The Yankees are really stupid.

I'm genuinely not trying to nitpick, but your title and your post seem to work at cross-purposes. Duncan's ham-handed attempt at retribution was excessive, but might have the ultimate benefit of letting obnoxious opponents know what the costs of their own aggressiveness are. But I agree with your post as a whole, the thrust of which is how upside-down Watson's decisions were. I didn't see Melky strike anyone, either. That Meacham and Long were even fined was a joke, since they seemed to be disciplined for breaking things up.

There will be time to appeal the judgments, but likely also time to settle the opinions before the season. But the Yankees can certainly survive without Duncan, and Damon can play center for Melky. It's not a terrific scenario, but the Yankees will do just fine. Also, that Girardi wasn't suspended was the right move. There was no indication that he had anything to do with the shenanigans with Tampa.

Wait wait... someone with the incredible original and well-thought out name of "Yankees Chick" is making fun of someone named "Yankee Bob"'s username?

Amazing.

riotact, it seems pretty obvious that Beth is addressing Watson's alleged allegiances to the Yankees based on the long-standing nickname that she referenced. I really doubt that she was assessing the rhetorical quality of the nickname. Maybe your babysitter can help you ascertain the meaning of the post next time. Dinner then bed for you.

As a quick follow-up, I dropped by to check on things, and noticed that your blog is up to #14 on the Top 100 Baseball Sites. That's really terrific, and it's indicative of the attention you garner when Yankees baseball starts to heat up. You should be proud.

Keep up the good work.

Now #13 as I just posted. Outstanding. It will probably crack the top ten after I post this comment.

Jason, the main point of my post was that Duncan and the Yankees as a whole were pretty stupid for instigating the brawl. The HBP was expected and if that had been it, I would have said "*** for tat" and moved on. But Duncan went way over the line....you do not slide spikes high into anyone. You just don't do that. Then the brawl.....too much. I like that the Yankees are standing up for themselves because I think even you'd agree that the last few years, the team became doormats for everyone else.....I just don't want them doing it in this manner. That's why I said they were stupid. Duncan should know better.

And I think I moved up so high because the post title is "The Yankees are really stupid". All the Yankee haters came out en masse for this one. Thanks you guys! The more hits the better. :-D

And this is to Mr. Riotact.......my name doesn't need to be original. It is what it is.

*comments deleted by blog owner*

--I'm not a fan of non-Yankees fans leaving comments on my site. Pretty **** simple to understand, I hope. I can't stop them from reading it, but I can stop them from leaving comments. I either delete them outright or edit them so it says basically nothing. Because very rarely in the time that I've had his blog, which is going on 2 1/2 years now, have non-Yankees fans ever posted anything here that wasn't offensive, rude, derogatory, homophobic or all-around crude. There have been a couple exceptions, and those people know who they are. Past that, it is what it is. Calling players "sissies" isn't a good way to get what you wrote left up on the site. Go about it in a different way next time. And "typical Yankee misinformation"? No, that's not insulting at all. Geez Louise. --

I completely agree with you, and see your point. My opening sentence was more on the crux of your post, and not so substantive. No doubt Duncan went over the top. But the others seem to have been disciplined for next to nothing, and I'm still trying to find video evidence that Melky did anything at all. It would seem to be that one particular Yankee--Duncan--merits the stupid moniker for the incident. I'm hoping that this incident, blown up as it was, is rendered isolated from the teams' just calming down and playing baseball. But that might be wishful thinking.

Pete Abraham has an interesting statistic on the Yankees and the notion that they're doormats. He said that while they've been plunked more than any team in the majors in the last three years, they've also pegged batters 203 times, not much less than they've been plunked. They've also had players suspended and disciplined every year for altercations, especially from hitting batters. My take is that the rhetoric from Torre and others had done much to leave the impression of the Yankees as soft. More than anything, what Abraham's points indicate to me is the utter falsehood that Bob Watson somehow panders to the Yankees, which is a scurrilous canard perpetuated by baseless Yankee bashers.

And on your inserted comment in lieu of the deleted one, Bravo! There's no question that among us Yankee bloggers at MLBlogs, you get a disproportionate share of trolls posting nonsense, hatred such as homophobia, and more. I applaud the way you deal with it, and you probably handle it better than I would. No messing around with it. Good for you.

"I mean, this was as lame as Varitek's "girly glove smoosh" to Alex's face waaaay back in 2004."

That must mean the Rays are going to win the WS, then.

//That must mean the Rays are going to win the WS, then.//

I wouldn't bet money on that sweetcheeks.