Soon, the mysterious identity was revealed as J.C. Romeo - hasn't he had enough legal trouble this year?
Given the history of Romero's suspension and that the Rays were the Phillies opponents in last year's World Series, we'll take the player's word here:
"What did he say? That he was drunk and got into a fight?" Romero, 33, said yesterday when asked whether he wanted to hear the fan's complaint. "I'm not going to comment on it. I'm trying to be professional, and I don't really want to get into that. Don't want to make a story out of nothing."
The fan, 25-year-old Robert Eaton, told the St. Petersburg Times that he asked Romero for an autograph outside Tropicana Field and was refused. Eaton said that he then made a comment about steroids and that Romero grabbed him by the neck and pushed him, Eaton told the Times.
Eaton filed a report with local police. He could not be reached last night for comment. It was not immediately known whether charges would be filed.
Of course the guy's name is Eaton. That automatically makes him suspect.
Weekend wrap: Charlie Manuel finally held his closed-door meeting after Friday night's loss, and the team responded with a 10-0 romp on Saturday. (J.A. Happ needed just 100 pitches for his first shutout, and Jayson Werth went 4-4 with two home runs.) They won the series finale against the Blue Jays 5-4 today. I didn't see much, but caught the ending in which Brad Lidge struggled but picked up the save.
They said it's the second time this year the Phillies won a series against an American League team. Christine had to remind me that the other team was the Yankees. Go Phils!
The Red Sox split a couple of pitchers' duels. Tim Wakefield, who is making it tough for Joe Maddon to leave him off the All-Star roster, beat Javier Vazquez on Saturday 1-0. Brad Penny followed that up with a good performance today, but Braves phenom Tommy Hanson was better as the Braves avoided the sweep with a 2-1 win.
