The Los Angeles Dodgers may not lead the league in much this season, but there is one category they do: bench-clearing brawls.

Last Tuesday night, the Dodgers and Diamondbacks mixed up following a few plunked batters. First,Diamondbacks pitcher Ian Kennedy hit rookie sensation Yasiel Puig in the nose in the sixth inning. Then in the seventh, Zack Greinke retalitated by hitting Miguel Montero in the back prompting both benches to clear. In the bottom half of the inning, Kennedy hit Greinke in the head and it was on.

Both benches cleared, punches were thrown between managers,coaches and players along the first base side railing.

It took until Friday for Major League Baseball to sort out punishment, here is who got punished as follows:
Kennedy: 10 games,Eric Hinske: five games,J.P. Howell and Skip Schumaker: two games. Kirk Gibson,Don Mattingly,Ronald Belisario, and Mark McGwire: one game. All who were suspended were also fined.

Fined but not suspended were Greinke,Puig,Montero,and Gerardo Parra.

Kennedy,Howell,Schumaker and Hinske are appealing their suspensions.

“I’ve been a model citizen in this league for 12 years,” Hinske said. “And then there’s Puig, who’s been in the league for 12 days and he gets no games. So you tell me what’s right.”

I understand his point. Puig was throwing punches and I think if you throw a punch, you should get a game,if not more. Also,why the hell wasn’t Greinke suspended? He has been a central figure in not just this brawl,but the other brawl the Dodgers were in that landed him in on the disabled list for seven weeks. Greinke should have been the one to get five games,if not more,not Hinske.

I do think Kennedy’s suspension was just right, you should never delibarately throw at a guy’s head. I don’t care if he (Kennedy) claims to not be a trouble maker, Tuesday night,he decided to make himself one by doing that. 

Players from the Dodgers claim that the beef between the two teams isn’t over and I believe it. Expect the Dodgers to brawl again,whether it is against the Diamondbacks or another team.

If there weren’t reasons for the Oakland A’s to need a new ballpark, one more came up on Sunday.

A sewage problem forced the A’s and the Seattle Mariners to share the same clubhouse following Sunday’s game,a 10-2 Oakland win. The pipes backed up on the lower levels during the game and a terrible smell and pools of water were created in the clubhouses used by both teams and the umpires. Several Mariners even left without showering.

“Make sure everybody finds out about this sewage thing,” A’s starter A.J. Griffin said. “We need to get a new stadium.”

This isn’t the first time this has happened. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, leaking pipes and backed up drains occur often, even on days when the Coliseum is empty. The stadium sits 22 feet below sea level.

They do need to get a new stadium. Their current stadium,which was built in 1966, is outdated and lacks a lot of the amenities today’s ballparks have,not to mention it is an ugly looking stadium. All of that aside, if this isn’t a clear sign the A’s are in need of new digs, I have no clue what is.

Roger Goodell surprised the hell out of me last week when he sent a letter to 10 members of Congress who urged Redskins owner Daniel Snyder to change the name of his team. Snyder has vowed that he will never do so.

“The Washington Redskins name has thus from its origin represented a positive meaning distinct from any disparagement that could be viewed in some other context,” Goodell writes in the letter. “For the team’s millions of fans and customers, who represent one of America’s most ethnically and geographically diverse fan bases, the name is a unifying force that stands for strength, courage, pride and respect,” said Goodell in the letter sent on June 5.

Positive meaning? A unifying force for respect? Are you fucking kidding me? This is a racial slur-a derogatory term towards Native Americans. How is that positive or respectful?

Look, I understand the Redskins’ name goes way back, but it is no longer an acceptable name. I have said this and others have as well, the only way you can keep this name is if you put a picture of a red-skinned potato on the side of the helmet. Would it be acceptable if they were called the Washington N-words? I don’t think so, so why is Redskins acceptable?

I think Goodell needs to re-think what he has said about what the name of this team really means. I thought he was better than this, he knows better.

The Miami Heat are 48 minutes away from being eliminated on Tuesday if they don’t show up to play against the Spurs on their home floor. Game Three was all about one guy: Danny Green.

How electric was he last night? He had the right medicine for the Spurs to re-take the series lead. Draining shot after shot, he became a big spark plug for the Spurs and could be blossoming into one for years to come on this team. The Spurs were firing on all cylinders and making the Heat make dumb mistakes which plagued them most of the night.

I am not saying the Heat are done because every time they look to be,they come back swinging, but if they’re looking to win their second straight title, they need to play better than they did the last game, a 114-104 Spurs win. The score,though,was closer than the game was.

It has been a great series thus far and if the Spurs play their cards right,they should have their fifth title since 1999 in tow come Tuesday.

Now that the Sacramento Kings have new ownership, a new coach, a new general manager,and a new arena coming in 2016, they need to do one more thing ; go back to an old uniform set.

I was a big fan of the set the team wore from 1994-2002, particularly the purple version of it that they wore from 1999-02. This was a sweet uniform that never should have went away.

I even had a Chris Webber jersey and the shorts to go along with it,I wish I still had the jersey and never should have gotten rid of it and the Kings shouldn’t have,either. I’ll even settle for the old half-black and half-purple set they wore in 1994-95 that was brought back this past season. It wasn’t very good looking then, but for some reason I like it now. The current uniforms do not look that good and the old ones did,it is time the uniforms of the glory years came back. Hopefully the glory years come back with them should this ever happen. I am the King of Wishful Thinking.

The Stanley Cup Finals have been pretty exciting thus far these first two games. The first game took three overtimes to decide a winner, that being the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3. Game two also needed overtime, but only one as the Bruins’ Daniel Paille scored the game winner to win the second game 2-1 and to even the series. This is the first time the Stanley Cup Finals have been even at a game a piece since 2004.

Game Three takes place tonight and the way this series is going,it is going to take all seven games to decide the winner of it. Both teams want it too bad.