Saturday day fights at Shea
BY ANTHONY RIEBER |
anthony.rieber@newsday.com
8:25 PM EDT, September 29, 2007
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Digg Del.icio.us Facebook Furl Google Newsvine Reddit Spurl Yahoo Print Single page view Reprints Reader feedback Text size: Jose Reyes thought Miguel Olivo was kidding when the two were yelling at each other with Reyes on third base and Olivo on the pitcher's mound during a fifth-inning pitching change Saturday.
When did Reyes know Olivo wasn't kidding? When he saw the Marlins' catcher running at him with fists of fury in what would become the second -- and most serious -- bench-clearing incident in the fifth inning of the Mets' 13-0 win over the Marlins.
"I thought he was kidding because he's a good friend of mine," Reyes said.
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Reyes was protected by 63-year-old third-base coach Sandy Alomar and Marlins third baseman Miguel Cabrera. Olivo threw a punch that Alomar deflected as the benches and bullpens emptied.
"I've known him for a long time," Reyes said of Olivo, a fellow Dominican. "Before the game we talk and when I go to home plate we talk, too. I don't know what happened. He's kind of crazy sometimes. He tries to be kind of tough."
Olivo, who was the only person ejected, had a different take, saying Reyes was talking trash from third base.
"When I went to the mound, I see Reyes talking -- -- ," he said. "He told me he wanted to fight. I said OK."
The first bench-clearing incident began when Marlins rookie reliever Harvey Garcia threw a pitch low and inside to Luis Castillo and then another behind him in apparent retaliation for a close pitch from John Maine to Hanley Ramirez.
An inning earlier, Maine hit Ramirez on the left hand (even though plate umpire CB Buck.nor ruled it a foul ball); Ramirez had to leave the game with a bruise after striking out.
Castillo, after feeling the second pitch whiz behind him, started toward the mound with his palms outstretched, jawing at Garcia, as Olivo and David Wright traded shoves and Mets pitching coach Rick Peterson yelled at the Marlins' braintrust.
The benches and bullpens emptied and the players milled around the home-plate area, but no punches were thrown and no one was ejected. Reyes even clowned around with a Marlin in the middle of the scrum.
Peterson, though, was hot. The usually mild-mannered and low-talking coach said he was ticked at the Marlins for throwing near Castillo's injured knees.
"I thought it was irresponsible," he said. "At this time of year, when you're playing a club who's really just out there trying to take us out, you can't be putting players' at risk. A guy's got a bad knee and you're throwing two pitches at his kneecaps. I was really addressing their manager and their staff. I wasn't talking to Olivo at all."
Ah, but Olivo later talked to Reyes, and vice versa. After Castillo walked, Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez came out to remove Garcia. It was during this break that Olivo charged third base, which may be a first in baseball history.
"When they threw the ball behind Castillo, he was saying to me, 'I'm going to throw to third base and I'm going to hit you,' " Reyes said. "I thought he was kidding because he's a good friend of mine. When he went to the mound, he said, 'You want to fight?' I said, 'Yes.' I think he's kidding. I said, 'OK, let's fight.' "
Alomar stepped into fair territory and held his ground as the 29-year-old Olivo came at him.
"I was thinking, 'Protect Jose,"' he said. "I was going to protect that guy."
This time the melee was more heated, as Mets players Oliver Perez and Mike DiFelice did more than the usual pushing and shoving. DiFelice had to be held back by four Marlins. But order eventually was restored.
The game continued without Olivo, but that didn't turn out so well for the Mets. His replacement, Paul Hoover, ended John Maine's no-hit bid in the eighth.