Dempster's Suspension: Justice for A-Rod, None for Baseball

It's incredible to think that Ryan Dempster made most of the baseball world feel sympathy for Alex Rodriguez, a stranger in an unholy land wherever he goes now, was in the unholiest of lands for a Yankee, as the Red Sox pitcher threw at him twice Sunday night, making contact on the second throw.

Sympathy for Alex Rodriguez? Doesn't that just make you a little sick to your stomach when you hear yourself saying that?

Two days after the game, Major League Baseball suspends Dempster five games for throwing at Rodriguez. Justice for A-Rod.

Justice for A-Rod? Justice for A-Rod?! What cruel world are we living in where sympathy and justice make us squirm in regards to the man we feel sympathy for and feel that justice was served in his favor?

Alex Rodriguez is public enemy number one in baseball. He is arrogant. He is appealing a 211 game suspension that will take months to get to a court. He and his associate were willing to leak information about his fellow ballplayers in the Biogenesis report, and he is here to stay for the rest of 2013.

Pitchers intentionally throwing at a hitter is never justified. Ryan Dempster was wrong, and is learning that as he is going to sit for five games, while Rodriguez will finish out the season with the Yankees.

Dempster's five game suspension is only a tiny fraction of what A-Rod faces pending his appeal. While his suspension will go by quickly, it doesn't exactly mean this type of incident may not happen again with Rodriguez at the plate.

Rodriguez turned his back on his fellow players, who are also union members. Ryan Dempster is a former union rep. Nobody can claim that this was a reason why he threw at A-Rod, but let's face it. Going against the union? Ratting out your fellow players so that you won't go down alone? How as a player can you stand and support a person who can't seem to function like a normal human being?

Watching the replay when Dempster plunked Rodriguez, you will notice that the only one on the Yankees bench who came to his defense was skipper Joe Girardi (which is normal in most cases).

The Red Sox bench somewhat cleared, but where were his fellow teammates? The high-fives and fist bumps are standard, like when he hit the home run later in the game, but there was no support behind Girardi as he charged out of the dugout to argue Dempster's throw. They knew it was intentional. Where were they?

Justice was served on one end. Dempster looks like he will go quietly with the supsension, while A-Rod will continue to walk around with a target on his back for the rest of the season, with another angry pitcher waiting in the wings who will try to plunk him in the least obvious way possible, reaching a point where Rodriguez becomes more of a distraction than an asset to the Yankees finishing with a decent, winning record.

There was justice for A-Rod in this case. But still, none for the rest of us...yet. It will come eventually. Until then, we're forced to watch his strut around in pinstripes until October.