Swing and a miss!

Derrek Lee and Chris Young got into it on Saturday, with the resulting suspensions weighing in at five games apiece. For those who don't know this story, Young plunked Lee in the left hand with a pitch. Unfortunately, his hand happened to be right next to his head.

We got, "I really don't mind getting hit..." from Lee and, "I will say this, I didn't throw at him..." from Young. Lee went on to mention he didn't particularly like getting hit with a ball aimed for his skull and some of the words Young uttered afterwards: "...he said some things to me I didn't like. It just escalated."

Yeah, you could say that. One theory is that the pitch was retaliation for Alfonso Soriano showboating on a homer the night before. Wha? Young had a no-hitter at the time. And, um, Lee doesn't resemble Soriano the last time I checked. I had a bit of a debate with Whitey over this same issue when Ted Lilly of the Cubs smacked Edgar Renteria (Braves) with a pitch...in the first inning. Lilly was tossed and the Cubs' bullpen was left to finish the game. That supposedly started two days before after Soriano (hmmm...) hit three home runs in a game. The next day Tim Hudson planted a two-seamer square in Soriano's back. So, of course, the next day Lilly then aims one at Renteria (who had a good game the night before) and...well, you get the idea.

I don't mind the 'unwritten rules' of baseball, in fact I kind of enjoy them. But c'mon people, aim for the perpetrator why don't you? I don't think Young meant to hit Lee, and he's obviously not going to own it even if he did. Take your base and move on. Or do what Renteria did--steal second and land a forearm across the second baseman's dome. Gotta be his fault.