Marcum appeals fine from league

[audio:http://torontoobserver.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Alexis_Marcum_Podcast.mp3|titles=Alexis_Marcum_Podcast]Toronto Blue Jays’ pitcher Shaun Marcum says he plans to appeal the $750 fine that he received for plunking Baltimore’s Luke Scott on Sunday afternoon.

The pitch was apparently in retaliation for the Orioles hitting Jays’ star Jose Bautista in the third, one of two occasions the major league home-run leader was smacked during the game.

Manager Buck Showalter sat out the Orioles’ game on Monday against Tampa, after being suspended during Sunday’s contest against the Blue Jays following the second incident.

For his part, Marcum is insisting he did not hit Scott on purpose in the fourth.

“I think everybody around here knows that I have good enough control that if I’m going to hit somebody, I’ll square them up in the back,” Marcum said, to mlb.com. “I’m not going to hit them in the sleeve or something like that.”

Marcum is appealing the fine because he said that the warnings were not given to both teams until after Bautista and Scott had both been hit.

With the warnings given out though, Bautista was hit again in the game by reliever Alfredo Simon. Simon came on in the fifth inning, even though he has primarily been used in late situations.

Immediately after the plunking, Simon and Showalter were ejected from the game. Simon was suspended for three games, and Showalter for one. Both denied intending to hit the major league home-run leader, but Bautista didn’t believe them.

“I think they knew what they were doing,” Bautista said. “The second time I got hit, it was pretty obvious. I don’t care what their comments were after the game, I did read them. I don’t believe what they said. But whatever.

“That doesn’t give me any pleasure that they got suspended or whatever, it’s just what they deserved.”

Bautista was surprised by the actions of Simon because he said the two got along well. They would have spent time together playing in the Dominican League.

He questioned what message the Orioles might be trying to send, and when it was suggested that it could be to stop hitting home runs, Bautista didn’t think that they had found the answer.

“Make better pitches,” Bautista said. “I’m not trying to be cocky or anything, I’m just trying to find answers, and I don’t really have them. I don’t know what their train of thought is. I have no idea.”

Simon is planning on appealing his suspension, and has a hearing scheduled for Thursday.

Showalter was not eligible to appeal, but wanted to stress that the team made no plans to go out and hit Bautista a second time.

“I understand how it looks and I would have been upset about it, too, and I would have done what the umpire did,” Showalter said. “There’s nothing you can do about it. It looked that way.

“I can tell you that it wasn’t intentional, but I understand how you can feel differently.”

Bench coach Jeff Datz filled Showalter’s spot during Monday’s game.

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By: Alexis Brudnicki
Posted: Sep 28 2010 6:06 pm
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Filed under: Baseball Sports
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