Major League Baseball has decided to lighten up on the horse manure of a suspension it gave to D-backs backup first baseman Eric Hinske, after the team's scuffle with the Los Angeles Dodgers earlier this month.
Hinske's suspension is now one game, down from five, but the punk seen punching Hinske, Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig, in the image above was never suspended at all.
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MLB Announces Bogus Punishments for Diamondbacks-Dodgers Brawl
MLB disciplined 12 players and coaches between the Diamondbacks and Dodgers, and the five-game suspension of Hinske that it initially announced was the most ridiculous.
The league said via press release that Hinske was suspended "for leaving the dugout and for his aggressive actions during the incidents." It's not like the team desperately needs Hinske to play, but the suspension made no sense, especially when the video from the TV broadcast clearly shows Hinske getting punched in the head by Puig.
If you trust a "source" talking to Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal, "The video, when slowed down, shows Puig's head snapping back at least two or three times, as if he was hit by a punch, the source said."
You can judge that for yourself, if you start the video below at around the 5:30 mark. Puig comes in and starts shoving everyone, then gets pushed out by Hinske, and when he tries to come back, and at 5:37, it looks like Hinske may have pushed Puig in the head.
So, maybe the one-game suspension is fair. But Puig's hammer-fist haymaker should have been at least one game, too.
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