Shelley Duncan Suspended, Along With… Melky Cabrera?

From SI’s Jon Heyman:

Yankees outfielders Shelley Duncan and Melky Cabrera and Rays outfielder Jonny Gomes are expected to receive short suspensions for their roles in the bench-clearing skirmish between the Yankees and Rays on Wednesday in St. Petersburg, but Yankees manager Joe Girardi will be fined but not suspended, SI.com has learned.

Duncan and Cabrera are expected to get a three-game ban and Gomes two. Duncan ignited the brawl by going in with his cleats high on Rays infielder Akinori Iwamura, while Gomes blindsided Duncan with a shove in the fight that ensued. A review of the film seemed to show Cabrera throwing a punch at a Rays player.

The suspensions will begin Opening Day but can be challenged by the players through a grievance hearing if they so choose.

So, Joe Girardi is in the clear and will manage in the season opener. What’s surprising to me is that Duncan received a longer suspension than Jonny Gomes. Why not suspend them both for a 3-game period? Hell, even Melky Cabrera was suspended for 3 days.

How does that make sense? I mean, yes, you can come to the conclusion that Duncan’s play was inherently mean spirited (e.g. “dirty), but by giving Gomes a 2-day pass, you’re essentially justifying his reaction to Duncan’s slide. He gets a shorter suspension because he was only reacting to Duncan’s “dirty play”? How about giving Melky a 2-day suspension? I mean, by throwing a punch, all he did was react to Gomes’ behind the back shoulder block.

Baseball’s discipline game is a strange one indeed.

UPDATE– Here’s a video of the incident from ESPN. If you skip through and watch the clip at 3:11, you can definitely see Melky (#2 running in and throwing an arm in there. The Melk Man Cometh.