On Thursday afternoon Milton Bradley got a rude introduction to baseball at Wrigley Field when he was ejected from the Cubs game against the Cardinals by home-plate umpire Larry Vanover after arguing balls and strikes.  Bradley wasn't expected to play in the series but was sent to the plate as a pinch-hitter in the sixth inning with the score tied at four, and the bases loaded.

After getting ahead in the count 3-0, Bradley took two strikes to reach a full count.  Then a breaking ball that was a bit inside was called strike three, and Bradley let Vanover know he disagreed with the call by yelling at him in typical Milton Bradley fashion. 

The question after the ejection was whether or not Bradley would have to serve a suspension because of it, and on Saturday the Cubs got their answer.  MLB handed down a two-game suspension to Bradley saying that "Bradley aggressively argued balls and strikes and made contact with umpire Larry Vanover."

Now that contact that Bradley made with Vanover wasn't exactly "contact."  Really the only contact that took place was between the brim of Bradley's helmet with the brim of Vanover's hat.  If anything, it's probably Bradley's history that got him the two-game suspension more than anything else.

Still, it's not exactly a big deal for the Cubs.  Bradley's injured groin was likely to keep him out for a few more days anyway, so this suspension will end up being nothing more than a chance for it to heal.

Along with writing for NBCCHICAGO.com, Tom Fornelli can also be found contributing at FanHouse, SPORTSbyBROOKS, and his own Chicago sports blog Foul Balls.  He is nowhere near as confident about the White Sox this season as Kenny Williams is.