There were some fireworks in Scottsdale on Sunday as Spring Training and the Cactus League wind down. Ubaldo Jimenez, former Colorado Rockie, plunked Troy Tulowitzki on the elbow, immediately inciting a bench-clearing confrontation. There's apparently some discord between the two, especially with the way Ubaldo exited last summer at the deadline. Jimenez said the pitch got away from him, but Rockies' manager Jim Tracy begged to differ - going off on his former ace to the Colorado media.
Video and Tracy quotes after the jump:
Via ESPN:
Tracy is the same manager that pitched Jimenez on the day he was traded - when it became abundantly clear he was being shipped off. That move upset Indians brass, but he's certainly on his high horse now:
"It's the most gutless act I have seen in 35 years of professional baseball. I have lost all respect for him. To do something like that and walk down off the mound, and if there's any suggestion whatsoever that the ball got away, I don't want to hear any of that (expletive). He intentionally threw at him. He should be suspended. I am going to be very disappointed if he doesn't get suspended. He deserves to be."
Via Troy Renck
Tribe skipper Manny Acta said it was the first time he'd seen a bench-clearing during Spring Training, but according to the Plain Dealer's Paul Hoynes, there was clearly some tension heading into the exhibition game:
This spring Jimenez said being with the Indians was like being in "heaven' compared to playing with the Rockies.
Tulowitzki fired back.
"If someone doesn't want to be here," Tulowitzki told the Denver Post, "we always say, 'Please, go up to the manager and tell him you want to leave or that you don't think this is the best place for you.' That was kind of the case with him."
Adding to the intrigue, apparently commissioner Bud Selig was in attendance as well. It likely will not take long for the league to impose some sort of disciplinary action, if they deem that it was intentional.
Read what Baseball Nation's Rob Neyer had to say about the incident.