Coward Ryan Dempster suspended: too little, too late.

Ryan Dempster did not get what he deserved but at least the league gave him its minimum suspension for a starting pitcher: five games.  Better late than never.  Because of the schedule Dempster will be spared the humiliation of applying for a tactical appeal, which would have further exposed him as a hypocrite as well as a goon.

Here is the well hidden link to the press release:

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130820&content_id=57613614&vkey=pr_mlb&c_id=mlb

I watched the ESPN video replay again at another part of the league website.  Many in the Boston lynch mob, stood and applauded when Dempster despicably threw behind the knees of Alex Rodriguez on the first pitch.  The mob not only approved of Dempster throwing at Rodriguez but seemed to like that the pitch location was especially contemptible.

When interviewed after the game Dempster lied and denied that his actions were intentional.  Here is what the league press release states:

"Pitcher Ryan Dempster of the Boston Red Sox has received a five-game suspension and an undisclosed fine for intentionally throwing at and hitting Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees"

"intentionally throwing".  This from a league run by commissioner Allen Huber "Bud" Selig.  I don't think that Bug and his daughter Wendy, who ran his Milwaukee team when Bud was first commissioner, will be confused with the fictional characters in the 1962 movie "To Kill a Mockingbird": Atticus and Jean Marie (Scout) Finch.  The Finch pair stood up to the lynch mob in real time.  Selig did not even put his name on the press release, which came at 3:09 PM, two hours after the start of the first Yankee game since the incident.  Alex Rodriguez could have been hit by a pitch thrown by another avenging pitcher who could have reasonably assumed that Selig was looking the other way while Alex Rodriguez had become a marked and unprotected man.

Rodriguez is not a sympathetic figure in this but his villainy is way overblown.  Selig, the nice, humble old man seems to be fighting for truth, justice and the American way.  Somewhere between Rodriguez and Selig there must be some rational place.  The game of baseball needs fundamental reform.  These performance enhancing drugs (PED) are only a small part of that.  Long after Alex Rodriguez is finished playing, the things that plague the game will remain.  Baseball will need a lot more than Rodriguez and Selig to fix them.