"Amaro said he is hopeful Polanco can play through the injury, much like Raul Ibanez played through it in 2009. Amaro added Polanco’s injury does not seem to be nearly as severe as Ibanez’s. Ibanez’s required offseason surgery."

A "no comment" from the Phillies' speed-talking centerfielder is the baseball equivalent of an "I'm not hungry" from Andy Reid.

The silence spoke volumes. It was a clear indication that Victorino was thinking exactly what every Phillies fan - every reasonable person, really - was thinking: Garagiola Jr. got it terribly wrong. Perhaps he should have opted to do what his annoying announcer/father would have done: let Tony Kubek sort out anything remotely connected to baseball itself.

In effect, by merely fining Ramon Ramirez and Eli Whiteside, Garagiola Jr. implied that Victorino's anger was created in a vacuum.



.....


So when the Phils lead grew to 8-2 in the sixth and Victorino came to bat, reliever Ramon Ramirez drilled him in the back.

Victorino took a few steps toward the pitcher and probably would have done nothing more than talk him to a pulp if Giants catcher Eli Whiteside, bouncing on his toes like a very bad middleweight or a Castro District hoofer, hadn't decided to pull an Assante Samuel and go for Placido Polanco's knees.

It was Ramirez and Whiteside who triggered the wrestling match that ensued. And yet Garagiola Jr. merely fined them, along with Polanco, who was guilty of nothing more than trying to protect a teammate.

But Victorino got a three-game suspension.

MLB undoubtedly will say that Victorino warranted the suspension because he broke free from umpire Mike Muchlinski, who controlled the Phils centerfielder no better than he did the prelude to the fracas or the game.

But a 90-plus m.p.h. fastball to the back would provoke anyone, with the possible exception of Travis Lee.

So ask yourself this: If Ramirez doesn't hit Victorino and Whiteside doesn't tackle Polanco, would the incident have escalated beyond all the others that result in little more than words and gestures?

Roy Halladay is going to win, unless he doesn't. After winning last night, he's 15-4 with a 2.51 ERA. He leads the N.L. in wins, and he's second in both winning percentage and ERA to Ryan Vogelsong, but Vogelsong's not going to win the Cy Young Award. Halladay's only competition comes from Cole Hamels (13-6, 2.53) and Clayton Kershaw (13-5, 2.79).

Silence Sarge wrote:Buster_ESPN Buster Olney
Source explains SF-PHI fight penalties: If Victorino had gone to 1B, then only Ramirez would have been fined, for intentionally hitting.

Buster_ESPN Buster Olney
Source explains: Pitchers only get suspended for throwing near somebody's head or after a warning (Weaver, for example); Ramirez did neither

Buster_ESPN Buster Olney
Source explains: Victorino gets suspended for being very aggressive, pushing past the ump, and then dives into the pile and re-starts.

Buster_ESPN Buster Olney
Source explains: Whiteside was aggressive, but he was viewed trying to defend his pitcher to a certain extent.


How the fuck?

The B1G Piece wrote:http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/14728/phillies-among-nls-greatest-ever

Must've passed over the desk of Buster TROLLney

joe table wrote:

The B1G Piece wrote:http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/14728/phillies-among-nls-greatest-ever

Must've passed over the desk of Buster TROLLney

We lose to the Barves AGAIN in pretend baseball