A.J. Pierzynski is a Jerk

When Chicago Cubs catcher Michael Barrett cold cocked fellow Chicagoan backstop, and resident jerk-off A.J. Pierzynski in the jaw last weekend, I was elated. I could watch the replay of Barrett grabbing and punching the big jackass over and over again. The White Sox slugger is everything that is wrong with the Bondsian state of Major League Baseball. He is a conceded, disrespectful asshole and he deserved that embarrassing slug in the face.

Even before the melee in Chicago, Pierzynski had been voted the least liked Major League ball player by his peers. He was a central factor in last year's American League Championship Series controversy; although, to be fair, that really wasn't his fault. He can be blamed for a host of other crap, though. For instance, he has formed a professional wrestling tag team duo with a member of the Chicago White Sox minor league staff. Why a millionaire baseball player needs to risk his career to get his jollies fondling other grown men is beyond me, but it's really just another reason people don't like him.

But the events that ensued during Interleague play this past weekend truly took the cake. The sequence that actually led to the Barrett punch and the brawl are open to debate. Barrett was out in front of the plate so, theoretically, Pierzynski had every right to run him over. However, if you take a closer look, it's fairly clear that the ball was not going to beat A.J. to home plate. He could have sidestepped him and still scored the run safely. And perhaps Michael Barrett overreacted. I like to think that, somehow, right at that moment, all of the negative MLB energy toward Pierzynski was channeled through Barrett's balled up fist.

What was far worse (in a different way) then the fisticuffs, was Pierzynski's terribly disrespectful actions the following day. A.J. hit a homerun off of Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano and after crossing the plate he made a gesture to the heavens (eerily similar to the motion that Zambrano makes when he takes the mound before innings). Pierzynski is such a useless fool. Who else would let someone smack them in the jaw and then insult someone else's religion for no good reason? I hope Major League Baseball (and more specifically, idiot MLB commissioner Bud Selig) suspends Pierzynski.

There are too many great players in Major League Baseball that go unnoticed. We don't need average catchers who like to bring attention to themselves stealing everyone's thunder.