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Morning Commute: The Two Heroes Of The Nyjer Morgan Brawl

Everything you need to know about D.C. sports in one place.

My quick take on the Nyjer Morgan brawl mirrors what many others have written. Morgan clearly is a bit nuts and had what was coming to him, but this whole unwritten baseball rule that you can't steal bases when your team is down 11 is really silly. It'd be one thing if the Marlins plunked Morgan only because he ran over their catcher last night, but they already hit him for that earlier in the game. To hit him because he had the gall to steal a couple bases in the fourth inning is overkill. Maybe I just don't get these unwritten rules.

Anyway, before we get to the links, I just want to give props to two Nationals for their role in the brawl and its aftermath. First things first, I want to give a gold star to Pat Listach, the Nationals' third base coach who immediately ran to Morgan's defense. I'm pretty sure this is one of the first times a coach has been prominently involved in escalating a brawl, and I would have it no other way.

Finally, I want to give some kidos to Ryan Zimmerman for handling the situation so well when asked about it afterwards. Here's the response he gave to the media, via Mark Zuckerman. (Emphasis mine).

He's definitely done some things over the past couple weeks that are a little questionable, I think. We've all talked. Me and Pudge have talked to him. It's not something that anyone else outside of here needs to know. We handle stuff in here.    

Earlier in the week, I was critical of manager Jim Riggleman for airing his frustrations about Morgan to the media rather than in house, so Zimmerman's response here resonated with me. 

More Morgan links and others below the jump:

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by Mike Prada • Sep 2, 2010 10:30 AM EDT

Video: Nyjer Morgan Charges The Mound

Nyjer Morgan getting hit in tonight's game was an inevitability after he separated Brett Hayes' shoulder last night. In the fourth inning, Morgan got plunked, and it seemed like the the two sides were even.

But then, with his team down about 10 runs, Morgan stole second, then stole third. The Marlins didn't like that very much. In his next at bat in the sixth inning, Marlins starter Chris Volstad threw behind Morgan, and that's when all hell broke loose.

Nyjer took the customary, "I might not be charging the mound" step towards first, before throwing his bat towards the first base dug out and sprinting toward Volstad fists first. He swung for Volstad's head, and was then clotheslined by Gaby Sanchez. Morgan went to the ground swinging before being pinned by Volstad and a handful of Marlins. A small fracas ensued, and a number of players were ejected.

Then, somehow, it got even more embarrassing for Morgan. After his ejection, while he was being walked off the field by a bullpen catcher, he threw his hands into the air egging the crowd on, and beat his chest to a chorus of boos.

We'll have video of the incident as soon as it becomes available.

UPDATE: As promised, a very grainy an unsteady video of the fight.

(via J.A. Adande)

And here's clearer video from MLB.com

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by Jordan Ruby • Sep 1, 2010 9:15 PM EDT

Top Five Rob Dibble Moments

The long, national nightmare is over; the Nationals have fired Rob Dibble.

In a strange way, I'm almost going to miss Rob Dibble. The Nationals haven't always been the best, or even most entertaining team; but I could always count on Dibbs to say something he'd ultimately have to apologize for to keep my attention when Jason Marquis was giving up about a thousand runs.

The Nationals hired Dibble as the color commentator for their broadcast affiliate just before last season. In the almost two seasons since he took the booth, there have been no shortage of moments that made you hit the loop button on the DVR and say, "No way he just said that." There have been so many of those moments, that on a day like today, we felt like chronicling them.

Top, or maybe bottom, five Dibble moments after the jump.

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by Jordan Ruby • Sep 1, 2010 8:21 PM EDT

VIDEO: Alex Ovechkin Fights Vikings In New Capital One Commercial

This video has made the rounds, to the point where the bossman himself has even seen and commented on it, but it's still worth pointing out. Check out our own Alex Ovechkin putting those annoying Capital One Vikings in their place. 

If you look closely, it appears Sidney Crosby is one of the Vikings that Ovechkin ends up checking. Okay, just kidding. But that would be pretty awesome, right?

(Via Russian Machine Never Breaks).

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by Mike Prada • Sep 1, 2010 4:05 PM EDT