Sox & Hawks Go Out Swinging

It was referred to below in the Mariner System Report for Friday, but it deserves its own stand alone post. A brawl took place between the Everett AquaSox and the Boise Hawks in the seventh inning.

Here is the story from the Sox website:

Tempers flared for the third consecutive night, this time resulting in punches. Hawk right fielder Alfred Joseph hit a ground ball to short stop Ogui Diaz. Diaz’s throw pulled first baseman Joe White off the bag, making White swipe at Joseph and incidentally hit him in the helmet.

I think the word they are looking for is accidentally, not incidentally. But, I've had days and opponents wrong in game stories before, so it's not like I'm perfect or anything.

From the Everett Herald game story by Nick Patterson:

A series' worth of chirping, squaring up and beanings finally spilled over in an ugly way Friday night at Everett Memorial Stadium.

Bad blood, which had been festering between the Everett AquaSox and the Boise Hawks, finally reached the boiling point with a bench-clearing brawl during Everett's 4-3 loss to Boise.

...

The incident came at the start of the seventh inning. Boise's Alfred Joseph grounded to short, and when Ogui Diaz's throw pulled first baseman Joe White up the line, White slapped the tag on as Joseph ran by, getting the out.

Joseph, taking exception to White's tag, turned around, pulled off his helmet and bopped White in the head with it. That incited the melee. Everett catcher Jair Fernandez, backing up the play, confronted Joseph, the benches emptied and punches were thrown.

The manager reactions:

"Their guy overreacted to the tag, that was the only thing Joe could do to get the out," was Everett manager Dave Myers' take. "He wanted to play tough guy or whatever, and that started the whole thing. That's a big problem because he couldn't control himself."

"Our guys was out of line," (Boise manager Steve) McFarland said. "I got to be honest. Obviously he thought the hard tag wasn't justified, but he didn't understand that the guy was off the bag and that was the only way to get him out.

Read the whole thing to catch up on all of that acrimony. Remember, these a lot of these players will be with the Rattlers and the Peoria Chiefs in 2007.

Oddly, no mention of the incident in the Idaho Statesman. Must not have been important. Or, more likely, they got the story off the box score and game log on milb.com.