Even heightened security can't stop baseball's latest black eye

Of course, in a perfect world, fans would know not to cross the line, booing and razzing the visitors without getting personal. They would not bring the names of family members into their taunts and they certainly would not throw anything.

Being that we live nowhere close to a perfect world, the answer is for baseball to make sure that there are enough security guards stationed in or near the bullpens of all ballparks to avoid trouble. Any fan using objectionable language or physical threat should be ejected immediately.

The ridiculous thing is that, since 9/11, baseball has gone so far overboard in some areas as to station security guards at ballpark media gates. So now what we have are reporters with legitimate media credentials having their computer bags searched on their way in to work while drunks and boors are still fully capable of provoking incidents like the one involving Francisco.

I'm not complaining. If baseball thinks it is important that security shuffle through the oversized clump of stat sheets, media guides and scoresheets in my computer bag every day, hey, whatever.

But -- and maybe it's just me here -- this latest trend of bullpen violence seems to be a worse problem than a handful of poorly dressed sportswriters and ballpark personnel arriving at 2:30 p.m., most of whom are only capable of provoking the press box soft-serve ice cream machines to overheat. Maybe the one or two security guards at the front gate could be re-assigned to bullpen duty? It would be a start.

Rangers manager Buck Showalter said after Monday's game that some of the fans "went over the line." No doubt, he's right. There have been too many other complaints about vulgar fans and vile language in Oakland.

Still, no excuse. As soon as Francisco lofted that chair skyward, Showalter and the Rangers forfeited any right to talk about the fans' behavior.

A broken nose? This is going to get worse before it gets better. For starters, Francisco should be suspended for the rest of the season.

And I don't think him autographing the chair and leaving it with the injured woman, like some hitters do with their bats when they fly into the stands, is going to cut it on this one.