Coco Dodges

In the process of defeating the Tampa Rays by a score of 7-1 Boston center fielder Coco Crisp was hit on the right hip by Tampa Bay right-hander James Shields, prompting a benches-clearing brawl in the second inning.

Crisp dropped his bat, charged the mound, ducked a wild right by Shields before throwing a few punches of his own on Shields before being tackled to the ground by catcher Dioner Navarro.

Rays DH Jonny “I’m a Cheapshot Artist” Gomes charged the mound from the dugout, jumped on Navarro and Crisp, and threw a few punches that hit Crisp while he was on the ground.

I now know why nobody in Tampa watches these bums. What a bunch a jerkoffs. They try to pick fights with the Yankees in SPRING TRAINING and now this? Seems like a bunch of immature thugs crying over sour apples. I hope Sheilds gets a 7 day suspension, and Gomes, he should get 7 games as well. What a punk. Crisp deserves a lengthy suspension as well, but it’s not like he had a choice…Just trying to defend himself from a blatant attempt to injure him.

The tempers carried over from Wednesday’s game when Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said Crisp “intentionally” tried hurt somebody. He slid hard into second baseman Akinori Iwamura when he was caught stealing two innings after shortstop Jason Bartlett blocked the bag with his leg which was a bush league move. Crisp injured his left thumb against Bartlett’s leg.

“It’s simple,” Gomes said, when asked what he was doing when he got to the mound. “I’m just going out there for my pitcher’s defense.”

Crisp, who had a scratch on his forehead and right cheek, was most upset with what happened under the pile.

“I charged the mound. [Shields] tried to hit me with a punch,” Crisp said. “I’m not upset at all. We fought. That’s all it is. There were some cheap shots there. [Carl] Crawford came sliding in. I don’t know why he was pulling hair, scratching. After that it was three, four guys on one.”

Crawford = complete woman.

After Wednesday’s game, Maddon said

“I believe the players should take care of things on the field.”

Crisp was also involved in a flare-up in the eighth Wednesday. When he went to the mound to make a pitching change, Maddon turned toward the Red Sox dugout and said something to Crisp.

“Everybody else on the mound started looking over there so I got louder,” Crisp said after the game. “I don’t know if he could hear what I was saying but basically I just said, ‘I did that on my own so don’t punish anybody else on the team.”

Crisp said he was upset with shortstop Bartlett, not Iwamura, after Bartlett put his knee down in front of the bag on Crisp’s successful steal in the sixth. His thumb was bandaged after the game, but he started Thursday.

“I told him … I’d get back on base and then I’m going to show him how I felt about it,” Crisp said. “It wasn’t as dramatic as it probably would have been if he would have covered the bag.”

These guys miss hockey season already.

Coco Connects