Suspensions Handed Out

MLB acted swiftly, punishing those involved in yesterday's brawl this afternoon. Pending appeals, several players will miss action.  Coco gets seven games and Shields gets six, with the biggest surprises being 5 game bans to Jon Lester and Edwin Jackson -- their names came up almost nowhere in print.  Wondering what was caught on tape that obviated that punishment.  Jonny Gomes gets 5 games, and I fail to see how that suspension is going to dissuade him from future idiocy, considering he's now a recidivist (what with his actions in the Yankee brawl earlier this year).

Comments

[attackgerbil]

Seven games? Seems really harsh.

[attackgerbil]

I can understand a 5-6 game ban to a starter, but a position player?

[LocklandSF]

Lester and Sean Casey? Excuse me, BUT WHAT THE FUCK!!!!

I'm so pissed. That's so stupid.

It should have been Coco 10, Shields 8, Gomes 10, Crawford 10, Iwamura 5.

Jesus, I have to go to a party tonight and this anger isn't going away, I should be a lot of fun.

[Micah-SF]

I think Gomes needed more than five games. This is clearly a problem for him, and that won't send enough of a message. Hopefully they can get the Lester suspension reduced.

[Devine]

If they were gonna hit Casey with a suspension (which, okay, he was whaling on somebody), they should have hit Crawford (and Iwamura), too.

Lester? Jackson? What? Were Lester's plunkings super-obviously intentional or was did he do something in the "skirmish"?

[SF]

Wait, did Lester get suspended for hitting guys even though the home plate ump didn't toss him?

It's not a big deal, since Lester will get pushed back a day, but this seems like a ridiculous suspension for a guy that nobody complained about during the game, after the game, nor was tossed or warned by the ump. Not sure I get this one, unless, as mentioned above, there's something on tape that he did that wasn't seen.

[Devine]

And if it was the plunkings...why wasn't he tossed during the game?

[LocklandSF]

Ok, I'm being filled in on Casey, I guess he beat the snot out of somebody, which makes me love him even more, but I'm still blown away by Lester, even though it's meaningless.

[rootbeerfloat]

Casey beat the snot out of someone? The Mayor?

[LocklandSF]

Ok, I had it DVRd and I have just finished going frame by frame.

Casey came out of no where and and dropped some bombs on Shields when Hale had him on the ground, almost looks like he went Atomic Elbow on him.

Dirty, sure, but he's my guy, so I raise a glass to The Mayor.

I'm a hypocrite, sure, I'm a baseball fan, we all are.

[attackgerbil]

The whole suspension system is so arbitrary, it's impossible for me to take it seriously.

[QuoSF]

The Lester suspension was due to Jeff Kellogg? not remembering that he'd warned both sides already, though I think the only really questionable pitch Lester threw was the one that ended up about 2 feet behind Aybar's well, behind. That one was a fastball. Long story short, Devine's right, if how he pitched was a problem then Kellogg should have thrown him out during the game. He didn't, so it must be MLB stepping in and "fixing" that.

[sam-YF]

1. Coco had to get the most games since he was responsible for starting this fight.

2. Gomes should have gotten more since this was his first incident and he is essentially a violent thug.

3. Getting suspensions without getting kicked out of a game is standard now in the MLB. This has happened to the yanks at least twice in the last year.

[sf rod]

not sure if it was mandated by the league office or anything, but bartlett and gomes get to wear a big target on their backs for the 9 remaining games free of charge.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

I agree with AG that it's arbitrary, but when you consider that the factual basis for each case will be different, it's hard not to make it seem arbitrary. I have the same issue with the NCAA (which will never bitch slap Kansas or any other Vitale-approved program.)
What do they do, rule that it's one game per punch with a max of seven games? That's kind of tough.

I think they're mostly fair. Covelli was the instigator; he deserved the most. Shields gets less if he doesn't blab that he intentionally threw at Covelli.
I would amend as follows: Maddon 1 game. He clearly advocated this. That's not good leadership. And if I give Maddon a game, I bump Covelli to eight. His post-fight comments indicate to me that he sees nothing wrong with it, when I do. He runs to first and shups his mouth and he doesn't put his teammates in peril of injury.
And some consideration should go to Bartlett, too. That knee/leg over the base stuff is crap.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

More on Maddon:
It's crap that he started jawing with Covelli on Wednesday night. I know he wants other teams to respect his team, but most of those comments should stay in the lockerroom. Making it public like that is bush.
Tito probably feels the same way but he doesn't run his mouth on the field and to the media.
This is why Tampa won't be there at the end.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Sorry I missed out on the Colon fiasco last night. We went into Chicago last night to see Anveue Q, which I highly recommend to any of you who haven't seen it.