Waiting for 600 and Watching the Fights

Dear Ken...or, shall I call you "Junior?" For a couple of months, the talk around here is that you will your 600th career home run very soon. I reported that you accomplished your 599th at home. Awesome! We are very proud of what you have throughout the career and the manner in which made you one of the most respected ballplayers in the game.

So, could you tell us when you're going to hit your 600th home run?

Junior, the suspense is killing us! Don't get us wrong, but we really want you to do this. We just want it over with sooner than later!

Now that I got that off my chest, let's go to the fights!

Round 1 - Kent-v-Torrealba: It started innocently enough. The Los Angeles Dodgers' Jeff Kent was at bat, minding his own business, when he swung on strike three as the ball went into the dirt. The Colorado Rockies' catcher Yorvit Torrealba was trying to retrieve the ball in the dirt. They both collided, started shoving each other and...ding, ding, ding...we're off! The Dodgers and Rockies bullpens emptied and order was soon restored.

MLB's Vice President of On-Field Operations, Bob Watson, doled out a four game suspension for Kent. Kent promptly appealed it, keeping him active until a hearing is set. This is not out of pride except for the fact that the Dodgers are short of outfielders on the active roster.

Round 2 - Crisp-v-The Tampa Bay Rays: A day after the Dodgers-Rockies title fight, a series of events led to a bigger explosion on Fenway Park's infield. In the sixth inning of Wednesday game, the Boston Red Sox' Coco Crisp went to steal second where Jason Bartlett was there waiting for him. The ball was not on time, nor was the tag. However, it appeared that Bartlett was blocking the base that torqued Crisp off, despite that he was safe at second. In the eighth, Crisp was sent running again. This time, he ran right into Rays' Akinori Iwamura who tagged him out. Upset, Crisp walked off to the tune of Rays' manager Joe Maddon's voice in the process of switching relievers.

Nothing was resolved through the night. Thursday was when everything exploded as a James Shields pitch went inside on Crisp. Sure enough...ding, ding, ding...all heck broke loose! Crisp is in the middle of a seven game suspension doled out by Watson. MLB's chief disciplinarian also doled out suspensions to five Rays and two other Red Sox. Joe Maddon was not suspended by the league...I wonder why...

Round 3 - Chuck Armstrong-v-John McLaren-v-His Own Team: You can thank John Kruk of ESPN's "Baseball Tonight" for bringing this one up. Otherwise, no one would ever know that the Chicago White Sox's Ozzie Guillen has company in the angriest, most expletive-spewing manager in baseball category. Last Wednesday, the Seattle Mariners manager took his frustrations out on his team at a media conference an hour after the team's president, Chuck Armstrong, lashed out on his manager and coaching staff. McLaren's response was full of stuff you can't broadcast anywhere. McLaren was called out by Armstrong after the president gave him his support two weeks prior. Ding, ding, ding!

Don't worry, Watson didn't act upon McLaren or Armstrong. He figured that he'll let the club handle this internally. Sounds familiar? "You've got to push," right, Ozzie?