The White Sox and Guardians endured an absolute scuffle on Saturday night, a match that featured several innings against each other.
What happened?
José Ramírez tries to make the second ball that he hits into the right half of the court. Tim Anderson placed the card, but Ramírez was not satisfied with his technique. Ramírez stood up, pointed at Anderson, and the two undressed and stood up straight in a boxing fashion.
This led to a scuffle on the benches and barn clearing between both teams. And just when you think one is over, another has begun. Pedro Grifoli participated. Eloy Jiménez limps after being stepped on. Andrew Vaughn picked Anderson up and carried him into the tunnel after the shortcut turned back for another round.
After it all settled down, Anderson, Ramírez, Grifoli and Emmanuel Clase, who ran out of the cowshed and started fighting, were all eliminated from the game.
How did the war begin?
We need to go back to Friday night to understand how this all started.
In the fourth round of Friday’s competition, Anderson knocked out Brayan Rocchio, who was initially called safe. Looks like Anderson pushed his hand out of his pocket, tagging him in the process. New York reviewed the play and turned it upside down, calling Rocchio out.
That play caused coach Terry Francona to get up and argue with the referee. He stayed on the pitch for a while, shouting at the home team’s umpire, even as he walked away. Francona was kicked out of the game, criticizing the post-match call when meeting with the media.
See more;
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tee_Shirt_Slogan_Sir_Donald_Tsang_@_Demon_Protest_July-01-2009.jpg#%7B%7Bint%3Afiledesc%7D%7D
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ACLU_Constitution_Tee,_2016.jpg#%7B%7Bint%3Afiledesc%7D%7D
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Manifestation_16_octobre_2010_Orl%C3%A9ans_-_tee-shirt_CGT_jeunes.jpg#%7B%7Bint%3Afiledesc%7D%7D
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:T-Shirt-ad.jpg#%7B%7Bint%3Afiledesc%7D%7D
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Deutschland_auf_der_republica_2012-1736.jpg#%7B%7Bint%3Afiledesc%7D%7D
It seems safe to say that Anderson’s initial bump and Rocchio tagging caused some controversy and earned him a nasty reputation with Sox divisional partners. And when Anderson posed another controversial card for Ramírez, it was the last straw.