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Swing And A Miss: Rays Brawl, Get Swept

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By CARTER GADDIS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 6, 2008

Updated: 06/06/2008 06:23 am

BOSTON - The Rays were swept again by the Red Sox at Fenway Park, but they did not go down quietly Thursday in a 7-1 loss.

James Shields hit new Rays nemesis Coco Crisp on the right thigh with a pitch in the second inning, igniting a benches-clearing brawl that ended with ejections for Shields, Crisp and Rays designated hitter Jonny Gomes and is likely to lead to suspensions for those three, as well as Rays left fielder Carl Crawford and second baseman Akinori Iwamura once Major League Baseball reviews the film of the fight.

Yet, Rays manager Joe Maddon, whose "long-distance" conversation with Crisp in Boston's dugout Wednesday was the first indication of how upset the Rays were with Crisp's late and hard slide into Iwamura on a stolen-base attempt Wednesday, said he was pleased with the way his team responded Thursday.

"Listen, I loved the way our guys reacted," Maddon said. "I thought it was tremendous. The unity that was displayed, it's part of us growing as a group. Unfortunately, we did not win the game, but I do like the fact that our guys did defend one another. I think that's great and speaks well for us. I'm very pleased with every one of them."

Shields as much as admitted he intentionally hit Crisp with a 1-0 fastball leading off the second inning.

"I'm all about protecting my players," said Shields. "I think what he did Wednesday was an absolutely dirty move. I think it's bush league and I think it's not supposed to be in the game of professional baseball. I'm out there to protect my players, no matter what the cost is. If I've got to get out in the second inning, I've got to get out in the second inning. I felt I did it the right way and he came out at me and things went down."

After he was hit, Crisp took one step toward first base before charging the mound.

Shields flipped his hat off, loaded up for a roundhouse right and missed Crisp's nose by an inch. Crisp came out of his dodge and launched a counter-punch that caught Shields on the left shoulder.

Rays catcher Dioner Navarro caught Crisp from behind in a bear hug and dragged him to the ground. Other players entered the fray, including Gomes, Iwamura and Crawford, who punched Crisp repeatedly as Navarro held him down.

Crisp, who eventually extracted himself from the scrum by crawling through the legs of Rays pitching coach Jim Hickey, came away with scratches on his face and told reporters afterward that he thought Crawford was scratching him and pulling his hair under the pile. Crawford didn't deny that he went after Crisp pretty aggressively.

"You know you're going to probably get suspended, but it's more of a respect thing," Crawford said. "You can't just let guys do that. And I know he's going to say Jason Bartlett put the knee down, but there's other ways to go about it instead of trying to hurt people. He looked like he tried to hurt Aki on purpose, even though he said he didn't. That's bull in our minds."

Gomes, who came out of the dugout to join the scrum on the mound, was Crisp's most visible assailant.

"He came after our player and I want to take it in my own hands to defend our player," Gomes said. "A bench-clearing brawl is what it is. I don't know if there's many rules to that. But I just went out there to my pitcher's defense.

"When you mix it up, a bunch of testosterone between 25 grown men, odds are there's going to be some punches thrown if you have the opportunity."

Meanwhile, Red Sox third-base coach DeMarlo Hale grabbed Shields from behind and slammed him to the ground. Shields said he wasn't happy with Hale, but saved his most biting comments for Crisp

"That just shows the kind of character that he is," Shields said. "He's not a professional player. I lost a lot of respect for him. That's just the way the game goes. But he came out at me and I had to do what I had to do."

The last time Maddon's team lost three in a row was May 2-4 in Boston. After that first Fenway sweep, Tampa Bay went on a 19-7 tear to move into first place in the American League East.

This sweep left the Rays in second place, 11/2 games behind the Red Sox.

"It just proves they're champs for a reason," Maddon said. "It also shows us where we have weaknesses and we have to improve upon them. It's not easy. But again, if you want to be the best, you have to beat these guys here, period."

Reporter Carter Gaddis can be reached at (813) 259-8291 or igaddis@

tampatrib.com.

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