Eight players (3 Sox) banned for brawl
The fallout from Thursday night's on-field brawl was far more than the scratches and abrasions that lined Coco Crisp's face. Around 5:15 p.m. yesterday, word came down that eight Red Sox and Rays players had been suspended by Major League Baseball disciplinarian Bob Watson for a total of 38 games, the longest bans going to the primary participants, Crisp and Tampa Bay pitcher James Shields.
Crisp received the most severe punishment, a seven-game suspension, with teammates Jon Lester (five) and Sean Casey (three) joining him. For the Rays, Shields got six games, Jonny Gomes and Edwin Jackson five, Carl Crawford four, and Akinori Iwamura three.
When asked about his suspension before last night's 8-0 loss to the Mariners, Crisp said, "I don't know nothing about it yet." But he appealed it and also said he wasn't surprised about the outcome, which included fines for each of the suspended players, saying, "Everybody gets suspended that charges the mound."
After the game, Crisp said, "It is what it is right now. Nothing else really to say about it. I'm through talking about it. It's over with."
Asked if he were interested in the penalties for the Rays, Crisp said, "No, not really. It doesn't matter to me."
But it did matter to the Rays. Shields, who hit Crisp with a pitch in the second inning Thursday to start the brawl, said he thought Crisp would get more than seven games.
"When you come out and charge, anything can happen," Shields told the St. Petersburg Times. "I don't know if we scratched and pulled his hair, but we had to do what we had to do. If he wants to come out and charge, he's got to feel the wrath. That's just the bottom line. If he wants to go cry about it, that's fine. But whatever, he's going to think what he's going to think and we do what we have to do."
Lester, who was suspended for "intentionally throwing at a Tampa Bay batter after a warning had been issued," did not comment on his suspension but he is not appealing it. His next start, scheduled for Wednesday against the Orioles, will be pushed back to Thursday. Bartolo Colon will take his place.
Manager Terry Francona wasn't quite sure what to make of Lester's suspension, given that the lefthander was not ejected after he threw inside to Cliff Floyd in the seventh. Normally, when the dugouts are warned, any pitch too close to a batter that might be considered intentional warrants ejection.
"The Lester one, I was shocked," Francona said. "I wasn't expecting that. I probably have a biased viewpoint because I work for the Red Sox. I wasn't in agreement with a lot of what happened, but I don't get the final say."
Kevin Youkilis was equally surprised by the bans.
"I don't think anything makes any sense with suspensions anymore," he said. "If someone who didn't do anything [Lester] gets five, shouldn't someone who throws a punch get 10? If Lester did not get thrown out of the game by the umpire, how did he get suspended?"
Because Casey's suspension would not start until next Saturday, he did not have to make a decision last night about whether to appeal. But he said, "I'm just going to go through the process. I don't know. I'll probably end up appealing it or something. Just see how it plays out."
He hadn't looked at the tape yet to see why he was suspended, but said, "Probably piling on."
Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon also wasn't happy with the punishments. Maddon made it clear he condoned everything done by his players Thursday, and said he was proud of them. He objected to the length of Crisp's suspension, believing it should have been longer, considering those given to Shields and Gomes. He also was confused as to why Lester was not ejected.
"I would like to have seen more of their guys involved in the suspensions; it just seems to be a little bit imbalanced in our favor," Maddon told the St. Petersburg Times. "Furthermore, the way the whole thing began, it was perpetrated on their side, so that part of it has the unfairness attached to it.
"The fact that their guy started it and we had more guys nailed than they did, that's the part that doesn't sit well with me even in regard to the game, where they only got one guy thrown out. I really didn't like that either."
While Casey, Jackson, Crawford, and Iwamura all were punished for fighting, Shields and Gomes were cited for "actions that escalated the bench-clearing incident." Crisp's suspension was for "his inappropriate actions on Wednesday and for charging the mound, fighting and inciting the bench-clearing incident [Thursday]."
The issue began when Crisp objected to Jason Bartlett's manner of blocking second base on a sixth-inning steal Wednesday. He followed that up with a hard slide into Iwamura on a failed stolen base attempt in the eighth.
The suspensions are staggered. Without appeals - which were filed by Crisp, Shields, and Gomes - four were set to be begin last night: for Crisp, Shields, Gomes, and Lester. Iwamura's starts Tuesday, Crawford's Wednesday, Jackson's Friday.
Gomes wasn't surprised more Rays than Sox were suspended.
"You leave the dugout and try and inflict injury by a punch, you're going to get fined," Gomes told the St. Petersburg Times. "I think more of our guys did that than their guys."
Gordon Edes of the Globe staff contributed to this report. 