Youk Had Enough

Not sure people need me to weigh in on last night's bench clearing brawl but figured I'd throw in my $.02.

I am not sure I agree that the Sox needed "a spark" and that Youk's rush was part of any big plan to pull the Sox out of their recent slump. I think anyone who pays attention realizes that last week's stuff was in the past and that this team is filled with too many veterans to need a bench clearing incident to get them going. To me, if the Sox don't get it done it's probably because they had too many injuries and not enough talent, not because they weren't sufficiently fired up.

That being said, Youkilis pays the price with a suspension - but surprisingly the MLB discipline guy went pretty easy: 5 games - and having him out of the lineup is going to hurt the team without question. At the same time, he could probably use a break and at least Mike Lowell is a decent backup and you have a bunch of other guys that can fill in at 1B.

In terms of the incident itself, it didn't make sense for the Tigers to hit Youk a second time as it seemed teams were all square after each team had a batter hit (Youks and Miguel Cabrera) the previous game. Cabrera, who is Detroit's best hitter was hit again last night, but it was a rookie in his first big league start with runners on in the first inning- clearly not intentional. My sense is that this situation has taken care of itself as both managers have already talked. Unlike the festering situation with Yankees where the Yankees continue to take shots and are backed up by a bushleague manager who literally just fell off the turnip truck.

In Youk's defense (and he already admitted this) - he just had enough and lost it for a split second. Explains charging the mound and it explains throwing his helmet. Its the 10th time he's been plunked this year and many of these are coming in high and hard (especially against NY), so I dont think anyone blames him. My only regret was that Youk took the brunt of the takedown and the on-field fracas was pretty tame.

Bottom line, 5 game suspension, Youkilis gets a rest. Sox won the game and we got to see a bench clearing brawl at Fenway. You don't hear my complaining.