Associated PressUpdated: June 8, 2007, 7:43 PM ET
HOUSTON -- Astros first baseman Lance Berkman was suspended for two games and fined an undisclosed sum Friday, three days after he was ejected against Colorado and tossed his batting glove and equipment bag onto the field.
The suspension by Major League Baseball was to have begun Friday night against the Chicago White Sox. Berkman, however, is appealing the decision and was to play Friday.
"I think it's just a normal course of action so we can have a little bit more time to look at all of our options," Berkman said Friday in Chicago.
"It just gives everybody a little more time to make a decision as to whether it best behooves the club to go ahead and serve the suspension or to try to fight it with an appeal if we think we have a good chance of winning."
Berkman was ejected Tuesday night in the eighth inning after arguing a third strike. He then threw his glove and bag onto the field from the dugout.
He violated rules by returning in the ninth inning when the benches emptied after the Rockies' Manny Corpas hit Houston's Carlos Lee with a pitch. The Astros won 4-1.
"The suspension is automatic. But I'm not outraged by it, other than I think the whole incident is unfortunate because I don't feel I did anything to deserve to be thrown out of the game in the first place," said Berkman.
"Which means I should have been able to come back out on the field because I would never have been out of the game. I still don't know why he threw me out of the game. I didn't charge over there until after he gave me the heave-ho."
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press
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