Tuesday Night Smackdown: Youklis Vs. Porcello and the Fallout

Playing your first game in Fenway Park is exciting enough, but to be asked to wrestle a charging Kevin Youkilis to the ground is just unfathomable.

It happened to Detroit Tigers rookie pitcher Rick Porcello, making his first career start at Fenway. He lost control of a pitch inside and plunked Youkilis in the back. Youkilis took exception to being hit for the second night in a row and decided to charge the mound.

Some may say that the pitch was intentional, but Porcello claims he did not throw at Youkilis and I tend to believe him. A rookie pitcher in their right mind would not intentionally hit a batter like "Youk."

Youkilis was hit in Monday night's game following Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera being hit, he just took his base without any scenes.

On Tuesday, Cabrera was again hit for the second night in a row, and didn't charge the mound. He merely took his base and went on with the game until he was removed by Leyland.

Youkilis violated the rules of the baseball brawl by charging the mound and firing his batting helmet at Porcello. If you're going to charge the mound, you don't throw your equipment at the pitcher who only has a glove to defend himself.

ESPN's Baseball Tonight analyst Eric Young said about Youkilis and charging the mound in general, that "you don't throw your helmet at the pitcher, you go up there and try to land a punch on him, you don't try to wrestle him."

And that is exactly what Youkilis did. He bolted toward Porcello, chucked his helmet at him, then attempted to wrestle him before Porcello was able to body slam him into the ground.

Porcello did his best to try to get out of the way, but being a rookie he wasn't sure what to do. Instead of drifting towards the third base side and veteran Brandon Inge, he backed up towards first base and fellow rookie Ryan Raburn.

The Tigers infield tried to do their jobs and intercept Youkilis before he reached their starter, but they were playing deep and were unable to stop the charge. If Porcello had drifted towards Inge he may have avoided having to throw Youkilis to the ground as the veteran third baseman and former catcher would have been able to at least slow down the hard charging Youkilis. However, Rayburn was inexperienced and whiffed on the tackle.

In the aftermath, Youkilis was ejected from the game, which was expected and warranted. But Porcello, too, was thrown from the affair. Porcello's ejection was completely uncalled for, he was simply defending himself from being injured by an infuriated batter.

Tigers fans could at least be happy that while walking from the mound Porcello was fiery and continued to voice his disgust with the umpiring crew and their decision.

The day after brought more surprises, as Tigers announcer Mario Impemba noted  the Boston perception on the brawl.

By Mario Impemba

So I am perusing the Boston papers this morning to read the local reaction of last night's melee and I run across Dan Shaughnessy's take on Kevin Youkilis' disagreement with Rick Porcello. Here is Shaughnessy's lead:

Kevin Youkilis took a first-pitch fastball in the back, hesitated for a split second, then made a bull rush for 20-year-old Tiger pitcher Rick Porcello. The kid righty was backpedaling when a sprinting Youk flung his helmet at him, then wrapped him up and wrestled him to the ground like a baby calf.

Huh?? Were we watching the same game? Apparently not. Wrapped him up and wrestled him to the ground like a baby calf? Might want to check the video again.

I agree with Impemba on this, Porcello grabbed onto Youkilis, took a few steps and body slammed him into the ground. He wasn't "wrestled to the ground like a baby calf."

Major League Baseball saw it fit to suspend both Youkilis and Porcello for five games for their actions in Tuesday's game.

Youkilis deserved this suspension and he said as much when interviewed, saying: "Basically, I left everything in the hands of the front office," Youkilis said. "Whatever they thought was best for the team was good for me."

But Porcello's suspension is uncalled for, he was merely defending himself and was suspended for "intentionally throwing at Victor Martinez and Kevin Youkilis," said MLB Vice President Bob Watson.

Porcello has appealed his suspension and I can see it being reduced because of its invalidity.

Also fined was Tigers pitcher Edwin Jackson, for what Watson said were aggressive actions. Come on now, aggressive actions? He bounced around the outside of the throng of people and vented his frustration, if that is considered aggressive behavior then couldn't any of the players who rushed off the benches be fined as well?

This debacle has done at least one thing for this series, it has ratcheted up the intensity and brought the national attention to it. And as they say, any publicity is good publicity. Which is certainly true for Porcello, who was able to throw one of the biggest and strongest players in the league to the ground with relative ease.

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