Ramon Ramirez got off easy on Monday, escaping the wrinkly wrath of Bud Selig without getting suspended.
Sure he got fined, but it's just money. Er, whatever. The point being, he won't miss any games.
And he's as as surprised as you/we/everyone else probably are.
"That's not me, throwing baseballs at people," Ramirez said through an interpreter, via Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury-News. "But it's a surprise. I was waiting for a suspension."
So was everyone else -- after all, Ramirez is the guy who (technically) started the whole brawl -- which you can watch here if you haven't seen it -- by throwing at Shane Victorino.
That led to people scrambling to get out on the field and, eventually, Giants catcher Eli Whiteside getting a little wild with his physical actions as he tried to protect Ramirez.
But he wasn't as surprised as Ramon about not getting suspended.
Sports
"I didn't feel I did anything wrong," Whiteside said. "I just went out there to protect my pitcher. I may have looked a little crazy jumping around out there. But my intention was to go protect Ramon.
"I didn't throw any punches. I thought I might get a game, so I'm happy not to miss any time."
Meanwhile, Manager Bruce Bochy downplayed the rumble.
"I thought it was well done, to be honest, and I'm not saying that just because we didn't have any suspensions," he said. "It was fairly clean out there. There wasn't too much happening as far as brawls go."
Charlie Manuel, Phillies manager who never seems shy about discussing the Giants, might disagree. And so might MLB.
But Bochy has a point, at least in relation to the physicality of the whole showdown. And besides, for the drama it's going to build heading into the race for the postseason and then (hopefully) the playoffs, it's well worth it.
Especially when it's the Phillies getting suspended.
