Anyone who saw Josh Phelps of the Yankees crash the Mariners' Kenji Johjima yesterday viewed a perfect example of a play that does not violate any MLB rule but merits retaliation. (Phelps was plunked next time up, and he seemed to accept that he deserved it, but even after warnings from the umpire, the Yankees then plunked somebody else. If there were ever obvious cases of throwing at batters, these were they.)
For those who didn't see it, Johjima did not have the ball, and his body was poised toward the mound. Even though Phelps had a clear path to the plate, he crashed Johjima—and then reached back and to his right to touch the plate.
It makes you wonder how dirty a play has to be to result in an ejection in MLB.
When I did Fed the crashing runner would of course be ejected, but I don't think we had the power to call him out. Is Fed still that way?
