LOS ANGELES — No punches were thrown Sunday night, but that didn’t keep Major League Baseball from coming down swiftly on the Dodgers and Phillies.
Fines were handed down yesterday to four Dodgers and three Phillies for their actions here in a benches-clearing incident in the third inning of L.A.’s 7-2 win in Game 3.
Dodgers pitcher Hiroki Kuroda, Manny Ramirez and L.A. coaches Larry Bowa and Mariano Duncan were docked along with Phillies reliever J.C. Romero, center fielder Shane Victorino and coach Davey Lopes after Kuroda threw over the head of Victorino.
Kuroda was fined $7,500, Ramirez $2,500, Duncan $1,000 and Bowa $500. Victorino was charged $2,500 and Lopes and Romero $1,000 each, according to managers for both teams.
The fines prompted at least one Phillies player to accuse the commissioner’s office of butting in where it doesn’t belong when it comes to pitching inside.
Cole Hamels, the Phils’ Game 5 starter tomorrow, criticized MLB yesterday for “mingling in a business that doesn’t need to be mingled in.”
“I think they need to allow us to play the game the way this game was brought up,” Hamels said of MLB. “Pitching inside is just part of the game. It’s not like I’m going to go out there and try to hit guys, but I will throw inside. If I do hit a guy, let’s hope I don’t get thrown out.”
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Joe Torre shuffled his Dodgers lineup once again last night, benching center fielder Matt Kemp in favor of little-used Juan Pierre.
Kemp was hitting better in the NLCS after three games (.273) than he did against the Cubs in the NLDS, but Torre said he felt Kemp was scuffling.
“Matt’s been fighting himself a little bit,” Torre said before last night’s 7-5 loss. “I just told him to take a day. Matt will probably be a part of it [again] before the day is over.”
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Torre’s decision to go with Derek Lowe on short rest last night never was going to prompt a matching move from Phillies manager Charlie Manuel with Hamels.
“With the amount of workload that I’ve gone through, throughout the season, they don’t want to push me to my limit,” Hamels said of Manuel’s decision to rest him until Game 5 tomorrow.
The Phillies’ road win last night was the first by either team in 12 meetings this season.