| | Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS -- Detroit Tigers manager Phil Garner returned
from his eight-game suspension Saturday with mixed feelings about
his punishment for his role in last month's brawl with the Chicago
White Sox.
Garner said he still didn't agree with his suspension but is
glad Frank Robinson is baseball's new disciplinarian.
|  | | After serving an eight-game suspension, Garner said Detroit losing was worse than sitting out. |
Both Garner and counterpart Jerry Manuel each drew eight-game
penalties from Robinson, baseball's vice president of on-field
operations. In all, 16 members of the Tigers and White Sox were
suspended, and another nine were fined.
"I may not like some of the things that are going to come down,
but I do like the fact that we have a baseball guy that's doing
it," Garner said during batting practice at the Metrodome, where
the Tigers were playing the Minnesota Twins.
The return of Garner and third baseman Dean Palmer, who also served an eight-game suspension, didn't help the Tigers, who lost to the Twins 6-1.
Garner said there's no question baseball has to curb its brawling.
"There's the risk of injury, the public image. We don't want
Little League players or high school players or college players
thinking that part of the game is to go fight," Garner said. "I
don't want my sons doing it. I'd just like to see us play the game.
"But you play our game with emotion and passion and sometimes
emotions are going to flare. And I don't think in a lot of cases
there should be major suspensions for that."
Garner didn't appeal his suspension, but upon reflection, he
said he should have.
Garner said Robinson told him in a phone call after the
punishment was announced that he didn't think Garner incited or
encouraged the brawling.
"I fully expected Frank to have an accusatory reason to suspend
me and he didn't," Garner said. "He just said I was kind of a
victim of circumstance. I wanted to know if Frank thought I took
action to create or cause some of that and he said no. During that
conversation, I thought, 'Well, I don't think it's right. But out
of respect to Frank, I'm just going to serve.'
"And I respect authority. I've never appealed anything when
I've been fined. I'm feeling differently about it now after eight
days."
That's because he still can't fathom why managers should be
punished so severely, he said.
"Jerry is not a mean-spirited guy and in his case, either, I
don't think he should have been suspended even though his pitchers
hit three of mine," Garner said. "I don't feel like Jerry was at
fault for that and I don't hold him responsible."
Because suspensions for position players have a greater effect
on a team -- a pitcher can serve his suspension between starts or
relief appearances -- Garner said he thought baseball was cracking
down on players who charge the mound or spill out of the dugout to
back up their teammates.
On Palmer's eight-game suspension, Garner said, "That's a long time for a position player. Three games for a pitcher is absolutely nothing."
Most of the pitchers involved in the brawl got three-game
suspensions.
Tigers pitcher Robert Fick got a five-game suspension, and
Garner thinks that should be reduced. He believes it was a
five-game ban because Robinson thought Fick made an obscene gesture
toward the crowd. But films from various angles show he was
flashing a "hang-loose" sign as he left the field.
During his banishment, Garner had to leave the ballpark at game
time. He watched either from the team hotel or the television
truck.
"It's tough. You do all your preparation. You go do your
scouting, you meet with your players, you meet with your staff. You
do all that stuff in preparation for the game and then when it gets
game time, I've got to get out," Garner said. "That's
frustrating.
"You feel like you're cheating somebody. You feel like you're
cheating your ownership. You feel like you're cheating everybody
when you're not at the helm and you've got to go to the TV truck."
The good thing, Garner said, was that he got to see some things
he otherwise wouldn't have.
"I think I have learned some things watching games on video,
because I've isolated on a few of the guys and seen what they're
doing or what they might not be doing," he said. "So, we'll be
able to fix some things." | |
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