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Nationals: Looking Back At The Nyjer Morgan Brawl In Florida

By Ricky Keeler

Apr 26, 2016; Washington, DC, USA; A general view of a Washington Nationals hat and glove in the dugout during the third inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 26, 2016; Washington, DC, USA; A general view of a Washington Nationals hat and glove in the dugout during the third inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports /
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With the Odor-Bautista incident happening a few days ago, we look back at one of the more recent Nationals brawls

This week, all of baseball is buzzing about the brawl that occurred on Sunday in the Blue Jays-Rangers game where Rougned Odor punched Jose Bautista in the face. Odor ended up being suspended eight games by MLB and is currently appealing the suspension. With that in mind, I wanted to take a look back at a Nationals incident from years past, one that didn’t involve Bryce Harper and Jonathan Papelbon.

Today, we take a look back at September 1, 2010, when the Nationals were in Florida to take on the Marlins. In the night prior, outfielder Nyjer Morgan collided into Florida’s catcher, Brett Hayes, in the tenth inning. Hayes hung onto the ball, but ended up missing the rest of the season because of a shoulder injury.

On the next night, Morgan was 0-for-1 with a sacrifice fly in his first two at-bats of the game. Then, in the fourth inning, Volstad hit Morgan with a pitch. While nothing happened at that point, Morgan would end up stealing two bases in the inning and he scored on a Ian Desmond sacrifice fly.

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Two innings later, with the Nationals trailing 15-5, Marlins’ pitcher Chris Volstad threw behind Morgan and the outfielder ended up charging the mound, threw a punch, and then was hit by Marlins’ first baseman Gaby Sanchez.

Of course, Morgan was ejected from that game and he received an eight game suspension. In total, there were nine suspensions/fines from this game. Volstad got six games, Sanchez got three games, and both managers were suspended (Jim Riggleman – two games, Edwin Rodriguez – one game).

But, that wasn’t the only suspension had within the week. Major League Baseball suspended him seven games for an incident in Philadelphia on August 25 when he threw a baseball in the stands that hit a fan. In the end, Morgan would appeal the suspensions and serve only eight games out of the possible 15.

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Morgan played two seasons with the Nationals (2009 and 2010) before being dealt to the Milwaukee Brewers for Cutter Dykstra and cash before the beginning of the 2011 season.

When I think back to my thoughts from that Blue Jays-Rangers brawl, I don’t think it is good for the game at all when punches are thrown on a baseball diamond and how the Rangers handled it was wrong. Even though everyone is talking about the incident, that doesn’t make it great for the sport.

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