FanHouse

It's a tough day to be Jerry Manuel. The Met manager expressed his hope that umpire Brian Runge would escape punishment for bumping him during their argument on Tuesday night. His wish will go unfulfilled, however, as MLB suspended Runge for one game this afternoon.

The news gets worse for Manuel. He and Carlos Beltran were each fined an undisclosed amount for their actions on the field. Unless the fine is a one-way Metrocard for the subway, it's too much. Runge was the only one wrong on Tuesday night and should have been the only one punished. Manuel and Beltran merely reacted to his onslaught by voicing their displeasure. David Pinto of Baseball Musings proposed a five-year ban on postseason work for Runge, I proffered a five-game vacation but anywhere in the middle would be just fine. One game though? There's no way Manuel would have gotten off with a slap on the wrist like that.

I'm really looking forward to the next time a player or manager bumps an umpire. I'm sure they'll get the same one-game suspension that Runge received, with no fine by the way, while the umpire gets fined for standing there and getting mistreated. If that doesn't happen, I hope the MLBPA or managers as a group raise a massive amount of hell over the double standard.