Alan

had more brawls started from SECOND BASE? The D'backs never seem to be involved in a conventional brawl.

__________________
"T.J. was born during a Monday night football game," - Joumana Kidd on why she should have replaced Melissa Stark as the sideline reporter on Monday Night Football.

CatBoxBackFan

What did Batista do to be kicked out besides defend him self from a charging Tito?

__________________

Ryanwb

..he threw the beisbol at Martinez

Just for the record..Martinez = *****

If he was going to start something he should have done it right away after he was hit, not wait till the guy had his back turned. Also, he knew Batista was dominating this club so he "took one for the team" so to speak.

sLanidRaC

Total agreement... Batista said nothing too, not even a glare. It's natural to throw whats "handy" in split second defense. Ah well, we got the last laugh.. For now..

Moose Lady

__________________
Steve Finley - my favorite Gold Glove centerfielder

Cland

I agree. That was Busch league on St. Louis' part IMO. I definitely lost a little respect for Tino after this one. There was no way Miguel was trying to hit him. I hate the fact that in the hitters’ eyes there is little to no difference between pitching inside and trying to hit someone.

Lost in all of this is Mantei picking up back-to-back two-inning saves. He was still throwing in the upper 90's too in the ninth today. I had my doubts about Mantei being a reliable closer (and honestly I still do) but he looked good the last couple days. Especially the way he overmatched Rolen. If he can consistently show some control I think he'll be solid. But St. Louis did do him a couple favors by swinging at balls.

__________________
"Boy, oh boy. Budweiser. How can they make it so cheap and have it taste so good?"

Caray

Moose Lady

I think everyone had some reservations about how he would do this season. So far, he's been better than he was before. Some of his pitches are being clocked at 98mph. That isn't peanuts. As long as he continues to throw that hard and with the same precision as he is now, he'll be awesome. Swinging at balls is one favor we need other clubs to do also. That's the whole point. Make em swing at bad pitches.

__________________
Steve Finley - my favorite Gold Glove centerfielder

AZCB34

Watch the replay and clearly Batista was glaring at him...probably as a result of Tino yapping but Batista isn' completely innocent here. I don't think he intentionally plunked Tino though.

Look for MLB to suspend Batista for whipping the ball at Tino during the brawl though. They cannot allow that type of activity to happen...no matter what the circumstances. I also expect Tino to get suspended.

More important, what happened to Grace? Looked like he had 4-5 Crdinals on him in a huge pile. Was he hurt?

__________________
Dream like you'll live forever, live like you will die today. -James Dean

AZZenny

Forrestham

What Tino MArtinez did was a cowardly act. It is out of charater as he as never been in trouble before to my knowldedge. He deserves a big suspension. The umpires also set a very bad presedence by kicking out Batista. What they did was makes it ok to attack a picther when his backed turned to get him ejected. Miguel was just defensing himself. Is he supposed to sit there and get himself pummelled and not defend himself. He looked at him wrong. Give me a break

What will stop teams from doing the same things to Johnson or Schilling

RLakin

He got tossed for throwing the ball at Martinez. Hard to argue w/ that. I agree that Martinez was out of line, but they couldn't have kept Batista in the game after that.
I also agree that Batista has a chip on his shoulder this year. And he should. This guy has been the teams 3rd most consistent starter the past 2 years and he still can't get a spot in the rotation even after the #4 guy goes to the minors. Sure his spring numbers were bad, but he's always started slow and had tough springs since he's been here. Plus, Batista is throwing real hard this year. At 1st I thought it was just because of the D-backs inflated gun, but I saw 95 on the gun in St. Louis today. Very impressive, but I guess not enough for Brenly.
Speaking of whom, why the heck did Brenly let LaRussa have free reign out there today. You'd think he'd be a little pissed about his best hitter getting hit in the back with a fastball, yet Bob exchanges a chuckle w. the umps and basically lets LaRussa punk him. Heck, Craig Counsell was the one telling the umpires to get friggin LaRussa off the field after the Batista bean ball.

Smolder

brenly always struck me as the nonconfrontational type,

as for batista, im not sure if it's here or in the old board where someone posted his stats as a starter and as a reliever. despite that great one in the world series, his starts have never really been that good, middling is probably a better description. as a reliever, though, he's always been dependable.

as for his 95 mph heat. do you really think he'd last the season doing that for 7 innings every five days? he's never been a real power pitcher...so don't count on it.

those concerns aside, he's doing a stellar job, together with villareal in the bullpen. mantei, of course...i always said he'd be dominating...

Brian in Mesa

First, it's Tino and not Tito. Very important difference. No one would be afraid of a charging Tito.

Second, he threw the ball at him when he charged, which is likely an automatic ejection.

__________________
HONEY BADGER DON'T CARE

DbaxJ

The only glaring that Miggy did was on the initial play when Tino was bitching at him. After he took first, it was over. When Tino was forced out at second, there was several angles showing that Miggy DID NOT EVEN LOOK AT TINO.. the only thing he did was look for the ball, catch it, and turn to the mound. Tino waited and instead of heading to the dugout, he went straight for Miguel.

In no way can I condone what he did by throwing the ball at him, but I can also see that it was a natural reaction. Tino punked him, waited for his back to be turned and then ran at him. TOTAL PUNK! Miguel will get fined, I doubt that he will get a suspension, but who knows... but there better not be a slap on the wrist for Tino... he was totally in the wrong there, and that needs to be addresses. Also, Fassero needs to be taught a lesson too.. there was ZERO reason to hit Gonzo.

As a side not, Mantei was clocked at 98 for 8 pitches, 99 for 2 and 100 on the final pitch of the game......

RLakin

I guess. The guy let his starting pitcher get yelled at by LaRussa, stood silent after his best hitter got plunked, who also exchanged words w/ LaRussa. All the meanwhile also letting LaRussa dominate the majority of the umpires time even after St. Louis initiated the confrontation by charging the mound and threatened to start another one with another plunking later in the game.
Unbelievable.