Victorino Suspended; Giants Get Slap on Wrist
Phillies centerfielder Shane Victorino has been suspended for three games following Friday’s bench-clearing brawl. Giants pitcher Ramon Ramirez purposely hit Victorino with a pitch and the catcher Eli Whiteside attempted to tackle Placido Polanco for rushing to Victorino’s aid.
The other three players, Ramirez, Whiteside and Polanco received fines of undisclosed amounts.
Yes, the two Giants who started the whole ruckus did NOT get suspended.
So what the league is saying is that pitchers can now throw at guys without fear of suspension, even if it is blatantly intentional? And then teammates can tackle guys to escalate the situation, also with no real consequence? Wow.
I understand that Victorino shoved the umpire, which is very bad, so I have no problem with the three games if the Giants players got at least one game each for starting it. But this ruling gives the impression that it was all Shane. It is nothing but a slap on the wrist for the two Giants players who started the whole incident.
And Polanco? All he did was rush to help Victorino with what appeared to be intent to get Victorino out of there before the situation got too intense. Instead, Polanco gets tackled and then fined? Ridiculous.
Ramirez threw at Victorino intentionally. The umpire was issuing him a warning right as things got heated. The rookie umpire should have tossed Ramirez from the game initially. But regardless of the rookie error, Ramirez is the one who caused the incident.
And had Whiteside not tackled Polanco, the brawl would have been nothing more that harsh words tossed around. Victorino was wrong to shove the umpire, but the situation does not even get to that point if Whiteside does not act like a fool, jumping around and looking for a reason to fight.
This is clearly bias by the league. And I’ll bet Jered Weaver is pissed; he just got a 6-game suspension for intentionally throwing a pitch at Alex Avila last Sunday. And do not forget Carlos Carrasco who was given the same suspension for throwing at the head of Royals DH Billy Butler last Friday.
Granted, tossing at the head is worse, so 6 games makes sense, and they are starters. So one or two games for a relief pitcher like Ramirez should be automatic by these standards. Still, the league gives Ramirez a slap on the wrist with just a fine.
Victorino is appealing the suspension, as he should. Because this is a huge load of crap and a disgusting display of prejudice by the league towards a guy with a reputation of being easily excitable.
Hey MLB – BOO! Bad call.
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Bias in favor of west coast baseball? The insanity!
I’m totally flabbergasted that Victorino was the only one who got a suspension. He deserved it for going back into the scrum after the ump held him out, but Ramirez and Whiteside only get fines?!?! Ramirez is the one who threw at Shane in the first place, and that bleep-bleep catcher was bouncing around like he’d been waiting for a fight the whole game long. And what did Polanco do to get a fine? Whiteside was the one that “tackled” him. Though it was a pretty pathetic tackle – guess that’s why he plays baseball and not football. 😉
Sue
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