Amir Garrett vs. The Pirates

I went to a boxing match and a baseball game broke out. That's at least what it looked like in the 9th inning in Cincinnati last night. The Reds were getting the doors blown off them on their home field in Monday night's game against the division rival Pittsburgh Pirates, when things got ugly real quick.

Don't believe me, see for yourself:


You don't see this everyday. There's a lot to look at coming out of this mass hysteria Tuesday night.

First is the obvious and Amir Garrett taking matters into his own hands. He was unhappy with the night was going, which I totally get. He heard the Pirates players running their mouth from the dugout and thought it would be a good idea to charge them. He held his own OK till he finally got backup from some of his teammates. Its like what happened back in April when Puig (more on him in a minute) decide to do the same thing after a home run. So Garrett gets the whole thing going.

Then there's thew Reds manager. David Bell is an idiot for running out of the clubhouse after being ejected earlier in the night. And for the record I'd have loved to have seen Clint Hurdle throw punches back at Bell for being an idiot. To make matters worse for David Bell, he's facing a pretty lengthy suspension for coming back onto the field after being ejected. I'd like to see if Clint Hurdle, at age 62, would have been able to get some good shots in. A guy can dream can't he.

Then we have Yasil Puig, who is already on his way out the door in Cincinnati anyway, having been traded to the Indians earlier in the day. He wasn't making many friends in Cincy on his way out. He kicks dust up again after the fight had calmed down by charging a couple of Pirates players after things calmed down. There's no denying the fact that Puig is a good ballplayer, but I've said this a few times, the guy is too much of a hot head for his own good. So this just made things worse. And it all started earlier in the evening.

It all started when Pittsburgh’s Keone Kela threw up and in to Derek Dietrich in the seventh. After the inning, first baseman Joey Votto walked toward the Pirates dugout and exchanged words with Kela, but plate umpire Larry Vanover got in front of Votto. In April, Dietrich admired one of his homers at PNC Park, leading to a benches-clearing clash. So this was just a renewal of hostilities. The Reds are still somewhat in contention for the division race, as they are only seven games back of first, and sit just six games under .500. The Pirates are eleven back and haven't hit the 50 win mark at the time of this writing.

So there's some bad blood brewing and I can't wait to see where not only this rivalry, but this divisional races, goes from here as the summer moves along.