This video is a little late,( last Friday) but this is the first time I have seen it and it was a must.
Line Drive - Friday nights at Fluor Field
typically mean fireworks right after the game. On this particular Friday
the 13th, the pyrotechnics came a little early.
First pitch, 8:04 p.m. First punch, 8:05 p.m.
The Greenville Drive and
Charleston RiverDogs lit the fuse on a benches-clearing brawl in the
first inning of a game that was eventually won by the RiverDogs, 6-2.
“You never know what’s going
through the minds of 19-to-22-year-olds,” Drive manager Billy McMillon
said after the game. “I’m just glad the rest of the game went on without
any incident.”
Perhaps they were agitated by a one-hour weather delay that pushed back the game’s start.
Although the teams are minor
league affiliates of one of baseball’s fiercest rivalries – the Boston
Red Sox (Drive) and New York Yankees (RiverDogs) – there was no history
of bad blood between the South Atlantic League competitors. However, at
the end of a five-game series in Charleston last month, Drive catcher
Christian Vazquez and outfielder Brandon Jacobs were hit by pitches, and
there was some chatter between the teams.
Two pitches into Friday’s
game, Drive starting pitcher Miguel Celestino plunked RiverDogs leadoff
batter Slade Heathcott, whose violent, alcohol-fueled teen years were
the subject of a Charleston Post and Courier article earlier in the day.
Instead of charging the mound, Heathcott turned and confronted Vazquez.
Although it was cool that it had to do with the Yankee-Redsox rivalry, there wasn't too much in the video to get hype about. There was a few pussy kicks by guys that don't actually want to fight and a few chokes but that about wraps up the video. I never understood attacking the catcher either. The dude is wearing pads all over his body. Also if you charge the pitcher you get a running start to throw a haymaker which is always an advantage. I guess the one good thing about this video is that it's pretty much the only brawl I have seen in baseball this year.
-Dow
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