Most figured there was going to be a little spill over from last night's plunkings.  Sure enough, when Miguel Cabrera was nailed on the wrist in the 1st inning, it was all but a certainty.  The initial retaliation appeared to be in the bottom half of the first when Porcello went up and in on Victor Martinez.  Martinez stared Porcello down like he doesn't know baseball like he knows crying.  Moving on.

In the second inning though, in the middle of Cabrera's at bat, you could clearly see that his hand was bothering him from being hit.  After fouling a pitch off, he decided he couldn't handle it any longer and had to be pulled.  That's when you had to believe Detroit would retaliate.  Boston did not just send a message to the Tigers, they hurt their best player.  Payback was inevitable, it's the unwritten rules in baseball.

Sure enough, Porcello plunked the first batter in the middle of the back in the bottom of the 2nd.  Thankfully, it was Kevin Youkilis the biggest bitch of them all and he charged the mound.  If you're interested in seeing and reading a screen shot play-by-play (with captions) followed up with an actual video (that will probably be taken down eventually) then click read more.

After being plunked square in the back, Youkilis took no time to toss his bat toward the bat boy and huff and puff toward the mound.  Porcello throws his hands out and takes a few steps back to get off the uneven mound and to probably sell that it was unintentional.  Everyone knows it was intentional, and honestly, I don't blame Porcello for being a little scared.  Youkilis is a big guy and remember, Porcello is just 20-years old.  Youkilis was cutting down trees and inventing the gayest batting stance ever when Porcello was still eating oatmeal and watching Blues Clues.

Just as Youkilis gets to the front of the mound, he decides to rip off his helmet and heave it at Porcello.  Similar to his batting stance, Youkilis has awful form, throwing off his front foot.  Porcello, who is still backing up and off the mound puts his glove up as if he will catch the helmet.

As expected, Youkilis throws the helmet at Porcello and quick Rick dodges it.  Perhaps the helmet toss, as weak as it was, served as merely a distraction tactic by Youkilis, because Porcello is now off balance and vulnerable to a take down. Right?

Despite Porcello being slightly off balance from dodging the helmet toss, Youk looks like he just ran into a brick wall.  He bear hugs Porcello and looks like he just needs a hug more than he wants to fight.  I have NO IDEA how Ryan Raburn is falling over in this picture.  Perhaps he was stiff armed by Youkilis, but I'd be willing to bet that Raburn just slipped -- he is pretty clumsy.

Porcello will have none of Youkilis as he takes him with his right arm like he's a weightless baseball and throws him to the ground.

Here's another view of Porcello slamming Youk into the ground.

And down they both go.  Youkillis appears to have the upper hand here with his left arm wrapped around Porcello.  However, Porcello winds up on top of him as you'll see in the next picture.

This awesome capture from the Free Press shows Porcello on top of Youkilis.

This picture reminds me of the following "Swingers" scene.  Porcello is slapping Youk's forehead and saying, "look at you, you wanna kiss me."

Youk went to the clubhouse immediately after this was all broken up.  He always shows such upstanding maturity.  Meanwhile, Porcello stuck around because he did not want to be ejected (nor did the Tigers considering their depleted bullpen).  When he found out he was in fact ejected, he became as animated as we've ever seen this poised rookie all season.  As Leyland escorted him off the field, he turned back to the umpires a few times and dropped some expletives that will most likely get him the ol' soap in the mouth treatment from mom when he gets home from school.  Either way, amazing job by the kid.

So that was that.  Afterwards, Chris Lambert, the Tigers best worst pitcher came in and immediately put another runner on and gave up a game tying 3-run homer.  As we stand at the rain delay, Detroit trails 6-3.

In the meantime, while it still exists, the video of the brawl itself courtesty of The World of Isaac. Enjoy.

Comments (15)

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written by Steven19, August 11, 2009

Love the screen caps with captions. Maybe I'm in the minority, but I don't think Porcello intended to hit Youkilis based on his reaction right after he hit him (he appeared pissed at himself) and his reaction when Youkilis charged him. Either way, his take down of the big ogre was phenomenal.

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written by Michael Castillo, August 11, 2009

I love it. Youkilis looks like an angry troll.

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very good...
written by Al the Sox Fan, August 12, 2009

... as you can see by my moniker, I'm a Sox fan and love Youkilis but your descriptions were very good, very witty. Thanks for the still shots, too.

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written by Grubby, August 12, 2009

I do love when the women get involved.

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written by Payday, August 12, 2009

Backing up to get on level ground???? Wow.

Kid was scared sh*tless and praying someone would stop Youk before he got to him.

Don't get me wrong, I don't blame him either and he did an EXCELLENT job throwing Youk on his fat head, but let's not kid ourselves....the Lions should sign Porcello to play CB with backpedaling skills like that.

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cabrera
written by gusburnz, August 12, 2009

look at the pitch that hits cabrera, his hands are almost over the plate.......that pitch is barely inside, he practically leans into the pitch, youk gets plunked between the numbers.....there is a difference....

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written by mike guns, August 12, 2009

porcello took a few steps back to "get off the uneven mound"? joke. the guy turned and ran. he didn't want to deplete the bullpen? then play the game. he missed hitting martinez -- ok, kid, you tried to stand up for your teammate, move on. he fired up the sox and cost his team the game.
oh, and to question victor martinez's toughness because he cried when he was traded from the only team he ever knew is a joke. he's not the guy who had to sit out because of a bruised hand.

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Funny
written by pt, August 12, 2009

While your descriptions of the events are funny, they are hardly realistic !! As stated, the pitcher was backing away - real brave of the 20yr old. And to term the helmet throwing as "weak" - how is that anymore than throwing at someone in the back (not to mention the pathetic miss of Vmart).

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written by Real Fake Sports, August 12, 2009

Did anyone catch the Baseball Tonight - "etiquette" on charging the mound?

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written by Bobby B, August 12, 2009

porcello took a few steps back to "get off the uneven mound"? joke.

Yeah and I doubt he was watching Blues Clues when Youkilis was cutting down trees in the forest. Why are so many Boston fans taking that line seriously?

he missed hitting martinez -- ok, kid, you tried to stand up for your teammate, move on. he fired up the sox and cost his team the game.

Yes he missed Martinez and then when Cabrera's HBP actually forced him to leave the game an inning later I'm sure the Tigers figured, they knock one of our guys out we may as well actually plunk someone. Yeah it cost the Tigers the game but they were standing up for their teammate -- you're not going to hit one of our guys and knock him out with an injury and get a little brush back as payback (as much as Martinez whined about it), you're going to get drilled.

I highly doubt he was trying to hit V-Mart for the very reason that being ejected would cost his team the game. When Cabrera had to leave a half inning later, it didn't matter. The Sox needed to be plunked and Tigers needed to sell it as being unintentional. I think we all know what happens when Porcello tries to hit someone... just take a look at the welt smack dab in the middle of Youkilis' back.

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written by Hank, August 12, 2009

I don't know why people are making such a big deal about Porcello backing up. Youkilis is charging at him full speed and you expect the 20-year old who has never been in a MLB brawl to just stand there and take a hit? The people who bring up Porcello backing up as some sort of sign that he's a huge pussy are the people who are just trying to reflect the fact that Youkilis got owned. Porcello takes like 3 steps back and as soon as Youkilis bear hugs him, Porcello goes, "really? we're really going to do this? Okay, down you go" and slammed him. End of story.

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written by Timmy from Chicago, August 12, 2009

Well said, Hank. Porcello boss-tossed Youkilis despite having to side-step a helmet which Youkilis sadly threw at him, period. 1.) None of these people who are criticizing Porcello have been in a fight where someone is running at them full speed, obviously. If you attempt to take on someone who's rushing you from a stand-still, 9 times out of 10 you're going to get dropped regardless of how tough/strong you are. 2.) As Youkilis approaches Porcello, Rick is moving to avoid the helmet that is being raised above Youkilis' head and eventually thrown at him.

Embarrassing night for Youkilis although he successfully turned the game around by getting Porcello kicked out with him. Nonetheless, he is second on my all-time list of "Guys who embarrassed themselves in how they rushed the mound." First place? Robin Ventura, of course.

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written by skank, August 12, 2009

regardless of your opinion of Porcello's reaction, there are no two ways about it: he dropped Youkilis like the clown that he is.

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written by Payday, August 13, 2009

First of all, I made it clear that although Porcello backed up like a pu$$y, he did do a great job on the hip toss and avoiding injury.

But here's the deal...if you have the "stones" to throw at someone (intentionally or otherwise), you need to have the stones to face the music. He retreated like a b1tch and now he's got to face that music. Fortunately for him, he wound up getting the upperhand or he'd be getting called out worse than he is.

And ask Kyle Farnsworth how difficult it is to take down someone running at you. Paul Wilson got dropped like third period French.

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written by Hank, August 13, 2009

You're still deflecting attention from his take down by even talking about him backing up. Who cares? I would expect 90% of pitchers to react the way he did, the 10% being the much bigger pitchers. I would never expect a pitcher to stand still on the hill and say, "bring it" and take the chances of getting absolutely leveled by the guy getting a running start. Ridiculous to call him a pussy.

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