Arroyo hits A-Rod, and a fight breaks out at Fenway. Somehow Yankees starter Sturtze gets attacked and is cut near his left ear.
The fight started between A-Rod and Varitek. Alex was glaring at Arroyo as he was walking to first, and Varitek got between them to protect Bronson, although Alex didn’t look like he was going to do anything. Jason and A-Rod started jawing, A-Rod made a let’s go motion, and Varitek hit Alex in the face with his glove hand. Both benches emptied, and little fights broke out, Sturtze ending up getting cut on the face as he battled two Sox.
The good news is that no elderly coaches were harmed in the course of the brawl. 🙂
Varitek and A-Rod have been thrown from the game. I don’t know what was said, but A-Rod got the short end of the stick here. He didn’t rush the mound, he was just glaring. Varitek overreacted.
It will be interesting to see what Sturtze does in the next inning. Both benches have been warned, so if Sturtze hits somebody, he’s gone.
Update: Sturtze went into the pile and grabbed Kapler by the neck and pulled him out of the pile and wouldn’t let go. Ortiz tried to throw a punch to get Sturtze off Kapler. It’s not clear how Sturtze got cut, but it looks to be about three inches long, and he’s pitching with blood on his shirt. He’s given up two hits to start the inning.
Update: The beauty of Tivo. Just watched it again, and Rodriguez did say something to Arroyo. Varitek said something back to Alex, which really set him off. I still don’t think A-Rod was going to rush the mound, however.
Remember, too that Arroyo is a bit of a head-hunter. He’s 2nd in the league in hit batters, 13 in 95 innings coming into the game. That’s over 1 per 9 innings. It’s only a matter of time before he hits the wrong person and gets clocked himself.
Rodriguez overreacted, not Varitek…he dropped a couple F-bombs and called Varitek out. He should have expected nothing less than for Varitek to hit him. (The pitch hit him inthe backside, for crying out loud.) Seems Rodriguez has assumed the Yankee mantle of royal arrogance, like the rest of ’em. I just wish Jason had cold-cocked him.
Spoken as a true Red Sox apologist. Completely unbiased…yeah right
Replay shows A-Rod got him in the left bicep, not the ass. And whatever A-Rod was saying, there’s no question that Varitek threw the first punch. Sorry, but a few F-bombs doesn’t justify a punch in the face by a guy wearing body armor and a mask.
I’m watching the game right now (top 6, 7-4 bad guys). I’m surprised that Sturtze didn’t take a shot at Nomar or Ramirez — players of Rodriguez’s stature — when they came up. Torre even had a reliever already warming up!
Crap. 2-run Enrique Wilson single makes it 9-4.
Arroyo isn’t a headhunter, per se. He throws a lot of curves that get away and hit right-handed batters.
It did look like he plunked A-Rod on purpose, based on his body language after the fact.
Varitek overreacted (though he just pushed A-Rod), but this is just frustration for the whole team boiling over. The Sox show very little passion most of the time; maybe this will get them going. You know Francona got tossed to keep the the team fired up.
Varitek better be gald it was a-rod and not Sheffield. THere’s just something about Gary that that says, don’t f with me.
I think it’s disgraceful that Theo Epstein seems to be proud of the whole mess.
are you insane?
That royal diva a-rod thinks that because he films lousy boys and girls club ads he’s above the game. What an arrogant classless shmuck.
Arroyo throws lots of curves that get away, whether or not this was a purpose pitch is irelevant (nomar got hit last night), it his him on his armour too. He very clearly to varitek to ‘come on’ and made the universal gesture to fight.
If this had happened with Tejada or Renteria there would be no question of who the blame lies with, A-rod is hiding behind the yankee myth and his own ill-gotten reputation.
Steve- the thing about Gary that says ‘don’t f-with me’, it’s all those used needles, and his overall balco-induced puffyness.
The Yankee media myth is a ridiculous concept. Both teams get glorified coverage, including a ton of press everytime the sox are the slightest bit close to getting into the world series. And it’s very supportive and hopeful…of course, think what that would do for baseball.
Not to mention the sox have half of academia eager to wax poetic at any opportunity around the “complex” nature of being a sox fan. Certainly sox fans can agree their is some advantage to having that type of sustained publicity and support.
(By the way, I’m not arguing that the quantity and tone of these essays, interviews, books, columns, etc. are bad. Just PLEASE stop complaining about a media bias.)
Additionally, a quick glance at the right hand list of blogs on baseballmusings.com will highlight a very important and powerful tool for circumventing the media and promoting another point of view. Just remember that no one wants to read whining.
Red Sox Outslug Yankees
A one hour delay, a bench-clearing incident, 5 ejections, a sixth inning which lasted 1:07 and a blown save by Mariano Rivera on a comeback, walk-off home run. Was that a great game, or what?
A-Rod has been doing a great job for the Yankees. Far from being an arrogant asshole, he has worked hard to fit into the team at 3rd & has gone out of his way to learn from the older players … and to show them respect.
This isn’t the only Yankee player hit deliberately in the last few weeks … disgraceful behavior by losing teams.
The yankee myth is that for some reason, no matter what members of the team do, they’re always the classyer team. Last october’s fight was largely the fault of red sox players, this one was one the yankees.
A-rod thought that his wallet prevented him from being hit. Wow, he showed repect to older teammates? It’s no conicidence that every player in texas is much ahppier in the clubhouse now that he’s gone.
The good news is that the elderly coaches stayed out of harm’s way, where they belonged in the first place.
In the middle of a basebrawl, a guy approaches you, angrily, and takes a swipe at your face: what do you do? Never mind his age. No time for that. He’s swinging for your face: what do you do?
Yeah, I’m sure you smile at him kindly and ask the old “gentleman” if there’s something you can help him with. My ass you do.
Dave – did your Tivo catch the pitch prior to the HBP? I recall that one being up and in too, but I may be wrong.
Yes, the pitch was inside an tight, but it was a reasonable brushback pitch.