The Problem With MLB's Discipline Of The Phillies-Giants Brawl

In case you did not hear, the Giants and the Phillies got into a benches clearing brawl. As a result of this brawl, Shane Victorino got suspended three games, whereas Placido Polanco was inexplicably fined and Ramon Ramirez and (in particular) Eli Whiteside were only given fines. A few comments.

a). Shane Victorino was suspended for one reason and one reason alone: He pushed an umpire to re-enter a brawl. Why he is appealing that I have no earthly idea. The Phillies are entering a three-game series tonight against the Dodgers and following that will play in a three-game series at home against the Nationals. Please, Shane, do yourself and your team a favor and sit out against the weaker teams and end that.

b). Now that we got that taken care of. Why wasn't Eli Whiteside suspended? I can understand Ramon Ramirez not getting anything (I don't agree, but I understand why), but when a guy is hopping like around like he's Little Bunny Foo Foo and/or the world's worst Muhammad Ali impersonator, he has gone from the threshold of protecting his pitcher (which you could argue he was not even doing that as in the time between the plunking and Whiteside's tackle of Polanco, Ramirez advanced more than Victorino did, who before Whiteside's tackle, never exhibited any signs of wanting to fight) into the territory of "I want a fight." We all know what happened next. It is clear as day that Whiteside and Ramirez incited a bench-clearing brawl. Why is not that a suspension worthy offense? Better yet, what does that say about MLB?

MLB's statement on the matter might as well have been this: "MLB will not tolerate the physical abuse of umpires. However, if you incite contact with members of the opposing team, you will get away with only a paltry fine. Good friend and closer adviser to MLB, Gary Bettman, believes this is a good way to conduct business."

This is not a matter of wanting Eli Whiteside off the team in order to sabotage the Giants in the standings. Quite the opposite is true, in fact, it could be that MLB is getting very creative in their punishments and punishing the San Francisco Giants as a whole by not allowing them to have games where Eli Whiteside is not an eligible player. Cruel, unusual, and given the fact Whiteside has amassed a paltry 0.6 WAR in 60 games this season, effective.

c). Placido Polanco got fined for being on the wrong end of the worst-looking double leg takedown since Hornswoggle last stepped in a wrestling ring. What Placido Polanco was going to do, I have no idea, but aside from being on the wrong end of a tackle my grandmother could have executed better, he only showed he was doing the same thing everyone else was doing at that point. How on earth is it fair that he gets singled out because he made Whiteside look like he had less muscles than a toddler?

Ramon Ramirez, Eli Whiteside, and Placido Polanco got the same punishment for that fracas. Major League Baseball, ladies and gentlemen!

Thank you! Good night! Tip your waitresses! Try the veal!

Giants Win The World Series

Sunday, October 3, 2010, 1:35 PM ET: It's the last day of the MLB season. Game 162. And the games matter. The day starts with the Atlanta Braves hosting the Philadelphia Phillies. If the Phillies win, the Giants are guaranteed at the very least a playoff spot. It starts off great for the Giants. The Phillies jump off to a 2-0 lead and it looks for all the world that Bobby Cox's last stand will end in Turner Field in humiliating fashion on the last game of the season. A Phillies team with nothing to play for all series long could single handedly send a choking Giants team to the playoffs.....

But Danys Baez enters this game to pitch. And the meltdown begins. 2-0 Phillies becomes 8-2 Braves faster than you can say "Danys Baez, Mike Zagurski, and J.C. Romero are useless pieces of garbage and Joe Blanton in relief is a great idea if you ever want to lose a baseball game." The Phillies rally. 8-2 becomes 8-5. Then 8-7. The Giants may not have to worry after all.......

....The rally was never complete. Braves win 8-7.

Sunday, October 3, 2010: 4:05 PM ET: The Giants send Jonathan Sanchez to the mound in San Francisco against Padre ace Mat Latos in San Francisco with everything to play for, and an arduous road ahead if they lose. If the Padres win and sweep the series, the Giants would have to go on the road and face the Padres in an NL West tie-breaker on Monday with Tim Lincecum on the mound. Win that, and they would need to go to Turner Field to face the Braves in a wildcard tie-breaker on Tuesday. Win that, and on Wednesday, they would start an NLDS series at Philadelphia against a rested Roy Halladay with who knows what pitcher on the mound. The odds would be stacked immensely against the Giants. 4 games in 4 cities in 4 days would be brutal on any team, especially considering the stakes of all those games would be higher than high. 0-0, bottom of the 3rd inning, Jonathan Sanchez hits a triple.......

Monday, November 1, 2010: 10:30 PM ET: The San Francisco Giants are World Champions of baseball.

It happened that fast. An excellent starting pitching staff combined with a very solid bullpen, 3 real good hitters, and a bunch of medicore "huh, they are still playing baseball?" veterans combined to win the World Series. One of those mediocre veterans, Edgar Renteria, won 2010 MVP. Think about it for a minute. Edgar Renteria. 2010 World Series MVP. Edgar. Renteria.

Everything about this run by the Giants has been improbable: the absurd bounces, the ridiculous hot streak from Cody Ross in the NLCS, ridiculous BABIP, the timely hits from Juan Uribe, opposing team's line drives magically finding their ways to Giants gloves time after time again, the hot streak of Edgar Renteria in the World Series, the meek Giant groundballs that squirted through and led to runs, a kid 1 month and 15 days older than me who was struggling with his fastball in the minors earlier in the season pitching the game of a lifetime in Game 4 of the World Series, the unprecedented 6 1-run wins in the post-season, the incredible luck. It all combined together to equal a Giants World Series championship.

Go back to October 3, 2010 at 1:04 PM. Simulate the scenario from then to the playoffs 1,000 times. How many times would the Giants end up as World Series champions? Less than 50? I'd say so. The crazy thing about sports, baseball in particular, is the best team does not always win. If that was the case, we'd be talking about the Rays, Twins, Phillies, or Yankees right about now as World Champions. The best baseball teams of 2010? The truth lies somewhere within the middle of the aforementioned 4. But it's the hottest team at the right time wins. The luckiest team at the right time wins. That team? The San Francisco Giants.

Is that to say it is undeserved championship? Absolutely not. Any team that wins a division in baseball and makes the playoffs is going to be good enough to at least make a run at things, even if they are not the best. 2009 Yankees? They can say there were one of the best in the league. 2008 Phillies? Not among the best of teams. 2007 Red Sox? Among one of the best. 2006 Cardinals? Not even close to being the best; they won a putrid division with a record barely above .500! 2005 White Sox? Up there with the best. 2004 Red Sox? Nope. 2003 Marlins? Nowhere near the best. 2002 Angels? No. 2001 Diamondbacks? They were not the team that set a major league record with 116 wins in a single season.

Over half of the above teams were not among the best or one of the best overall teams in baseball when they won the World Series, yet how many people are saying that the 2008 Phillies did not deserve it, or the 2001 Diamondbacks winning is a scandal? A lot of these teams have got very lucky with some bounces along the way, as did the Giants, but that does not mean they are undeserved champions.

Congrats to the San Francisco Giants. The well-deserved 2010 World Champions of baseball.

MLB Playoffs Day 21 Live Blog

Giants vs. Rangers 7:30 (Fox - Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, SR: Ken Rosenthal)

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE LIVE BLOG

2010 NFL Season Week 8 Live Blog/MLB Playoffs Day 20 World Series

Happy Halloween! Join the ghoulish gang for what promises to be a record setting day in sports. As always don't be a troll....unless you are dressed as one. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Game 4: Giants vs. Rangers 8:00 (Fox - Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, SR: Ken Rosenthal)

2010 MLB Playoffs Day 19 Live Blog

Game 3: Giants vs. Rangers 6:30 (Fox - Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, SR: Ken Rosenthal)

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE LIVE BLOG

2010 MLB Playoffs Day 18 Live Blog

Game 2: Rangers vs. Giants 7:30 (Fox - Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, SR: Ken Rosenthal)

The Legend Of Pat Burrell Continues To Grow

For those that have not been following the awesomeness of Brian Wilson, he has been referencing a character known as The Machine for a good part of the season. These verbal references came in a post-game interview after the NLCS and in an interview with Jim Rome. Then, The Machine literally made an appearance while Brian Wilson was being interviewed by Cheap Seats. So the big question is, who is this guy? Well, thanks to some top-notch sleuthing, meech.one of The Fightins has uncovered the answer.

After narrowing down the suspects, [Deadspin] decided that the culprit was more than likely Pat Burrell, former left-fielder for the Philadelphia Phillies and Wilson’s current teammate. Now that’s some mighty fine investigative work by the Deadspin boys, because for the last couple of years, I have been sitting on a picture of Pat Burrell in all his gimp-outiftted glory, but never ran it because the guy who gave me the picture didn’t want to get caught.

Well, that was a few years ago when Pat Burrell was a Phillie, and since he’s now with the SF Giants, and it’s basically public knowledge anyway, I’m gonna go ahead and share the picture with everyone…

I don’t really want to go into detail about how I acquired this picture, but it was taken at Pat Burrell’s house in Arizona during a Christmas party in (I believe) December of ’04 (possibly ’05). According to my picture-taking accomplice, every year during his Christmas party — which is attended by a veritable who’s who of baseballers who spend their winters out in AZ — Pat wanders upstairs and slips into his assless-chapped gimp outfit to entertain his party guests while making them feel extremely uncomfortable all at the same time.

Please excuse the bare-assedness of the following photo taken 5 years ago of The Machine.

In his post-NLCS interview linked to above, when talking about C.J. Wilson's trash talk on Twitter, Brian Wilson mentioned that "I think The Machine will say all he needs to say when he makes an appearance again," thus sort of referencing the fact that he might be a Giant. Add that on to Meech's evidence and the fact that The Machine is built like Pat Burrell, and I think it is safe to say we have a match.

Pat The Bat is The Machine. Oddly enough, I can't say I'm at all surprised.

2010 MLB Playoffs Day 17 Live Blog

Game 1: Rangers vs. Giants 7:30 (Fox - Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, SR: Ken Rosenthal)

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE LIVE BLOG

Bengie Molina Plans On Accepting A World Series Ring Regardless

One of the most interesting stories in this 2010 World Series is that of Bengie Molina. For those unaware, Molina started the season as the starting catcher for the San Francisco Giants. A month after the Giants finally got wise and called-up Buster Posey, Molina was traded to the Rangers where he became the starting catcher there (even hitting for the cycle once!) While Molina is now a Ranger, the question that remains is whether or not Bengie would accept a ring if he was on the losing team of the World Series? Would he accept a Giants ring? In his MLBlog, Behind The Mask, Bengie Molina addressed this unique situation.

It's amazing to think that no matter who wins, I'll have my second World Series ring. If this is my last year in baseball, what better ending than to have contributed to both teams in the World Series? I couldn't ask for anything more.

OK, I could ask for one more thing.

Another rush to the pitcher's mound, another stadium filled with flashing cameras and a scoreboard ablaze with the words, "World Series Champion Texas Rangers!''

Now who knows how feelings could change once the series has planned out, but it looks like as of now, Bengie Molina plans on accepting a Giants World Series ring. If he does do so, I would not blame him. He may not be on the Giants team now, but he did play a part in the season and helped Posey in his smooth transition to the bigs. I'm not sure if Ranger fans would feel the same way in regards to Milina, but this is a great way for Bengie to go out a winner regardless, should he choose to not comeback to baseball next season.

A Slightly More Rational Post-Game Recap

Phillies 20, Giants 19.

Giants 4, Phillies 2.

That's baseball in a nutshell. It is why the game can be both beautiful and maddingly frustrating at the same time. In a NLCS where the San Francisco Giants won 4 games to 2, the Philadelphia Phillies scored 20 runs while the San Francisco Giants plated only 19. Does it mean that the Phillies were the better team? Given the numerous mistakes they made, no, I can't say that the Phillies should be going to the World Series. But are the Giants that flukey team that have no business being there? I can't say that either.

Say what you will about how they blooped and flared their way to runs in the past week, but they have some mighty fine starting pitching. Lincecum is up there with Halladay as one of the best in the game, Jonathan Sanchez is wildly effective for the most part (tonight was the exception, not the rule), and Matt Cain is vastly underrated with a ridiculous BABIP and ability to limit home runs throughout his entire career. Like seriously. When people talk about exceptions to SABR-pitching metrics and what they tell us about pitching, Matt Cain is that guy.

As far as my rooting interests go in the 2010 World Series, I'm gonna give it to you straight. I am Switzerland. Seriously. I could not be any more neutral. If the Giants win, I will be happy for most of the team and nauseous at the site of Cody Ross getting a World Series ring. If the Rangers win, I will be happy for most of the team and nauseous at the site of Jeff Francoeur with a World Series ring. My World Series bold prediction: Bengie Molina gets a World Series ring.

Enough of my take on the World Series and more on my take on the Phillies.

TO THOSE OF YOU WHO THINK RYAN HOWARD IS THE GOAT......

Don't let Joe Buck and his love of RBIs fool you. Phillies post-season triple slash line: .215/.309/.304. Ryan Howard's post-season triple slash line: .303/.395/.424. He did more for this team than most. He may not have gotten the RBIs, but next to Werth, he was the Phillies best hitter in the post-season.

TO THOSE OF YOU WHO THINK THE UMPIRING WAS ATROCIOUS......

I agree. But it is not the reason the series turned out the way it was. The umps fucked both teams in the ass more times than I would care to count.

TO THOSE OF YOU WHO THINK THE 2010 SEASON IS A FAILURE.......

Don't let your irrationally raised expectations deceive you. For 162 games in the regular season, the Phillies overcame injury after injury after injury after injury after injury after injury and finished the season with the best record in all baseball. And now because of some bad luck in October, this season is a complete failure? That notion is absolute horseshit that only Yankee fans can come up with. The winners in the playoffs are the teams that get the glory and the celebrations, but don't that deceive you. 162 > 9. The playoffs are a crapshoot where the best team rarely wins. It's the way it is. It's what makes sports, especially baseball, agonizing and amazing all at once. It's why teams like the San Francisco Giants and the Texas Rangers, 2 teams that while very good, were not the best in the regular season, are now in the World Series competing for immortality. Deal with it.

2010 MLB Playoffs Day 16 Live Blog

Game 6: Giants vs. Phillies 7:30 (Fox - Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, SR: Ken Rosenthal)

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE LIVE BLOG

Do San Francisco Schools Teach Math At All These Days?

Uh, sir with the broom, you were attending Game 5 of the NLCS. That means that both teams must have won at least 1 game in the series. Therefore, it is technically impossible for the game to be a sweep.

Now for what the guy was most likely going for, the arbitrary 3-game sweep of the games in San Francisco. It's still just as dumb. Seriously. Talk to any baseball fan. How many people were saying that the Giants fans should bring out the brooms because they have a chance to sweep their home part of the series? I reckon not many. And those that did, well, they are just as dumb as this guy apparently is.

2010 MLB Playoffs Day 14 Live Blog

Game 5: Phillies vs. Giants 7:30 (Fox - Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, SR: Ken Rosenthal)

To All You Fuckers Giving Up On The Philadelphia Phillies....

6 teams have comeback from a 3-1 series deficit in the LCS to win the series: 1985 Royals, 1986 Red Sox, 1996 Braves, 2003 Marlins, 2004 Red Sox and 2007 Red Sox.

What about the Philadelphia Flyers? They were down 3-0 in a playoff hockey series. No hockey team since 1975 came back to win such a series when faced with that deficit. Yet the Flyers did it. Even after the Bruins defense drew circles around them in Game 3, they overcame adversity, and they won the series. Bigger comebacks have happened. The Phillies have won 3 in a row plenty of times this season. In fact, the Phillies won 3 in a row twice with Halladay, Hamels, and Oswalt starting consecutive games since the acquisition of Oswalt. If you don’t think the Phillies can comeback and win this thing then you just don't know anything about sports. Good night all.

MLB Playoffs Day 13 Live Blog

Game 5: Rangers vs. Yankees 4:00 (TBS - Ernie Johnson, Ron Darling, and John Smoltz, SR: Craig Sager)

Game 4: Phillies vs. Giants 7:30 (Fox - Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, SR: Ken Rosenthal)

MLB Playoffs Day 12 Live Blog

Game 3: Phillies vs. Giants 4:00 (Fox - Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, SR: Ken Rosenthal)

Game 4: Rangers vs. Yankees 8:00 (TBS - Ernie Johnson, Ron Darling, and John Smoltz, SR: Craig Sager)

A Lesson To Those Who Think They Can't Make An Impact On The Internet

May I present the power of having a few Twitter followers who have a bajillion more followers than I do.

In a fit of rage on Twitter, someone types the now deleted tweet: "Hey Philly, screw you and your homophobic, battery-throwing, smoke-bomb tossing, Santa Claus-booing fans," minutes after tweeting yet another now deleted tweet about how satisfied she would be: "If some sort of hilarious, season ending illness befell every Phillie," I respond to her with a "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA" and a snide "All Philly fans in a nutshell," and the next thing I know, practically ever Philly sports fan I follow is completely bashing her into smitherines. Read at your own risk. (FYI, this is the smoke-bomb incident she was referring to)

What had happened was after I tweeted it, someone with a lot of followers who follows me also retweeted it, which prompted more retweeting from people with followers and the next thing you know, some reasonably anonymous NoCal and USC fan is a trending topic in Philadelphia. While I obviously had no intention of it becoming a huge deal square in the middle of Game 2 of the NLCS, I can't say that I did not revel in the hilarity of it. If you are going to go on a place like Twitter and spew out the tired generalizations about Philly fans that everyone and their mother is sick and tired of (never mind that the Santa Claus booing was over 40 years ago) on top of calling us homophobes (never mind that Philadelphia is for the most part a politically liberal city), and I am going to re-tweet it to point out the patheticness of it, and if it gets picked up by people with more followers than I have, then be prepared to feel the wrath of your stupidity. To her credit, she did not fire back with thousands of insults, she did apologize, over and over again, and she did seem to take it in stride (although she did delete her controversial tweets), but suffice to say, I think the lesson has been learned.

Now for those wondering how on earth I got to be following said Giants fan, well, she is 49er16's friend and a year or so ago he told me to follow her.

/DUCKS

Think you can't make an impact on the internet? Think again.

2010 NFL Season Week 6 Live Blog/MLB Playoffs Day 10 Live Blog

Game 2: Giants vs. Phillies 8:00 (Fox - Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, SR: Ken Rosenthal)

2010 MLB Playoffs Day 9 Live Blog

Game 2: Yankees vs. Rangers 4:00 (TBS - Ernie Johnson, Ron Darling, and John Smoltz, SR: Craig Sager)

Game 1: Giants vs. Phillies 7:30 (Fox - Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, SR: Ken Rosenthal)

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE LIVE BLOG

2010 LCS Schedule

Philadelphia Phillies, San Francisco Giants, Texas Rangers, New York Yankees. In just over 3 weeks time, one of these teams will be calling themselves Champions. (all times ET)

National League Championship Series

NL East: Philadelphia Phillies vs. NL West: San Franisco Giants

Game 1: October 16: Giants vs. Phillies 7:30 (Fox - Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, SR: Ken Rosenthal)
Game 2: October 17: Giants vs. Phillies 8:00 (Fox - Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, SR: Ken Rosenthal)
Game 3: October 19: Phillies vs. Giants 4:00 (Fox - Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, SR: Ken Rosenthal)
Game 4: October 20: Phillies vs. Giants 7:30 (Fox - Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, SR: Ken Rosenthal)
Game 5: October 21: Phillies vs. Giants 7:30 (Fox - Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, SR: Ken Rosenthal)
Game 6: October 23: Giants vs. Phillies 3:30 (Fox - Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, SR: Ken Rosenthal)
Game 7: October 24: Giants vs. Phillies 7:30 (Fox - Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, SR: Ken Rosenthal)

American League Championship Series

Al West: Texas Rangers vs. AL Wildcard: New York Yankees

Game 1: October 15: Yankees vs. Rangers 8:00 (TBS - Ernie Johnson, Ron Darling, and John Smoltz, SR: Craig Sager)
Game 2: October 16: Yankees vs. Rangers 4:00 (TBS - Ernie Johnson, Ron Darling, and John Smoltz, SR: Craig Sager)
Game 3: October 18: Rangers vs. Yankees 8:00 (TBS - Ernie Johnson, Ron Darling, and John Smoltz, SR: Craig Sager)
Game 4: October 19: Rangers vs. Yankees 8:00 (TBS - Ernie Johnson, Ron Darling, and John Smoltz, SR: Craig Sager)
Game 5: October 20: Rangers vs. Yankees 4:00 (TBS - Ernie Johnson, Ron Darling, and John Smoltz, SR: Craig Sager)
Game 6: October 22: Yankees vs. Rangers 8:00 (TBS - Ernie Johnson, Ron Darling, and John Smoltz, SR: Craig Sager)
Game 7: October 23: Yankees vs. Rangers 8:00 (TBS - Ernie johnson, Ron Darling, and John Smoltz, SR: Craig Sager)

If the Yankees and Rangers series does not go 7 games, Game 6 of the NLCS will be pushed back to night time.