Yeesh. Thursday. It feels like a long time ago, right? The weekend -- especially Derrick Rose's genius and a close Blackhawks win to go 2-0 and all sorts of baseball and NBA Playoffs in between -- has a way of making you forget about these things. But in case you forgot, we're here to remind: Milton Bradley got ejected and suspended on Thursday for protesting a bad third strike call by umpire Larry Vanover. It was pretty hilarious. Not just because it was Bradley's first at-bat as a Cub, either.
The story would have died a natural death over the weekend not only thanks to the playoff madness but because a two-game suspension could have been served by Bradley on Saturday and Sunday (even if Sunday's game was eventually postponed) and that would have been that. People usually don't protest two-game suspensions. Naturally, that's exactly what Bradley is doing. And he has the Cubs behind him:
Piniella was relaying Bradley's feelings because Bradley declined to talk with media again Saturday. But Cubs management obviously was backing Bradley, even though it is not formally part of the appeals process. "We did not feel his actions warranted a two-game suspension," Cubs general manager Jim Hendry said.
Appeals are a common way to battle suspensions, as the player is allowed to play while the appeals process runs its course. So Bradley will remain a lineup option for Piniella for the time being. But the real kicker is Bradley's persistence. You sort of have to love it, right? Yes, he's crazy, and yeah, he probably shouldn't be screaming down umps in the first place -- even if that strike call was horrible -- but if Bradley is 1/10th this persistent on the matter of getting on-base, and fielding right field well, and staying healthy, and winning a World Series or any combination therein, the Cubs will get a nice little return on their investment.
These are the qualities that make Milton Bradley insane. They're also what makes him so good at baseball. Win some, lose some, we guess.
Eamonn Brennan is a Chicago-based writer, editor and blogger who is only this persistent when there's food involved. You can also read him at Yahoo! Sports, Mouthpiece Sports Blog, and Inside The Hall, or at his personal site, eamonnbrennan.com. Follow him on Twitter.
