The Red Sox-Yankees rivalry gets all the headlines, and rightfully so. Despite it being reduced to a simmer in recent years, the feud between New York and Boston remains one of the best in all of sports.
However, the Boston-Tampa rivalry is no less heated, if not more so. In particular, the early 2000s saw the Red Sox and Rays regularly (and literally) at each other’s throats.
NESN’s “Red Sox Classics” series will continue this week with re-broadcasts of some of the best brawls since the turn of the century, including three with the Rays. All broadcasts will run from 6 to 8 p.m. ET.
Here’s the full schedule:
Monday – 10/11/03: Red Sox vs. Yankees 2003 ALCS Game 3
Tuesday – 8/29/00: Red Sox at Devil Rays
Wednesday – 4/24/05: Red Sox at Devil Rays
Thursday – 6/5/08: Red Sox vs. Rays
Friday – 7/8/11: Red Sox vs. Orioles
Saturday – 4/11/18: Red Sox vs. Yankees
Let’s look back three notable early 2000s brawls between Boston and Tampa Bay:
AUG. 29, 2000: RED SOX AT DEVIL RAYS
For many reasons, this is the most memorable Red Sox-Rays brawl of all time.
The benches cleared after Pedro Martinez hit Gerald Williams with his fourth pitch of the game. Tempers flared, fists flew — it was a mess. The benches even cleared a second time, because Red Sox-Rays. Of course, the real story was Martinez, who carried a no-hitter into the ninth inning, which John Flaherty led off with a single. Famously, the necklace around Martinez’s neck broke moments before. Overall, Martinez allowed no runs on one hit and one hit batter while walking none and striking out 13 over nine innings. In total, eight Rays were ejected and two Red Sox were taken to the hospital after a game Boston won 8-0.
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APRIL 24, 2005: RED SOX AT DEVIL RAYS
Often forgotten, this brawl took place while the Red Sox-Rays rivalry was at its nastiest.
The first two games of the three-game series saw a total of five hit batters. In the finale, fans at Tropicana Field were treated to a series of beanballs that led to six ejections, including Trot Nixon, Bronson Arroyo and Terry Francona for the Red Sox. It was a hoot, and the Red Sox ultimately won 11-3, largely thanks to Jay Payton’s game-breaking grand slam in the eighth inning. However, there were even more fireworks after the game, as Curt Schilling and Rays manager Lou Piniella engaged in a heated war of words.
“The problem is when you’re playing a team with a manager who somehow forgot how the game is played, there’s problems,” Schilling said, via ESPN.com. “This should have been over a little bit ago. Lou’s trying to make his team be a bunch of tough guys, and the telling sign is when the players on that team are saying, ‘This is why we lose 100 games a year, because this idiot makes us do stuff like this.’ They (Rays
players) said that on the field.”
Piniella fired back after holding a team meeting the next day.
“Forget how the game is played? I have forgotten more baseball than this guy knows,” he said.
You don't mess with the big man…?@RedSox | #RedSoxEncore pic.twitter.com/S9DEcieAU2
— NESN (@NESN) May 13, 2020
JUNE 5, 2008: RED SOX VS. RAYS
This brawl was a direct result of Coco Crisp’s hard slide into Rays second baseman Akinori Iwamura the day before.
Tampa starter James Shields hit Crisp to start the bottom of the second inning, prompting the Red Sox center fielder to aggressively charge the mound. After Shields’ badly missed on an errant haymaker, Crisp landed a clean right before being taken to the ground by a pair of Rays. Multiple dogpiles ensued. Julio Lugo played the desperate peacemaker. The bullpens ran onto the field and did stuff. Tons of things happened. Shields and Crisp both were ejected (duh) and the Red Sox went on to win 7-1. The Rays wound up getting the last laugh in the American League Championship Series, however, before falling to the Philadelphia Phillies in their first (and still only) World Series appearance.
