The Out Route

Tonight's brawl, shown here on ESPN.com, was a pretty good one. In their last series, Ranger Adam Eaton was tossed for hitting Juan Rivera. Then last night, Vincent Padilla took out his poor pitching frustrations by beaning two. He was tossed.

So the Angels got a little revenge last night when pitcher Kevin Gregg failed -- miserably mind you -- when attempting to hit Ian Kinser. In fact, the ball was thrown right behind Kinser. Next at bat, he succeeded by hitting Michael Young. He was tossed. Brendan Donnelly replaced him, hit Freddy Guzman, and he was tossed.

Finally, in the 9th, Scott Feldman of the Rangers hit Adam Kennedy and Kennedy charged the mound. Now, this is where I thought the fight could have gone from good to great. If you look at the video, Feldman sees him coming and is waiting for him. It looks like he's gonna land a nasty haymaker across the face. Instead, he opts for some wimpy uppercut and the two start fighting like girls. Who knows what happened? Maybe Feldman realized if he landed that punch, he could have broke Kennedy's jaw and he would have been dealt a nasty suspension. If I were him, I would have done it. No one outside of Texas knows who Scott Feldman is. His 4.91 average is nothing astonishing. A sweet jaw breaker could have made a name for himself.

As a fan who thirts for blood, his wimpy uppercut should go down in the Lame Punch Hall of Fame. He connected on a weak shot to Kennedy's arm. At least hit his chest or something. And as we all learned from the World Cup, when in doubt, headbutt.

I will give ups to John Lackey, who really had nothing to do with any of the beanings in the last two games, but who still ran out with a head of steam, ready to kick some ass. Sure, he was stopped, but at least he knows what I want out of my late summer baseball -- some violence. Because until the playoffs, even the most hardcore baseball lovers need a little break from the mundane.