A double standard?

by user BMetts

I don't know if anyone watched last Thursday's game between the New York Mets and Washington Nationals, but watching as an unbiased observer, I think the Nats got completely screwed.

Here's the situation, for those who don't know: Pedro Martinez, well known for his intimidating fastball, struck three batters in the first five innings of the game. The last time, Jose Guillen, who has been struck by Pedro five times now in his career, got fed up with it and had to be restrained by the umpire. Note that the Mets dugout had not been warned up to this point, and STILL wasn't warned until after Pedro was out of the game and another Mets picther struck yet another Nats batter in the seventh inning.

At this point both dugouts were warned, and in the 8th inning Nats reliever Felix Rodriguez hit Paul Lo Duca with a pitch and was promptly thrown out of the game (despite this being the first batter hit by a Nationals pitcher all night). Of course, Nationals manager Frank Robinson was rightly livid at this point, and plead his case to the umpires to no avail.

Punishments for this incident were handed out yesterday, according to ESPN.com: "Washington reliever Felix Rodriguez was suspended for three games and Nationals manager Frank Robinson for one for their roles in last week's game against the New York Mets in which five batters were hit by pitches...Rodriguez and Robinson also were fined, as was outfielder Jose Guillen." 

So let me get this straight: The Mets hit a total of 4 batters, the Nationals hit 1, and the Mets don't have a single person ejected, fined or suspended while the Nationals get all the punishment? Sounds like a travesty to me, and something I would be quite upset about if I were a member of that organization.

Date
Mon 04/10/06, 11:03 am EST