams were warned and there were no further incidents.
Farnsworth would have the right to an appeal.
If suspended, Farnsworth would become the third Yankees player disciplined by baseball during Joe Girardi’s brief tenure as manager. Melky Cabrera and Shelley Duncan were suspended for their roles in a brawl during spring training.
————
If you’re surprised by this, you shouldn’t be. MLB’s Bob Watson has made it clear he will not tolerate headhunting. The proper way to do it would have been to knock Ramirez off the plate or to hit him in the back or side.
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Peter Abraham
As someone who doesn’t buy into this narrative that Kyle Farnsworth is “turning it around” this is a net positive.
The less chances Kyle Farnsworth has to pitch, the more chances we have to win.
i still find it ridiculous. if it had hit manny it would’ve been in the shoulder, it didn’t go behind his neck until manny ducked and leaned his head forward. i watched the video 100 times in slow motion. it was just like the pitch Aardsma hit A-Rod with, who, by the way, is the Yankees most threatening offensive player, biggest star and had homered in the game. not even a warning issued for that pitch.
whatever, not surprised at all. the Yankees seem to be on a shorter leash than everybody for the past several years.
Anxiously awaiting the announcement of Aardsma’s suspension for actually hitting Alex Rodriguez with his “headhunting.”
I think he should appeal the suspension. 3 games seems awfully steep for what he did.
I agree he shouldn’t headhunt but Manny needs to be made uncomfortable at the dish if Farnsy can’t accomplish that without getting suspended, he shouldn’t be the guy called on to deal with Manny.
How many games does Aardsma get for hitting A-Rod above the numbers the night before?
No justice, no peace.
don’t hold your breath, Red Cloud. it’s worse to throw behind a guy than to actually hit a guy, apparently. causing a moment of anxiety and fright for manny ramirez is more damaging than putting a welt on the bacl of a-rod’s shoulder, didn’t you know?
Yeah!
“The proper way to do it would have been to knock Ramirez off the plate or to hit him in the back or side.”
And how do we know that wasn’t the intent? A shot in the back as opposed where the ball missed Manny is only a few inches apart.
And bringing this all back to Girardi is laughable.
i’m not as mad as i was with the fallout of the brawl with TB. If Melky actually did punch the guy, then fine, that deserves 3 games. But Shelly getting 3 games over Gomes’ 2 was absurd. Shelly got carried away with a normal baseball play. Gomes charged in from right field with the sole purpose of inflicting pain on Shelly Duncan. And from the view I get from watching on TV, it was Gomes’ attack on Shelly that cleared the benches, yet all the reports said Shelly’s slide cleared the benches. As a TV viewer, what i saw was everyone come onto the field after what Gomes did, not Shelly’s slide. Maybe the guys were already coming out of the dugout before Gomes came in but from my view, couldn’t tell, but whatever. Gomes should’ve gotten 3 games as well. Then of course all the Yankees coaches who got fined.
Basically, it’s ok to throw at someones head as long as the ball passes in front of them. It becomes an issue when the ball passes behind them.
I think a fundamental aspect of his appeal should be this: I didn’t know where the ball was going because I suck.
Watson also is also an absolute Yankees hater due to the past.. so it comes as no surprise
I forget, was Joba suspended when he threw over Youkilis’ head last year? That i could understand because he did it on two straight pitches so that’s pretty hard to defend, but still.
Brian.
I believe Joba was suspended 3 games for the Youk incident.
-dennis
Thats ridiculous. How can you suspend someone when they weren’t even thrown out of the game? Seems to be completely overstepping the umpires discretion. To top it off, Manny wasn’t even hit. How many Yanks have been plunked over the years by Red Sox pitchers? I do not condone headhunting but attempting to read someone’s mind is dangerous territory. Maybe Farnsworth was trying to hit Manny but I hardly think he was trying to hit him in the head. This is the big problem with baseball these days. If MLB would stay out of it, teams and players would police themselves. You hit one, we hit one, and then we move on. Instead, we have quasi-mind readers in baseball’s front office saying they know the exact intent of every player. Ridiculous to say the least.
There was no warning prior to the pitch so I don’t see why there should be a suspension of more that 1 game. I don’t know if MLB notices but Hockey basically gets its ratings from fights.
this is off topic and weird: i have eggs that say “best by april 9″. how cautious should one be with that? they don’t smell bad or anything and it wasn’t that long ago…it says best by, not use by so that suggest they aren’t bad per se, but just sub par….what do you think?
lol. i think this is the 2nd or 3rd time i’ve posted requesting breakfast advice here.
Ah the old Yankee double standard rears its ugly head again. Our guy gets hit, no penalty, we almost hit a guy and face a penalty. Happenned in the spring re Francisco Cervelli most recently. It is so frustrating.
I will say though, that it sounds like Farnsy will take the enforcer role, better he gets suspended than someone that is actually reliable.
The Tigers are now only 2 (as in TWO) games behind the Yankees.
Pete is right, he should have zinged it waist high, inside.
“Instead, we have quasi-mind readers in baseball’s front office saying they know the exact intent of every player.”
No, only Yankee players. No one in MLB is trying to figure out why Aardsma hit A-Rod, even though it was quite clearly intentional.
And forget about Farnsworth not being ejected, keep in mind that there were not even any warnings given until after the pitch to Manny.
This is a ridiculous suspension and really brings into question the fairness of MLB.
Wasn’t Bob Watson like fired by the Yankees or something?
Rebecca: if that’s true then it’s a conflict of interest and he shouldn’t be allowed to make disciplinary decisions regarding the yankees.
It would be better if Farnsworth goes ahead and serves his suspension than to waste time appealing. At the most the appeal would be dropped down to two games instead of three. These next three games won’t be a bad time to serve the suspension as Pettitte pitches tomorrow and then Wang the next game. Likely they will be able to go deep into the games and the Yankees could afford to have one less reliever.
I’m sorry, but I find this to be a bit ridiculous
Rebecca-I believe Watson retired from the Yankees after the 1997 season
Can’t say I’m too surprised… in part because it is us and the Red Sox, and tensions are always higher during those games.
From Wikipedia:
At the end of the 1993 season he was named general manager of the Houston Astros, becoming the first ever African American to serve as a GM in the major leagues. He served as GM for the New York Yankees from 23 October 1995 to 2 February 1998. The 1996 team won the World Series, the first Yankee team to do so since 1978. After the 1997 season, Watson retired from the Yankees and now serves as Major League Baseball’s vice president in charge of discipline and vice president of rules and on-field operations. He was under consideration for the Astros General Manager position, but the position was given to Ed Wade, the Philadelphia Phillies former GM.
So in essence, didn’t Watson go over the heads of the umpires? They didn’t do anything to Farnsworthless during the game. Or did I forget something?
Brian: re: your huevos: eggs are generally ok until 3 weeks after their expiration date. Break one open, if the white is watery and more runny than you expect, don’t eat it.
MLB has been overmanaging baseball for years but that’s a product of our paternalistic litigious society no? Not that it makes it right. Even though we’re Yankees fans, I still think the punishments seem weighted against our team only.
I think the wikipedia entry on Watson is a bit off. IIRC, Watson was either forced out or left of his own accord. It wasn’t a pleasant ending. He was fed up with the Boss.
pat m: Retired might just be the politically correct way of putting it.
that definitely doesn’t sit right with me. no wonder he always comes down so hard on the yankees.
Watson gets criticism from other angles as well. He was the one who came up with the rule that managers had to wear uniform tops instead of wearing a pullover. That rule just strikes me as dumb and it was pretty dumb when they were checking Terry Francona last year in the middle of a game.
This is so pathetic it’s not even funny. Is this where baseball is going? Now you can get suspended for not even hitting someone and not even getting throw out of a game? Maybe for now on pitchers should get suspended if they use the inner-half of the plate. Maybe if they look at the hitter wrong and it looks like in their mind they wanted to hit the batter, they should get suspended. What a joke. Manny Ramírez even said there was nothing wrong with what they did. HE said he understands it. So now is this guy seriously going to make his umpired, Manny Ramírez, and Major League Baseball look like complete idiots by suspending Farnsworth? If he does Selig needs to step in and override this suspension.
David: I don’t think a lot of us are upset Farnsy got suspended for throwing close to Manny, we’re upset that he got suspended and meanwhile Yankees get hit left and right and there’s no suspension there.
I can’t stand Farnsworth but this is absurd. The guy DIDN’T hit Manny, he threw it behind him. As someone else posted, guys throw up and in all the time. Why does it make a difference that the catcher catches that ball as opposed to one that is actually further away? Had Farnsworth thrown a traditional “brush back” pitch, it would have come much closer than the one he threw to Manny. That was 4 feet away from him. Basically, you are suspending the guy for making sure he DIDN’T hit Manny. He wasn’t head hunting and simply missed. He threw it away from him so he wouldn’t hit him, but it still sent a message. I would have prefered he nailed him in the back, but, again, throwing it in the back could lead to hitting him in the head if you miss, and then everyone would be called farnsworth a bum. MLB and Bob Watson love handing the Yankees suspensions. Shelley Duncan goes in hard and spikes high and he gets three games because the geniouses in MLB front office “knew” what he was really trying to do. Just a joke. It is, yet again, one of the reasons why people don’t throw inside. That is stuff that should be handled on the field, not in Bud Selig’s office. Maybe Bob and Bud should have been more interested in who was sticking HGH needles in their butt for 16 years rather than making sure no one ever comes close to hitting a Red Sox batter
http://tinyurl.com/2yq6cx
Kasnsas City minor league team was going to give a Mike Vick welcome home party from jail.. including convict uniforms, etc.
So what you’re advocating is anarchy, anything goes (so long as it’s a NYY thug who’s referred to in any other situation as “Farnsworthless”)?
A lot of you here need some kind of reality check. Try standing in and not flinching in a batting cage against a pitching machine. See how you like it. That’s probably as close as any of you’ll ever get to the kind of scary stuff your Yankee thug throws.
This is such BS. Total BS. The (anti-Yankee) media makes a big deal out of a pitch that was arguably poorly thrown by a pitcher with historic control issues. Then he gets suspended. MLB is just encouraging whining. I can’t wait to hear what Hank has to say about this. Total BS. I hope Girardi makes sure that the next pitcher who plunks a Yankee gets thrown out immediately.
Cabrera plunked Matsui twice last night. Does he get suspended? Of course not, it would be absurd.
The team needs to go on an extended winning streak so crap like this stops getting me so ticked off.
Bob Watson will give any fine to the Yankees he can when the possibility arises.
Can someone give me Bob Watson’s home address?
KarenJ - go away. “your Yankee thug.” Please go back to the boards of a team you actually root for. We need a place to vent our frustration, not deal with haters.
I think a lot of us are advocating fairness. Alex get plunked, no outrage, part of the game. Manny is the “victim” of a poorly executed brushback, it’s a national travesty and he gets suspsended. It’s BS.
This is such BS. Total BS. The (anti-Yankee) media makes a big deal out of a pitch that was arguably poorly thrown by a pitcher with historic control issues. Then he gets suspended. MLB is just encouraging whining. I can’t wait to hear what Hank has to say about this. Total BS. I hope Girardi makes sure that the next pitcher who plunks a Yankee gets thrown out immediately.
Cabrera plunked Matsui twice last night. Does he get suspended? Of course not, it would be absurd. ”
– So have you convinced yourself yet that this is a rational argument?
i finally had a chance to see the video, and this is ludicrous. Because either i’m totally blind, or the ball was at Manny’s shoulder, sailing in w/movement; not “behind” him, as Pete and other media people have so inaccurately described and harped on.
http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080418&content_id=2545445&vkey=news_nyy&fext=.jsp&c_id=nyy
“Throwing behind” is what Armando Benitez did to Tino way back.
Farnsworth to Manny - as many others have said, it’s really not any different than the ball that hit A-rod the other night.
the question is, did Farnsworth try to injure Manny by throwing behind his back? Or was it an inside-to-brushback pitch at the shoulder and it just sailed? well, i guess Pete, Bob Watson, and the usual suspects must live in an alternate universe, where Kyle Farnsworth consistently places 96 mph moving fastballs on the black. in the universe i live in, the only time Manny would be in danger is if Farnsworth is NOT aiming behind him!
Rebecca, if you’re not upset that he got suspended, then you should be. If baseball is at the point where players get suspended for almost hitting people without getting thrown out of games then it’s a sad day for baseball. I forgot which announcer said this, but they said that maybe MLB should just get rid of pitchers and put a pitching machine on the mound, because that seems to be what they want. And I guess MLB should fire all of the umpires doing that Yankee Red Sox game, because they weren’t able to read Farnsworth’s mind so they didn’t throw him out. But MLB was able to read his mind so they are able to suspend him. It’s just pathetic. Every pitcher in MLB should be yelling and screaming about this if indeed it is true that he’s being suspended.
KarenJ, why are you preaching to us about the danger of the pitch when Manny himself said he had no problem with it? If Manny felt Farnsworth was trying to kill him by putting a 99mph fastball to his head, I’m sure he would have said so. Let the players handle their reactions, they were much closer to the situation than you. If Manny says he understands, that’s good enough for me.
Aardsma wasn’t throwing at A-Rod,’s head. That’s the difference.
The Yankees obviously went after Manny because he kills them so much. So they use Farnsworth, who throws hard but can’t pitch. Fortunately, that’s why he missed Manny’s head.
Hmm, forgot to ask this the last time this was discussed:
In baseball etiquette, with below the head being fine and near the head being bad, what would a breaking ball into the ribs/solar plexus/gut/groin count as?
It certainly wouldn’t lead to a suspension. I would imagine you’d have to do it twice to even get a warning.
If this is going to be the rule across the board this season, fine.
But, we all know that’s not the case. If it is, where is Aarsdma’s suspension for hitting Arod? He only threw 5 pitches up and in, hitting him on the 6th pitch.
To think, under Bob Watson, Pedro Martinez was not suspended for hitting two Yankees, and sending both to the hospital.
Dice-K was not suspended last year for hitting Arod, despite ESPN showing Julian Tavarez telling Dice-K to come up and in to him.
Nothing like a good, old fashioned double standard from the MLB “lord” of discipline.
If he got a game, I could understand it.
Three? Ridiculous.
You know what that means?
Next time, he’s just going to drill him.
Good move Bob Watson. In your attempt to diffuse the situation, you probably ignited it.
You know the irony in all of this is that we’re defending Farnsworth.
Betcha didn’t see that coming last week.
One last point on this. Watson overruled the umpire on the field. Not a smart thing to do.
Joba got tossed immediately last year after the Youkilis incident.
Farnsworth only got a warning the other night.
Nice consistency in your rulings Bob.
Losing sure breeds whining, huh?
Losing? Geez, what are you talking about?
You are fast approaching Anti-Mussina status in the amount of dumb comments you make a day in here.
In case you aren’t bright enough to figure it out, that’s not a compliment.
Why don’t you try adding something to the discussion?
Unless of course, you are incapable of doing so.
This is absolutely a joke!! Jeter and Arod get hit by Boston every single series and no one ever says anything about it!! Did anything happen to Pedro after Jeter and Soriano got hit in the head?? Jeter has been hit by Boston something like 15 times in the last couple of years. What about the game last year when on ESPN you can see Tavarez telling Mat. to hit Arod when he is pitching and then the next night he was drilled. Not a big deal right? Also I can remember Timlin hitting Jeter in the head last year. I understand that Watason does not like the pitch going near the head but just like the pitch to Youk it was not close to his head..it was just over reaction…like usual from those animals. So what does this mean that Watson has to protect Manny but not Arod??
Last time I checked, having a debate on the merits of baseball punishment didnt count for whining NYPD113th. And besides that, only 4 mlb teams have more wins then the Yanks do so we really arent losing much at all.
“Last time I checked, having a debate on the merits of baseball punishment didnt count for whining”
– No, but claims of a leaguewide conspiracy against the Yank$ and their players does.
Next time the Yanks pitchers should just make sure that they actually hit Manny or Ortiz under the belt. Since Watson seeems to be ok with actually hitting someone just not if you just miss them.
Pete, I have to disagree with you on this one. I’m about as rational and objective as a person cam be (which is why I’m not worried about Hughes), but it’s become pretty obvious that Bob Watson has some sort of agenda. I’m not sure if he has an axe to grind with the Yanks, or maybe he’s afrid of appearing partial because of his former employment by them and overcompensating? Regardless, this is just one of MANY examples over the last few years of the Yankees being held to different standards than their opponents.
Unfortunately, I don’t think the team has much recourse other than to complain. However, if the press and the fans make enough noise, maybe something will change. How about a few articles by the beat writers and a letter writing campaign by the fans? Nothing will change unless MLB feels some heat.
Now I have to learn how to type.
AHh yes when the redsox hit arod 3 inches blow where farnsworth threw it was ok. When Kyle dind’t hit anybody it wasn’t.
Fat abe. I’m afraid your red sox bias stuck out a bit much on this one.
It’s not a league-wide conspiracy.
It’s one guy with a major axe to grind being in a position where he is capable of doing so.
I don’t know if I’d call it a conspiracy but it does seem that given the recent history of inequity in suspensions/discipline (at least in comparing yanks vs. red sox) it certainly seems like someone in the commish’s office has an ax to grind.
After reading Schilling’s blog, Watson had no choice but to suspend farnsworth.
http://38pitches.com/
Let’s go Toronto, bury them!
CaptainsCorner is right, the Yanks have been kewpie dolls for the Red Sox pitchers for years, but they never get suspended, if i remember correctly. that’s why i have to think Watson has it in for the Yanks.
well, hopefully the Daily News rumor is wrong. that’s a horrible paper. i grew up reading it. which was good in a way, it greatly contributed to a good, healthy skepticism.
Farnsworth should have been tossed. Throwing behind someone’s head is unacceptable. That’s Red Sox era Pedro Martinez stuff. But the fact is, the umpires didnt toss him and now Bob Watson is correcting a bad call. It’s like having a human instant replay. Bob Watson just made his umpires look very,very bad.
I’m not sure why they bother paying Bob Watson when it is clear that ESPN and above all Peter Gammons make all the decisions regarding what is right and wrong.
As for:
“So what you’re advocating is anarchy, anything goes (so long as it’s a NYY thug”
I think what former players say is let the men on the field handle their own disputes. The way it works now with benches getting warned after the first offense, nothing ever gets settled by the players. If Manny is professional enough not to voice a protest, then why does MLB have to put its arbitrary foot down?
“Aardsma wasn’t throwing at A-Rod,’s head.”
And you know without a shadow of a doubt that Farnsworth was. If he “missed Manny’s head”, as you put it, maybe he missed Manny’s back too.
Let’s deal in facts - we don’t know the true intent of Farnsworth’s pitch, the umpire on the field at the time didn’t see fit to eject Farnsworth and NOW Watson is suspending Farnsworth anyway.
Ridiculous.
RSM, good point, but I don’t even think any of the writers need to do that because Hank will probably do it for them. He needs to call out Bob Watson which I’m sure he’ll do. He needs to release some of his crafty quotes and maybe use some expletives like he does. At least he’s an owner who will speak exactly what he’s thinking so you don’t have to worry that Watson will get away with it without being called out.
Here’s the main problem…
The National media pays more attention to anything the Yankees do because they are the Yankees. No team in MLB gets covered by the National media like them. If this was an incident with most other teams it wouldnt have been all over espn. There would have been no baseball tonight round table discusion on Farnsworth’s intentions.
Farnsworth is no angel.
But, in this case, he wasn’t thrown out of the game. So, at the time of the action, Larry Vanover, a veteran umpire, didn’t think the incident warranted an ejection.
Suspend him for a game? I can see that.
Three? How is that logical or balanced, given the examples cited in this thread of guys getting hit by Red Sox pitchers who went unsuspended or fined?
Its not evenhanded punishment and its clear Watson has an axe to grind to with the Yankees.
No big deal but, to argue these punishments are balanced really doesn’t hold up when examining all of the incidents in recent years.
NYPD - that wasn’t an arguement, it was a vent. It appears to me, as an albeit biased Yankee fan, that the headhunting rules, or whatever they are, appear to be enforced selectively, in an unfair manner. I come here to vent with my fellow Yankee fans. And if you want to talk whining, RSN is whining.
Manny did not have a problem with it. They probably knew it was coming since Alex was hit the night before.
Usually when a player is suspended for throwing at a batter after the warning, the manager is automatically suspended for one game. I wonder if Girardi will be disciplined at all.
How long will it take ESPN to hire philosopher-king Curt Schilling after he hangs it up? 2 seconds flat?
I can’t believe I just bothered to read that 38 stitches blog entry, although TKinDC just noticed that Curt Schilling went 3rd person at the to of the second entry. TKinDC thinks that is ridiculous and incredibly self important. But TKinDC could be wrong.
JK makes the point of the day.
If this was Royals-Rangers, nobody cares and nobody gets suspended.
Gammons gets a point for his crying.
Now, he has a lunatic in Farnsworth probably feeling, “If I’m going to get suspended, I might as well hit him next time”.
This could be an example of winning the battle and losing the war.
Not the way to mete out punishment, IMO.
No skin off my back. I don’t have to step into the batters box with a lunatic on the mound! lol
bases loaded no outs. 2-1 Toronto.
Oh lord…imagine Curt Schilling on ESPN? LOL
My tv might cry
2-0
I understand that fans are not reasonable when it comes to their team. I’m not with the Patriots, that’s for sure. But a few things here:
1. Farnsworth was clearly throwing at Manny. If you don’t believe that, you’re just silly. He threw a fastball that was tailing outside and went behind his neck. It was the first pitch he threw.
2. Aardsma hit A-Rod with a 3-1 pitch in a two-run game in the back. If you’rre going to hit somebody on purpose, you don’t do it on the fifth pitch of the at-bat in a close game.
3. Every fan in baseball thinks the same two things: Bob Watson and the ESPN announcers have it out for their team. It’s just not true. Fans of 29 other teams think Bob Watson is too easy on the Yankees because he used to be their GM and he works in New York. That’s not true either. Save your conspiracy theories.
4. Why are people upset with me? I’m reporting what’s going on. Sorry you don’t like it.
5. Do you actually think Farnsworth is right? Do you want the Yankees getting in a beanball war with the Red Sox? Because eventually somebody with a temper like Papelbon will throw too far inside and hit Jeter or A-Rod or somebody else in the head. Would that satisfy your bloodlust, Jeter being in the hospital?
It’s part of baseball to back somebody off the plate. That’s fine. You don’t throw the ball near somebody’s head. They’re playing a baseball game, this isn’t war. You don’t endanger somebody’s health because Mike Mussina can’t hit the outside corner and gave up two home runs. Have a little perspective.
I watched the Mariners-Angels game last night. Sean Green hit Guerrero in the head with a pitch. He kept throwing up and in and finally hit him in the head.
The umpire warned both benches, Green was not ejected, and the game went on.
Let’s see if Green gets suspended.
I don’t know, maybe its just me but, drilling someone in the head is a helluva lot more serious than what happened the other night.
DP, the Tigers’ Phil Hughes gets out of trouble, for the moment.
The Tigers’ announcer just said “at least he [Bonderman] didn’t pulled a Phil Hughes” during that inning.
I hate it when we fight like this!
Yea Pete do not say were not being reasonable because as someone pointed out before, if there were a Royals-Rangers game no one would have been suspended, I would like to see you disagree with that.
Pete,
No disagreement. I’m just not clear on the distinctions in the punishments and non-punishments over the years.
Clearly, Pedro threw at Jeter and Soriano a few years ago when he drilled both guys. No fine, no punishment.
The Dice-K incident last year. No fine, no punishment.
If MLB wants to nip this stuff in the bud, no qualms from me.
However, if there is “payback” from the Red Sox for this incident, Watson then can’t say, its “boys will be boys”.
He’s going to have to suspend the Red Sox pitcher who does it for the same amount of time he gave Farnsworth.
Fudge Rod singles to open the 3rd
Peter-It’s because we are fans. We are fanatics when it comes to our teams.
It’s not fair that people get upset with you..but I guess some have to take their anger /displeasure out on someone and thus get mad at the person relaying the news.
I do think the punishment for Farnsworth was extreme and not fair. But that’s just my opinion as a Yankees fan.
There probably won’t be any carry over from the incident the next time they play, but if one of the Boston pitchers retaliate and hit one of the Yankees as a receipt, yes sir, there needs to be a suspension handed out. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
Pete, it’s not blood lust. it’s because the Red Sox have pitched inside far more aggressively to the Yankees, and have hit far more Yankee, than the Yankees have done to the Red Sox over the last several years.
YES periodically mentions the HPB stat between the 2 teams; i forget the #s, but whenever they mention the stat, the difference is significant.
that’s why it’s quite reasonable to like what Farnsworth did. it’s long past time that the Yankee pitchers defend the Yankee batters against the Red Sox approach. it’s a simple as that. blood lust - that’s silly, save it for NASCAR fans. real baseball fans know how this stuff works.
there’s no doubt Farnsworth threw a purpose pitch. it sailed. it was not “behind” Manny; it moved onto his shoulders, according to the video. if you watch, Manny was digging in and leaning in; it makes the pitch look worse than it was. that’s what pitching inside is all about.
Pete, I think we got the best of all worlds here. Farnsworth stuck up for the players and you can bet the players appreciated it. Nobody was hurt and a message was sent out. If Farnsworth is suspended it sends a message that headhunting won’t be tolerated. He doesn’t pitch every day so he’ll sit out a few.
I think this is a win all around having nothing to do with Farnsworth not being able to pitch as a positive. I don’t agree with that at all. I think it’s good that the Yankee players know Kyle has their back. (And Manny’s head.
) It was either Flash or David Cone who said that even if they aren’t going to say it publicly, the players are highly appreciative of what Farnsworth did.
Rotoworld is reporting that the suspension was handed down -3 games. It also says that Kyle will probably appeal with Joba being away.
RSN is whining
– There’s 2 ‘n’s and no ‘h’ in “winning”.
BTW, EXCELLENT response Pete, spot on.
NYPD - so clever. What a wit.
“I don’t know, maybe its just me but, drilling someone in the head is a helluva lot more serious than what happened the other night.”
I personally agree with you, but this got me thinking…
Hmm, intention means more than the result, or so it seems legally 0.o
I’m looking through US law (courtesy of http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/ then Crimes->Homicide)
Attempted murder gets a max of 20 years (attempted manslaughter gets 7 years)
Voluntary manslaughter gets a max of 10 years, involuntary manslaughter gets a max of 6 years
So, what’s the point of this blurb? Using law as basis of morality, it can actually be argued that if Green actually hitting Vlad in the head but is somehow decided to not have been pre-planned or intentional, then it’s actually not ‘worse’ than Farnsy missing Manny’s head but threw with intention (as deemed by Watson).
Btw, murder itself gets max of life, of course; so it’s a different story if Green was intentional/premeditated with that hit of Vlad
With all due respect Blargh, any similarity between morality and the legal code these days is purely coincidental.
lesson learned: hitting Arod in the back = ok. missing Manny completely = suspension. thanks for the life lesson MLB.
i’ve one more comment about Pete’s post - i don’t complain when Jeter is leaning in and gets hit on the hands. i worry that Jeter gets injured; but understand that pitchers have to throw inside. this one is no different.
the reality is that even the greatest control pitchers don’t put the ball precisely where they are aiming. most pitchers - Farnsworth certainly being among them - have much less control. when batters automatically lean in to try and own the outside corner - which is exactly what Manny did on that pitch, according to the video - and the pitcher throws inside, the batter runs a risk. that’s why they say pitchers have to make batters respect the inside pitch,
i don’t know whether Farnsworth was trying to hit the inside corner, miss inside by a few inches, brush back Manny, or injure Manny. i tend to doubt the latter; Pete & Watson apparently think otherwise, ‘cuz the latter is the only basis for such criticism or a suspension. i wish i were so telepathic.
Guess Jeter was wrong. Close can hurt.
Anything involving BoSox-Yankees gets special attention from the Commish’s Office.
Farnsworth should not have thrown behind Manny’s head. Nobody should do that to anyone. Farnsy should have dusted him - made him move his feet or leap out of the way or hit him, but not thrown behind him.
Umpire decisions are not the last word; Watson can review them. Watson is not over-ruling the umpires because in this case, the umpires did NOT act. Thus, IMO, Watson is not really overruling a decision. If Watson he can reduce a suspension, or overrule a suspension after review, then it stands to reason that he can add one even if the umps didn’t recommend it, or if they didn’t throw the guy out of the game.
But the double standard argument deserves some further review. Maybe an audit at MLB to check themselves on these kinds of things is in order.
In case you are interested…from mlb.com”
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20080419&content_id=2553109&vkey=pr_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
Farnsworth throws hard, has poor control and, apparently, a temper. He doesn’t seem to be brain surgeon material. Thus, I agree with SJ: Farns is going to think, “hey, I got 3 games for missing the guy. Next time I’ll just send him to first with a bruise for his trouble and earn the 3 games.” It will be interesting to watch what happens from Watson’s office the next time a Yankee player is “missed” high and inside. Oh, that’s right. Nothing. Message received, indeed.
Rumors ? Maybe. If not, I’d jump all over this as soon as eye reports show Betemit is ready and look into possibilities of expanding a deal.
Ahhhh ! ….. nothing like a good blockbuster deal before June.
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From the N.J. Star-Ledger :
Before Wilson Betemit went
on the disabled list with a corneal
ulcer, the Yankees had been talking
about trading him to the Pittsburgh
Pirates. According to an official from
another team, who asked not to be
named because his club was not diÂ
rectly involved, Pittsburgh was interÂ
ested in Betemit as its every-day
third baseman. Pirates third baseÂ
man Jose Bautista is batting .169.
“Aardsma hit A-Rod with a 3-1 pitch in a two-run game in the back. If you’rre going to hit somebody on purpose, you don’t do it on the fifth pitch of the at-bat in a close game.”
Pete - What if Aardsma decided to walk him on 3-1, and decided to give him the base, but to punish him because, hey, he’s A-Rod, RSN will love it. Why is that so unlikely? I would be more apt to believe the pitch wasn’t on purpose if it was on 0-2.
The thing is, we’ll never know what goes on inside the pitcher’s head, but I don’t think you can declare with such certainty that the Arod plunk was accidental, if you can argue with equal certainty that the Manny pitch was on purpose, and meant to hit him in the head.
Pete,
You might not like the following, but the reason why you get grief from Yankee fans for reporting this news because you’re viewed as a Red Sox fan covering the Yankees by many Yankee fans who are aware of your New England roots.
As far as the suspension of Farnsworth, MLB needs to be consistent in their handling of discipline and when are they going to start suspending Red Sox pitchers for hitting opposing batters. This suspension will most likely be appealed with the suspension reduce to a couple of games. However, if Farnsworth admitted he threw intentionally at Manny like you suggested the suspension would’ve been more than three games so that’s your answer on why he wasn’t man enough to admit it the other day.
“NYPD - so clever. What a wit.”
Yeah, I aced preschool. Then it was all downhill from there. Plus I have to mask all my male insecurities with Yankee aggression. I’ve got nothing else.
NYPD - I appreciate that honesty.
Motown
Funny you should say that. My in-laws have a friend who was a minor league pitcher years ago. He told my husband that first pitch is the most likely time to throw to hit a batter but if you were pitching around the zone trying to get a guy to get himself out without giving him anything in the zone to hit, 3-1 is the next best time because it is nothing more than ball 4 with a message.
Well, if they are suspending Farnsworth, I guess they have to suspend Manny also. After all, Manny said: “They need to back up their players, and they did.” He PUBLICLY endorsed the HITTING of players to protect your players. No bias you tell me? What’s the difference between Manny saying it’s OK to do and Farnsworth trying to do it? Theoretically, Manny should get a longer suspension of Farnsworth because we don’t need to read minds to get Manny’s take on the issue. Do I want Manny to get suspended? No. But now he has to, because after all, he publicly endorsed what Farnsworth did.