It's always fun when a baseball game starts with a brawl.  Let's face it, MLB is not the NHL and dust ups are pretty rare these days.  Back in the day, they happened a lot with players even occasionally getting conked with bats (1965, Dodgers-Giants.) 

Baseball fights are basically waltzes.  Many baseball players have said that the best thing to do is find another player (preferably a friend or former teammate) to stand next to.  There was one fight where Junior Griffey just stood there and had a pleasant conversation with another player.

I thought the umpires got it dead wrong.  I thought four or five players should have been run from the game.  As for the managers, unless they were warned prior to the game, there was no cause to eject them.

Brandon Phillips comments, though ill-advised, are true.  The Cardinals are a bunch of bitchy little girls, but that comes from their manager who is probably the biggest Nancy in baseball.  They tick off every team in their division including the Cubs and Brewers who they have also had altercations with.  This isn't a bad thing, it's just the truth.

Don't believe me?  Then why does the Genius run to his former BFF now Reds GM Walt Jocketty to complain about Phillips running his mouth.  Confront the player or the manager, Genius. Resorting to discuss it at the executive level is a bit shrill.

While we're on the subject, baseball does nothing to prevent a disaster from happening in a fight situation.  They need to take a position like the NHL where if leave the bench (or the bullpen) or are the third man involved, you are automatically ejected, fined and suspended. I know there are people who believe that it's one guy against nine, but that would be a deterrent, wouldn't it?  You'd have to think twice before you'd go after a pitcher.  And if you are a defender, you'd have to think twice about being the third man in the fight knowing you are going down.

How many times have you seen relief pitchers whack someone saying "after running all the way in from the bullpen, I just wanted to hit somebody."  Kill the adrenaline, curtail the risk of injury.

Detractors say this leaves a pitcher defenseless, but I think pitchers can defend themselves just fine.  When a forty-five year old man can put a player half his age in a headlock and give him a noogie, that's okay. 

If baseball wants to avoid situations last night, then stop all the extra players standing around and make it mano a mano. 

One other note.  While Jeff Brantley is clearly a clueless homer, he is a clueless homer calling game for the Reds, not a network.  While I think he was less than objective in assessing the situation, I think he spoke for most of the Reds fans last night.  That's what he gets paid for.