Tired of Politics and the Banking Crisis? Let's Talk BaseBrawl!

When will this election be over? I can't stand another story about the bailout crisis.

It's October. Let's talk baseball, or should I say basebrawl.

Manny Ramirez, who for years played for Boston, got traded mid-season to the Dodgers and his presence seemed to turn things around. The below .500 Dodgers started winning and won their division. Manny was on fire at the bat and fired up the club.

Now in the National League Championship series, the Dodgers had dropped the first two games, which were played at Philadelphia.

Phily's not noted for the kindness of their fans, while the Dodgers are used to the wine and cheese crowds of LA, San Francisco, San Diego, etc. I think it shocked a few Dodgers to be booed and heckeld at Philly.

Well Manny used to play in NY against the Yankees and the stuff their fans can dish out makes the Philly fans look like amateurs.

Well leave it t Manny to stir up his teammates.

In game 2, Phillies pitcher Brett Myers threw behind Manny's head. That's a no-no and a definite message from the Phillies that they didn't respect Manny or the Dodgers.

Usually, the opposing pitcher will retaliate, but no one from LA did.

After Game 2, Manny said he wished the Dodgers had someone like Brett Myers on their team.

That was calling out the Dodger's pitchers from their cheese tasting party at the marina.

The Dodgers' pitcher heard and answered the call.

In Game 3, at the bottom of the first, the Dodgers' hitters jumped all over the Phillies and grabbed a 5 run lead.

In the top of the third Los Angeles starter Hiroki Kuroda threw a pitch at Shane Victorino's head. Victorino barked about throwing at his ribs but not at his head. He did not charge the mound, however.

The inning ended shortly thereafter with Kuroda fielding a throw from 1st baseman Nomar Garciaparra in a 3-1 put out (the ball was hit to the first baseman who was standing back by the outfiled grass, Kuroda ran to first to field a throw from Nomar and the put-out).

Lopes, the Phillies first base coach stepped out on the field to talk to Kuroda - who by the way, doesn't speak English very well and probably didn't fully understand him.

But in the wonderful language of baseball - played in Osaka, Japan where Kuroda is from, he understood what Lopes was saying.

So did Manny and the rest of the Dodgers who cleared the benches, as did the Phillies.

And in the time honored tradition of baseball, I explained to my boys (father-son talks about baseball mean the world is still okay) that in baseball, one doesn't really fight. Fighting is for MMA (mixed martial arts) or maybe basketball, but not baseball.

I explained, in baseball, one must appear to be storming the mound, but you NEVER hit a guy in the face. That wouldn't be baseball. One must either tackle the pitcher, take a slow round-house punch that could be ducked by your grandmother, or one must "hold back" a player who is going to "really do some damage if you don't hold me back".

Heck, there's more real punches in WWF (World Wrestling Federation) than there is in baseball.

That's not to say that the Dodgers let the one guy who has turned their team around be anywhere near a suspension or a punch. As the newscasters said: "The Dodgers are making sure their meal ticket is off the field."

The Dodgers went on to win.

Ahh, baseball. Next to God, it is the thing that assures you that the world is all right again.

Look for another round of brush back pitches in the next game.

Read more here and here.