Prince Fielder Attacks Guillermo Mota, But Is He Really the Bad Guy?

So Guillermo Mota thought it would be a good idea to hit Prince Fielder? Why, because he's a vegetarian? First off, Mota is a little punk! Who intentionally hits someone with two outs in a 17-4 win?

If it were a closer game, like today's will hopefully be, Prince would be a lot more likely to storm the mound, thus getting tossed, not Mota

Second, something that seems to have been lost in all this—Hiroki Kuroda hit Catalonotto in the first few innings of the game. You could argue that Ramirez and Fielder are much bigger targets than Cat is, and you’d be right.

Our boy Swindle did also hit Juan Pierre, but none of those were intentional until Mota tried to be a tough guy and go after Fielder.

Anyone with a good memory—or who has been watching SportsCenter at all this morning—remembers when Mota hit Mike Piazza in consecutive games in Spring Training. First of all, it’s Spring Training! The games don’t even count!! And he did it TWICE!

Granted, a shot on the leg isn’t going to do much, but if you hit a hand, wrist or finger, you can break something and sideline the player for some time.

What would Mota have done if Fielder had charged the mound or gone after him? As the replays of the aforementioned Piazza-Mota feud showed, Guillermo is a wuss. All he did in either of the resulting fights was throw his glove and run away, letting his infielders take the poundings from the angry Mets who came out of the bullpen.

Prince however, is a tank. One look at the guy and you know not to mess with him. Apparently Mota needs to be checked out by the team psychologist, because he has delusions of being tougher than he is.

With regard to the investigation the MLB is doing: stop it.

Really, doesn't the Commisioner's office have better things to waste time on? If you watch the tape, Prince just stands there incredulously mouthing “What the ****?” To which Mota talks back, egging Prince on. The only just penalty in all of this is seeing Mota suspended for as long as possible.

Some other random thoughts before I go:

First, Manny Ramirez is not as big a fish as the Dodgers would like to think. He has had only one multi-hit game since July 20th—last night, his average has been falling since the All Star Break, and he’s only gotten three homers in that time.

Also, because it bears repeating—when Chris Smith hit him, it wasn’t intentional! While October baseball may go through Manny Ramirez, he has had no real impact on a game for a month. After all, he got outwitted by the better Manny (Parra) for the third consecutive outing just two days ago.

This whole thing is getting screwed out of proportion by ESPN, as if Fielder is a bad guy. I dare any of the sportscasters to put themselves in his head, and then try to say they wouldn’t have done the same thing.

While I understand his actions—I don’t condone them. However, I think it’s fairly obvious that Mota is the devil in this situation, not Fielder. Hopefully the MLB doesn’t blow this ruling as badly as they have other things in the past (steroids, anyone?).