Sexson Suspended Six Games
Dave · May 9, 2008 at 3:11 pm · Filed Under Mariners
Richie Sexson was suspended for six games for charging the mound and throwing his helmet at Kason Gabbard last night. He’ll probably appeal, so he won’t begin serving the suspension right away, but I doubt it gets reduced much – his reason for charging the mound sucked and he used his helmet as a weapon. Six games sounds like a gift, honestly.
The M’s will have to adjust their bench when the suspension hits – there’s no way they can possibly go with Miguel Cairo as their first baseman for a week unless they’re trying to get fired.
Broussard has his own album.
Jeff Nye said, “I’m not sure six games is enough to send a clear message that throwing your helmet at people isn’t acceptable.”
What I saw of Sexson’s post-game interview, it sounded like he was pretty contrite for “losing it” as he put it. He called his behavior unacceptable, too, and said he deserved the ejection.
At least we’re not being treated to a Giambi/Clemens apology for some vague unnamed illegal/banned something.
Does anyone know what the “personal matter” Sexson had to attend to on Wednesday was? I’m wondering if whatever that may have been had him in a particularly bad mood to start with.
While Sexson questioned his actions, he also indicated that Gabbard was throwing at him.
I’m still willing to bet that Bavasi trades something of value to the Braves to get Norton back.
Has anyone done a study on whether teams perform better after one of their players starts a brawl? or after their manager throws a fit and gets ejected? or any of the other crap that’s supposed to “light a fire”?
SpokaneMsFan –
According to Geoff Baker he was visiting his son in the hospital.
Well I guess that could have made him stressed out at the very least. Thanks for that info.
Yeah, how ’bout Richie?
frankly, I was expecting a longer suspension
reminds me of your average minor-league hockey player in his readiness to throw down the gloves …
Ya know, if Sexson did indeed charge the mound because of a pitch that was closer to being a strike than hitting him, maybe that just epitomizes his output the past two years? Maybe the M’s will “send a message” and suspend him for the season. Then we can get a real IB in there. …. OK, I’m awake now. ‘sigh’ That was a nice dream.
I agree that suspending Gabbard doesn’t make sense.
However, I’m surprised the catcher wasn’t suspended. When looking at the replays it appeared that there were 3 different signs given:
1) Middle finger inside: Pitcher says no
2) Middle finger inside: Pitcher says no
3) Pinky finger outside, index finger inside: Pitcher says yes
The ball was thrown high, down the center of the plate. The catcher was set up inside and the ball was nowhere near there. Clearly something was up, but I don’t think the pitcher intentionally tried to hit Sexson.
Personally, I prefer the Abbott and Costello version of “Who’s on First.”
That’s interesting, psquared. On the radio last night (in the immediate aftermath, not after the game) somebody said they thought Laird was calling for a brushback (they — I don’t recall who it was — said something about “flicking the thumb” IIRC though I have no idea if that’s a ‘standard’ sign). If that’s the case, and if Gabbard was shaking him off, then Sexson’s beef (to the extent he had one) should’ve been with the catcher, not the pitcher. Granted, charging the mound is the traditional move in this choreographed theater of rage, but it would’ve been more appropriate if Sexson had just turned and given Laird a shove, which would’ve planted him on his butt where the umpire could immediately intervene.
Sexson proved how much his pitch recognition is off. Maybe being absolutely terrified of being hit explains his .209 BA.
I have to believe a MLB pitcher could hit a 6’8″ guy 999 times out of 1000 if he really wanted to and the guy wasn’t expecting it.
Regarding Richie Sexson’s cowardly idiotic attack on Texas Rangers pitcher Kason Gabbard on Thursday night, I think the Mariners got off easy from MLB: with Sexson being out of the line-up for six games, the Mariners will most likely benefit from his absence, so feeble is his game. This is not the way punishment is supposed to work.
As many previous posters have noted, Gabbard’s pitch was nowhere near Sexson’s head, and Sexson’s childish response was, more than anything, a revealing indictment of his own eye for the strike zone; his invocation of his hospitalized kid as an excuse for his behavior was just pathetic. A more appropriate treatment of Sexson and the Mariners would be for MLB to force the Mariners to USE SEXSON FOR EVERY SCHEDULED GAME FOR THE NEXT MONTH, with this term being extended for two weeks for every game he still misses during such time short of a life-threatening emergency. This would be genuine punishment of Sexson, the Mariners and, unfortunately, truth be told, their fans.
What it boils down to….
If he was getting thrown at, he should be applauded for being a man and sticking up for himself. In that case, the GM should give him a bonus.
If he wasn’t getting thrown at, he got the suspension he deserved.