Fisticuffs

There was a bench clearing brawl in the fifth inning of last night's Braves 7-2 win over the Angels. 

The game started just before 10 EDT. Because the game was played on the west coast, many of us in the east may have missed the excitement. 

The incident occurred after Braves pitcher Reynaldo Lopez fired a pitch high and tight to Angels' DH Jorge Soler. Soler, a former Brave, took exception to the pitch. Words were exchanged and, eventually. Soler charged the mound. Early in the game, he his a two run homer and, during his next at bat, was it by a pitch.

Seems like he was saying "Enough!"

Players and coaches from both teams acted quickly to separate the principals. After tempers cooled and the umpires sorted out the details, both players were ejected from the game and both teams warned.

Interestingly, there have been a lot of connections between the two teams over the years with a number of trades and free agent signings. So, it's not like there is a lot of animosity. Soler, himself, was a hero of the Braves 2021 World Series winning team and Lopez formerly played for the Angels.

Generally, the Braves are thought to be a calm, business-like team. It's not like there is usually much drama associated with the ballclub.

I'm not sure what is about a good donnybrook that gets our attention. Maybe it harkens to old school baseball. Or perhaps it is because baseball generally moves at such a slow pace. Possibly it is the cerebral nature of the game.

In any case, there isn't the physical component, in, say, football or hockey. 

I was thinking back to the #CoachJeff days and I don't remember any fisticuffs or even a hint of that. There was often some good-natured jawwing back and forth.

Paul, who was larger in stature than many of his compadres, would often shoot a faux menacing look in from the pitching mound or back out from home plate when he was hitting - but it was all for show. Once, however, he took exception at a pitch that buzzed the tower and he was told by the umpire to knock it off. 

But, again, nothing serious came out of it. Youth coach sports tended to really emphasis sportsmanship in our era. 

And I think it generally true, at the highest levels of the game, we see much less of this kind of thing that we might have seen 50 years ago.

I think that is one reason why an incident like last night grabs our attention. In the old "news values" discussion, it's a novelty.

JG