Final Thoughts on the Fenway Fracas

Now that the dust has cleared, tempers have settled and the punishments have been handed out, we can look back on the Fenway Fracas with all the sordid details out in the open. There is a finality to it, right or wrong, mostly wrong. In the aftermath of an angry Kevin Youkilis charging Rick Porcello we’ve heard every national sports mouthpiece, respected and otherwise, voice their opinions on the matter. The players involved had their opportunity to tell the press what went wrong. You’ve had a chance to digest the fighting, the finger pointing, the suspensions and the rest. It’s all wrapped up in a tight, tidy little bow. At least that’s what Major League Baseball is hoping. But it isn’t.

This afternoon the disciplinary arm of MLB climbed atop the bully pulpit it calls “the best interest of the game” and did a disservice to itself. The mess is everywhere. You can see it running down its’ leg, stinking up the place, showing us one and all once again that those in charge of the bureaucratic function of this game live in a different world, far from the fan base.

It was announced earlier today that Kevin Youkilis and Rick Porcello have been suspended five games apiece. Edwin Jackson has been fined an undisclosed amount for “aggressive actions”, which is tantamount to a fraternity brother punishing a pledge for acting like a tough guy. Perhaps MLB should have told Jackson to clean the toilets or make a beer run as punishment for his clearly heinous actions, which seemed to be a whole lot of looking angry and jostling random teammates while hurting and threatening no one. But the power lies with the man on this one. The man is keeping Youk, the rookie and Edwin Jackson down. The fact that Jackson was fined however seems the undercard in this matchup of right and wrong, MLB discipline style.

On the surface the punishments for Youkilis and Porcello seem equal – five games each to sit in the corner and think about what they did. However for Porcello it amounts to little more than an extra two days off. He’ll pitch next Tuesday against the Mariners instead of Sunday against Kansas City. The Tigers are off on Monday. Kevin Youkilis, the fiery, me against the world pugilist of the helmet throwing variety, will be forced to miss five games as an everyday player. His suspension was deserved. The temporary banishment of Rick Porcello on the other hand is nothing short of silly. Silly is the nicest possible world I can summon to describe it. Useless would be another, pointless, ridiculous, tits on a bull, dumber than a bag of hammers – all these seem to fit as well.

But according to the MLB discliplinarians Porcello had malice in his heart. I can almost hear Wilfred Brimley saying it in that stern voice of his. Perhaps the powers that be should have had Brimley announce the suspension, proving it was nothing short of bad fiction. Anyone who has seen the replay of the incident can discern from the immediate frustration of Porcello upon the pitch heading inside that his aim was not to plunk the angry, bald man with the overgrown goatee. Kevin Youkilis on the other hand, was looking for a fight. He was looking for a fight the night before when Edwin Jackson plunked him, as evidenced by his glaring stare towards the mound and not appropriate for younger viewers under the breath mumbling that came through crystal clear to the lip readers. Flash forward to the bottom of the second inning Tuesday and it took all of about 1/32 of a second for Kevin to toss his bat aside and declare war.

I understand that he doesn’t like getting hit. Nobody likes it. He’s been hit a lot this year. I’ll bet it’s downright annoying. It can build up in a player, the anger, the frustration, until that one last fastball in the shoulder turns a regular guy into a howling moron using his helmet as a projectile. I like Kevin Youkilis. I respect him. I respect him less after his actions last night, but in general I think he’s a decent enough fellow who seems to not deal with anger in the most constructive of ways. But, you don’t throw your helmet at a guy from 10 feet away. You don’t do it. And if you’re going to do it, you can’t miss. If you do, you not only look like a jackass, but a jackass with bad aim, and that’s no good for anybody.

I found it comical that he ended up on his backside rather quickly, the victim of a wicked hip toss from a 20 year old kid with the build of a Paris Hilton impersonator. Perhaps that should have been punishment enough.

All told I think Mr. Youkilis got a little more than he deserved, but that a suspension was definitely the right response. I fail however to agree with the suspension of Rick Porcello, as comical as it is. He claims he was not trying to hit Youkilis. Believe him, don’t believe him, it’s up to you and it’s irrelevant.  Porcello had hit one batter in 112 innings pitched prior to the incident. One. The argument can be made that this statistic only further implicates his intent, especially on the heels of the inside pitch to Victor Martinez in the first inning. Was he trying to hit Martinez? Youkilis? I don’t know, I only know Rick Porcello says no.

I also know that there was no warning issued prior to his ejection. I also know Rick Porcello had not previously been disciplined by Major League Baseball. I also know that it was two weeks ago that Matt Garza of the Rays hit Mark Teixeira of the Yankees, on purpose, and then said so after the game. Garza was not suspended. Bobby Jenks of the White Sox threw behind Ian Kinsler of the Rangers back in May, again on purpose, again he confessed, and again he was not suspended. Which begs the question, should Porcello have told everyone he did it on purpose? In hindsight it seems it wouldn’t have made the matter any worse for him.

What have we learned kiddies?

I learned that Kevin Youkilis lost his cool, acted like a punk and felt bad about it afterwards. I learned that Rick Porcello and his pinpoint control took a night off. I learned that having to watch Chris Lambert get humped on television after the ejections was almost harder to watch than the fight itself. And I learned that the powers that be in Major League Baseball are just as wacky and unpredictable as ever.

Most of all I learned that none of this will keep this kind of incident from happening again. The names may change, but sometime soon some pitcher will hit some hitter with some fastball and the benches will clear. It’s always been that way, it always will be, and the folks with MLB should know that by now, suspensions or otherwise.

Oh by the way, the Red Sox won the game 7-5, in case anyone is interested.

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Tags: Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, Fenway Fight, Kevin Youkilis, Porcello hits Youkilis, Porcello suspended, Rick Porcello, Tigers Red Sox fight, youkilis suspended