but how does this verify that statement? he’s just saying what’s par for the course these days, every team plays the retaliation game.

I actually agree with him. It’s been handled that way in baseball since it’s inception.

Nice Dodger-defending folks. Why Martin is an idiot and can suck it, however:

• Calling his teammate “Our premier hitter”, like he’s writing an article for the New Yorker or something.

• Telling Prince Fielder when he is and isn’t allowed to get angry, in the baseball rules according to Russell Martin (“I understand (Fielder) is frustrated, but you don’t take care of that after the game.”)

• “We don’t want to be known as a team that doesn’t have each other’s backs.” Is stupid too. Either they are a team that has each other’s backs, or a team that doesn’t (or, more realistically, they are somewhere in between). Why is he all freaked about what the Brewers think. Who cares what the Brewers think.

• Yeah it’s common for one team to drill another team’s guy in retaliation, whatever, cool. But I think that that mostly holds when the first beaning was seemingly on-purpose. Getting revenge for a ball that just got away from a pitcher, which is what seems to have happened in this case, seems stupid to me, a setup for endless escalation until one team chills out. And for Russell to come right out and say it was on purpose when the first beaning wasn’t makes him seem like a grade A ass.

• I’ve sat through so many single-pitch intentional walks to Barry Bonds that the Giants didn’t do anything about in response, where the attitude seemed to be “wellllll …. OK, assholes, I guess that could have been an accident …. but, ummm, thanks for putting him on base (again)., and maybe let’s just get on with the game …” that the whole retaliation thing, even when “justified”, falls a li’l flat with me.

Mota is a jerk, too. I remember him drilling Mike Piazza in a pre season game and then sneaking out of the stadium when Piazza went looking for him later.