The Yankees and Rays got their brawl on in an exhibition game earlier today. AP photos show: Shelley Duncan of the cheatin’ Bombers, going in spikes high on the Rays’ Iwamuri Akinori in the second inning. Yep, that’s a good place to put your sharp spike if you’re trying to start a brawl. Newsday’s Kat O’Brien adds these words (thanks to Fasolamatt for the link):

The bad blood between the Yankees and Rays boiled over Wednesday afternoon with a benches-clearing brawl.

The fight started when the Yankees’ Shelley Duncan lined a single over Rays third baseman Evan Longoria’s head. Instead of stopping at first, though, Duncan barreled into second base, crashing into Akinori Iwamura. Rays rightfielder Jonny Gomes sprinted in and tackled Duncan, causing both dugouts to empty.

Umpires ejected Duncan, Gomes, Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long and Yankees third base coach Bobby Meacham. Play was paused for a few minutes while they cleared the field and calmed people down.

The problems between the teams began Saturday when the Rays’ Evan Johnson collided with Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli at home plate, breaking Cervelli’s wrist. Yankees manager Joe Girardi was livid at the play, calling it “unnecessary” in spring training, while Rays manager Joe Maddon had no problem with it.

In the bottom of the first inning Wednesday, Yankees pitcher Heath Phillips was ejected after he appeared to graze Longoria with a pitch near his midsection.

And remember, it’s the Rays, not the Devil Rays these days. Either way, they love to fight.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 12th, 2008 at 3:26 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.