œA lot of things boiled up, and I didn™t handle the release of those very well. Ya think? At least Braves reliever Jeff Bennett had the presence of mind to punch a door with his non-pitching hand, otherwise he’d rival Kevin Brown in the selfish/stupidity sweepstakes. From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s David O’Brien :
Bennett will have surgery to insert a pin in the break in his fifth metacarpal below the base of the pinky finger.
œI™m ashamed of myself, he said after seeing the Braves™ hand specialist Thursday. œThis is a professional sport; you handle yourself in a professional manner. I didn™t do that. ¦ I™m just hopeful that [manager] Bobby [Cox] and [general manager] Frank [Wren] will give me another chance.
œIt comes out of frustration, spur of the moment, Cox said. œIt™s not the first time somebody broke a hand or a toe out of frustration. It™s good that he cares; it™s not good if you break something.
He entered Wednesday game with the Yankees in the 7th inning with bases loaded and got ahead in the count 0-and-2 against Rodriguez before throwing a fastball that was driven to center field.
Bennett said he punched a door after the inning, and was in such a state of anger, he couldn™t remember doing it until he saw the dent.
The bone was broken all the way through, and a bump rose beneath the skin. Bennett said he pushed the bone back into place, didn™t tell anyone what happened, and went back out and pitched the seventh.
He gave up a homer to Nick Swisher in the seventh but made it through the inning. About 30 minutes later, Bennett finally told a team trainer what he had done. He said he waited because he was afraid and embarrassed.