Phuck the Cubs Posted May 27, 2006 Share Posted May 27, 2006 KW is really pissed: Major League Baseball disciplinarian Bob Watson unleashed his punishment Friday on the Cubs and White Sox stemming from their brawl last Saturday, and his decision sparked more anger on both sides of town. Cubs catcher Michael Barrett, who sucker-punched Sox baserunner A.J. Pierzynski after a collision at home plate, was hit with a 10-game suspension -- the longest ever imposed on a Cub by MLB. On the Sox' side, outfielder Brian Anderson -- seen swinging wildly at Cubs first baseman John Mabry -- was suspended for five games. Sox third-base coach Joey Cora, who was charged with being a participant in the brawl, was suspended two games. And Pierzynski was fined but not suspended. All three players have appealed their punishment via the players association, and the appeals are expected to be handled in the next two weeks. Cora, who has no right to appeal because he is a coach, began serving his suspension Friday. On the North Side, the Cubs were shocked Barrett was penalized for 10 games, eclipsing the eight-game ban Sammy Sosa got for using a corked bat in 2003. ''I understand there are consequences to my actions,'' Barrett said as he read from a hand-written statement. ''I would have wished the punishment to be less stringent, but I am hopeful upon appeal it will be lessened. Ultimately, I want to move on from this and continue to do my very best to help the Chicago Cubs win.'' For Cubs manager Dusty Baker, losing his cleanup hitter for 10 games is a big blow to a club that has been struggling offensively. ''It was a little harsh,'' Baker said. ''We knew it was going to be something. We were hoping it wasn't going to be that many days.'' Asked if he thought Pierzynski should have been suspended, Baker said: ''Kind of, yeah. Whenever there is a cause, there's an effect. And I guess the effect was Michael.'' That would imply the cause to the brawl was Pierzynski. Does Sox general manager Ken Williams have a response to that accusation? ''Yeah, I got a response to it,'' Williams said on a conference call with reporters. ''Ted Lilly is pitching against the White Sox in Toronto [Friday night] and I hope to hell we find a way to focus on how to beat Ted Lilly. I'm not worried about Dusty or Michael Barrett or anybody else on that side of town.'' Williams does have plenty of other beefs, though, starting with the fact Barrett delivered the punch Saturday and was still playing Sunday, when he belted a tying triple that sparked a four-run Cubs rally in the eighth inning. ''I only wish that Major League Baseball would really take more of an active role and mandate when penalties should be served,'' Williams said. ''Why should Michael Barrett get the chance to beat us the next day or the next time we play them? And why should another team get a chance to enjoy playing against an undermanned club? With our luck, he'll play against us, then serve the suspension when the Cubs play Detroit. Is that fair? ''Certainly, it's very difficult to swallow when such an action takes place on Saturday, and then on Sunday that same person comes back and beats you in the next ballgame.'' Williams said Anderson's suspension was expected, though five days seemed harsh. ''The bottom line was a teammate was cold-cocked, and then he threw a punch,'' Williams said. ''That was expected. What was unexpected was A.J. getting a fine and Joey [getting suspended].'' The Sox are scratching their heads over the idea of Pierzynski being punished after a play at the plate that both sides agreed was a clean hit. ''This is tough because we could whine about how unjust it is for A.J., who first gets kicked out -- which I still don't get that for getting sucker-punched -- and now gets a fine on top of that,'' Williams said. ''I'm not sure what that's about, either.'' What was Watson's reasoning on fining Pierzynski? ''Quote, unquote, A.J. got up and lowered a shoulder into Barrett,'' said Williams, who spoke with Watson on Thursday. ''It was pretty obvious on our part why and how he got up. That was the first part, the second part was he was cited for inciting the crowd when he approached the dugout.'' Reached by the Sun-Times, Watson said he wouldn't comment on his punishment of Barrett, Pierzynski or Anderson until after the appeals process. But he did explain his reasoning for suspending Cora, the only man punished Friday who wasn't ejected Saturday. ''Our office holds coaches and managers to a much higher standard than players,'' Watson told the Sun-Times. ''There are 50 to 60 people on the field and the umpires are trying to restore order. When you have a coach who has to be restrained, we take a very dim view of that.'' Said Cora: ''I didn't throw any punches. Was I pulled off the pile? Yeah, I was pulled off the pile because I was getting crunched by everybody.'' Mabry was also ejected, but he didn't get punished by Watson. ''He did not throw any punches,'' Watson said. ''He went out there as a peacemaker and found himself getting pummeled.'' Though both teams insist they want to move on from the weekend ugliness, will the bad blood still be there when they hook up again June 30-July 2 at Wrigley Field? ''I think everyone can say that it's not going to be,'' Williams said, ''but I think that it is.'' http://www.suntimes.com/output/sox/cst-spt-punch27.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilMonkey Posted May 27, 2006 Share Posted May 27, 2006 Williams popint has been mine for a while now. It used to be that when players appealed, they waited until they got to New York to have a hearing, so the NY teams got the benefit of teams being shorthanded. With all the technology we have today, there is o reason suspensions, and appeals, can't be handled same or next day. If Barrett does appeal, he should be ordered to serve the suspension during the next Cubs/Sox series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyyle23 Posted May 27, 2006 Share Posted May 27, 2006 At this moment I am tremendously bored and arguing the definition of "suckerpunch" with a guy named Chocolate Milk and another named Transmogrified Tiger on northsidebaseball.com they really have a slanted view on what happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rowand44 Posted May 27, 2006 Share Posted May 27, 2006 QUOTE(Felix @ May 26, 2006 -> 06:37 PM) Why? Because he's on a the Cubs? Players don't get 20 games for starting brawls on the field. It just doesn't happen. 10 games is rather long for this sort of thing, so suggesting that he should have gotten more is just ridiculous. Felix, you know I'm one of the people here who really couldn't care less about the Cubs but it can definitely be argued that Barrett deserved more than 10 games. 10 is what I thought he'd get and I have no problem with it but sucker punching someone is completely different compared to charging the mound and starting a brawl. I really don't have a big beef with any of this because AJ didn't get suspended but it is definitely laughable that he gets fined for playing baseball. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
credeisamazing Posted May 28, 2006 Share Posted May 28, 2006 what i was trying to say was that people shouldn't be complaining about barrett not having a long enough suspension. in reality, the penalties could be much worse and we could lose pods and/if not aj too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phuck the Cubs Posted May 28, 2006 Share Posted May 28, 2006 At this moment I am tremendously bored and arguing the definition of "suckerpunch" with a guy named Chocolate Milk and another named Transmogrified Tiger on northsidebaseball.com they really have a slanted view on what happened. Some crazy Cubs fan w/ the SN CubsBullsBears went off on you in that thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyyle23 Posted May 28, 2006 Share Posted May 28, 2006 QUOTE(Cuck the Fubs @ May 27, 2006 -> 10:22 PM) Some crazy Cubs fan w/ the SN CubsBullsBears went off on you in that thread. Oh well. No skin off my back Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Felix Posted May 28, 2006 Share Posted May 28, 2006 (edited) QUOTE(Rowand44 @ May 27, 2006 -> 02:51 PM) Felix, you know I'm one of the people here who really couldn't care less about the Cubs but it can definitely be argued that Barrett deserved more than 10 games. 10 is what I thought he'd get and I have no problem with it but sucker punching someone is completely different compared to charging the mound and starting a brawl. I really don't have a big beef with any of this because AJ didn't get suspended but it is definitely laughable that he gets fined for playing baseball. I don't think it can be argued logically at all if you look at the MLB's past with suspensions for these sorts of things. If you don't look at that, sure, it can be argued. And AJ probably got fined for what he did afterwards, not what he did in the game itself. That doesn't make it right, but playing baseball wasn't what got him fined I don't think. Edited May 28, 2006 by Felix Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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