Quote:
Originally Posted by frazod
I wonder if it makes any difference that the one he was having the altercation with wasn't the one he touched?
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It can and probably will.
The 'touch' rule isn't a hard and fast one; the intent being the contact is extremely important. Yadi had a free look at the 1b ump once and didn't make contact with him. He clearly wanted to be in his face and yelling at him, but didn't want to rough him up.
With the ump he made contact with, he was clearly trying to get around him to go back to chewing on the ump. So the fact that the contact wasn't with the first ump will likely make a difference.
Here's where the star system may help us as much as anything. I'd be surprised if MLB dumps one of their MVP caliber players for any appreciable period of time for being upset about a clearly erroneous ejection.