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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Not just baseball in spring

Friday: With the Mariners enjoying a day off Thursday, the viewing schedule opened up before us. What could have been a boring night of sitcoms and reality TV instead became an evening of unbelievable sports action.

Unbelievable may be too strong an adjective, but I found it hard to believe how Kansas City starting pitcher Yordano Ventura speared a comebacker from the White Sox Adam Eaton, took a couple steps toward the runner and yelled an obscenity at Eaton before tossing the ball to first. Now maybe Ventura was auditioning to become the next Reds’ manager but his actions started a 10-minute brawl that resulted in a handful of ejections and further fueled the Royals’ burgeoning bush-league reputation.

What was really unbelievable was Eaton actually continued on toward first base. How many of us in our baseball playing days would have just planted our right foot, pivoted and raced to the mound in an attempt to plant Ventura into the infield turf.

OK, my hand is up. I actually did something really similar in a game when I was 22, sprinting all the way to third base to level a guy who had spiked a teammate on purpose. That brawl was nothing like the one on TV last night – as far as I can determine, no one on either team in Chicago actually landed punches – but then again the major league guys have a lot more to lose, financially, than we did.

Still, last night’s ruckus was unbelievable – and entertaining. But not nearly as entertaining as Golden State’s comeback in New Orleans. The Warriors were down 20 in the fourth quarter and still found a way to win. All it took was an – OK, I’m going to use that word again – unbelievable tying 3-pointer from Steph Curry and a few plays in overtime to get it done.

And, oh yeah, the ability to shake off a sixth foul on Draymond Green whistled three seconds after the play was over – I timed it – and an off-ball foul called on Klay Thompson with the game on the line. As Bill Rafferty would have said, onions.