Friday, June 06, 2008

A BRAWL, AN INJURY, A MANNY/YOUK FIGHT, A SWEEP...Red Sox 7 Rays 1

Oh, what an eventful night at Fenway Park in Boston Thursday night. The bad blood between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Boston Red Sox spilled over into a violent confrontation between the two rivals near the beginning of what would be a Red Sox victory and sweep. Coco Crisp was hit by Rays pitcher James Shields, who is a complete a**hole, and he promptly charged the mound, setting off an ugly brawl in which somebody could have gotten really hurt. Shields said he was just protecting his team by hitting Coco in the leg, an obvious retaliation from the night before. Crisp had this to say...

"People were scratching like we're little girls, trying to scratch out my eyes," said Crisp, sporting several scratches around his eyes. "People were trying to pull my hair like little girls instead of punches. The fight is pretty much over, baseballwise. You want to come in late and get your little blows in, that's cool. It's all good, try to pull some hair.
"I'm not angry at anybody. There were some cheap shots in there. I'm down at the bottom, so I'm expecting something. Crawford sliding in, that was a little...I don't know."

Peter here. And what Coco meant was NOT a compliment to Crawford. It was ugly to watch on TV. For too long, Coco was the only Sox player out there, down at the bottom of a pile of kicking, punching and furious Tampa Bay guys. But then the benches and bullpens emptied and all hell broke loose. Hell in the heavenly Fenway Park. I'm just glad no one was hurt, but I didn't have to wait long for THAT to happen.

It was in the top of the fourth when Jacoby Ellsbury, who was moved to center to take the place of the ejected Crisp, ranged to his left to make a beautiful shoestring catch of a fly ball, but in doing so his wrist was bent backwards to an unnatural degree. It was painful to watch, but thank goodness, XRAYs were negative and he is listed as "day-to-day." But the theatrics weren't over yet...not by a long shot. We move to the bottom of that inning, mere seconds after Manny stroked a two-run single for his fourth and fifth runs batted in. He and Youk, for SOME UNKNOWN REASON, had a heated exchange in the Sox dugout. They had to be restrained by teammates. Multiple players were needed to hold back the enraged Ramirez. I know that emotions were running high and Youk might have said something to Manny that would usually NOT set him off, but he was definitely pissed. I hope all is well and the danders that were fluffed and flying high are now smooth and unruffled. This is exactly what Boston does NOT need, and it's a sure bet that Coco will serve some kind of suspension, as will a few Rays.

All this overshadowed a wonderful performance by Jon Lester, whose record moved to 4-3 after his 6 1/3 inning one run outing. He was great, just the way we need him for the rest of the year (fingers crossed). The bullpen's Timlin (1 2/3 inn.) and the dependable Aardsma (1 inn.) were impeccable, and the good guys completed their sweep of the upstart and still mad Rays. I say this..."F" them. Maybe that should have been the title of this post, but I write for Red Sox fans of ALL ages, so I watch what I say. I said all "those" words while watching the game last night, anyways.

Click on the title for the Boston Herald Red Sox homepage. You'll find all the good and bad details of the wild and crazy Thursday night at that misty, somewhat familiar place we call.......the Twilight Zone...err, Fenway Park. BE WELL, and Jacoby, we NEED you. Heal. Thanks, my Constant Readers, and have a great Friday. If you live in the northeast, get ready for a heat wave!

14 Comments:

At 6/06/2008 8:01 AM, Blogger www.wickedpissadude.com said...

Will we look back on this game like we do on the Tek v. A-Rod fight? I know the Rays aren't the Yankees, but don't we still have pride in Coco and want him to stick around for the season? We can't trade him now can we? This is what the Red Sox needed, a shot in the arm and a sweep of the Rays to overtake 1st place. We're in it to win it now!! By the way, what happened between Youk and Manny?

http://www.wickedpissadude.com

 
At 6/06/2008 10:29 AM, Blogger Peter N said...

Thanks, WPD...apparently Youk said SOMETHING to Manny about not hustling and for being the last guy, even after the 'pen guys came in to help, that was there to help. Emotions were high because of TB's idiotness...and no way the Sox will trade ANY outfielders.
I hope Jacoby will be OK,and again, I thank you for your great comments! Have a wonderful weekend. Three with Seattle, and then a day off! Peter

 
At 6/06/2008 10:31 AM, Blogger Matt said...

I think the reaction by the team and Tito in the press conference shows that Coco had limited support for his actions the last two nights and he is indirectly responsible for the Youk and Manny incident. I am all for trading him. The only good thing to come out of the incident is the Rays lost their best pitcher for the game and now he will be suspended. I just wish Jacoby did not get hurt so he could be in there but Moss will do fine. Stay cool Peter.

 
At 6/06/2008 10:33 AM, Blogger Peter N said...

I'm cooool...and I KNOW they won't trade Coco. Hey, great to hear from you, FW.

 
At 6/06/2008 10:34 AM, Blogger DPS said...

I agree with wickedpissadude totally. And what's more, Crawford and Iwamura should have gotten tossed, too. If there is any justice, they'll be on the suspensions list.

I challenge any Ray's fans (from where ever you hide because based on what I see, you're not coming to their home games) to find one Boston player besides Crisp who threw punches. The Ray's are simply not used to mattering or playing games that matter.

Looking forward to June 29 at Copacabana Field!

 
At 6/06/2008 10:48 AM, Blogger gingerly said...

I loved Coco's remarks about them fighting like girls. Can't believe four or five guys would pound on (little) Coco like that. Very cowardly. And I'm all on Coco's side. Good work, C.

 
At 6/06/2008 11:03 AM, Blogger Bosox Fan in Wichita said...

I didn't realize TB had so many chickensh*ts on their team. They can't fight like men; they have to have their catcher hold Coco down while they get down on the ground to get their shots in. Even Iwamura got his retaliation licks in ... too bad some of our guys didn't dive into those cowards & clean their clocks. Glad we won the game, though & swept the series.

 
At 6/06/2008 11:25 AM, Blogger Peter N said...

OK, wow..thanks for all the comments, DPS, Gingerly, and BFW. I am right in the middle of watching the one hour NESN "breakfast" replay. It's on pause now...

Nobody did NOT support Coco last night, and YES. The Ray's guys, Crawford, Shields (who couldn't land a right cross on the side of a barn) and Gnome will BE SUSPENDED. I'm just glad to see them get ouuta town! OUR TOWN...a first place town. The Ray's first place stay is OVAH!!!!!

And congrats to the Green!

Thanks so much...I could write an hour about this! You're the best! And so are our first place Boston Red Sox.

 
At 6/06/2008 11:55 AM, Blogger Rooster said...

WPD - i doubt this will be looked at like the Tek v. A-Rod fight. The Sox won that one in dramtic fashion, and were honorable throughout the fight. The Rays were pretty cheap and petty and lost big time.

Crisp is not getting traded becuse of these incidents. If he gets traded, it will ONLY be because Theo sees a deal that will make the team stronger, not because Crisp got in a fight.

Crisp was basically in the wrong for most of this - in that he took the whole thing way too hard and seemed to be looking for a fight. The Rays were wrong too - they shoudl have focused on winning. The Sox players, knowing the issue was not that big really, had trouble getting emotionally behind Crisp. I have felt that way too on occassion when a player on my team has gotten hot headed for silly reasons. You just want them to cool off and play.

It all puts the Sox on shakey footing for the next week with naggining injuries, a suspension, hard feelings. Man!

 
At 6/06/2008 1:37 PM, Blogger Peter N said...

Rooster, we WERE honorable all of last night, and Coco reacted CORRECTLY! You know that!

The SOX are NOT on shaky footing...a deep team like ours will prevail....I guarantee. Ya gotta be patient. I promise, although I cannot tell the future. I've seen it ALL before, and now the Sox are more bonded than ever!!! Remember, it's all summed up with THIS word....FAITH!

 
At 6/06/2008 2:27 PM, Blogger Rooster said...

Peter, yes Coco was in the right in what happened last night, but sliding into Iwamura was not overly admirable the night before, since Iwamura was not the guy he had a beef with.

I am confident the Sox will prevail this summer, but depending on a few things, the next week could indeed be shakey.

1) Papi is out
2) Crisp will surely be suspended
3) Ellsbury may miss a game or two
4) Manny has a hammy issue - can't play outfield right now, and almost popped it last night.
5) Dice-K is out

Glad they are playing the Mariners next, and not a real team. With Papi out and Manny at DH, Crisp and Ells can add a dimension to the offense with speed. We may see a few games with neither one of them in the lineup. Maybe they can appeal and delay Crisp's likely suspension.

If Crisp is suspended, and Manny's hammy is tender, in the outfield we've got JD Drew and Brandon Moss and then? Bobby Kielty?

So, we can still win, but Crisp getting himself a vacation is not helping. I'll fell better when I hear Ellsbury's wrist is fine and he's in the lineup.

 
At 6/07/2008 5:16 AM, Blogger Peter N said...

Rooster, I know all too well how weak the club is right now for the reasons you specified. Just look at that drubbing we took last night. But they were facing a great pitcher pitching well.

 
At 6/07/2008 11:39 AM, Blogger Michael Leggett said...

#1800 Is Up:

Tampa Bay Rays;

Bush League & sounds like a Pizza Chain in Manhattan

 
At 6/07/2008 12:46 PM, Blogger Peter N said...

Mike, I'll check it out (1800 is a great number..life times 100 in Hebrew!!) Thank you. Bye bye Hillary, right now......

 

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