Bradley Suspended 4 Games

Major League Baseball suspended Milton Bradley for four games Thursday in response to the Dodger center fielder’s on-field tirade during Tuesday’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Bradley, who engaged in a fiery exchange with home plate umpire Terry Craft before and after his sixth-inning ejection Tuesday, also was fined $2,500 by Bob Watson, baseball’s administrator in charge of on-field discipline.

Dodger Manager Jim Tracy, who shielded Craft from Bradley but later yelled at crew chief Joe West over what he perceived as irregularities in the umpiring of the game, resulting in his own ejection, received a one-game suspension and an undisclosed fine.

Bradley has filed an appeal and is expected to be in the lineup tonight when the Dodgers play the Arizona Diamondbacks at Bank One Ballpark. Any suspensions would not take effect until an appeal has been completed.

Tracy cannot appeal and must sit out tonight’s game, leaving bench coach Jim Riggleman to handle the managerial duties.

“I was given my opportunity to have my say with Bob Watson, and I thought it was a good conversation,” Tracy said in a statement. “He rendered his decision, and I respect the decision he made.”

Watson said he would not comment until Bradley’s appeal was completed.

“That is our process, and I won’t deviate from that process,” Watson said. “The player has appealed, he appealed immediately, and the process has not been completed. I will say nothing further until then.”

Dodger General Manager Paul DePodesta said he did not intend to address anger management issues with Bradley, who has been ejected twice this season and has a history of altercations with umpires dating back to his years in the minor leagues.

“When we traded for Milton, we knew everything that came along with it,” DePodesta said. “We don’t necessarily expect that everything is going to be completely different because he’s come to a different place, and that’s fine. I would take nine Milton Bradleys if I could get them.”

Left fielder Dave Roberts said the Dodgers could not afford to lose Bradley for an extended stretch as they try to hold on to first place in the National League West. Bradley is batting .271 with seven home runs and 22 runs batted in.

“It’s definitely going to be disappointing if Milton has to miss games,” Roberts said. “Our team works well when we have all pieces of the puzzle together, and he’s definitely a big piece of the puzzle on offense and defense. To lose him for four games, or any amount of games, would be very disappointing.”

Craft said Bradley first appeared agitated Tuesday after taking a called strike during a third-inning at-bat that culminated with a single up the middle. When the Dodgers batted in the fifth, Craft said he heard Bradley yelling about calls from the dugout.

West, the second base umpire, motioned for Bradley to come over while the center fielder jogged toward the dugout after the top of the sixth, but Bradley ignored him. Craft then warned Bradley about yelling from the dugout before his at-bat in the bottom of the inning, prompting Bradley to argue with the umpire about several of his calls.

After Bradley was ejected, he placed his batting helmet, batting gloves and bat near home plate and retrieved a bag of balls from the top step of the dugout, dumping the balls near third base. He picked up a ball and fired it toward left field before retreating into the clubhouse.

West confiscated Bradley’s equipment and fined him for an equipment violation before returning the gear before Wednesday’s game.

DePodesta said he wouldn’t chastise Bradley for his behavior.

“Milton’s a grown man,” DePodesta said. “I don’t think he needs me to go down there and talk to him about it. I have a lot of respect for Milton. I think he’s a very intelligent individual and has a lot of passion for what he does. We don’t want to discipline him further.”

DePodesta said he had seen Bradley make efforts to avoid confrontation with umpires on several occasions.

“I think Milton’s making a concerted effort to make sure that that’s not an issue,” DePodesta said.

While acknowledging that he had previously ejected Bradley for arguing about a called strike when Bradley played for Montreal, Craft said he harbored no ill will toward Bradley before or after his latest episode.

“There is no grudge here, not at all,” Craft said.

Craft said it was not difficult to umpire a game involving a player he had encountered previous run-ins with “because we take every game a game at a time. Today’s a new day. That’s part of both of us being professionals: He goes out and forgets yesterday, and I go out and forget yesterday. We have to do that. We have a lot of games.”

Tracy spoke with Bradley before the Dodgers’ 5-2 victory over Milwaukee on Wednesday but said no disciplinary action was warranted by his center fielder’s behavior the previous night, because he was provoked.

“Are we going to single Milton Bradley out and say that that’s the only time in the history of the game that you’ve seen a situation where someone was provoked to the point where you saw things come out of the dugout?” Tracy asked. “Has there been another incident like that over the course of the history of the game? Several of them. So we won’t single Milton Bradley out.”

*

Times staff writer Ross Newhan contributed to this report.