Returning the Favor in Baseball

Last night a benches clearing brawl exploded between the Yankees and Blue Jays. Two Blue Jays got hit last night by Yankees pitching so when Blue Jay decide to return the favor things got heated. Then it all broke lose when Jorge Posada crossed home plate and elbowed him. This was after Jesse Carlson beaned Posada earlier in the inning. However Posada should have known it was coming when the Blue Jays’ Edwin Encarnacion and Aaron Hill were hit earlier in the game. Once Posada bumped into Carlson it was on a brawl ensued.

All year long I have seen this retaliation tactic. I know it’s always been there but for some reason I’ve noticed it more. Once incident was when the Dodgers hit Prince Fielder in 9th inning with 2 outs and the Dodgers were crushing the Brewers. There was no reason do to it other then the fact Manny Ramirez got hit earlier in the game. More times then not when a guy gets hit, it’s on accident or so you would think. However when a guy hits a home run and then gets hit on his next plate appearance then you know it’s on purpose. This whole you bean my guy, I am going to bean yours attitude is stupid especially late in games when the game is pretty much over.

Really what do you gain out of retaliating? Nothing. You risk injury, you know you’re going to get suspended and you’re going to get fined. I don’t see any of that being positive. People say it is part of the game, but should it really be? I honestly think their should heavier penalties for someone who retaliates or throws at multiple players in a game. I will admit that I do like the past brawls between the Yankees and Red Sox but look how much trouble they got in because of it. It will be interesting to see if baseball ever does anything to change this.