Last night in Los Angeles, the Dodgers mauled the Milwaukee Brewers 17-4. While an impressive victory, the win was overshadowed by what took place at the end and after the game.
It all started in the 7th inning when Manny Ramirez was hit by a pitch while the Dodgers had a nine run lead. Ramirez had an impressive game, breaking the longest RBI drought of his career with a HR and then also added a 2 run double.
In retaliation for the play with Ramirez, Dodgers reliever Guillermo Mota plunked Brewers slugger Prince Fielder in the 9th with 2 outs and the Dodgers very much in command. This is a routine that has been around since the dawn of baseball. You hit one of ours and we’re going to hit one of yours. When you hit our top dog, we’re going to come after your top dog.
Last year in the playoffs, Ramirez got hit and the Dodgers took a whole lot of flack for not retaliating. You could be sure that when it happened this year, something was going to happen. You have to have your star players back, its as simple as that.
Mota was ejected as you can expect. Mota turned and started walking to the dugout immediately after the pitch, he knows the routine. What made this extraordinary, was Prince Fielder’s reaction. He started going off. After the final out was made he was still yelling and started walking towards the Dodger dugout. He was restrained by teammates, but it still didn’t end there. After the game, Fielder went storming through the tunnels underneath the stadium trying to get to the Dodgers clubhouse. He made it to the set of doors that lead down a hallway to the clubhouse, but security didn’t enable him to proceed any farther.
I don’t know what Fielder was trying to prove, but his reaction was just insane. It wasn’t as if Mota was headhunting or anything, he hit Fielder in the thigh. If you don’t know what Prince Fielder looks like, let me assure you that it is quite a mighty thigh. Prince is the son of former MLB player Cecil Fielder and is built the same way. Hitting him in the thigh is like throwing a ball into a couch. I mean come on, the guy’s thigh is about the size of Delaware.
Another interesting aspect of this incident, is that Mota and Fielder were teammates on the Brewers last year. Maybe its all an inside joke between friends that none of us civilians gets. They sure seemed anything but friendly last night.
I think that maybe Fielder was just trying to light a fire under the Brewer’s ass. If this was his intention then that is perfectly fine. Ham it up as much as you want. The Brewers have been disappointing so far this season. After making the playoffs last year, more was expected from a team that currently sits third in their division and 5 games out of 1st place. I don’t really think more should have been expected though, after all C.C. Sabathia basically put this team on his back and led them to the playoffs on sure will last year.
On the other hand if Fielder was honestly that upset, he needs to grow up. This is baseball and that’s just a part of the game. The score doesn’t matter at that point. Its debatable whether the Brewers were throwing at Manny or not, I’d say probably not, but with the situation that happened in last year’s playoffs the Dodgers weren’t going to be taking any chances. I can imagine they would have been crucified in the papers today in LA if they had let Manny get hit again with no response.
It should be interesting to see what happens tonight, but I don’t think it really should be anything. Its part of the game and the teams should just move on. I sincerely hope that Prince was trying to provide a spark to a team after a lifeless effort. If not I can tell him to grow a set of balls you big pussy. It does seem like the biggest guys are the biggest crybabies a lot of the time. Grow up Mr. Fielder were not going to be treating you any different than any other star player. It’s not like your the spoiled King’s son, are you…Prince?