Basebrawl in San Francisco

[Auggie]

mlb.com / August 6, 2011

SAN FRANCISCO -- Any number of factors may have sparked Friday night's sixth-inning dispute between the San Francisco Giants and Philadelphia Phillies.

It might have been San Francisco's building frustration over its poor play and precarious half-game lead in the National League West. It could have been Jimmy Rollins' steal of second base with a six-run lead. It may have been Ramon Ramirez's frustration at getting hit around by the Phillies. Or perhaps, as Phillies manager Charlie Manuel suggested, it was simply the fact that Shane Victorino was plunked by Ramirez and had to defend his pride.

Regardless of the cause, the final outcome was a benches-clearing scrum at AT&T Park full of pushing and shoving that ended with three ejections -- Ramirez, Victorino and Giants catcher Eli Whiteside -- and could result in suspensions.

LINK: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110806&content_id=22819452&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb

Add Pablo Sandoval to the list of possible ejections, who threw (IMO) a cowardly punch. You'll see it at :3:04 in the video. It's ugly.

[Upton]

1. You see this from Tony Bruno?

gutless #!@%*# Giants. Bochy is a coward for having his illegal alien pitcher hit a guy since mighty Frisco boys…

http://www.bayareasportsguy.com/tony-bruno-calls-ramon-ramirez-an-illegal-alien-twitter-giants-phillies-brawl/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tony-bruno-calls-ramon-ramirez-an-illegal-alien-twitter-giants-phillies-brawl

Fuck him.

As for the Giants, they are now 2-7 with Beltran, 1-5 with Cabrera..one has to wonder if Sabean has taken a winning team, albeit offensively challenged, and in an effort to improve that offense has made the defense worse while ruining the team chemistry..

[Auggie]

2. No

Was he drunk? Whatever, that'll do it for Tony Bruno, I guess. I never listen to the morning show anyway.

Team chemistry? Maybe it is different -- I don't know. But these last two weeks have been a killer too. Milwaukee, @Philly, @Cincinnati, Arizona and now the Phillies at home. Two starts from Barry Zito didn't help either.

Mike Krukow said last night he thought this melee was needed -- thought it would bring the team together. Let's see what happens over the weekend.

[Upton]

3. I don't think it's any coincidence....

that the Giants played by far their worst series of the year (Cincy) the weekend of the trade deadline. It's just continued from there.

First, you have Sabean calling the team out in the media, saying they were "lucky" to be in first place. That must have set real well with the Giants players. They were winning low scoring close games because of great pitching and some timely hitting, not by luck. Then, he goes and makes the questionable move of giving up their top pitching prospect for a two month rental... followed quickly by a similar move with Neal for another rental. If you're going to give up prospects why not receive a player in return who will be with the club more than two months? Like the Phillies did with Pence. You've now got guys playing out of position, specifically Schierholtz, in the OF just to accommodate Beltran. While Cabrera is a significant downgrade defensively from Crawford. On a team built on pitching, defense should be the top priority.

Sabean's moves and his mouth have had a detrimental effect on the team...at least in the short term. Thankfully they have time to recover.

[Auggie]

4. It was close to 100° in every Cincinnati game...

I think the team was spent after six straight games against division leaders. There was the White House distraction too. Starting pitching has carried this team all year. They can't win every game on pitching alone.

Pence would have cost more. And he's one player. Sabean landed three. Do you really want Hall, Burris, Crawford, or Fotenot batting everyday? I'll take my chances with the hotter bats. Give them a little more time to acclimate. I think Sabean is doing a great job coping with the injuries and this fucked-up schedule while planning a few years ahead.

My issues are with Huff, Ross and Schierholtz -- they've been great rally killers. I hope DeRosa finds his swing fast. He could replace Huff at first... or Sandoval at third, and move Pablo to first.

[Sugarcoated]

5. Regardless

you don't fucking hit a guy in the back cause you're losing a game.

[Upton]

6. Yeah well..

Mr Toughguy, Shane Victorino, not only pushed the umpire but then went on to tackle Giants hitting coach Hensley Meulens.

I would suggest, that regardless of what happened to him, you don't fucking attack the umpire and the opposing team's hitting coach..

[TZ]

7. Your pitcher and catcher

Both started it and aggravated the situation. While Victorino deserves some suspension if your guys don't get more time, it's a complete joke.

[LeftyMom]

8. Bullshit.

That Michelle Bachmann-eyed midget wasn't struck by the pitch intentionally, (and even if he was it's not appropriate to charge the mound) and Whiteside was just trying to protect his pitcher from a charging hothead. Victorino started the fight, shoved an ump to get into it, restarted the fight by shoving an ump to get back into it, and generally acted like a complete fucking nut. He's going to get a pretty epic suspension and it will be well-deserved. Whiteside will probably be in some trouble for tackling Polanco, who should also be in some trouble for charging the mound. Ramirez shouldn't have been ejected since there wasn't a prior warning and hitting Victorino didn't appear to be intentional to anybody but Phillies homers and insane Hawaiian little people.

Did you even see what happened in context or did you see some little clip and decide to share your opinion? Because I actually watched the game and you couldn't possibly be more wrong about how it went down.

[Sugarcoated]

9. "Insane Hawiian Little People"?

Midget?? Racist slurs, wtf?? You sound as bitter and juvenile as your team.

How does your personal dislike justify throwing a fastball directly at an opposing player? You may not think it was deliberate­, but look at the umpire right after the pitch - he clearly thought it was intentiona­l. The anger issues of your pitcher are what started this, and his frustration the Phillies were able to hit his pitches . . . and I'm sure frustration of a, now, continuing losing steak. All it does is make the other team more inspired.

[LeftyMom]

11. It wasn't a purpose pitch. Insisting it was doesn't make it one.

And yep, I made TWO short jokes. He's taller than me, fwiw.

[trumad]

12. LOL

Come on....Midget isn't a racist term.....

And Hawaiian little people.... that was funny.

[Sugarcoated]

13. Yeah, if you're a ditto head, or read Breitbart

It sounds like the kind of "joke" Limbaugh would make about the President, or Michelle Obama, and his listeners think it's a knee slapper. If you're resorting to personal attacks, especially about how a person looks, you have a weak argument.

If one of your guys got nailed in the back with a first pitch fast ball you'd be strongly condemning it. I defended you guys when Posey got slammed. That was also intentional too.

[trumad]

15. then color me a dito head

[madinmaryland]

21. Hey...

trumad may be a friend of Rush, but he is no ditto head.

That really sounds like an oxymoran! Or is that an oxy-rush???

:shrug:

[rep the dems]

14. Someone needs to put down the reefer.

That pitch was CLEARLY intended to hit Shane. A fastball right to the lower back. And if Shane had wanted to truly charge the mound, he would've been there before anyone had a chance to stop him. Yes, he went too far to get back at him, but when you decide to beam players on the other team out of frustration, you deserve whatever you get. Not to mention Whiteside's dirty chop block when he could've just grabbed onto Polanco so that neither of them got hurt.

Good luck getting that Wild Card.

[LeftyMom]

17. Apparently the league was watching the same game I was. The only suspension was for Victorino. nt

[rep the dems]

18. So the league decided it wasn't intentional and that Whiteside's block wasn't dirty

and that's why they both got fined? Just because they made the wrong call only suspending Shane doesn't mean your guys were exonerated. You're about the only person who doesn't realize that was intentional.

[Upton]

22. You forget...Victorino pushed an umpire

never a good idea. Then he went on and knocked over the Giants hitting coach. The little punk got just what he deserved..

[rep the dems]

24. And your guys started a brawl because they're sore losers.

Victorino hardly did anything to the umpire except try to get away from him (note to Whiteside, THAT'S what you do when you're trying to keep someone out of a fight, not drop down and try to knock him over). He did, however, go back into the fight after he'd been removed and ended up knocking someone over that wasn't to blame for what happened. What you guys aren't acknowledging is that none of this happens without your team's childish actions in light of getting their asses kicked. I thought you guys were supposed to be peaceful out there :shrug:

[Auggie]

19. Whaddya know...

Sandoval had the dirty punch, IMO -- I'm surprised he got off.

Dirty chop block? Had Polanco not left first base Whiteside wouldn't have tackled him. Though I agree -- a grab would have sufficed.

I think three games is excessive for Victorino. One game and the fine.

[rep the dems]

20. It's hard to tell, but I think the benches were already starting to clear by

the time Polanco was coming in. At the very least, Ramirez was making a move towards home. If they're going to suspend Victorino for going too far, that's ok, but none of this happens without the pitcher and catcher doing what they did. I'm glad they got fined but they deserve more than what Shane got.

[Upton]

23. It's almost impossible to tell what was going on with Pablo

I couldn't see anything definitive in the video...and I've been over to at least one Phillies board where, amongst their sniveling, they have a series of still pictures with circles that supposedly shows where Sandoval threw a punch, but again there is nothing clearly visible..

With Beltran now hurt, it would have been a disaster to lose the Panda for any amount of games. I'm happy with MLB's decision.

[Sugarcoated]

10. You'd be angry, too

if you were deliberately pegged in the back with a fastball.

[Iggo]

16. Heheheh...baseball fights.

They bring out the best in people, don't they?