While the fight may have been exciting to some, I was more frustrated than anything else. For those of you that were actually excited about it let me point these items out:
1. Runyelvs Hernandez is a punk. This has been established. What he did to Carlos Guillen was intentional and inexcusable. But as near as I can figure, nobody actually fought with him.
2. It is great that Jeremy Bonderman wanted to stick up for his teammates. By now the pitching staff should have definitely earned the respect of the hitters. Between this and Nate Robertson in Tampa, the hitters know they will be protected. But did anybody really want to see Bonderman in the middle of that? The term “career ending injury” just kept running through my head.
3. Yes, Kyle Farnsworth is Superman and the take down was very entertaining. But I’m not sure what he did could be construed as protecting anyone. I don’t know what Jeremy Affeldt did or said, so I can’t really say whether or not he “deserved” it. What I can say is that instead of talking about Farnsworth striking out the side on Saturday night and possible future bullpen roles, I’m talking about a tackle instead.
As for suspensions, the Tigers will be without Bonderman’s and Farnsworth’s services for a couple of days. Carlos Guillen shouldn’t receive any suspension. He was hit twice in the same at-bat, and went to first base. Yes he needed an escort, and he said his piece but the guy just got hit in the head.
The suspensions I’d really like to hear about are those for the umpiring crew. They did a good job issuing warnings early on. However, the home plate umpire missed Guillen getting hit in the foot. If he calls that, Guillen takes his base and there is no brawl. Even setting that aside, the bigger issue is that they failed to get Hernandez off the field. Hernandez came towards Guillen unrestrained. Hernandez’s presence and actions on the field are what allowed this to escalate. The serious fighting came after Guillen had gone to first only to have Hernandez approach him. If Hernandez is in the dugout it would have been over with only some shoving and words being exchanged. The umpires are as culpable as any player (except for Hernandez) for not controlling the situation.
Billfer I couldn’t agree more. I think that officiating crew did a terrible job. In fact I thought they were pretty horrible as a whole throughout the entire series.
Not getting that piece of garbage Hernandez of the field was inexcusable. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw that dude talking smack too Guillen after Guillen had already taken first. I wish Farnsworth had got to him instead of Alfeld.
These suspensions are going to hurt, and short of a sweep in Chicago (haha right) I think the Tigers 2005 fire sale begins.
I’d also like to point out the hilarious commentary on Fox Detroit by our guy Rod Allen. I watched a replay on MLB.com–if anyone missed the brawl I highly recommend taking a look at MLB.coms “highlights” from yesterday–and fell on the floor listening to Allen go crazy. He used the phrase “that’s weak” and unprecedented 450 times in a five minute period. He was also so fired up by Farnsworth taking out Alfeld, that I found it a little disturbing. I was half expecting Allen to jump out of press-box to join the fray. For me listening to Allen was easily the highlight of that game.
All very true. It’s a shame that all of our biggest guys are pitchers that we’re counting on for the future of our franchise. Maybe we should take a page out of the NHL’s book and promote a couple goons for the next Royals series?
I agree, if Guillen gets suspended it will be a joke. Since the Rogers case even been heard yet, it should be a while before they actually serve the suspensions. He should’ve just chucked his helmet at Hernandez.
There could be suspensions beyond the guys who were ejected. It depends on what all of the video shows– for example the Royals were squawkin’ that Pudge was punchin’ in the scrum. Just sayin’ it might be more than Farnsworth & Bonderman on the Detroit side.
MLB.TV had the Royals feed… their announcers were at first convinced that Guillen hadn’t been touched on the foot (“Looks like Carlos thinks like he’s the shortstop and the umpire tonight!”), but they replayed it a few times and then grudgingly admitted that it did in fact look like he had been hit.
Grr.
I’m not so sure Bonderman will be suspended. On the video, you couldn’t see him doing anything. He looked pretty heated but at the time Farnsworth made the tackle, he was being restrained and nearly in the Tiger dug out. I couldn’t find him in the pile and afterwards he was being held back by Gibson. Didn’t look like he was “involved”, or atleast he managed to slip by the camera.
I’m not sure that Bondo threw any actual punches (though why eject him, then?), but he’s already been quoted as saying he was going for Runny Elves and I guess the assumption is that if he hadn’t been restrained he would’ve gleefully pummelled him.
I don’t know that Bonderman threw any punches either, but I did see a picture of him being restrained by Laz Diaz (not to mention Dmitri, Samuel, and Gibson). He clearly went on the field looking to fight – and not playing the role of peacekeeper. It will probably be a 5 game suspension – just so he misses one start.
And yes, Rod’s call was interesting to say the least. On one level as a Detroit fan it was entertaining (“When big boy got in there, you knew it would be on”), but the fact it was being shown across the nation was actually embarassing.
Oh man that line was priceless!!! I went crazy.
As Boston mentioned earlier the MLB.com live broadcast was the KC coverage so I got to hear that as well. I don’t know if our guys would’ve responded any differently, but for the remainder of the game, those three guys absolutely trashed the Tigers franchise. I’ve never really heard anything like it before. At least Allen’s vitriolic commentary was directed at a specific player.
Why are we worried about what the KC commentators said? Outside of you that quoted them, the other four viewers are in a bar in BFE Missouri.
While Rod Allen’s comments were quite funny, nothing comes close to Gibby’s 2000 Tigers/Sox call. “Get it out of your system, boys!” That was a classic.