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Monday’s contest between the Mariners and the Diamondbacks saw the benches clear and Cliff Lee get ejected for… not knowing how to pitch?

Lee was tossed for supposedly trying to hit Arizona catcher Chris Snyder in the bottom of the third inning. There had been an incident in the first where Snyder ran into Lee, who was trying to cover home, and knocked him down. “All I know was I was rolling on the ground,” Lee said. “I got knocked down. I didn’t see it all. I was looking at the play.” Hmmm. Lee claimed this had nothing to do with the poorly placed pitch, instead saying that he was having a hard time landing inside pitches that day. If Lee wasn’t one of the best pitchers in the game, we might have believed him….

After almost getting his head taken off, Snyder stepped out of the batters box and walked toward Lee telling him what he thought of the ‘missed pitch’. At this point, the benches cleared and to our disappointment, no punches were thrown by either side. What’s a brawl without at least a little slapping? For future reference, boys, a good bench clearing brawl entails more than some name calling and whining.

While Lee and the Mariners claim the near-bean wasn’t intentional and that it wasn’t a big deal, the D-backs are a little upset. Snyder was quoted as saying “It’s Spring Training, that’s all it is, I don’t see a reason for it,” and “He got me good, man. He charley-horsed my leg, then he threw at my head. He’s up, 2-0,on me.”

The two teams face each other again on Saturday. Let’s hope for entertainment’s sake that if there is retaliation and the benches clear that someone at least gets their hat knocked off. But please, boys, be careful not to hurt Griffey. We love him, and he’s kind of old and fragile.

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