Okay, so the league handed down a five-game suspension to Ubaldo Jimenez, along with an “unspecified” fine for smoking Troy Tulowitzki in the Indians-Rockies game Sunday.
The bench-clearing pitch and baiting by Ubaldo has earned him what amounts to a one-start suspension. When he gets around to serving it is another story, as his pending appeal will postpone his “sentence.”
It should be no surprise as any sort of discipline is immediately met with appeal. Doesn’t matter that we all know that time should be served, the player will call foul. Ryan Braun has proven that the system can be beat, further advancing the popular cry of “it wasn’t me.”
Ubaldo didn’t take too kindly to the comments by former manager Jim Tracy after the incident in the first inning on Sunday. Go figure, handling the truth is outside the realm of possibility for the spineless Jimenez. If you can’t smell my seething distaste for the former Rockie, than you need to get your monitor checked.
I appreciate what he did for the team — delivering the team’s first first no-hitter, a player All-Star appearance and national relevancy — but his infamy has been growing since his departure. He turned into a sports bad-guy by being salty over a contract not getting restructured, and then complained about it publicly. Then blasting the team star -the one that stepped up and spoke for the clubhouse- with an “inside” fastball. It is gutless, as Jim Tracy said. Gutless gets a fine and five games at home on the couch when you do it in front of the commish.
Escalona-Ubaldo link
The day after the Ublado/Tulo incident, another Rockies pitcher is being likened to Jimenez. Edgmer Escalona plowed a breaking ball into the side of rookie Mariner Jesus Montero. Montero was rightfully mad, having to be restrained some by other teammates. In the same game where Jamie Moyer blew a start, I am sure Escalona actually did lose that one … and did so in frightful fashion. I don’t believe what the Chris Chase’s of the world will say “They are Venezuelan, they must have beef from playing ball there.” Trying to draw parallels with Sunday’s game just doesn’t compute either.
Montero seemed okay after getting popped above the ear, but he was noticeably calmer as the game wore on. Not sure if it was because he was chilled out, or because his bearings were left in the batter’s box.