Hiroki Kuroda and Manny Ramirez were among the seven players and coaches fined for their involvements in the bench-clearing incident that took place at Dodger Stadium on Sunday night in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series.
Also fined were Phillies players Shane Victorino and J.C. Romero, Dodgers coaches Mariano Duncan and Larry Bowa, and Phillies coach Davey Lopes.
Kuroda, who threw a pitch behind the head of Victorino to spark the incident, was fined $7,500. Ramirez and Victorino were fined $2,500 each, Romero and Duncan $1,000 each and Lopes and Bowa $500 each. No suspensions were issued.
"I think it's ridiculous," Dodgers Manager Joe Torre said. "It's just a contradiction to me. . . . They want you to play with passion but they don't want you to show it."
Kuroda smiled when asked about the penalty.
"If that's what it is, there's nothing I can do about it," Kuroda said.
Though Kuroda said the third-inning pitch that he threw at Victorino's head slipped out of his hand, it appeared to be delivered in response to pitches thrown at Ramirez and Russell Martin in Games 2 and 3.
Victorino jawed at Kuroda and Martin but didn't charge the mound, and no player rushed to the scene other than Ramirez, who had a pitch thrown at his head by Brett Myers in Game 2.
The situation escalated when Victorino grounded out to first and heard Kuroda screaming at him in Japanese. The benches cleared, Bowa and Lopes got in each other's faces, and Ramirez had to be restrained as he pointed at Myers and Romero.
"Manny's my boy," Romero said. "It was actually funny."
The view from another side
If Kuroda had done what he did Sunday night in Japan, he probably wouldn't have received the kind of widespread praise he received in the United States for standing up for his teammates, according to reporters from his country covering the NLCS.
Though throwing at hitters in retaliation is something that is accepted among Japanese players, the country's baseball establishment would never acknowledge that to the public, which perceives such practices as juvenile.
"In Japan, the concept of an eye for an eye doesn't exist," said Mamoru Shikama of Nikkan Sports News.
"Being able to withstand pain and not retaliating is a measure of strength to the Japanese," said Takashi Yamakawa of the Kyodo News. "There would be a segment of the public that would disapprove of retaliatory acts. Escalation is seen as pointless."
