Mike Scioscia
Vicente Padilla drilled Vladimir Guerrero with a pitch, Guerrero hit a homer in his next at bat, Juan Rivera was hit by a pitch, and Padilla was ejected from the game. This all happened in a game won by the Angels over the Rangers 9-7 on August 15th. The next night all hell broke loose when Texas pitcher Scott Feldman hit Halos secondbaseman Adam Kennedy with a pitch, Kennedy charged the mound, both benches emptied, and Feldman punched Kennedy in the armpit. The Rangers went on to win this contest 9-3.
Earlier this season White Sox skipper Ozzie Guillen was ordered to attend sensitivity training after he ordered a reliever Sean Tracey to nail a Texas hitter with a pitch after Vicente Padilla hit A.J. Pierzynski twice with pitches in a game. Tracey didn’t hit the Ranger batter, took a tongue lashing from Guillen, and was demoted to the minor leagues.
It looks like major league baseball would rather see a bench clearing brawl rather than see the players settle things on the field. It’ll be interesting to see whether sensitivity training will be in the offing for managers Mike Scioscia of the Angels and Buck Showalter of the Rangers.