Red Sox manager continues to defend Ryan Dempster for Alex Rodriguez hit

The MLB announced on Monday that it will be reviewing the at-bat between Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Dempster to see if the sequence deserves a punishment handed down to the Boston Red Sox starting pitcher.

On Sunday night, it appeared that Dempster was intentionally throwing toward Rodriguez. The first pitch went behind the batter, then the fourth pitch hit A-Rod and the benches began to clear.

Dempster took the road of denying that he was intentionally throwing at Rodriguez, and apparently, in quotes from Joe Stiglich in a special report to ESPN Boston, Red Sox manager John Farrell believes in his starter.

"“I don’t expect them to do anything,” Farrell said. “Certainly they’re going to review it and deem what’s necessary. Some are going to take the viewpoint that it was totally intentional. I don’t see it that way.”"

What happens if Dempster does receive punishment?

"“Again, my view is that it was not intentional,” he said. “I’m not the one making the decision or reviewing it. I can express my opinion and state what I saw, which is exactly that. I didn’t see it being intentional.”"

While the manager is just trying to back up the starting pitcher, which is usually the case, they’re the only two people in the world that don’t believe it was intentional. It’s worthy of a punishment, and perhaps both the pitcher and manager deserve at least a game off if they want to handle it this way.