Coco Crisp Best Watch His Back, For Reals

With the Sox up 5-1 in the 8th, Crisp decided to attempt to swipe second. The Rays pitched out, and Coco was dead in the water, as they say. But, instead of admitting defeat and going down easy, Crisp tried to take out second baseman Akinori Iwamura. We join the action already in progress:

I’m not sure, but I think Rick Sutcliffe does not appreciate that hard slide from Crisp. And, for maybe the first time ever, I’d have to agree with Sutcliffe. That was just plain bush league.

We learn more about the incident. This, from the game recap:

"Everybody else on the mound started looking over there so I got louder," Crisp said. "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 was upset with shortstop Jason Bartlett, not Iwamura, after Bartlett put his knee down in front of the bag on Crisp's successful steal in the sixth. Crisp came out of that with a sprained left thumb that was bandaged after the game but may not sideline him.

Rays coach Joe Madden agreed with Sutcliffe after the game, saying that he thought Crisp was intentionally trying to hurt Iwamura. Game two of the series is tonight at 6:05. We’ll set the over/under on benches clearing at the third inning.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.