OPINION

By Stan McNeal

updated 4:19 a.m. ET Oct. 13, 2008

Boys will be boys, even in the championship series.

The dustup that cleared the benches in the third inning Sunday night was about as predictable as Manny Ramirez getting all hotheaded during it. (If he was pointing at Brett Myers, they should have let him go. That would have been more entertaining than the actual game.)

Hearing Derek Lowe's comments in a pregame press conference was enough to sense this would happen. Speaking about Myers knocking down Russell Martin and throwing behind Manny Ramirez in Game 2, Lowe said, "In hindsight, I think everybody, especially probably on our team, wished it would have been handled differently. You don't want to sit up here and say you're going to hit people, but I think there was definitely a situation where you could have maybe done the same thing back. And it's been talked about a lot over the last two days; and the one thing you don't want to do is feel like you're getting pushed around."

Sure enough, Dodgers starter Hiroki Kuroda wasted no time throwing high and tight on Shane Victorino in the first, and from where Martin was set up behind the plate, you knew this wasn't by accident. In the third, Kuroda sailed a fastball over and just behind Victorino's head. Victorino pointed to his ribs, then at his head, as he shouted out at Kuroda, as if he was saying: "Just in case you didn't learn this in Japan, aiming at my middle is acceptable retaliation, throwing at my head is not."

The two then exchanged words after Victorino made the last out of the inning, which was followed by a brief emptying of the benches and bullpens. Fingers were pointed and words were exchanged, but the boys on both sides behaved ... for a while.

Russell, who had been hit on the knee by a Jamie Moyer 76-mph curveball in the first, was plunked again in the seventh, this time by a Chad Durbin breaking ball.

The shenanigans should spice up Game 4 Monday night when Lowe and Joe Blanton take the hill.

Moyer might be done
You have to wonder if Moyer will get another start in this series, even if it does go the distance. The Dodgers wisely attacked his soft stuff early in counts, and he didn't fool anyone, giving up six runs while getting only four outs. The Dodgers did not swing and miss at a single one of the 32 pitches he threw in an outing that was even more abbreviated than his four-inning start against the Brewers last week.

With Cole Hamels set for Game 5 and Myers ready for a potential Game 6, Moyer would be in line for Game 7, which would be Saturday in Philadelphia. Unless Blanton totally flames out on Monday, don't be surprised if he gets the start if the series goes the limit. He would be pitching on normal four days rest.

Manuel never considered leaving
Phillies manager Charlie Manuel made his first public comments at the pregame Sunday press conference since his mother, June Manuel, died on Friday. "My mom and I were very close. I know that she would definitely want me to finish the season, if possible," Manuel said. "There's no way I'd miss her funeral, but at the same time, hopefully this is going to work out. ... I never thought about not managing a game or our team, because we've come this far, and I just want to be there."

Typical of his ego-less ways, Manuel said he appreciates all the sympathy sent his way, but he sounded almost like, well, enough is enough. "I've been getting a lot of calls, and I understand that," he said. "But at the same time, if anything is annoying, I'd say it's that because I've been getting a lot of them. I get a lot of messages. I guess that's what you gotta go through when you have a cell phone. Seems like every time I sit down, the phone rings. Every time I get up, the phone rings. But that's kind of what you gotta adjust to. And it's OK."

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