Around the AL: Sox, Royals brawl in KC

The White Sox and Kansas City Royals engaged in a good ol’ fashion bench-clearing brawl in the fifth inning of Sunday’s game, the ignition switch flipped after Chicago’s D.J. Carrasco appeared to aim two straight pitches at Miguel Olivo, nailing him with the second.

Olivo charged the mound — a clichéd move, for sure — and a scrum was born.

Carrasco, Olivo and White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen were ejected. Guillen didn’t throw any punches, and he didn’t pull any, either, while meeting with reporters.

Guillen was furious that Carrasco was accused, and convicted, of throwing at Olivo with the bases loaded.

"I wonder why the guy thought we're going to hit the guy with the bases loaded, with a pitch in on the hands," Guillen said. "I'm not going to bring in a guy who throws 85 mph to hit somebody. I will bring [Octavio] Dotel, I'll bring [Matt] Thornton. Then I will tell them to hit 'em. That's the way I do business. You have to have a little bit of common sense."

To complete the day, Kansas City starter Zack Greinke and manager Trey Hillman were ejected after Greinke hit Nick Swisher in the seventh inning of a game that the Royals won, 14-3, in case anyone cared to notice the score.

The incident is over, but the repercussions might linger. The two teams meet six more times this season.

"I'm not a headhunter, but I've hit people before on purpose. Yes, I have," Guillen said. "That's my job, protect my players. But today, I don't think that was the right call."

Pudge nudged out of Detroit

One of the more high-profile trades at the non-waiver deadline involved catcher Ivan Rodriguez, who was dealt to the New York Yankees for reliever Kyle Farnsworth.

The idea is for Farnsworth to strengthen a Detroit Tigers bullpen that lost closer Todd Jones to an inflamed right shoulder. Or ex-closer, as it were.

Meanwhile, Brandon Inge becomes the Tigers’ everyday catcher — a role he was expected to assume next season.

"We think Brandon can come in and do a fine job for us right now, and we also think that helps our bullpen,” Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski told reporters. “It gives us, probably, a better chance. We don't think we take much of a step down catching, because we do like Brandon, and it's a situation that we help our bullpen."

The Tigers got plenty out of Rodriguez, who helped them to the World Series in 2006 and was an All-Star in his first four seasons with the club. He also won three Gold Gloves with the Tigers.

"This franchise started coming back, on the field, the day we signed Pudge," Dombrowski said.

Rodriguez can become a free agent after the season. He waived his no-trade clause to join the Yankees, who lost Jorge Posada for the season and needed a replacement whose last name wasn’t Molina.

"It's time to move on," Rodriguez said. "I've got a lot of memories. That's what I'm going to take in my heart.”

Rocco’s return

The Tampa Bay Rays were close to activating outfielder Rocco Baldelli — doing so, as always, with fingers crossed.

The injury-prone Baldelli has been on the 60-day disabled list with mitochondrial disorder, an abnormality that has kept him in a constant state of fatigue.

“I've been waiting a long time to come back and it seems like something that's going to happen, so I'm pretty excited about that," Baldelli told reporters. "I don't really know how I'm going to feel when I get back out there. I know it's been a long time. ... I'm just excited to get back out there. It's been a long time coming.

"There were probably days when I didn't know if I would be coming back and it was really difficult, physically, mentally and psychologically. It's been a difficult period of time. I'm not back yet, so I don't want to get ahead of myself. Like I said, I'm really looking forward to this on a lot of different levels."

Hairy situation no more

Only in New York could this be a story: Jason Giambi has shaved off his mustache.

Film at 11.

After three months, Giambi decided that the hair above his upper lip wasn’t having a positive influence on his play on the field. It worked for a while, though. He batted .309 with 12 homers and 33 RBIs in May and June after hitting .164 in April. But Giambi was batting .182 with two homers since July 3 when he decided to shave after Sunday’s game — when he went 0-for-3 and had only one hit in a four-game series with the Los Angeles Angels.

Finally getting his chance

With Baltimore Orioles center fielder Adam Jones headed to the disabled list with a left ankle injury, Luis Montanez received his first promotion to the majors.

At least that was the assumption as of Tuesday afternoon, when Montanez arrived in Anaheim for the Orioles’ series against the Angels.

The promotion came with Montanez leading the Eastern League in all three Triple Crown categories at Double-A Bowie. And eight years after the Chicago Cubs made him the third overall pick in the 2000 draft.

Montanez re-signed with the Orioles as a minor league free agent over the winter and didn’t receive an invitation to spring training. But he enjoyed his time in the organization in 2007 and cited his Cubs ties to manager Dave Trembley, team president Andy MacPhail and club executive John Stockstill.

“I could have signed with other teams and they were offering me invites, but I felt comfortable with the Orioles,” he said. “I wanted to come back. I thought it was a good fit. And they promised me a lot at-bats and stuck to their word.”

Those at-bats were promised in the minors, not the majors. But that’s where the 28-year-old Montanez has landed.

Finally.