Projo Sox Blog

Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
The benches cleared when Josh Beckett, center, had words with Cleveland's Kenny Lofton, not pictured, in the fifth inning.

BY JOE McDONALD
Journal Sports Writer

CLEVELAND -- I posted this item to the blog when the Red Sox and Angels had one last month. So, with it happening again tonight, I figured to bring it back.

Have you ever seen anything more ridiculous than a bench-clearing "brawl" in baseball?

Red Sox starter Josh Beckett had words with the Indians' Kenny Lofton in the fifth inning on the infield grass after Lofton popped out to left field.

Both benches cleared and, my favorite, the pitchers in the bullpen run all the way in to join the scrum on the diamond. If anything, don't you think they would get into it in the outfield instead of running all the way in?

To stop such silly behavior, and to have baseball players stop thinking they're hockey players, here's a simple solution to stop such events in baseball:

If a pitcher hits a batter and then decides to charge the mound, let them battle it out. If anyone leaves their position, including the catcher, or leaves the dugout and bullpen then it's an automatic suspension.

This way the pitcher knows he'll have to protect himself if he decides to intentionally hit a batter. And, if the dugouts do empty, then please make it worth it -- old-school hockey.

I can picture it now: Francona walking through the clubhouse one day and he spots Dustin Pedroia putting on the foil.

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