Blue Jays reliever Joaquin Benoit left the ballpark last night on crutches, according to Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca (via Twitter). The veteran is suffering from a leg injury — suggestions are that the issue is in his calf — that arose during a bench-clearing dust-up in yesterday’s game.
It would obviously be rather disappointing if it turns out that Benoit will miss any significant portion of time. After all, the Jays need him not only for the final week of the season but for the postseason to come.
Things had been going quite well for Benoit in Toronto prior to this. Since coming over in the trade that sent Drew Storen to the Mariners in a swap of struggling relievers, Benoit has allowed only a single earned run over 23 2/3 innings of work while permitting just 17 hits and carrying a 24:9 K/BB ratio.
That turnaround has not only provided a huge boost to the Blue Jays, but has set up Benoit nicely for free agency. He had posted some rough results in Seattle over the season’s first half, but his work in Toronto is more reminiscent of Benoit’s consistently strong production over the previous half-dozen campaigns.
It was crazy to see in NY how on one screen, an emotional moment is happening down in Miami, and on another screen, utter chaos is happening up in Toronto.
Jays started that brawl. Happ intentionally threw at Chase Headley including hitting him with the pitch (after thinking Severino intentionally hit Donaldson). If JA Happ doesn’t do that, the whole brawl doesn’t happen the next inning.
Happ was protocting his guy, ump did it right and not warned the benches after the first one. It’s an unwritten rule you protect your guys on the mound. Severing started that brawl, threw at Smoak twice. Rewatch the first two innings at get it right
Are you saying every single pitcher should retaliate even on Unintentional HBP’s? I watched the first two innings enough and there is no way Severino hit Donaldson on purpose.
Yeah
Jays are the ones that should have thought about what would happen from intentionally throwing at a guy. NYis pretty much out now and here is Toronto fighting for any kind of post season appearance.. Who looks like made the terrible decisions here, especially with one of the better relievers now on the shelf?
Happ shouldn’t have thrown at headley, but severino defintly shouldn’t have thrown at smoak. God I hate unwritten rules, they need to be gone.
After Happ threw at Headley intentionally, Severino had to protect his teammate. Happ instigated this. Severino did what he had to do.
Severino didn’t intentionally hit Donaldson though in the 1st inning though. He walked the next 2 batters and walked in the bases loaded. Clearly his control wasn’t there. Happ was being a complete tool for no reason and threw at Headley twice. There was no need to “protect” Donaldson. Happ should have gotten thrown out of the game, Severino rightfully protected his player.
The Jays are the bad news bears when it comes to causing trouble with whom ever they play.
Umm no. Happ did what he had to do. You protect your players and you let it be known that if you hit our guys (especially our MVP) we’ll hit you back. It actually should’ve ended at the warnings. Once the warnings were issued it should’ve stopped. If you want to place blame on anyone look no further than New York’s starter. You could argue this would never have happened if he could actually pitch!
@MB923
Severino didn’t intentionally hit Smoak??? That didn’t happen in your universe?
terrymesmer, I said he diddn’t intentionally hit Donaldson, not Smoak. He obviously hit Smoak intentionally to protect his player.
I think your a Yankees fan. Blaming the Jays for the Brawl. If Siverino didn’t come back and throw at Smoak the second bench clearing would never have happened. So stop being a homer.
Yes I am a Yankee fan who is blaming the Jays for the brawl. Severino hit Smoak for retaliation of Happ hitting Headley Intentionally. Many pitchers in the game would have done what Severino did
I think You’re a Yankee hater blaming the Yanks for the brawl. Stop being such a hater.
Hey Yankster! You must read the NY Times….Check the tape. Serverino hit Donaldson to begin to begin the festivities the inning before.
Yes, Severino hit Donaldson. You are naive if you think it was intentional. Oh, and no, I do not read the NY Times, sorry. You must read the Toronto Sun or Boston Globe.
Check the video. Sanchez looks up at Donaldson twice, then points way inside with his sign. It was intentional.
Just did again and I keep laughing at it. The pitch glazed the bottom of his elbow and Sanchez even caught it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an Intentional hit by pitch land in the catcher’s glove. Have you?
It was not intentional at all.
And here’s Brooks in case anyone can’t find the AB
brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/cache/location.php-pitchS…
You are absolutely, obviously right MB. You’re living in another world of perception if you believe Severino intentionally hit Donaldson. Everything that resulted from that mistake pitch is on the blue jays, who are fighting for a playoff spot. Ludicrous that Happ isn’t ejected, and ludicrous that a grazed elbow is considered a situation of retaliation. If that were the case, brawls would pop up every single day.
Well the Jays are a bunch of hotheads…
Yeah, I didn’t see the game, but the Jays are always involved in this kind of stuff
Let’s all stop pointing fingers long enough to laugh at the fool who injured himself in the benches clearing “brawl”
Amen!
I think we should also blame Preller for withholding documentation of the pre-existing condition that caused the injury in the first place.
You hit our best player JD, and of course we are going to retaliate. It should have been over there but then Sev threw behind Smoak which was obviously intentional. I know his control sucks, but it’s not that bad. Happ throwing behind Headley is called sticking up for your teammates. It’s part of the game, like it or not. Headley should count himself lucky that it wasn’t years ago with Stieb, Wells or Clemens on the mound. They wouldn’t have thrown at his legs and wouldn’t have missed!
Hey Dummy, Severino hit Donaldson but it wasn’t on purpose, he walk 2 hitters in the same inning since he didn’t had command of his pitches. Then Haap hit Headley on purpose and Severino did the same to Smoak, end of the story. Haap started the whole thing and so did the umpire by not warning the pitcher once Haap threw at Headley on purpose the first time. Your team is full of cocky hotheads. Too bad CC couldn’t get a hold of Donaldson…
Dummy? Is that the best you got? How old are you? 8 yrs old? You really hurt my feelings…and why do you find it necessary to name call in this discussion? Oh yeah, you are a Yankee fan. Never mind
How old are YOU?? Talking about OURS/WE. Do you play for Jays??
Monty, are you saying that every hbp, even clear accidents, are worthy of retaliation? That is ludicrous, absurd, inane, caveman logic that has no place anywhere, let alone a professional ball field. Unwritten rules or not, sometimes people get hit on accident. It can’t turn into a pegging match after one mistake. I mean, severino freaking grazed donaldson’s elbow! If that’s intentional, then it’s the poorest excuse for an intentional hbp I’ve ever seen.
Happ is a CY Young contender and a win for him last night would have helped his cause but he retaliated to send a message that you can mess with his teammates. Shows his character and that he’s a team player and not concerned about personal glory or stats. And he threw at his legs not his head which although intentional, wasn’t intended to seriously injure Headley. But I guess if Happ had hit say, I dunno, do the Yanks have an MVP caliber player, and say CC retaliated and hit JD, you would be saying that he was a stand up guy. But my 6 year old could avoid his fastball…
Good old-fashioned baseball drama going on in this thread.
Unless it was blatantly unintentional (like just a pitch gone completely wrong) its not uncommon for the opposing team to retaliate to some degree especially when its the team’s star player. Whether or not the Donaldson hit was intentional, it was a bit high (hit his elbow) and, while I don’t remember/know if it was retaliation for a previous incident, (and taking your quote from before) many pitchers would have done the same thing that Happ did. While Happ definitely helped spark the incident, Severino definitely started the fire. Both sides are equally to blame.
How could Severino have started it if the benches first cleared after Headley got hit by Happ?
Hey Carnack! ..How do you that HE didn’t hit Donaldson on purpose? Do you have a direct line to Severino’s brain?
Have you ever seen an intentional HBP go into a catcher’s glove??? The pitch just glazed off the bottom of his elbow and went right into Sanchez’s glove.
We can debate intention all day. The only thing that counts is results. Let’s have a bench clearing brawl and settle this like HOOLIGANS! 🙂
lol
The umpire shares a lot of the blame for letting this get out of hand. He issued a warning after Happ hit Headley. Then when Severino tried to hit Smoak the first time, he stood up, raised his right arm as if to signal an ejection, walked forward and then dropped the arm, dusted off the plate and gave Severino a second chance to hit Smoak. Given the situation, there was absolutely no doubt as to Severino’s intention with that first pitch. What the heck is the point of issuing a warning if you are not going to enforce it. If he had enforced the rule after the first pitch and ejected Severino (who was quite frankly at his pitch limit by then anyway) this would have all been avoicpded.
Good points Freddy. He also could have warned Happ after the first pitch to Headley, but waited 1 more pitch for the warning, just like 1 more pitch for the ejection of Severino
But you’re right, umps have to be blamed too.
Agree on the first Happ pitch. Quite frankly, the whole concept of issuing warnings makes no sense. If the ump thinks a pitcher has intentionally thrown at a batter, he should throw them out then and there. (The rules allow it.). All the issuing of a warning does is encourage teams who have a beef with someone to make sure they get in the first shot – because that’s a freebie. And then penalizes the pitcher that feels obliged to retaliate to stand up for his teammates.
One thing we can all AGREE on….The umpires in this series SUCKED! But hey! What else is new?
Now that we can all agree on for certain.
I’m pretty sure it was all Arod’s fault
Now here’s a man with a good joke.
Yet another reason to institute the following rule: if you leave the dugout, the bullpens, or your positions in the field to jump into a fight between 2 players, you are ejected. Period. I get why guys run out of the dugout: the batter who has been plunked is surrounded by all of the players on the other team playing defense, so Team A wants to even the odds… but nothing good ever comes from these fights except suspensions and injuries. Benoit wasn’t even involved in any of this drama initially, and now he could be lost to Toronto for an important stretch. It’s silly, and frankly I’m surprised these injuries don’t happen more often.
So here’s the deal: if batter/pitcher, or runner/shortstop on a play at 2nd base, or whoever, want to duke it out, fine. Let the umpires break them up. Any player who leaves the dugout/bullpen, or any other player on the field who intervenes, is automatically ejected and suspended for the following game. If your whole team gets tossed for entering the fray, too bad, you forfeit. It’s time for these “fights” (more like 10 minute shoving matches) to stop.
Toronto fans who think that that brawl wasn’t started by donaldson’s bi**hiness are on another level of stupid. Clearly wasn’t intentional the first time, why didn’t yall retaliate when heller did that the first night when he couldn’t find the plate? The Jays are a bunch of crybaby hotheads whose window is up after this year, and deep down their fans and the players know it. Can’t wait to meet them again in 2017 at the stadium. Hate them more than the Orioles at this point.
We’re one inside pitch away from having a bench clearing brawl in this thread too lol
You always defend your players. Period.
Seems a lot of these NY fans have never played the game. But your also about to elect Trump, so l guess ignorance and stupidity run rampant in NY.
I don’t know why you bought politics in here, but NY is a Democratic state and Hillary will win it.
I’m also not sure why you’re singling out NY when there are states all over the country that Trump will win
Anytime poor Donaldson gets HBP unintentionally, a pitcher should retaliate? If that is the case, benches would clear after every HBP
Agreed. The jays are a bunch of whiners. With the exception of a few they are pretty annoying as a whole and not real like able.
Again, have none of you played the game, there are player codes. Happ was doing his job. Protecting his lineup. The truth is NY is disgruntled there not in the playoffs this year.