American Hooligans

After the Rays-Yankees “brawl” earlier this week, Shelley Duncan and Melky Cabrera received a three-day suspension and Jonny Gomes picked up a two-day ban. Not too surprising, given how much the league cares about its clean-cut image. The story I originally heard was Shelley Duncan attempted to make a flying karate kick look like a hard slide on Akinora Iwamura, an AH Baseball Cancer favorite, and then Gomes came in from right field and tackled Duncan when he and Iwamura were jabbering. Then, the benches cleared, but there was no actual melee to be seen. So what was Cabrera doing to justify a three-day suspension?

MLB.com is reporting he took a cheap shot at Evan Longoria:

A videotape review of the incident showed Cabrera punching a Rays player during the incident at second base, according to a report on SI.com; Tampa Bay’s Evan Longoria claimed on Wednesday that one Yankees player hit him in the back of the head.

That’s right. Melky “Rabbit Punch” Cabrera committed an act even boxing referees penalize. You know, I’m not surprised, though. This is the type of behavior I’ve come to expect from center fielders with a lifetime OPS+ of 90. People with sub-par stats have sub-par morals.

However, what amazes me is that Longoria survived. Cabrera had 16 outfield assists last year. With an arm like that, you’d think a human skull wouldn’t be able to withstand the G-forces involved. There’s something going on here. Either Longoria has a freak skull or someone else threw that punch. Was there a second puncher on the grass behind second?