The incident...motivation? Latest: no suspensions; undisclosed fines for Mota and Fielder (reply #71ish)

[Mase]

I am hoping that there is a close play tonight with Fielder rounding third and Russell Martin as the catcher. Please! I have been good all year. Just give me this one thing! Fielder may kill the guy.

[JJHardy7]

I think this opinion is kind of ridiculous. A player could just as easily get hurt in the 1st inning as the 9th. I think you're really grasping at straws to justify some anger at Ken Macha.

Why? How many teams have come from behind from that in the 9th? I know it's easy to say it now because of what happened, but in that type of blowout I'd prefer guys go to the bench because of injury risk and getting the bench guys some time. The game was over. The small chances the Brewers have of making the playoffs are gone if Braun or Fielder get hurt. It's still up to Prince though IMO to grow up a little bit. It is nice to see he cares, but I wouldn't want to see some fight breakout after a game. It's just not necessary. I guess you can't say that Prince doesn't care though...

[owbc]

I'm wondering if he got angry when he realized that the Dodgers had someone warming up in the bullpen at the time he was hit.

[stalton]

ESPN surprisingly takes somewhat of middle ground. They acknowledged that Manny's HBP wasn't much of a HBP. They acknowledged that Mota has a history of beaning opposing stars. However even though they weren't surprised by Prince's reaction, they summed it up by saying that this is baseball and people shouldn't be surprised when an opposing team's star gets plunked after their star gets hit.

 

IMO, regardless of opinions, eye for an eye has been baseball's general attitude towards HBP. My problem is that this situation is the last case when you want to get retaliation if I were the Dodgers....they're facing a team that is struggling, it barely hit Manny's JERSEY, it wasn't intentional, the two teams won't face each other again this season, they were crushing the Brewers in that game, and the Brewers clearly werent trying to send a statement to Manny and the Dodgers. It was the bottom of the 9th with 2 outs. That is ridiculous.

 

That being said, even though our brawl against Pitt wasn't effective, we did roll off a nice win streak right after the Prince/Parra brush. If the Brewers ever needed a spark for the rest of the season, this could be it.

[Oldcity]

If I remember correctly, the Brewers played a bunch of bad teams right after the Parra/Fielder incident last year. Any time something "sparks" a winning streak it's generally just coincidence. The Brewers have bad pitching. That won't change.

[Bring Back the Stein]

The incident motivates me to watch and see what happens tonight, which likely will be nothing.

 

I agree with a poster above that it's outrageous to acknowledge intent. It's just something you don't do outright.

 

Oh, and I don't think baseball is the sport where provocations fuel success. Beer league softball, maybe.

 

My only wonder in all this is whether Mota's head would have been separated from his body had Prince caught up with him.

[molitor fan]

A couple things I have gleaned from reading and watching local and national coverage of this:

1. Vin Scully is still the man - even bleeding Dodger blue, Scully opined "what was that?" "What are you doing that for" and was incredulous at Torre's actions (and please - let's place blame on this one at Torre and not Mota - it was obviously an order from Torre, and at least Mota hit him in a better place than the Pirates favorite target - the noggin. Torre is my villian in this one....

 

2. Anthony Witrado does not watch the games....there just can be no way...I have been getting this gist for awhile now, and his description of Fielder's reaction after getting hitting - "grimacing and going down to 1st" is just not even close to what happened after watching the video.....the js needs to completely revamp its baseball staff.

[Mike2k33]

Watching the Scott Van Pelt show on ESPN2. John Kruk was on and basically said the Dodgers handled it the way it's supposed to be handled and he also said Prince Fielder doesn't know how to play the game "the right way". The bald guy and his partner agreed with the overweight former mullet.

 

That's the problem with these ESPN guys. They watch the pre-packaged highlights, know little to nothing about the context of the game and then spout their overblown opinions on things they think they know.

[bjkrautk]

Watching the Scott Van Pelt show on ESPN2. John Kruk was on and basically said the Dodgers handled it the way it's supposed to be handled and he also said Prince Fielder doesn't know how to play the game "the right way". The bald guy and his partner agreed with the overweight former mullet.

 

That's the problem with these ESPN guys. They watch the pre-packaged highlights, know little to nothing about the context of the game and then spout their overblown opinions on things they think they know.

Maybe next time, Prince should turn his batting helmet around and swing right handed, if he's worried about getting hit by a guy. I'm sure Kruk would approve then.

If you don't like the way ESPN covers baseball....stop watching. Eventually, they'll get it.

[Bring Back the Stein]

If you don't like the way ESPN covers baseball....stop watching. Eventually, they'll get it.

Here here. Thank you, MLB network, for freeing me.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

I spoke to a couple friends who had played minor league ball way back. They mentioned "the hit" rarely comes from a manager. They both felt something like that is usually handled between the players or possibly ordered by the pitching coach. Case in point was our issue with the Pirates. I think it's safe to say that Macha had nothing to do with that. It was probably Kendall given his horizontal finger pointed right at Karstens. I thought too this probably came form Torre, but they were pretty convinced it was probably Martin. These guys have been hearing quite a bit around here about not repsonding to the Phillies last year and were probably looking for an excuse to send a message to the league.

 

To understand the "baseball code" that Kruk refers to, it takes about 60 less IQ points than most normal people possess...right about where Kruk is. I guess the way it is supposed to be "handled" is Martin takes one in the back tonight and if he's a man about it, he simply jogs to first. However, that probably means a Brewers pitcher gets tossed that we really can't afford. I'm also not sure that Prince hasn't raised the profile enough to where if Martin does wear one, he may feel the need to retaliate...and so on and so on...

 

Isn't this how wars start?

[SeriesFinale]

Was Martin the one who had Troncoso warmed up though? I don't know.

 

I don't think Prince was in the wrong for being angry; he was, however, for going after Mota or whoever in the tunnel, and we're just gonna have to get used to hearing more about it since it's more unusual than the rather blase story about the Dodgers being wrong in taking out what were most apparently not purpose pitches on Prince. Almost nobody I've heard talk about the story nationally today has had the context correct, but I'm ultimately not sure it matters in terms of trying to start something after the game.

[benji]

I am so glad for the MLB network. I haven't put on the booyah network since april and don't miss it one bit.

[SeriesFinale]

I guess I'm most annyed by the storyline that the Brewers were upset they were getting their brains beat in so they took it out on Manny. This is a pitching staff that has given up 10+ runs four times--four times!--in the last ten days (!), and this time, against a non-divisional opponent they have no history with, is gonna be the straw that breaks the camel's back and makes them petulantly seek "revenge"?

 

Give me a break.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

Was Martin the one who had Troncoso warmed up though? I don't know.

That's the one hole in the theory. Someone on another site pointed out Mota was at 40 pitches and they may have just had Troncoso soft tossing in case. I wasn't really paying attention to the bullpen. Did they show him throwing on FSN?

[jeffy]

...the Dodgers are practically admitting that the HBP was intentional, which should be grounds for a 2-3 game suspension for Mota.

What Fielder did is probably deserving of about the same punishment as whatever Mota gets. Also, the Brewer's had a pitcher who also had an obviously intentional HBP in Pittsburgh, what happened in that case?

[SeriesFinale]

Was Martin the one who had Troncoso warmed up though? I don't know.

That's the one hole in the theory. Someone on another site pointed out Mota was at 40 pitches and they may have just had Troncoso soft tossing in case. I wasn't really paying attention to the bullpen. Did they show him throwing on FSN?

No, it wasn't until after Troncoso came pretty much right out that BA mentioned that he was apparently all ready to go (to Rock's mild disgust), but you're right that I see long relievers soft-toss all the time, and that FSN didn't show it seems to prove that. So who knows.

[NievesNoNO]

I see this one carrying over to this final game. I don't think it will help as a motivator for the Crew however. Prince was definitely in the wrong for charging the clubhouse. Even if it's the truth Martin probably shouldn't be admitting that they threw at a guy intentionally. To me that adds fuel to the fire. Why not just say what everyone else does, "that one just got away" or something to that affect. I just can't see one team admitting they threw at you and the other teams player charging a clubhouse and that being the end of things.

[Mike2k33]

In my post I should have noted that I certainly do not agree with how Prince made a scene after the game. That just shouldn't happen and now it's an unneeded distraction.

 

 

I just found it foolish that the boys at the Bristol Co. thought it would have been better handled if Prince charged the mound because that's "part of the game". I just don't understand(not that I want to in the first place) how it's better to attack a guy on the field in front of women and children rather than in the bowels of a stadium in front of a couple of overweight security guys. Though I find it exciting, I've never felt good about seeing two teams throwing punches at each other on the field.

[DHonks]

Thanks guys...not the reactions I expected from everyone. I really don't get why the Dodgers are trying to protect Manny. Of course, maybe they're all alike. The only Dodger I liked when in the AFL was Ethier, and that's because he was an Oakland A. The Dodgers and Phillies were easily the biggest disappointments in terms of the character of their players (the only good Phillies were Danny Giese and Ryan Howard).

 

Still, I don't like how ESPN isn't setting up the situation. They're not mentioning:

1) Brewers staff ranks worst/2nd worst (not sure if we're worst after last night)

2) Macha doesn't believe in plunking

3) Manny was barely grazed on the pitch. Manny Parra during the game even said he believes the way you pitch Manny is heaters in

4) Brewers wanted the game over ASAP

5) Fielder and Braun have been getting plunked non-stop this year

6) Mota's pitch was 3 feet from the plate. Granted last year we saw he is often several feet from the plate, it's normally not in a star's butt

7) Mota didn't look, just walked off, with a reliever already warmed up

8) Russell Martin admitted it was intentional

9) Fielder couldn't deal with it on the field because Mota ran away while Prince was waiting for an explanation on the field

[TooLiveBrew]

2. Anthony Witrado does not watch the games....there just can be no way...I have been getting this gist for awhile now, and his description of Fielder's reaction after getting hitting - "grimacing and going down to 1st" is just not even close to what happened after watching the video.....the js needs to completely revamp its baseball staff.

 

That's really frustrating to see. Since tend to avoid the JS 'coverage', I hadn't noticed that. The sports department just seems a joke for anything non-Packers.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

Unless Witrado changed his blog post, I believe the direct quote was "Fielder just smirked and went to first base, rather calmly." That seems fairly accurate to me.

[CWSOmaha]

Did anyone read the JS blog(sorry if I repeated anything) that said "Cat in RF and Fielder in the lineup"? I guess AW from the JS was on 1250 and said some very unflattering things about Prince. I know AW is a Dodgers fan but saying that [expletive deleted] on the radio...does he have any professionalism!?

 

 

(edit: language / excessive punctuation --1992)

[BrewCrewForever]

What did Witrado say about Prince on 1250?

 

He is the worst writer to ever cover a pro baseball team. Just awful. I like Haudricourt and really like McCalvy. But like most think Witrado stinks and is a major tool.

[logan82]

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