What Really Bugs Me About Major League Baseball

It's getting to be the time of the year when some Major League Baseball teams are feeling the pressure of having their seasons start to slip away from them.  The Tampa Bay Rays, Cleveland Indians, Texas Rangers, Kansas City Royals, Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres, and Arizona Diamondbacks must all feel as if their backs are up against the wall.  Anything less than a solid winning trend over the course of the next few weeks will probably seal the season for them, with little hope for subsequently making the playoffs. I didn't put the Houston Astros or Chicago Cubs on that list because they most likely weren't expecting to be in the running anyway, and the defending World Series Champion Boston Red Sox have already begun to dig themselves out of the bottom and back into the hunt.  And in the National League East, only five games separate all of the teams in that bunched-up division, so the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets don't need to panic yet. But I'm especially concerned about the Rays, who seem to be in an overall team slump, neither hitting, fielding, nor pitching well.  You can't explain it by saying that they had some injuries: EVERYBODY'S had injuries...but the winners are getting around them.  Still, the stress of the Rays and some other teams doesn't really detract from my enjoyment of the game...but I'll tell you what does...

I am sick and tired of these asinine petty little feuds going on between players and teams. Earlier, in a game between Tampa Bay and Boston, Rays shortstop Yunel Escobar stole third base late in a game that they were leading by five runs.  This instantly infuriated the Red Sox players, "unpleasantries" were loudly exchanged, and before you knew it, the benches were emptying out.  Then, during the yesterday's game as Escobar was completing an easy force-out on Boston reserve player Mike Carp at second base, Carp deliberately tried to slide in, off the base and at Escobar's legs, well after the play was over.  Escobar just leaped over this provocative maneuver and walked away as if nothing had happened.  Earlier in that same game, Rays pitcher David Price, very obviously in deliberate fashion, hit Boston slugger David Ortiz on the hip, most likely in retaliation for Ortiz having stood too long at the plate admiring his home run off Price in last years League Championship Series.  As a fan, I don't get either of the so-called offenses that had been "committed" by Escobar or Ortiz.  Having only a five-run lead, even going into the final inning, is no sure thing, and as a fan I expect the winning team-at-bat to do whatever it takes to add to that lead...and that means scrapping for every base they can get. I mean, why should anyone even remain in the ball park as a paying fan in the latter innings if the players are all just supposed to be sweet and cuddly with each other?  Now THAT'S offensive!  And regarding sluggers standing there for a moment at the plate admiring their home runs, what's wrong with that?  Ortiz wasn't rubbing it in on Price...he was putting on a show for the fans, which they love.  These players need to get off their collective high horse and begin to recognize that they are just coming off of their behavior looking like a bunch of touchy prima donna multimillionaire crybabies...