good luck on your play buddy....if anyone missed it there was a little heating up before the game on Tuesday
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The AL West race heated to a boil Tuesday when Texas catcher Gerald Laird and Anaheim second baseman Adam Kennedy nearly started a full-blown brawl -- during batting practice.
The two exchanged words as the Angels were finishing up batting practice and Texas was stretching in front of the visiting dugout. The two began shoving each other and both teams rushed toward them. The result was a tense, giant scrum back near the screen behind home plate that lasted for several minutes.
"There was an issue (Monday) night -- Adam took exception to something Laird did at home plate when he was hitting, and it obviously wasn't quite resolved," Anaheim manager Mike Scioscia said.
The incident apparently stemmed from Kennedy's second-inning at-bat during Texas' 6-1 victory Monday night, after a pitch that either was inside or that Kennedy leaned into -- depending on one's perspective.
Kennedy wheeled and had words with Laird during the at-bat, and the anger obviously spilled into Tuesday. Some accounts had Kennedy staring at Laird as batting practice ended, and Laird saying something directed at the Angels' second baseman.
Kennedy, through an Angels' spokesman, declined comment.
"He tried to forearm sucker-punch me," Laird said.
One eyewitness, Norm Katz, 38, of Newport Beach, Calif., was in a suite-holder's seat right behind the home-plate screen and said the whole thing started quickly.
"All of a sudden, they just started grabbing each other," Katz said. "One of Texas' catchers looked like he had a shirt ripped."
At one point during the altercation, another eyewitness said, Texas outfielder Brian Jordan had Kennedy in a headlock as others attempted to break up the fight. And by the time peace was established, Laird was missing his batting practice top.
Anaheim coach Alfredo Griffin said that, at one point during the scrum, Texas infielder Eric Young was saying, "Let 'em fight one-on-one -- this isn't supposed to be a group thing."
The two managers, Anaheim's Mike Scioscia and Texas' Buck Showalter, conversed briefly on the grass behind the batting cage afterward.
"Buck just asked me what had happened," Scioscia said.
Said Showalter: "The last three, four years, I don't think people really thought we'd be that important for people to worry about."
Asked specifically about the Laird-Kennedy incident from the night before, Showalter said: "It is a very competitive game with very competitive people."
Laird was not in Texas' lineup Tuesday night -- Showalter had penciled in Rod Barajas long before the late-afternoon dustup. Kennedy was playing second base and batting ninth for Anaheim.
