Beckett Suspended for Throwing at Angels' Abreu

The Angels managed to beat the Red Sox on Sunday, but only after a first inning, bench clearing incident was started by Boston's Josh Beckett. Beckett threw a pitch near the head of Bobby Abreu (after the umpire had granted the batter a timeout), and then walked toward the plate while talking trash, which further escalated the situation.

Mike Scioscia and one of his coaches were ejected as a result, and so were Torii Hunter and Justin Speier. No one from the Red Sox was penalized at the time, but after the league has reviewed the incident, they've determined that it's time for Beckett to pay for his actions.

Beckett has been suspended for six games and fined an undisclosed amount by the league, and was also cited for "aggressive actions," according to Bob Watson, who is in charge of such things in the commissioner's office.

The suspension is well-deserved, but the strange thing is, the umpire at the time was hesitant to even issue as much as a warning to Beckett, much less toss him out of the game. And while six games may sound like a lot, the reality is that Beckett will likely only miss one start in the rotation because of it. Beckett can file an appeal, and if he chooses to do so, his suspension would be delayed until that gets resolved.

Angels' hitting coach Mickey Hatcher was suspended for a game and fined, while Mike Scioscia, Torii Hunter, and Justin Speier were each fined as well.

It still seems as though the Angels got the worse end of the deal on the punishment side of this incident, but they did win the game in which it occurred -- which is really all that matters.