From Mark Feinsand:
Kyle Farnsworth may have said he didn’t throw at Manny Ramirez intentionally Thursday night, but apparently, Major League Baseball believes otherwise.
According to a source with knowledge of the situation, Farnsworth will be suspended three games and fined $2,000 for throwing behind Ramirez’s head in the seventh inning Thursday night in the Bronx.
Farnsworth was not ejected from the game for the throw, which sailed behind Ramirez’s head. Instead, both teams were warned by home plate umpire Larry Vanover, though there were no further incidents in the game.
“It just slipped,” Farnsworth said of the pitch to Ramirez, who had already homered twice in the game. “I was trying to be aggressive and go in on him.”
This is a complete joke, three games for throwing a pitch behind someone? When did this become ladies softball?
There was no warning, he didn't hit Manny, and the ball was just as high as the one that actually hit A-Rod the day before. (The only reason you may think the pitch to Rodriguez looked lower is because A-Rod jumped into it so it didn't hit him in on his left cheek. and only hit him on the left shoulder blade. Go look at the highlights, I'll wait . . . . See I told you it was just as high.)
I may be a little bit of a conspiracy theorist, but if it was a Red Sox pitcher throwing at a Yankee I don't think there would be any suspension. In fact, we've all seen so many Yankees hit by Red Sox pitchers over the past few years and go without punishment from the league, and now it's two Yankees in two seasons being suspended for throwing a ball near a Red Sock (Joba last year for throwing above Youkilis), so maybe this is more than just a theory after all. We all know Bob Watson hates the Yankees anyway, maybe it's time MLB hires someone who doesn't have a vendetta against one of his former employers.
Maybe I'm too "old-school," but I think we should go back to the era where players policed themselves.UPDATE: 3:00 PM - It's official, Farnsworth has been suspended and will appeal.
4 Comments:
They had to suspend him. Obvious 'intent' pitch that got away from him. But it's inexcusable he almost hit Manny in the head.
"There was no warning, he didn't hit Manny, and the ball was just as high as the one that actually hit A-Rod the day before."
Farnsworth aimed high. No doubt MLB decided the high pitch that hit A-Rod wasn't intentional. Big difference.
And after reading your comments, I'm now thinking that pitch didn't actually get away from Farnsworth as I previously stated. It was pure reckless retaliation.
How does MLB determine that Aardsma wasn't throwing at A-Rod on purpose? he had a 3-1 count on him with a base open, and he had previously hit a HR.
Farnsworth's pitch also missed Manny by a good five feet and was at the same height as the pitch that hit A-Rod. If A-Rod didn't jump he would have been hit in the cheek.
Oh by the way, I'm not saying Farnsworth didn't mean to throw behind Manny. He absolutely meant to do that. But I also feel that there are many times, including Wednesday, that Sox pitchers intentionally throw at Yankees and there is never any punishment from the league. If they had suspended Aardsma and Farnsworth, this wouldn't have bothered me at all.
I still think players should be able to police themselves, though.
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