It wasn’t a typical skirmish in the Reds-Cards showdown, and it symbolized the wildest brawl in the history of sports, as each team was unable to stay above the fray when a verbal altercation initiated a physical altercation.
It was utterly amazing that Cincinnati Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips, an agitator who caused tempers to flare and blatantly singled out the St. Louis Cardinals with verbal trash talk, merely was handed a fine for escalating and instigating an ugly war between two teams with bad blood.
In truth, the animosity triggered a benches-clearing brawl that was so untypical at a time peace is spreading unity in the game, and besides, a brawl very seldom materializes unless it’s Yankees-Red Sox in UFC melees, which are mundane and viewed as traditional tussles.
This week, the most controversial issue happened, as usual, when Major League Baseball issued suspensions for players’ involvement in a repulsive and unorthodox brawl, but mishandled imposing a befitting penalty for the instigator who was the cause in the ugly incident.
How utterly compelling we continue to ignore the causes and effects in life and deny the visible evidence, finding someone else liable for their wrongdoings in a tawdry and uncontrollable rumble.
But this is the era we live in currently, a sport blinded by the truth in regards of steroid scandals, awful no-calls or calls, or even an asinine brawl, as the majors are showing nepotism and remains unsuccessful by inflicting a valid punishment.
Whether he wants to admit it or not, Phillips should be dropping his head in shame, and blaming himself for prompting the dispute and adding to the hostility. When he publicly lashed out on the Cardinals the other day, the abhorrent remarks backfired and cost his teammate and starting pitcher Johnny Cueto a seven-game suspension for his actions during the brawl of Tuesday night’s game.
Few believe, however, that Phillips broke baseball’s unwritten rule and suggested that he should have served a suspension. All of his talk led to absolute nonsense and was fighting words, as Phillips exactly became famous for publicly calling out the Cardinals unpleasantly and starting a fight, similar to the heated, back and forth feuds that explode at nightclubs or even in sports, such as this deranged fracas.
The theory is, of course, play nice boys and perform the task with strong persona and good sportsmanship. Have they ever heard of playing nice? Sometimes I wonder and gush over the significance of sportsmanship and respect for peers and teammates, whereas sharing the wealth and spreading reconciliation harmonizes the atmosphere at a friendly, relaxing night at the ballpark.
Point is, it was a hilarity scene with no purpose, endearing what could have been a harsher punishment.
And since Phillips said he despises the Cardinals on Monday, it had the fuming antagonist emotionally livid during a matchup that has turned out to be appealing, capturing baseball devotees who are now anxious to witness a rematch of the Reds-Cards in the NLCS. It’s suddenly the dream matchup? From contamination to physical knockouts, baseball has suddenly turned into a Wrestlemania or Ultimate Fighting spectacle?
If there is any excitement or buzzing noise in the majors come October, it would be a hostile meeting between two heated, ill-tempered rivals, and would be the equivalent of all the outrageous Jerry Springer brawls, or fights that take place on the playground during recess.
When the news first surfaced, it strictly revolved around Phillips and no other player or manager. As of recently, he was overly talkative in his public rant that obviously broke the hearts of the Cardinals, but had the initiative and stronger minds without responding to Phillips’ fighting words. Yes, words that were foolish, words that were an explanation of antipathy.
“I’d play against these guys with one leg. We have to beat these guys. I hate the Cardinals. All they do is [beep] and moan about everything, all of them, they’re little [same bleep, plural], all of ‘em. I really hate the Cardinals. Compared to the Cardinals, I love the Chicago Cubs. Let me make this clear: I hate the Cardinals.”
Oh, he clearly elaborated and stated how he felt about the divisional rivals. The harsh words probably made the Cubs speechless. The spiteful words probably opened many eyes. The insulting words probably awakened the Cardinals and have inspired the team to come out with much fortitude, strength and firepower.
It’s very interesting to see whether the Cardinals ride the emotional surge from Phillips' latest bickering, and maybe this was a momentum push to increasingly expose the unbeatable, invincible, unstoppable mindset. But if anything, the recent incident was mishandled and managed wrongly, failing to acknowledge the core of the problem and issue standards to fairly suspend Phillips, who impelled the much-anticipated altercation.
It’s very surprising to some degree that only three players were suspended in the brawl, where there were evidently more than three players involved in the tragicomic hysteria. This is unfortunate in a way, as Cueto is hit with seven games, and we all know why. But I have a problem with the Reds starter forced to sit out seven games, as the enforcers were harsh and denied any convenient excuses.
In some way, Cueto could have gotten away with kicking as if he was a whiny baby stuck in a stroller, in a brawl that drifted towards the fence behind homeplate. At that point, players were pinned against the backstop netting, including Cueto who showed off some of his Kung Fu motions. From a sensible viewpoint, he used self-defense.
In perspective, this is one martial arts expert who is being used as an example, and he’s fortunately projected to miss one start and will appeal the suspension, subsequently for landing several kicks to the back of Cardinals’ Chris Carpenter and the ribs of catcher Jason LaRue, who suffered a mild concussion and sore ribs according to manager Tony La Russa.
So now, the insults of Phillips isn’t the vital problem and has receded as the storyline. And now, we are focused on Cueto’s actions. The peeving nonsense is why the majors are so corrupted and battered in a crisis, very rampant to whereas it’s gradually turning millions away. How Phillips receives a fine, and not a suspension? This is another nightmare in baseball, but perhaps only this time it involves a brawl.
While La Russa and Dusty Baker were suspended two games a piece, Phillips, Carpenter, Yadier Molina, and Russ Springer were all fine. What? That’s all?
They were all in the brawl and just as liable as Cueto. There's a clear understanding that Phillips is being labeled as the victim even when he prompted a face-to-face shouting dispute with Molina and taunted him with his bat. Wow! Really, you forgot that fast? How could you it just happened a few days ago.
In my mind, it is insanity when Phillips is accused of any wrongdoing.
