Levine: Chris Sale's Trip To The Dark Side Could Cost Him Days Off
By Bruce Levine--
(CBS) -- The aftermath of Thursday's bench-clearing brawl between the White Sox and Royals was basically damage control on both sides of the field.
For Chicago starting pitcher Chris Sale, a possible suspension could become a reality, with his trip down the hallway to find Kansas City pitcher Yordano Ventura not helping his case after his ejection. Sale and fellow White Sox pitcher Jeff Samardzija were tossed for their part in the dustup and subsequent fight in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Sale was still fuming when he left the White Sox clubhouse in the eighth inning, looking to confront Ventura, who was cooling off in the almost-empty Royals clubhouse along with Edinson Volquez and Lorenzo Cain, who were also ejected on Kansas City's side. Sale marched down the hallway and ended up trying to get to Ventura. The confrontation was averted as Sale was talked out of pursing it any further by a Royals player.
When I asked Sale about his "walk on the wild side," he downplayed the event.
"I am not here to put my foot in my mouth," Sale said when asked if he regrets any of his decisions Thursday. "I am not going to spill anything or anything like that. We are here to win. Today is a new day.
"If you worry about things from the past, things happening right now and in the future slip away."
The "boys being boys" element of baseball has been pushed to the limit by the Royals' Ventura, who has irritated the opposition in each of his starts in 2015. Sale emphasized these events were isolated incidents, not business as usual.
"We are not boxers ," he said emphatically. "We are baseball players. We aren't here to set any tones or beat anybody. It just happened, tempers flared a little bit. It got a little hot, but his is not going to turn into Fight Club or anything like that. This is baseball. Tempers flared. Guys got a little upset, and that's it. To me, everyone is making it a little bigger deal than it was."
Major League Baseball will decide if Sale is correct about that. Fines and suspensions are likely by the commissioner's office. That type of response wouldn't so much be about the infraction but to make a statement on what they expect in the way of comportment from their players.
The fact that three of the top pitchers in the American League are involved makes this an easy case study if they want to make an example and statement to the clubs at this point and time.
"I don't know what course they are going to take," Sale said. "You deal with it. You are supposed to be responsible for your actions, and we will. Whatever comes our way, we are going to handle and going to take it. We will move forward."
Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score and CBSChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.
