"The fifth pitch, Russell Martin was knocked down by a Brett Myers fastball.
The eighth pitch, Manny Ramirez was tilted backward by another Myers fastball.
The ninth pitch, Ramirez was greeted with a Myers fastball that sailed three feet behind his head, braids included.
Nine pitches, three messages, and the Philadelphia Phillies couldn't have been more clear if they had painted it across Joe Torre's brow.
We don't fear you. We won't bend for you. What are you going to do about it?
After nearly four hours Friday, with their hitters waiting and their coaches wondering, Dodgers pitchers meekly submitted an answer.
Nothing."
First of all, the Dodgers forcefully responded. I saw Don Mattingly on TV. He was in the dugout, yelling at Myers. "Hey, quit it. You stop doing that." Or something to that effect.
" 'They kept pitching us hard and inside all night,' Matt Kemp said Friday night, shaking his head.
Asked whether Dodgers pitchers should retaliate, he sighed and said, 'It is what it is. But if we played the game like they played the last two games, we'd be all right.'
...
When Ramirez was asked about it, he actually complimented the nutty, gritty Phillies pitcher.
'I want to have a guy like that on my team,' he said.
Hint, hint."
Look, if Torre actually instructs his pitcher to retaliate, it would be the first time.
Torre is too classy, don't you know?
When Joba Chamberlain was being eaten alive by bugs on the mound in Cleveland ... in the most important game of the year ... Torre didn't pull his team from the field. Torre didn't kick the umpire in the nuts. Torre didn't even complain. It would be unseemly.
The Dodger players don't understand. This isn't about them. It's about Torre. He has a reputation to uphold.
If I were you, I'd learn to duck.
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