Baseball Warnings
7:18 PM EDT Saturday, September 15 2007
The Red Sox effectively clinched the division today, and Beckett effectively clinched the Cy Young. That's ok, A-Rod has had the MVP clinched for a while. But one thing that bothers me, and has for a while, is the way warnings work in baseball. When a Yankee pitcher accidentally hits Youkalis, on a 1-2 count in a 1-1 game with Big Papi on deck, on a Pitch Youk dove into the plate on (admittedly much like Jeter does), on a pitch he arguably swung at, and then Josh Beckett hits Youkalis' counter point Giambi with a first pitch fastball with 2 outs, nobody on and a 4 run lead, only the Sox should receive a warning. Why should the Yankees be penalized? What if the Yankees hit another batter, totally unintentionally? He is thrown out of the game because Beckett hit somebody on purpose? And automatic suspension are issued to Torre and the pitcher? I'm not saying Beckett shouldn't have hit Giambi, they've got to send a message with all that's happened with Youkalis, but again, why should the Yankees be penalized for this? If the Yankees bring in a guy and he pretty clearly throws at a Red Sox in retaliation, then the umpire can thrown him out of the game, but I don't think that both teams should receive a warning. Your team should only receive a warning if your team intentionally throws at someone.
