Colorado Rockies' pitcher Jeff Francis and manager Clint Hurdle were suspended  yesterday after a bean-ball incident in a game with the Padres on Tuesday:

Francis was suspended for five regular-season games for intentionally throwing at San Diego's Kevin Kouzmanoff on Tuesday after a warning had been issued earlier in the game. Hurdle was banned for one game, and both were fined an undisclosed amount.

Is this really how far the Commissioner's Office has come?  Suspending guys for Spring Training games?  What's next, conflict resolution classes?  Old-timers always talk about how they policed themselves, and I wish MLB would return to this policy because it's a necessary part of the game.  The suspension route is basically a big league "time-out", and it's ineffective because in most cases (well, in LaRussa's and Guillen's case) the manager orders the chin music.  Suspended managers still direct the game from their offices, and it does no good to punish players who are just following orders.  Nuremberg taught us that.

When [Doug] Brocail plunked All-Star Matt Holliday on the hand, Hurdle came out of the dugout and yelled at Brocail before players and umpires stepped between the two.

No punches were thrown, and the sides were quickly separated.

Surprise, surprise – a baseball brawl that wasn't.  In some ways, hockey is so much better than baseball. -KD 

Picture note: Lovely Heather is from San Diego, so I assume she is a Padres fan.  Plus, if I have to post while I drink my green Stroh's, I'm going to attach photos of hot redheads.