Sox Drawer: Coco's cock knock causing a stir

During last night's 5-1 Red Sox win over Tampa Bay Coco Crisp blasted Akinori Iwamura in the package in retaliation for a cheap play Jason Bartlett had pulled on the Sox ceterfielder a few innings earlier.

There is video of the incident on both Bugs & Cranks and Sox & Dawgs, the latter featuring Coco's comments after the game regarding the incident.

The background of the situation goes like this: in the sixth inning of the game, with Coco on first after an infield single, Crisp attempted to steal second base and was successful. But on the play Rays shortstop Jason Bartlett dropped his knee in front of the bag where Coco was sliding, a no no for infielders in the book of baseball etiquette because the runner could suffer serious damage to his hands.

Irked at the play Coco stored it away and reacted on his anger later.

Later came in the 8th inning when Crisp walked with one out and the Sox leading 5-1. Shortly after the base on balls Coco took off for second base, and although he was out by a mile, the intent was not to steal but exact revenge for the earlier play by Bartlett.

Thus when he slid into the base Crisp came up with his arm high and nailed Rays second baseman Akinori Iwamura right in the groin, touching off a heated exchange between both teams and included Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon, who came out to the mound to remove pitcher Jason Hammel after the play, and continued long after Crisp was in the dugout.

The play was eerily similar to the spring training incident the Rays had with the Stanks when Shelly Duncan package-jacked Iwamura on a slide into second after a Rays player had injured a Stankee catching prospect days earlier.

My feelings about this incident are mixed. Do I believe Coco had every reason to be mad at Bartlett for a play that was stupid but probably unintentionally malicious on his part? Absolutely. But should Crisp had retaliated against Iwamura in the 8th inning of a 5-1 game on a play that wasn't even an attempted break up of a DP, just a straight steal? Absolutely not.

My fellow commenters at B&C are lambasting me for not agreeing with the retaliation, saying that Crsip had to get back at someone so he just picked the nearest player, not unlike a pitcher hitting an opposing batter to get back for one of his own teammates getting hit by the opposing pitcher.

I say bullshit. Coco's problem was solely with Bartlett and he will have other chances to get back at the shortstop, whether it is tonight or one of the next 10 games the teams have against each other.

To cock knock Iwamura was petty and unnecessary and will most likely result in Coco getting drilled tonight and could touch off a season-long war between the top two teams in the East.

The bottom line is Bartlett was wrong for what he did and Coco was also wrong for how he reacted. Let's hope cooler heads prevail and this thing doesn't drag out and give the Rays any more fuel for an already contentious rivalry.