BENCHES CLEAR, BUT NO BRAWL

By Bradley Jordan
Updated: June 15, 2015

You’ve got to love baseball when the benches clear and a good old fashioned brawl is brewing. Even little leaguers know that retaliation is par for the course. We were a little disappointed during the June 11^th game between the Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres because well, no punches were thrown. The verbal confrontation started during the first inning when Braves pitcher, Julio Teheran nailed Matt Kemp, the Padres’ centerfielder, in the shoulder with a high 90+ mph fastball. Kemp launched his bat toward the first base dugout and began walking down the line. He had an escort in Brave’s catcher, Christian Bethancourt and umpire Jordan Baker, who happens to have the same name as the female golfer and love interest of Nick Carraway in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, “The Great Gatsby”.

Baker, who actually placed his body between Teheran and Kemp ended up on the ground on top of Kemp when Kemp appeared to slip while trying to get at Teheran. The heat was turned down, no one was thrown out and the game continued. Unfortunately for the Braves, the Padres pulled this one out 6 to 4 in 11 innings. The game was not without further controversy as the Padres manager, Bud Black was tossed in the 7^th inning. The Braves are currently 2.5 games behind the Mets and .5 games behind the Nationals in the NL East.