• Youkilis, umpires at fault in Tigers-Red Sox brawl

  • By Keith Law | August 11, 2009 6:20:42 PM PDT
There are two real culprits in this Tigers-Red Sox mess, when a brawl broke out in the bottom of the second. First is Kevin Youkilis, who showed once again that he can't keep his emotions in check by charging the mound without a moment of hesitation after he was hit by a pitch. Tigers starter Rick Porcello backed off and raised his hands as if to ask why Youkilis was rushing the mound. Those of us in the scouts' seats had the same reaction. Porcello looked like he was in for a dominant outing, sitting 91-94 with great sinking life, and had a three-run lead. He had a win in his sights; was he really throwing at Youkilis, or was it another two-seamer that ran too far to his arm side? Youkilis had probably already decided he wanted some pretense for charging the mound (maybe to get Porcello out of the game?) and he should be suspended for acting like a fool.The other culprit is the umpiring crew, and while some responsibility has to fall on home plate umpire Brian O'Nora, it's time MLB took a more serious look at Tuesday's first base ump and crew chief, Jerry Crawford. This is Crawford's second major incident of the month, after Friday's egregious blown call and subsequent outburst against Arizona manager A.J. Hinch. While Crawford has yet to sink that low during this game -- the night is still young as I type this -- the crew's decision to toss Porcello after he hit one batter with a three-run lead and no warning in effect was incompetence at best and cowing to a hostile Fenway crowd at worst. Crawford's involvement in two on-field blowups, both featuring bad umpiring decisions, calls into question his fitness to umpire major league games, especially ones with playoff implications like Tuesday's.Youkilis was the fifth batter plunked in this series through 10-plus innings. Miguel Cabrera was hit twice, once in each game, although Junichi Tazawa was struggling badly with his command and almost certainly didn't intend to hit Cabrera, while Brad Penny most likely did mean to hit him the night before. To suddenly decide "that's enough" after Porcello hit Youkilis without any prior warning reeks of pandering to the home crowd. Even if that wasn't a factor, it showed very poor judgment on the part of Crawford and his crew.

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