It has certainly been an ill-tempered week in MLB, with a large dose of ejections, beanings and brawling. It’s all here in this week’s decidedly anti-Yankees edition of “Weekly” hit ground ball.

Mr Popular strikes again – A.J. Pierzynski won himself a few more friends in Minnesota this week by seemingly trying to maim the Twins’ reigning American League MVP, Justin Morneau. A.J. took a strange route to first base while trying to run-out a ground ball, stepping on the inside corner of the bag rather than the outside. Of course, the inside corner was situated by the exposed back of Morneau’s foot. When he did it the first time, Morneau was not too impressed. When he repeated the trick in his next at-bat, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire went berserk. Pierzynski protested his innocence after the game and it’s hard to imagine that a ballplayer would deliberately try to injure a colleague in such fashion. That some could question his innocence says a lot about the reputation A.J. has fostered for himself.

“Eject, eject eject!” – Last week we noted the outstanding ability of Bobby Cox in regards to getting ejected from games. The rest of MLB decided to follow Bobby’s lead and spent most of the week getting in to slanging matches with the umpires. Gary Sheffield and Josh Bard were both thrown out on Thursday, with Sheffield causing some more controversy by chucking a bit of his bat somewhere in the region of the umpire and then stating that he would expose “a conspiracy” if he was charged for it. We shall wait and see. Joe Torre is having a tough time of things at the moment and his frustrations boiled over on Friday in the heat of the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry. Jim Leyland forgot to take his medication last night and blew his top against the Indians last night and Justin Verlander followed soon after (despite not playing in the game). Finally, Lou Piniella finished off a miserable week in Chicago by getting ejected for the sixtieth time in his career last night. I will leave it to MLB.com to paint the scene:

“[Piniella] threw his cap, and got nose to nose with third base umpire Mark Wegner, yelling. Piniella kicked some dirt on Wegner’s shoes, and home plate umpire Bruce Froemming stepped between the two.

Piniella got in a couple more kicks, booting his cap twice into shallow left”.

Is there a funnier sight than a Big League manager throwing a tantrum like a five-year old? Probably not. Off to the naughty step, the lot of you!

“With team mates like this …” – More on that bad week in Chicago. Carlos Zambrano is known for being a fiery guy, while Michael Barret lived the American dream by slugging Pierzynski in the face last season, so seeing a few sparks flying between the battery mates may not be the biggest surprise in the world. Still, it’s always a bit shocking to see two “team mates” having to be pulled apart in the dugout (and then to be pulled apart in the clubhouse to end “Round Two”). Despite their off-season “spendathon”, things are not going well in Chicago right now. Cubs fans can at least take some comfort from the White Sox, who are currently scuffling along as well.

Bad blood between the Yankees and the Red Sox? – Who would have thought it? They set the tone to their latest series on Friday night by combining for five beanings. Kevin Youkilis was the last man to be hit and was certainly the maddest after the event. Not that this should be surprising. While facing constant post-game questions about his reaction, particularly on the basis that Scott Proctor was not intentionally trying to hit him, Youkilis asked the throng of reporters: “Have you guys ever had a ball thrown at your head?” A fair question if you ask me.

Never laugh at another’s misfortune, unless it’s the Yankees – Whether it’s right or wrong, there’s something about the Yankees that makes their misfortunes enjoyable for the rest of us. Their poor start to the season has caused many a guilty chuckle here that’s for sure. Just when you start thinking that this attitude is a bit childish, the Yanks do something to remind you why it’s justified. A-Rod was up to his usual cheap tricks this week, yelling out loud while running the bases and causing Howie Clark to let a pop fly fall to the ground. The smirk on A-Rod’s face was not too dissimilar to the infamous Cristiano Ronaldo wink, although it’s unlikely that A-Rod will be able to rebuild his image quite like Ronaldo has done (depends whether you admire a married man going around to strip clubs and visiting hotel rooms with mystery blondes I guess!). It wasn’t quite the equal of his bush league antics in the 2004 ALCS, but it was another log on to the burning fire of dislike that A-Rod has an incredible knack of fanning simply by being A-Rod.

Play of the week – While the Yanks resorted to cheap shots, Aaron Hill showed them a bit of cheek himself by stealing home plate. It doesn’t happen all that often and is a great sight so long as it’s not against your team. When it comes against the Yanks, everyone wins (well, except the Yankees – so everyone wins).

From success to failure – Armando Benitez has often been the subject of criticism during his time in San Francisco and he took his unpopularity to new heights on Tuesday. Benitez entered in the twelfth inning against the Mets to a chorus of boos (not the most helpful way to greet one of your players) and subsequently balked twice to bring in the tying run. Carlos Delgado then came to the plate and went deep to give the Mets a 5-4 victory. Two days later, Benitez was packing his bags and heading back to Florida. No doubt he was as sad to leave as the Giants fans were sad to see him go.

Sarloos to Sar-lose – Benitez should at least be grateful he has found another Major League home. Reds pitcher Kirk Sarloos was demoted to the minors after a horror start last Sunday. In just his second start of the season (after twenty relief appearances) he managed to face seven hitters in the first inning against the Pirates without getting a single out. Sarloos was pulled from the game having given up five hits, five walks, and five runs, ballooning his season ERA from 5.09 to 7.04.

Saving all the time – Finally, it was revealed this week that Trevor Hoffman is keeping an archive of his equipment. As he is the all-time leader in saves, every addition to his total is a record-breaking feat and the Padres are intent on making sure this slice of history is preserved. After each save, his equipment is authenticated and then put into a secure vault. Hoffman keeps the ball and the Padres keep the rest, although as MLB.com helpfully explain, his underwear is currently exempt from this procedure.