Bradley Turns It on a Toss

A foolishly thrown bottle started it.

But Milton Bradley, ever dumber, ever nastier, out of his ever-loving mind, finished it.

After what happened Tuesday night in front of stunned fans at Dodger Stadium, he may now be finished for the regular season, and perhaps forever as a Dodger, and it’s hard to argue otherwise.

You do not threateningly approach spectators, no matter what they throw.

You do not reach into the stands in anger, no matter what they say.

You do not throw anything at the feet of fans, even if it’s a plastic bottle, and even if it’s empty.

Fans pay for the right to be idiots. Players are paid to ignore them.

The Dodgers pulled off an amazing 5-4 comeback win over the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday, all of their runs coming into the bottom of the ninth.

But many of the 33,588 fans were gone by then, having left in disgust after watching the Dodger right fielder seemingly lose his mind.

The Dodgers decreased their magic number for the West Division championship to three, meaning they could still finish off the San Francisco Giants before the Giants arrive here Friday for a weekend finale series.

But the only number that seemed to matter is five, which is the number of games the Dodgers have remaining, and Bradley could reasonably be suspended for all of them?

Frank Francisco, a Texas Ranger reliever, was suspended by baseball for the final few weeks of the season after throwing a chair into the stands. This wasn’t that serious.

Jose Guillen, the temperamental Angel outfielder, was suspended by his team for the final week of its season for publicly and privately challenging the authority of the manager. That doesn’t seem as bad as this.

One of the best players for what has been this town’s most fan-friendly organization threw an object at the fans and seemingly threatened the fans.

So what do the Dodgers do with that?

For those who still don’t think they know new owner Frank McCourt, we’ll find out about him now.

The Dodgers called it an “unfortunate� incident and promised to investigate.

Let’s hope they do, and soon. By ignoring it, they would be putting the anger of their players ahead of the safety of their fans.

Bradley needs not only a suspension, but some form of anger management counseling, and now.

Can you imagine him pulling something like this during the playoffs, in front of a national television audience, with fans who might be even tougher? Milton Bradley in Yankee Stadium? Please.

“Someone threw a bottle at him and pushed him over the top,� said Steve Finley. “It’s a bad situation that was made worse.�

The Dodgers were upset that the fans were so tough on Bradley in the middle of a pennant race, and also upset that Bradley went after them.

“We need him out there on that field, and we need the fans to be behind him,� said Finley.

The anger in Bradley has been building for a couple of days, as he has struggled with strikeouts and stranded runners.

It seemed to reach a peak in the sixth inning Tuesday, when, after striking out, he broke his bat over his knee and wildly threw his helmet in the crowded dugout.

Then came the eighth, with bases loaded and two out, when he inexplicably attempted a basket catch of a fly ball by Mark Sweeney, dropping the ball and allowing two runs to score.

Said fan Mark Howie, who was in the front row in the right-field corner: “At that point, fans started yelling at him. Nothing really bad, just stuff like, ‘You owe us a hit! How could you strikeout then miss that ball!’ �

Countered fan Steve Hecht, also in a front row: “I heard lots of cursing. It was terrible. They weren’t Dodger fans, they were Raider fans.�

According to several witnesses, Bradley turned and screamed a loud curse to the fans.

“Then it really got wild,� said Howie.

The fans erupted in loud boos until a bottle came flying out of the seats and landed about 20 feet from Bradley.

The fan who threw that is an unlawful cretin who was caught and ideally will be prosecuted.

But that still doesn’t excuse what happened next.

“He walked over, picked up the bottle, and started stalking toward us like a madman,� Howie said.

Bradley then reached the right-field corner stands and started shouting again, according to witnesses.

“He was yelling, ‘Who threw it! Be a man and tell me who threw it!’ � said Hecht.

When there was no response, witnesses say Bradley angrily leaned into the stands and threw the bottle on the floor at a fan’s feet.

It was empty, so it bounced once into the air.

“He was yelling, ‘I’m the home team, I’m the home team, you’re supposed to be my fans,’ � said Hecht. “We were trying to tell him that these weren’t true fans.�

By that time, several Dodgers had sprinted to Bradley and were seemingly restraining him from going back to the stands.

Soon, he was ejected from the game, then tore off his shirt, then stalked to the dugout in his blue T-shirt, raising his hands as if begging the fans to boo him some more.

“I’m bringing my 2-year-old to the game and I have to see this?� said fan Danny Reyes, holding his child in his arms.

If the Dodger hear nothing else in the din of the next few days, they should hear that.

Bill Plaschke can be reached at [email protected]. To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.