Zito hits Fielder to settle score - Last September when the Giants were in town for a match-up against the Brewers, both teams found themselves in the late-innings of an afternoon matinee. With playoff hopes on the line, Prince Fielder stepped up to bat in the 12th inning of a 1-1 tie game. With the count 0-1, Fielder blasted off the very next pitch thrown by San Francisco's Merkin Valdez, sending the ball into the right-field bleachers and the crowd in a craze. However, the biggest story would come from what the 270lb slugger would do next. While rounding the bases and pulling his jersey out from under his belt, Fielder approached home plate with his peers and fellow teammates waiting for him. Prince then hurdled onto the plate as the rest of the brew crew fell over simultaneously in bowling pin fashion, creating quite the controversy.
The choreographed celebration was shown all over the sporting world, leaving a bad taste in the mouths of Giants fans and players alike. Six months later, both teams would meet again, this time in Scottsdale, Arizona for a Spring Training game. With Giants southpaw Barry Zito on the slab, the San Francisco ball club would have it's first shot at revenge. With Fielder at the plate against the Giants for the first time since his game winning home run, Zito let the Brewers slugger know that they didn't forgot nor appreciate his walk-off performance he put on six months prior, by plunking him in the back with the first pitch he seen in Spring Training.
I may not be the biggest fan of retaliation, but in the way Fielder celebrated his walk-off shot as if he scored a game-winning touchdown in an NFL end-zone with the likes of Chad Ochocinco or T.O., I think it was every bit necessary. More importantly, I was more than glad the two got it over with during a preseason game and not during the regular season. Fielder, who called the fastball he received in the back "unexpected", took the nice guy approach as he underhanded the ball back to Zito while trotting to first base. "They have to do what they have to do. Whatever," Fielder said when being asked about it. "I didn't see anything coming, but they have to do what they have to do. It's not going to take it away. It's chronicled. ... It is what it is. I hit the home run. Hit me. If that's what you've got to do, then that's what you've got to do."
Zito on the other hand, played the role of an oblivious man, responding as if last September's game never took place. Zito claimed it was an accident when being asked in a post game interview if it was an act of revenge. "No, we were just going with fastballs [inside] right there," Zito said. "It got away. The ball was running off." It's obvious the bean ball was thrown to send Fielder a message, but commenting as if it was on purpose would be the same as ratting yourself out it any other case and could have resulted in a fine and or suspension. Both are something the MLB has been known for dishing out when players or managers admit to beaning players of opposing teams.
I respect Zito for being the one who took the chance of possibly being bumrushed by the hefty Fielder, but if Zito needs to focus on anything, it's living up to that 7-year $126 million dollar contract he signed prior to the 2007 season. A signing that has ever since been a mistake to say the least. I'm surprised Fielder didn't turn into a madman and go off on a rampage like he did in L.A. last season when a Guillermo Mota's fastball payed his thigh a visit. Fielder stood at home plate staring Mota down merely asking 'Why?' before storming the Dodger clubhouse once the game had ended. (For more on the Mota-Fielder incident, check out: Not so Prince Charming)
Let's hope both teams concur about one thing as Giants skipper Bruce Bochy simply put it, "Let bygones be bygones."
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