-=> Quoting John Vickers to Andrew Serrano <=-
JV>About the Alomar Hirshbeck situation, I only saw the highlights and
JV>of course what was shown was Alomar spiting in the face of Hirshbeck.
JV>Alomar may have in fact been thrown out from the dugout before he
JV>ever came out on the field to spit at Hirshbeck.  To be honest, I
JV>don't even remember the call Alomar was upset and arguing about.
JV>Clearly, *any* player will be thrown out after he spits in the face
JV>of an umpire.  I think his suspension should have started immediately
JV>and gone through the playoffs as well as carrying over into the first
JV>part of this season.  I think 10 games was *way* too light a
JV>suspension.
   Don't forget, he's getting paid for those 10 games.  I think if
   baseball had a real comissioner that Alomar's suspension owuld've
   started immediatly and he wouldn't get paid.  I don't really care for
   Alomar, but some of the most interesting off-season articles in the
   Sporting News were about him.
JV>As for players being ejected from the dugout, you may be too young to
JV>remember Billy Martin who managed the Yankees a number of times.
JV>When Billy managed The Texas Rangers for a while, I saw him get
JV>thrown out of games more than once before games even started, during
JV>the meeting at home plate with the umpires.  My friend who was radio
JV>engineer for The Rangers at the time tells a story where he knows of
JV>a player being thrown out from the dugout for arguing *before* a game
JV>started.  Only problem was that the player thrown out was not the
JV>player who was arguing.
   Your right, I am too young to remember Martin.  But I do remember
   seeing highlights during the week he was inducted into the Hall of
   Fame recently.  Looked like he was about to rip the heads off some
   umpires in the films I saw.
JV>Are you part of a TCI cable system Andrew?  I called our local TCI
JV>office and they told me that WGN was no longer being carried by any
JV>of its systems around the country.  I told them I think that stinks!
JV>I figure there must have been some kind of $$$ dispute with WGN.
   TCI??  I don't think so.  The local cable company got baught up by
   Time Warner.
JV>Clearly I want the Rangers to do well again.  I think they will if
JV>Gonzalez comes back healthy from his winter ball injury and the rest
JV>of the team stays away from injuries.  You mentioned the Yankees.
JV>How about the other American League divisions?  The Braves always
JV>look strong in the NL.  The Marlins came on strong last year but I
JV>don't know that much about them.
   I only mentioned the Marlins because of all the players they signed
   during the off-season.  In the AL central I think Chicago and
   Cleveland will be the ones to beat, and in the AL west I'm rooting
   for the Rangers.  I don't really follow any NL team that would do
   good besides Atlanta (I follow Chicago, Pitsburgh, and New York).
   e-mail: a_serrano@juno.com
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   Moderator: TEEN2613
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