Junto Boys

It's long been said that baseball is a business and the players aren't as competitive as they use to be. Yesterday's game between the Yankees and Red Sox was an example of how both teams are doing their best to put the other away.

The Yankees were pounding Pedro Martinez on Saturday and he does not take losing lightly, and so Martinez made his stand, throwing a fastball behind the head of right fielder Karim Garcia in the fourth inning. There was little room for sanity in Fenway Park thereafter.

Ramirez led off the bottom of the fourth, and Clemens' fourth pitch was inside and high -- not close to his head, but close enough to set off Ramirez, who pointed a bat at Clemens and started screaming. The benches and bullpens emptied, and after Clemens took a couple of steps toward Ramirez, Jeter pushed him away.

Martinez was the last player to come out of the Boston dugout, and Zimmer -- a grandfather -- circled the mass of bodies in the infield and went right at Martinez, stepping forward and trying to throw a punch with his left hand. Martinez grabbed Zimmer, who was moving forward, and tossed him to the ground.

Zimmer stayed on the ground, dazed, a small cut on the bridge of his nose, others pushing and shoving on the field around him. Yankees trainer Gene Monahan tended to Zimmer, and the umpires met and talked; the incident delayed the game 15 minutes. No one was ejected.

As Rivera prepared to pitch the bottom of the ninth, a nasty altercation broke out in the Yankees' bullpen. According to Nelson, a member of the Red Sox grounds crew -- Paul Williams -- had waved a towel repeatedly and when he told Williams to stop, Williams came at him and started the fight.

A Red Sox spokesman issued a statement later saying that Williams had merely double-pumped to the crowd, and was taken down by members of the Yankees' bullpen. "It seems to be an attack and a beating unwarranted," said the spokesman.

The grounds keeper was taken away in an ambulance to be examined, and shortly thereafter, Zimmer was strapped onto a stretcher and put into a different ambulance. If the nurses manage to keep the Yankee and the member of the Red Sox nation separated, they would be the first on this day.

It wasn’t the rational voice of your typical millionaire at the office. Nobody wants to be on the losing end of this series. Boston wants to break the curse and the Yankees want to break Boston. I have a feeling that the team that can best handle their emotions will walk away the victor.

FURTHER THOUGHT: Can the Hall of Fame really insist that Roger enter Cooperstown with a Red Sox cap after incidents like this?