Lee's suspension no surprise

I live out on west coast & listen to Padres players say Young wasn't throwing at Lee( espn radio San Diego). That of course is b.s.. Young is a control pitcher & all the talk about Soriano you couldn't blame Derek for his actions. Wells claims he'll deal with Soriano next year if he's still pitching.Former cub Bob Scanlan said he'd like to take Zambranos belt & put it around Carlos's neck. Nice guys in San Diego! Of course Scanlan stunk it up anyhow as a pitcher & he'd would of like to have been half as good as Zambrano is today. I could almost see Soriano getting brush back ,but hitting Derek was a low blow for sure.San Diego is a wannabe big city with over price amusements & bunch of folks who can't drive a lick.

Im shocked Lee got only 5 games. Didn't Barrett get 10 games for hitting AJ last year? I guess when you close your eyes and miss a punch, it's worth 5 less games than when you swing and land a punch.
The Cubs should suspend Soriano for acting like an idiot on Friday and causing this mess!

Both seemed fair to me.

My only problem is if you are going to take a swing at someone you have to make contact. You don't have to swing for the fences but you do have to make contact, the time off would be much sweeter if he knocked Young out. I think he got a glancing blow in on the second shot but I am a Cub fan.

I knew he would have to do some time for his crimes and even with an appeal I don't think he will get off. I don't know who I feel more sorry for, Paris or Derrek. Paris did connect when she hit that girl on the strip last year I think she knocked her down so maybe Derrek.

In all seriousness I thought he would get more games so five sounds good to me.

Assuming he appeals how does this affect his playing time in the ole cross town classic this weekend?

HOW ABOUT THAT DERREK LEE. WHAT A PANSY. I'VE SEEN 6TH GRADE
GIRLS THROW BETTER PUNCHES THAN THAT. YOU CAN TELL HE'S A CUB.
ALL BLOW AND NO GO!

Roman responds: He missed by a foot and a half but he still engaged. And Young's 5 inches taller.

I don't blame Lee for going after the pitcher, but there are sometimes you have to think about your team and just walk down to first base. Missing him for 5 games is going to hurt. I think it is really bush league that young throw at him because he was 4-4 and was really tagging the ball hard or because Soriano watched him home run go, which I don't agree with. Hopefully and appeal can get the suspension down to 3 or 4 games. I think this is the first time I have ever seen Lee go after someone.

Can some of this fire translate into wins please???

By the way, my Mock Cubbies are in the Playoffs on MLB2K7!

The thing that bothers me is I thought DLee was better than this. A better citizen, a better role-model. It just renews my skepticism that most ballplayers are just jerks. Some cover it better than others.

Roman responds: Mike, the guy threw at his head. He missed most of last season with an injury and he probably saw his career flash before his eyes.

A fast-ball to the face is not just a career ender, but could easily be a life ender. Young deserved to get beat up. He's lucky he didn't throw at a meaner cub with some fighting experience, say A Ram. I'm all for inside pitching, it is necessary, but to whip a 100mph heater at a guys ear-hole is cause for a butt whoopin' where I'm from. D Lee had to charge him or be seen as extra soft by the whole league. Sometimes you just gotta throw down and take the punishment like a man.

for the idiot who lives on the west coast....and is stupid enough to complain about it. please move. we don't need another moron out here who complains about living in san diego. the last thing san diego wants to be is a "big city", and we'll take our 70 degree sunshine year-round over the oven/ice box that is chicago, or wherever it is you prefer to be. go away nitwit. there was no logical reason for young to throw at lee. if he was going to throw at anyone, it would be that overpaid preening idiot soriano. enjoy another year in last place.

Someone said:

"A fast-ball to the face is not just a career ender, but could easily be a life ender. Young deserved to get beat up. He's lucky he didn't throw at a meaner cub with some fighting experience, say A Ram. I'm all for inside pitching, it is necessary, but to whip a 100mph heater at a guys ear-hole is cause for a butt whoopin' where I'm from. D Lee had to charge him or be seen as extra soft by the whole league. Sometimes you just gotta throw down and take the punishment like a man."

An astute observation.

Milton....whos the real idiot? Whos the guy in San Diego who disses Chicago, but then reads and posts on Chicago Sports Blogs? Oh, thats you! How weird. Why dont you go blog about the Padres or the Charger Girls dude!!!??? I live out west, and I love it here, but at least I can admit when im homesick, and thanks to this blog, its not so bad!

~bdc

Since some of the Cubs players seem to have that fightin' spirit lately, they may want to consider expending some of that excess energy in the wrestling ring. Total Nonstop Action Wrestling has been employing sporting types every now and then, including Pierzynski, Guillen, Urlacher, David Eckstein and most recently, Frank Wycheck. Punch until you're all punched out, nobody gets suspended.

Young throws at Lee's head, Lee fails to connect a punch, Lee's suspended for 5 games, Young walks away unscathed. Although the entire situation is not at all funny it does remind me of the Bud Light commercial with the two guys playing rock, paper, scizzors for the last Bud Light and after the one guy beans the other with a rock the first guy says I threw paper and the other guy replies as he walks away with the beer... yea well I threw a rock.

K.Brown

What is your point? Atleast the guy from the west coast has a point! Peavey said Soriano should get beaned in the ribs. Well if Young hits Soriano money says hes ejected from the game. Hit Derek Lee that sends a message. Plus Derek is tearing the cover off the ball right now. Stay on the west coast with your two faced pitcher jake "bush league" peavey. He can talk crap in the paper but when he was face to face with Soriano he was all nice. Last I checked we aren't in last place either. Might wanna take a reading lesson.

Lee's actions have everything to do with the overall frustration of the overpaid and underperforming Cubs...I've been a Cub fan for over 45 years and I have never seen any of the previous Cub teams blow as many late-inning leads as consistently and as ridiculously as this bunch has...seven or eight slam-dunk wins have been lost already this year via the pathetic late-inning play of these clowns...you can't blame Lee for being ESPECIALLY frustrated, though...Jim Hendry is the guy who shelled out $100 million-plus for an aging first baseman who promptly broke his wrist a few days after signing that megabuck long term contract...when you pay that kind of money for a power-hitting first baseman, you expect to see some power - but Lee's power days are long gone...last year's wrist injury has changed Lee forever, and he's turned into a singles hitter. (Just watch him bat a few times on TV and you can see this for yourself.) But again, you can't blame Lee for that...it was Hendry's mistake...a mistake he repeated by signing aging Alfonso Soriano to an even LONGER and MORE EXPENSIVE big-buck contract.

In 2004, after being just five outs away from the World Series (I SCREAMED at the TV during Game Six of the 2003 NLCS, when the Cubs were imploding and Prior was running out of gas and Steve Bartman was making a name for himself in that infamous eighth inning fiasco - "Bring KERRY WOOD in to close the game!", I shouted at the top of my lungs; and Dusty just stood there with that stupid toothpick in his mouth - DOH), a blind third-grader with the IQ of a gerbil could see what needed to be done - all the Cubs needed was a catcher and a closer. Ivan Rodriguez was a free agent. Did Hendry go get him? Nope. Billy Wagner was a free agent. Did Hendry go get him? Nope.

But all is not lost, Cub fans. Rodriguez will be available again after this season ends. And you can expect Jim "The Rocket Scientist" Hendry to sign him to a long-term deal here in Chicago. Rodriguez will then be 35 years old - the perfect age for someone as myopic and as out of touch with reality as Jim Hendry...wink wink wink.

Police in riot gear, with dogs, should be present at all Cubs games, in order, to paraphrase Da Mayor, to preserve disorder.
For the rest of the teams, MLB needs to stop this "bench clearing" crap before someone important gets seriously injured by a cheap shot artist. A hit batsman should get 5 days for deviating from the first baseline, as Lee did; charging the mound should be worth 10 days. Anyone who leaves the dugout or the bullpen to join the scrum should get 3 days.