Bob Watson continued to hand down swift justice from the MLB front office on Thursday. Both Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Yorvit Torrealba of the Colorado Rockies were suspended before Thursday's action for an on-field scuffle in Tuesday night's game.
Kemp was suspended for four games and fined for "fighting and inciting the on-field incident" while Torrealba received four games for "fighting". In case you missed it, BDD had the story following Tuesday's tussle between Torrealba and Kemp.
The suspensions were effectively immediately but Torrealba has appealed his suspension and with the Dodgers on tap to play in about an hour, there is a possibility that Kemp could also appeal.
Crisp-Rays III went down as expected in Boston tonight. In the bottom of the second inning of tonight's game, Tampa Bay pitcher James Shields hit Boston outfielder Coco Crisp in the leg followed by Crisp immediately charging the mound and benches and bullpens clearing. Shields plunking of Crisp was retaliation for Crisp's actions the previous night.
This was not the typical bench clearing partner up and hug baseball brawl either. As Crisp neared Shields, Shields unleashed a haymaker that caught nothing but air followed by a Crisp punch that glanced Shields. From behind, Rays catcher Dioner Navarro tackled Crisp and a melee ensued.
On the ground, Crisp took shots from a few players with Johnny Gomes and Carl Crawford getting in the best of them. Red Sox third-base coach DeMarlo Hale also got involved as he took a run at Shields.
Once both teams settled down, Crisp, Shields and Gomes were all ejected for their actions in the brawl. MLB.com has video of the brawl on their website.
Manager Charlie Manuel has two rules -- be on time and hustle. Unfortunately, Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins broke one of them in the bottom of the third inning when he failed to run out a pop out to shortstop that was dropped by Cincinnati's Paul Janish. While the error scored the run, Rollins ended up at first but with hustle could have gotten to second.
Upon return to the dugout, Manuel let Rollins know he would spend the rest of the game on the bench proving even an MVP is not perfect.
After the game, Rollins understood his punishment and was not upset. "It's my fault," said Rollins. "It's like breaking the law and getting mad when the police show up."
The Athletics and Blue Jays made a trade on Thursday. Oakland sent infielder Kevin Melillo to Toronto in exchange for an undisclosed amount of cash. The Athletics designated Melillo for assignment on May 30 and had 10 days to trade, release or try to clear Melillo through waivers.
The 26-year-old Melillo was a fifth round pick in 2004 and was hitting .260 with five home runs and 17 RBI in 38 games at Triple-A Sacramento. Melillo walked as a pinch hitter in his only Major League action on June 24, 2007.
The Orioles were busy on Thursday. First, shortstop Luis Hernandez cleared waivers. Then, the O's picked up Oakland A's outfielder Jeff Fiorentino off of waivers. Finally, the team announced that pitcher Adam Loewen would be moved to the bullpen for the remainder of the season upon return from the DL in a few weeks.
Hernandez making it through waivers allowed the Orioles to send him down to Triple-A Norfolk which was what the Orioles had hoped to accomplish with the designation last week.
The Fiorentino pick-up is a familiar one. He was drafted by Baltimore in the third round of the 2004 draft and played in the Baltimore organization until this season. Fiorentino joined Oakland in 2008 and made one stop in the Majors where he went 1-for-1 with an RBI in two games.
Loewen's eventual move to the bullpen is being made to keep a close eye on how many pitches the 24-year-old throws to keep him from developing further arm trouble. Manager Dave Trembley did not rule out the possibility that the bullpen move could last beyond 2008.
Nick Punto is back on the 15-day disabled list for Minnesota with the same left hamstring injury that put him there from May 10-30. Recently optioned infielder Matt Macri was recalled to take Punto's place on the roster.
Punto went 4-for-10 in his return but his inability to run at full speed hurt them on Thursday prompting the return to the DL. Down 3-2 in today's game with Baltimore, Punto hit a shot into the left field corner but the hamstring injury turned a triple into his second double of the game. A fly out (which would have scored the tying run) and strikeout later and the Twins fell to the Orioles. After the game, the decision was made to put Punto back on the DL.