Prince Fielder goes wild

Brush backs and pitchers intentionally hitting players for revenge or whatever has been a part of the game of baseball since its creation. Every pitcher from Cy Young to Randy Johnson has at one point or another gone out to the mound and either thrown at or intentionally hit a player from a rival team.

This situation played out last night in a game between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Brewers were getting shellacked 17-4 and Dodgers star slugger Manny Ramirez had collected a home run and a two run double. The next trip to the plate he was plunked in retaliation for the beat down.

Now the rule in baseball is if a team plunks your star your pitcher must go out and plunk their star. With two outs in the 9th inning Dodgers pitcher Guillermo Mota did just that and plunked Brewers slugger Prince Fielder. Mota was ejected, and Fielder was upset.

At the conclusion of the game, held in Dodger Stadium, Fielder ran through theDodgers dugout up to the door to their dressing room where he got into an verbal altercation with Dodger Stadium security. After riflingoff a a diatribe filed with profanity Fielder returned to the visitors clubhouse.

While plunking a guy while leading 17-4 might appear to be distasteful, Mora was doing his job and insuring his teammate knew his team stood behind him. If he had not plunked Fielder he may very well have been fighting Ramirez in his own locker room. In baseball that is the code, Fielder should know that. the next time someone plunks him he will expect one of his teammates to take the mound and plunk their star. This is the rule of baseball going back more than 100 years.