Over the last dozen or so years, the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays have yelled at each other more than all the other teams have yelled at all the other teams put together.
Joe Maddon, Bobby Valentine Trade Public Jabs
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Or maybe it just seems like that.
Those clubs' childish/boorish/mannish proclivities began anew Friday night. With the Red Sox down 7-4 in the ninth, Boston relief pitcher Franklin Morales drilled Luke Scott in the leg. To which Scott took exception, and it didn't take long for the dugouts to empty, the bullpens to unfill, the heart rates to explode.
Afterward, Rays manager Joe Maddon took to the interWeb:
Very proud of our effort 2nite. What occurred in the 9th reeked of intent. Was ridiculous, absurd, idiotic, incompetent, cowardly behavior.
— Joe Maddon (@RaysJoeMaddon) May 26, 2012
Before Saturday night’s game, reporters got Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine to open up. Just a little:
“I thought their coaches were really aggressive, as a matter of fact I took offense to the aggressiveness of their coaches,” Valentine said, referring to the way things escalated when both benches cleared and engaged in a shouting and shoving match near home plate with two outs in the top of the ninth inning of Friday night’s 7-4 loss vs. the Rays. “I thought it was really unprofessional.”
--snip--
“They seemed very immature and out of control,” Valentine said. “Coaches are supposed to stop those things from happening and their coaches were agitating, aggravating, and instigating the situation.”
(source: Boston.com)
You never wanna see anyone get hurt, but you sorta wanna see a little bit of extracurricular activity during the rest of this series, as the Rays try to inspire their fans and the Red Sox try to escape last place.
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