Yankees, Blue Jays Brawl: MLB Suspends Posada, Carlson

Apparently the Major League Baseball wants to preempt the appeals process. On the condition that they do not appeal their suspensions, Jorge Posada and Jesse Carlson will only have to sit three games, not the original four. Yankees’ reserve outfielder/first baseman Shelley Duncan is also going to be suspended for three games for his role in the brawl. This from Peter Abraham of The Journal News:

The MLB justice system is impossible to understand. Anyway, Posada and Carlson apparently have three games — apparently on the condition of not appealing. It starts tonight. Barajas was fined $1,000. Gaston confirmed the Carslon suspension.

The problem with all this is that there are no rules. It’s up to Bob Watson. The appeals process also has flexibility. It could take a month, it could take 10 minutes.

Bottom line: Posada can’t play until Sunday.

Suspensions’ Czar Bob Watson must have a tee-time for next week so he’s too busy to deal with an appeal. Or maybe the strange cutting of the suspension can be blamed on the economic crisis, and the cost of an appeal. Who knows, either way it’s bizarre.

As you might expect, Major League Baseball does not take kindly to these sorts of things, and at least two of the players from last night’s brawl have been suspended.

From the New York Daily News:

Jorge Posada has been suspended four games and fined $3,000 for his role in Tuesday night’s bench-clearing brawl between the Yankees and Blue Jays, a baseball source told the Daily News. Toronto reliever Jesse Carlson received the same punishment. It is unknown whether either player plans to appeal.

This tends to happen when a fight overshadows a meaningless September baseball game: we forget to mention the outcome. Blue Jays won 10-4. Roy Halladay gave up two over six to get his 15th win.

Also: Did you hear there was a brawl? There was! Here’s Bluebird Banter’s take on Posada’s actions:

I’d imagine there will be suspensions. Posada for sure. Carlson maybe. I’ll admit I admire Carlson more after this. Posada, not so much. Posada has been playing for years, he knows what was going on and he didn’t get hit. He knew Hill got hit in the ribs. Maybe he could act like a veteran. Maybe.

And, as Pinstripe Alley points out, just about every single Yankees beat writer agrees: This thing was all Posada’s fault.

The Posada-Carlson incident really got heated when Posada crossed home plate, where Carlson was backing up the play. Posada gave him a little elbow as he ran past to the dugout, which Carlson took exception to, as he well should have. A batter's window for fighting the pitcher is the seconds immediately following being thrown at. You either charge the mound, or you let it go. You don't give the guy a cheap shot while crossing home plate:

Yankee fans compared it to the Jeff Van Gundy fight from years ago when Van Gundy was clinging on for dear life. At least there isn’t a video nearly as embarrassing out there for Joe Girardi.