Minor Game Major Brawl

A pitcher is in a Dayton, Ohio jail this morning, charged with felony assault after a huge brawl broke out in yesterday's Peoria Chiefs-Dayton Dragons Single-A baseball game. What started out as a heated argument between the team's managers, escalated when Peoria pitcher Julio Castillo fired a baseball at the Dayton dugout. To make matters worse, Castillo missed, and instead hit a fan sitting behind the dugout. It also emptied the Dayton bench and the melee was on.

It all started in the 2nd inning when Castillo beaned Dragons batter Zach Kozart, who had to leave the game. As an aside, the next batter hit a grounder that caused Castillo and 2nd baseman Gian Guzman to collide. Guzman broke his leg and was taken off on a stretcher. Castillo's night was only going to get worse.

After giving up a pair of 2-run hits, Castillo hit Angel Cabrera, who had hit a walk off home run the night before. The next play was a grounder and Cabrera took out his frustrations on Chiefs shortstop Nate Samson. That brought acting manager Carmelo Martinez (Ryne Sandberg was away from the team) out to argue with home plate ump. Dragons manager Donnie Scott joined the argument and was shoved by Martinez. That set off Castillo and it "game on".

10 minutes later, 17 players were ejected, leaving the umpires in a quandary. They no longer had enough players to finish the game. Midwest League President George Spelius made the odd decision of telling the umpires to reinstate enough players to finish the game. Why not just suspend the game until Spelius could review the video of the incident, which he was going to have to do any way.

Meanwhile, Castillo was to be arraigned this morning. It could mean deportation and a loss of a work visa for the 20-yr old native of the Dominican Republic.

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Around the Horn - 6/6

"I was at a boxing match last night and a hockey game broke out". An oldie, but goodie. Last night a brawl broke out at the Rays-Red Sox baseball game. Sox centerfielder Coco Crisp became a marked man after his questionableslide into 2nd Baseman Aki Iwamura (yeah the same guy Shelley Duncan spiked) the night before (Crisp said it was in retaliation for Jason Bartlett blocking the bag earlier in the game). In the 2nd inning of last night's game Rays starter James Shields drilled Crisp in the leg and made no doubt about it afterwards that it was intentional.

"I think what (Crisp) did (Wednesday) was an absolutely dirty move, bush league and not supposed to be in the professional game of baseball... He’s not a professional player. I lost all respect for him... We’ve been getting stomped around the last 10 years and that’s not going to happen any more," said Shields.

Crisp charged the mound and ducked a haymaker from Shields before landing a punch of his own and was then tackled by Rays catcher Dionner Navarro. While on the ground, Crisp was pounded at by Rays DH Jonny Gomes (yeah, him again) while Shields was buried under another pile.

The Red Sox won the game 7-1 behind Manny Ramirez's 5 RBI, but Ramirez also got into it in the dugout with teammate Kevin Youkilis. The two had to be separated in the dugout 5th inning. Boston may have a big loss though. Jacob Ellsbury rolled on his wrist while making a catch and for the moment is day-to-day.

Chipper Jones slugged his 400th career home run in the Braves 7-5 win over the Marlins. He became just the 3rd switch-hitter, along with Mickey Mantle and Eddie Murray to hit the 400 mark. And in case you haven't noticed, he's still hitting .418.

C.C. Sabathia is definitely not making the most of his pending free agency. He allowed 4 earned runs in 6 innings in the Indians 9-4 loss to the Rangers last night. Sabathia is now 3-8, 4.65 on the season.

Jose Contreras has very quitely put together a solid season. He was on the winning end of the White Sox 6-2 victory over the Royals. The Cuban native is now 6-3, 2.76 and has allowed just 7 earned runs in his last 42 innings. Jim Thome hit career home run #519.

It was a "Land of the Rising Sun" showdown in LA last night when the Cubs met the Dodgers. Tied 2-2 in the 9th, Kusoke Fukodome singled in the game winning run against Takaski Saito.

The Cardinals and Nationals split a twinbill. Todd Wellmeyer went to 7-1 in the Cardinals 4-1 win in the opener. After blowing a 6-0 lead in the nightcap, the Nationals came back from a 1-run deficit on the 10th, winning it on Elijah Dukes' 2-run walk-off home run.

Scott Schoenweis had a night against the Padres he'd like to forget. With the game tied 1-1 in the bottom of the 9th, the lefty hit Pete McAnulty to force in the winning run. Hard to pin that one on Willie Randolph.

Cole Hamels beat Homer Bailey and the Reds 5-0 in a complete game effort. Most of the post-game discussion though centered on reigning MVP Jimmy Rollins, who was pulled from the game by manager Charlie Manuel after not running out a pop up.

Garrett Olson improved to 5-1 and George Sherrill be came the majors 2nd closer with 20 saves in the Orioles 3-2 win over the Twins. Adam Jones' home run was the decisive blow.

Jason Michaels' 3-run home run propelled the Pirates over the Astros 4-3. Paul Maholm won his 3rd straight start.

In case you missed it, here's the Rays-Sox fisticuffs.

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Around the Horn - 6/4

There was a huge impact felt by a New York pitcher's start last night and it wasn't Joba Chamberlain. Pedro Martinez made his return to the Mets starting rotation and immediately gave them a lift, putting in a quality efforts in the Mets 9-6 win over the Giants. Pedro stepped on the mound for the first time since April 1, allowing 3 runs in 6 innings for his first won of the year and the 210th of his career.

The Cubbies ran wild in their come from behind 9-6 win over the Padres. Alfonso Soriano hit a 3-run home run and had one of the 6 Cubs stolen bases. The win was Chicago's 9th straight, their longest streak since 2001.

The Rockies snapped an 8-game losing streak and a 13-game road losing streak by beating the Dodgers 3-0. Jeff Francis turned in 7 stellar innings to pick up his 2nd win. The game also featured a brawl between Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp and Rockies catcher Yorvit Torrealba. Kemp struck out on a pitch that he chased in the dirt. When Torrealba tagged him, Kemp shoved him, and Torrealba shoved back. Kemp admitted afterwards that it was his fault.

“I’m not used to acting in that way. It’s not in my character. It was out of frustration,” Kemp said. “We were losing the game and it was stupid— really stupid. It was not a good decision on my part. But it happened, and we have to deal with whatever happens after it.

You can catch a video of the fight at the bottom of the thread.

Wandy Rodriguez and 3 relievers combined on a 5-hit shutout in the Astros 2-0 win over the Pirates. Lance Berkman drove in his 48th run.

Greg Norton's 2-run double in the 8th lifted the Braves over the Marlins 5-4. Chipper Jones hit his 399th career home run in the game, while the Marlins Dan Uggla had a pair to give him 18 this season.

Randy Johnson passed Roger Clemens for 2nd place on the all-time strike out list, but took the loss as the Diamondbacks fell to the Brewers 7-1. Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder, and J.J. Hardy homered for the Brewers. Fielder has hit one out in 4 of the last 5 games.

Yadier Molina belted a 3-run home run to lift Kyle Lohse and the Cardinals over the Nationals 6-1. Albert Pujols was forced to leave the game with a strained calf.

Pat Burrell smacked a 2-run home run and Chase Utley drove in his 53rd run to help the Phillies hold off the Reds 3-2.

The Indians lost for the 13th time in 17 games when the Rangers pasted them last night 12-7. Josh Hamilton, Milton Bradley, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, and David Murphy all went deep. Ian Kinsler (18 games) and Michael Young (19 games) each extended their hitting streaks.

Justin Masterson has struggled in the minors this season, but he's 2-0, 2.95 in 3 major league starts for the Red Sox. Last night Boston beat the Tampa Rays 7-4. Coco Crisp's 2-run double highlighted a 4-run 6th inning.

Carlos Quentin, A.J. Pierzynski, and Alexi Ramirez homered to help lift the White Sox over the Royals 9-5. Gavin Floyd won his 6th game as the White Sox moved 5 games over .500.

Radhames Liz won his first major league in the Orioles 5-3 victory over the Twins. Melvin Mora and Kevin Millar homered for the O's.

The A's rallied to beat the Tigers 5-4 in 11 innings. Newly recalled Travis Buck singled in the tying run in the 8th before Jack Cust's single sent everyone home happy in extras. Dontrelle Willis returned to the starting rotation for Detroit and tossed 4 shutout innings. He gave up 2 hits, walked 5, and struck out 3.

Maecir Izturis drove in 3 runs and the Angels held off the Mariners 5-4. Francisco Rodriguez notched his major league leading 23rd save to preserve the win for Joe Saunders (9-2). The loss left the Mariners 17 games under .500. Vlad Guerrero missed his 2nd straight game with hyperflexion in his right knee, but may return to the lineup tonight.

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What was Richie Sexson Thinking?

Richie Sexson instigated a bench clearing brawl after he was hit by a pitch, he was brushed back a pitch didn't come close to him. Kudos to The Big Lead for the find. Pitcher Kason Gabbard, who had just been reactivated, looked like a deer caught in 6'8" headlights.

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Suspensions Handed Out

Major League Baseball has finished reviewing the Yankees-Rays free-for-all and has handed down suspensions to Shelley Duncan, Melky Cabrera, and Jonny Gomes.

Duncan and Cabrera were given 3 games each while Gomes received 2. This is the first mention of Cabrera in any of this and we have no clue what he did. Obviously, he got into the middle of it.


Source ESPN

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Round 2

Joe Girardi may not have thought there would be carry over from Sunday's home plate collision, but oh yes there was. Shelley Duncan slid spikes high into Rays 2nd Baseman Akinori Iwamura, touching off a bench clearer. Rays right fielder Jonny Gomes tackled Duncan and the benches emptied.

Both Duncan and Gomes, as well as Yankees coaches Bobby Meacham and Kevin Long were ejected from the game.

Yankees starter Heath Phillips was having a rough enough inning, having allowed 2 runs, when he was ejected for hitting the Rays Evan Longoria.

Girardi vehemently argued the call and he probably had a point since the ball barely hit Longoria, and the Rays already had two men on base.

Unfortunately there was no live TV or radio coverage of the game.

Source: PeteAbe


Follow up from Peter Abraham, with clubhouse quotes.

Iwamura has a cut on his thigh from Duncan’s spike. “Duncan himself knows it wasn’t a fair play,” he said.

Johnny Gomes: “It was premeditated on his part. … I know it’s not the Yankee way. You rarely see the Yankees do stuff like that.”

Duncan: “I just went hard into his glove. I was just going in hard. There was no malicious intent.”

From Yankees.com

"I just think [Duncan] tried to inflict pain on Aki," Gomes said. "That just comes second nature. I was taught all the way from T-ball to have a teammate's back.

"It's a baseball field. There's fans and kids watching. I had to let [Duncan] know that's not going to fly."

This clearly isn't over.

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