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I don't watch baseball as I don't find it to be very interesting. I do like fights however. :)

I'm a little unclear on this:
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Pierzinski(sp?) clobbers Barrett at the plate, gets up, tries to go around Barett for his helmet, Barett grabs him, and then lands a right cross to his jaw-bone. Pierzinski did slap home plate pretty hard to emphasize the run scored, but, that doesn't justify cold cocking the guy....
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So the runner bowled over the catcher on his way home, and the catcher got up, grabbed the runner and decked him?

Maybe baseball isn't boring after all... ;-)

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<If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough>
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Proud member of the Smartasscrew, MONSTER CLUB
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I wasn't there, I was actually coaching a double-header in Aurora (Chicago Suburb).

2 things about the fight (Barrett needs to take note):

[1] If you don't want clobbered, don't play catcher. That quote came from barrett's manager, Dusty Baker.

[2] If you don't want clobbered, don't block the plate without the ball. There's a reason why catcher's stand to the side, ready to block the plate with their shin guard, etc. They don't stand right in front of the plate, wait for the ball, and leave themselves defenseless.

There is also a changing feel in Northern Illinois ... It is no l,onger "Cub Country". The White Sox are world champions, and the Cubbies are back to being "The Lovable Losers", although at this point they're much more "losers" than "lovable". It's gonna be a long, struggle of a season for the cubbies and their fans. What looked like a lot of proimise, turned into a lot of heartbreak ... such is the life of the Cubs.

Meanwhile, Pujols continues the onslaught.

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Pierzynski is not popular among the league, he's a smart-ass ego-maniac. He got into a fight, and his team came out swinging in his defense. The other day Russ Springer threw at Barry Bonds 4 straight pitches, hittting Bonds with the last one. Neither Bonds's manager nor any teammate came out on the field, nor did any Ginat pitcher retaliate by drilling an oppossing teammate.

[1] That also illustrates how Bonds's teammates feel about him.

[2] I don't care how much you hate a teammate, when an opossing pitcher disrespects that star and the entire team by throwing at hiom 4 consecutive pitches, the bench must clear and their star must go down. It really is that simple.

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-- Every morning brings opportunity;
Each evening offers judgement. --

[1] Barrett (the catcher) was blocking the plate before he had the ball (he was waiting for the throw to come in from left field). Catchers usually only block the plate when they have the ball.

[2] Peirzynski (the runner) was coming in full bore, had no access to the plate (Barrett was blocking it), and his only alternatives were to [a] knock over the catcher or (b) slide a good distance from the plate and try to reach around and touch the plate. Option b is less likely to be successful than option a.

[3] Pierzynski's helmet ended up behind Barrett. After the collision, and while Barrett was still a "l'il groggy", Pierzynski was walking to get his helmet and buped into Barrett.

[4] Barrett grabbed Pierzynski arund the waist and said "I didn't have the ball, bitch", and then clocked him.

Barrett initially, on the field and when emotions were high, felt it was uncalled for. At the press-conference, Barrett admitted that Pierzynski had every right to roll him, and admitted that he over-reacted.

Incidently, Pierzynski and Barrett played against each other regularly in high school (same conference) and have worked together in baseball clinics.

The fight-incident, while entertaining, is largely unfortunate. It does not appear that Barrett and Pierzynski are going to have anything like a sustained fued. Both are cathcers and realize (even after the fact) the hazards that come with the job.

Bottom line was it's the Cubs and the Sox, no other inner city rivalry has such divided lines (North Side v. South Side) and so much emotion involved. Also, when you combine the fact that this is the first series the Sox have played against the Cubs following their championship season, and this season, due to injuries to key players, is a major dissapointment for the Cubs, and Pierzynski knocking the crap out of Barrett is as symbolic as it is literal, and this was just a spark near the gas can.

I'm sure many Cub players are tired of hearing about the Sox's success all the time.

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-- Every morning brings opportunity;
Each evening offers judgement. --

TT, I'm not so sure about the Bonds analogy. If Bonds charges the mound, yes, you clear and go at it. But if the batter stays there, and takes his base, isn't the proper thing to drill their star hitter next time he comes up? Or drill Springer? Of course, I suspect what Springer did was activate the MLB wuss-button: the umps warned the benches immediately that the next incident would be an automatic ejection, which takes away SF's ability to retaliate in a proportional manner. I'm not so sure the fact there was no brawl reflects anything about the teammates. There are unwritten rules about how to deal with them, and I've never heard of the bench clearing when the batter doesn't charge.

They actually talked about it yesterday after the brawl, about how some guys like Pierzinski, some hate him, but no player wants to be seen not coming off the bench to back up a teammate, or else you get the Juan Gonzalez treatment. Hell, I remember the Tigers and Sox playing a few years ago, and Dean Palmer was involved in the first brawl(can't recall if he charged the mound or what), got tossed, and when the second brawl happened a few innings later, he came flying in from the lockerroom to get in the middle of it. Now there is a guy I want on my team.

Pierzinski had every right to bowl him over, and much as I hate him, I don't even think he bumped into Barrett. Barrett came over to him. Unless there was something said at the same time he slapped the plate...

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"I can endure more pain than anyone you've ever met. That's why I can beat anyone I've ever met." Steve Prefontaine, Without Limits

The Springer-Bonds situation is a little different since Springer has thrown at Bonds before. The fact that he threw 4 consecutive pitches, basically, "at" Bonds, should have had teammates up on the top step, and the manager coming out of the dugout. Honestly, imagine if an oppossing pitcher was going after Pujols, Jeter, Derek Lee, etc ... a player that is the face of the team and highly determines the success of the franchise.

I agree that Bonds not charging is why the players didn't empty onto the field, but they didn't approach the top step to "get on Springer's case" bothers me.

The Giants should have, at the very least, drilled one of the opposing hitters, accepted the ejection, and sent the message. Taking a page out of the hockey playbook ... retaliation is the major reason why you don't see star players getting cheap-shotted. Marty McSorely basically ensured that Gretzky never got body-checked his whole career. This would have been the equivalent of someone (Xavier McDaniel of the Knicks for example) flagrantly fouling Michael Jordan, and no one from the Bulls returning the favor.

The situation, IMO, reflects more poorly on the Ginats players than it does Bonds. Bonds handled the situation, basically, the only way he could. Given his present situation, and he chasing Ruth, prevents him from doing anything that would make the situation worse (or risking injury).

Heck, at least Shawn Estes threw *behind* Clemens (after the Piazza head-beaning incident).

Interesting side-note ... in today's Cubs-Sox game, after Zambrano beaned Iguchi (I think), the home plate umpire did not offer double-warnings. The message I took from that is that he (umpire) was basically giving the White Sox a chance to drill Barrett or someone else to "even it up".

Maybe this is the just a new era of baseball, where the unwritten rules and practices are fading away. We'll see what happens in the future ... Springer is a National League starter ... which means he, himself, will have to dig in against the Giants' pitchers. For future reference, Jason Schmidt throws really hard, and Matt Morris (played under LaRussa in Saint Louis) likes the beanball.

Correction: After Springers first pitch (a slider that ended up 2-feet behind Bonds), the home plate ump issued warnings to everyone. Those warnings were met with 4 consective pitchers that Bonds had to get out of the way of, and the last one that drilled him. My question is what purpose did the warnings serve, since the next 4 pitches all had "bad intentions" (including one aimed at Bonds's knees ... a no-no with beanballs)?

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-- Every morning brings opportunity;
Each evening offers judgement. --

Good for Barrett. He's just upholding the tradition of catchers being tough son-of-a-bitches. :) Two catchers fighting. Who woulda' thunk it. :)

Good point about Bonds being hit and pitched tight. I hope all his records are "EXPUNGED".

-Robert

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"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." ~Anne Frank

That is disgusting unsportsmanship. The police should have been called to arrest him.

AJ Pierzinski (sic) is just about the biggest asshole in professional sports. He is absolutely toxic in the clubhouse. He won't go over tape with his pitchers and when he was with the Giants he refused to even talk to the rookies on the pitching staff if the shook him off once. He's also famous for being one of the worst trash talkers and most unsportsman like players in the game.

I bet half the White Sox players were celebrating when ge got his clock cleaned.


As for the Bonds thing, he told the pitching staff not to retaliate and the Giants swept the series.

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"A society is defined not only by what it creates, but by what it refuses to destroy."
John Sawhill