Will Rays and Red Sox play nice?
AMERICAN LEAGUE FYI
Tampa Bay and Boston scuffled on the field this season, and Red Sox players say those emotions could surface again in the American League championship series.
BOSTON -- It will take a few more decades of animosity for Tampa Bay-Boston to approach the heated baseball rivalry that is Boston-New York, but considering the contempt the teams have shown for each other, it's not a bad undercard.
The Red Sox will open the American League championship series Friday night against the Rays in Tropicana Field, and the guy staring in from the mound for Tampa Bay -- right-hander James Shields -- is sure to stir emotions for the Red Sox.
Shields hit Boston outfielder Coco Crisp in the hip with a pitch on June 5 in Fenway Park, triggering a benches-clearing brawl that was a culmination of hostilities that began the night before, when Rays Manager Joe Maddon accused Crisp of "intentionally" trying to hurt second baseman Akinori Iwamura with a brutally hard slide.
Crisp's slide came two innings after he felt Tampa Bay shortstop Jason Bartlett blocked the bag with his leg on a stolen-base attempt, causing Crisp to injure his thumb.
Shields retaliated the next night, and video of the ensuing brawl, in which Crisp charged the mound and avoided Shields' round-house right with a lean-back move straight out of "The Matrix," will probably be replayed endlessly in the lead-up to the series.
"This isn't over," Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon said after the incident. The right-hander was asked before Wednesday's workout in Fenway Park if it was over between the Red Sox and Rays.
"I don't know," Papelbon said. "There could be something that stirs it right back up. You know how these things linger all year long."
Have the issues between the teams been resolved?
"I don't know, anything can happen with any team," Crisp said. "We had an altercation with the Rays, and the playoffs are a little more intense, so if something were to happen, maybe somebody would take something wrong, but I doubt it."
Crisp said he doesn't hold grudges.
"I've gotten into arguments, altercations, with my close friends, and we're still close friends," he said. "It just so happens this one was televised."
Dome sweet dome
The Rays won the season series against the Red Sox, 10-8, and went 8-1 against Boston at home, so the fact they have home-field advantage in this series could be important. Tampa Bay went 2-7 in Fenway.
Tropicana Field wasn't the only domed stadium Boston struggled in. The Red Sox went 1-3 at Minnesota and 4-5 at Toronto for a 6-16 record on artificial turf.
