SFGate • San Francisco Chronicle
-- Eli Whiteside can be hilariously droll, as he was Friday night when asked about the sixth-inning fastball from Ramon Ramirez that drilled Phillies center fielder Shane Victorino in the back.
"I just called for a fastball inside," Whiteside said. "It was a little too far inside."
So far inside, the benches cleared in a brawl that not only punctuated a 9-2 Phillies rout but surely will stand as a significant waypoint in the Giants' 2011 season.
In the long term, it might ignite a team that has lost seven of its past eight games and is quickly losing propulsion. In the short term, Ramirez's seemingly unprovoked attack surely will lead to a suspension after he, Whiteside and Victorino were ejected.
Victorino lived up to his Flyin' Hawaiian nickname when he escaped the clutch of his 67-year-old manager, Charlie Manuel, charged into the pile and tackled Giants hitting coach Hensley Meulens from behind.
After the fight, which was a bit fiercer than your standard baseball scrum, manager Bruce Bochy was happy that his players (and hitting coach) escaped unhurt. First baseman Aubrey Huff was stuck in the middle of the pile. Whiteside was at the bottom. Pablo Sandoval grappled with Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz before he stopped Victorino's final charge.
As for the future?
"You hope anything gets a team going," Bochy said, "either a good pitching effort or an (eight-run) game like we had against Arizona. You hope that gets the offense clicking. This is a tough little rut we're in. We've got to get out of it. We'll get together and talk about it."
Funny thing was, fight-watchers anticipated action between Jonathan Sanchez in his first game off the disabled list and Chase Utley, whom Sanchez hit three times last year, most famously in Game 6 of the NLCS.
But all was quiet there.
Sanchez allowed five runs in 4 2/3 innings, including homers by Victorino and John Mayberry Jr. in a four-run fourth.
The Phillies then pounded Ramirez for three runs in the sixth. Jimmy Rollins delivered two of them with a two-out single. He then stole second with a six-run lead, which surely did not sit well with Ramirez (who left without comment).
Carlos Beltran was not keen on the steal. Asked for his opinion, Beltran said, "You should ask Jimmy Rollins about that. I wouldn't have done it."
After Placido Polanco reached on an infield hit, Ramirez hit Victorino with the first pitch.
Ramirez "was getting hit around, and he was mad, and he was going to plug someone," Manuel said.
Victorino immediately took a few steps toward Ramirez with Whiteside moving between the two. Victorino stopped and later said he was not going to charge the mound.
"I just wanted to know why he was around the plate all night and then the first pitch is at my back," he said. "I just wanted an answer."
As home-plate umpire Mike Muchlinski blocked Victorino, Whiteside hopped around waiting for another charging Phillie. He got Polanco running in from the bases and tackled the Phillie at his feet. Then, the scrum enveloped them.
The action centered on pulling apart combatants on the ground, including Polanco, Whiteside and Phillies catcher Brian Schneider.
Victorino, who might get his own suspension for repeatedly pushing Muchlinski, was yanked out of the pile. When he saw Sandoval and Ruiz fighting, he charged back in and tackled Meulens.
Sandoval then pushed or punched Victorino to the ground. Only then did the pile start to separate.
In the midst of the storm, rookie right-hander Vance Worley calmly continued his domination of the Giants, which now covers 16 innings in two games over the past 11 days, and two wins for the Sacramento native.
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