Sheff swings, Yankees miss

[BuckFoston]

BOSTON - The Red Sox-Yankees rivalry turned ugly again last night as the Bombers came up empty and a fan got a piece of Gary Sheffield.

Sheffield became enraged after a fan in the front row of the right field seats at Fenway Park made contact with his face as he bent down to pick up Jason Varitek's eighth-inning triple.

The hit, which capped a three-run inning and led the Red Sox to an 8-5 victory, rolled along the waist-high fence before Sheffield finally caught up to it.

The fan's intentions were debatable - he could have been reaching over the wall to try to pick up the ball or he could have been trying to hit Sheffield - but Sheffield reacted violently, throwing a two-handed uppercut motion at the male fan that didn't connect while still holding the baseball in his right hand. A woman standing next to the fan fell backwards, though it was unclear if Sheffield's left hand inadvertently grazed her.

Sheffield was also showered with beer.

Joe Torre defended Sheffield and was outwardly angry about the actions of overzealous fans.

"These people shouldn't be allowed to walk the street, let alone come to the ballgame," the manager said.

Sheffield said he restrained himself and that "the situation could have been worse if I didn't hold my composure."

He claimed he did not throw a punch - though replays seemed to contradict him - because he immediately thought of Pacers forward Ron Artest, who was suspended for the rest of the NBA season after going into the stands and fighting with Pistons fans in Auburn Hills on Nov. 19, 2004.

"That's the first thing that came to my mind," Sheffield said. "Don't react - and that's what I did."

After throwing the ball back to the infield, Sheffield went back to the fence to confront the fan as Fenway security jumped into the stands and members of the Yankee bullpen ran over to pull him away. Sheffield then walked on the outfield grass and checked his mouth for blood.

"I thought my lip was busted," he said. "I don't know if he intended to (make contact), but it felt like it."

Red Sox officials said the fan was thrown out of the park for attempting to interfere with a ball in play but was not arrested, pending interviews and review of videotapes.

Sheffield, who was not ejected and doubled to lead off the ninth inning, said he expected to be interviewed by police in the future.

Derek Jeter called the incident "unfortunate" and Bernie Williams said Sheffield deserved credit for not escalating the situation further.

"I think that was the best thing he could have done," Williams said. "He showed a lot of class and was able to maintain his composure. Hopefully (the fan) will get what he deserves, because there's no reason for that to happen."

Even several Red Sox players conceded that Sheffield may not have been out of line.

"Can I fault him? No," Keith Foulke said. "He's a competitor. We're going out there battling. We don't like to be interfered with. We're doing a job. Maybe I would've done the same thing."

"I don't know what I would have done," Alan Embree said.

The crowd of Yankees in the right field corner immediately conjured up memories of Game 3 of the 2003 ALCS, when then-Bombers Karim Garcia and Jeff Nelson brawled with a bullpen groundskeeper; that was also the day that Pedro Martinez tossed Don Zimmer to the ground during a melee between the teams.

Last night's fracas wasn't preceded by similar venom, though the game was hotly contested as Randy Johnson got touched for five runs and five hits (he did strike out nine) in his first Fenway start as a Yankee.

Edgar Renteria, Varitek and Jay Payton each hit home runs, but the Big Unit got plenty of support - Sheffield and Hideki Matsui each went 3-for-4 and combined to drive in four runs - and left after seven innings with the game tied at 5.

He gave way to Tom Gordon - who fell apart in the eighth inning of Game 5 of the ALCS last fall - and stumbled again against Boston, giving up a single to Johnny Damon and an RBI double to Renteria before Varitek hit the triple that incited the latest nasty incident in this rivalry.

In fact, Sheffield's two-handed swing at the fan looked similar to Varitek's two-handed shot to Alex Rodriguez's face last July 24, a blow that set off the bloodiest episode between the teams.

Of course, other than the bizarre bullpen fiasco, most of the bitterness in the feud has been limited to people on the field. Last night, that wasn't the case.

"It wasn't the players," Torre said. "We're not angry at the Red Sox."

SHORT WALL, SHORT FUSE

Fans sitting in the stands have gotten more and more involved in sports in recent years, especially when they're close to the field as they are in the right field corner at Fenway Park.

After getting splashed with beer in addition to getting a hand in his face last night, Gary Sheffield probably agrees. Here's a look back at that Wrigley Field scuffle and some other recent short-wall melees.

May 16, 2000 - Fans behind the visiting bullpen at Wrigley Field steal Dodgers catcher Chad Kreuter's cap, and his teammates respond by charging into the stands and fighting with fans.

Sept. 19, 2002 - A shirtless father/son duo at Comiskey Park rushes onto the field and attacks Royals first base coach Tom Gamboa, giving him permanent hearing loss. Early the next season, another fan at Comiskey hops a fence to attack umpire Laz Diaz.

Sept. 13, 2004 - Tired of what Texas manager Buck Showalter calls "over-the-line" heckling in the bullpen down the right field line, Rangers reliever Frank Francisco hurls a chair into the stands in Oakland, breaking a woman's nose.

Sept. 28, 2004 - At Dodger Stadium, a fan throws a bottle at L.A.'s Milton Bradley. Bradley picks up the bottle, screams at the fan, and slams it down into the front row of the stands, drawing a suspension for the rest of the regular season.
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/ba...p-256959c.html

[BuckFoston]

Geesh man, what is sports coming to? I mean first the huge Pistons-Pacers brawl. Now this? They are problly going to put security guards in every other seat. Speaking of security guard, the one that hopped into the stands deserves to wake up and look on his front porch and they should be a HUGE envelope waiting for him. And no, I am not comparing this to the Pistons-Pacers, but look at the ones up there. The Pistons-Pacers were BY far worse then this.