Tavarez, Farnsworth Could Push Rivalry to Whole New Level

In the professional sports pecking order of brawling ability, baseball players fall somewhere ahead of curlers but far behind any of the real sports. They barely pack a decent push, let alone a punch.

Of course, there are exceptions and now two of them have been thrown into the most heated rivalry in all of sports, Red Sox and Yankees.

With Julian Tavarez on the Sox and Kyle Farnsworth in pinstripes, the opportunities for the best post-Zimmer on his ass brawl between the two teams seem endless. The remote possibility of watching two pitchers that can throw down going at it is reason enough to tune in.

I can’t tell you how much I hope we see this happen this year. Picture the scene. A-Rod yelling at Varitek, Wells fraternizing with Jeter, Manny thumb wrestling Damon, and two warriors battling to the death in the middle.

The best part is Tavarez and Farnsworth have two very contrasting styles that could help everyone decide the age old question: street fighter or wrestler?

Tavarez is the former. Just yesterday he threw a nice sucker-haymaker at Tampa Bay’s Joey Gathright, while Gathright was on one knee. The punch knocked his helmet off but no further damage was done.

When Major League Baseball suspends him, it will be the fourth time he has been disciplined for fighting. He has also been suspended for cheating.

In 2001, the Giants’ Russ Davis charged at Tavarez and was greeted with a Jackie Chan-esque kick and was suspended and forced to take sensitivity classes. Sometime after the suspension, Tavarez pointed out that all Giants fans were gay.

The pitcher has gone at it with the Devil Rays before and has fought Mike Matheny. Apparently, Tavarez also has an affinity for head hunting, though he usually misses. Among those he has tried to kill are Matheny and the Houston Astros’ Jeff Bagwell.

Article Author: Dan McGowan

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