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Let's set the scene for those who don't stay up all hours watching west coast baseball: Felix Hernandez comes inside and plunks Ian Kinsler on the shoulder in the fourth inning of the Rangers' tilt with the Mariners. This came after Kinsler took King Felix deep in the second inning, so of course, tensions are going to be a little high after that.

Bottom of the frame, Kason Gabbard takes the mound for the Rangers and retires the first two hitters he faces. Then he throws a pitch eye-high, but not so tight at Richie Sexson. Sexson then immediately charges Gabbard, throws his helmet right at his back, and triggers an all out melee:

Sexson said he fully expected to get hit, given what had transpired and the fact that there were two out with the bases empty, but it was the location that angered him.

"I know the situation there, and he should throw below the shoulder," Sexson said. "But the face? No one should do that ... Throwing the helmet was not good. I know that's not the right way to do it, but at that time I lost it."

Texas manager Ron Washington, not surprisingly, was not happy.

"We got two hitters hit, and if you go look at that replay, Gabbard was nowhere near Sexson's head," Washington said. "I guess he was just frustrated and things got out of control. ... Sexson overreacted. If we'd have wanted to hit him, we'd have hit him ... I thought (throwing the helmet) was (expletive). How tall is he, 6-feet-13? And you go run out there on a little guy and throw a helmet. That's just frustration. The guy is a competitor and he got frustrated."

Rangers broadcaster Tom Grieve proceeded to unload on Sexson during the Rangers broadcast ... highlights of which come after the jump:

Tom Grieve, who is a Rangers homer but calls 'em like he sees 'em, just unloaded on Sexson after the umps restored order. Grieve pointed out that: 1) the pitch was nowhere close to Sexson; 2) the helmet throw is bad form; 3) Seattle's Felix Hernandez had drilled two Rangers; 4) the Mariners are clearly a frustrated team getting their butts kicked by the Rangers (my words: another bad team); 5) Gabbard could have thrown at two good hitters this inning if he wanted revenge for Laird and Ian Kinsler getting plunked.

Grieve called for Sexson to be suspended for at least a week and summed up his feelings with this gem: "That is a gutless, 6-foot-7, .200-hitting, formerly good player. What a joke!"

The best point of the bunch was the last one: If Gabbard was really throwing at Sexson, why not take his shots at Gerald Laird Raul Ibanez (whoops) or Adrian Beltre to start the inning? Why would Sexson believe that Gabbard was waiting for a .209 hitter like himself? Someone obviously has a high opinion of himself. And not to mention that Sexson was crowding the plate, pretty much daring to get hit. And while no, nobody should throw at another man's head in a baseball game, the pitch that Sexson had a problem with was over the plane of the plate! But Richie had it in his mind before the at-bat that Gabbard was going to come after him ... how else could you explain the immediate reaction of Sexson to charge the mound?

Not to mention that Sexson didn't justify his cause very well when he admitted that there was some peripheral frustration going on:

"I'm sure it all came to a head right there," Sexson said. "It's no secret we haven't scored any runs for a while. It's no secret we haven't lived up to our potential for a while."

Sounds like someone could not only use more BP, but perhaps some therapy too. Poor baby.

Here's some video of the brawl, which includes some of Grieve's comments. Judge for yourself ... but hurry before MLB takes it down.