Coco was in the Wrong - Jenn

Sorry, Dad, but I respectfully disagree. I even re-watched the steal in the 6th and the steal in the 8th and I still think Coco was in the wrong.

But before I get to Coco's steal in the 8th, let's look at the steal that started this whole fight. There were 2 outs in the bottom of the 6th. Ellsbury was at the plate. And on a pitch-out, Coco stole 2nd base. Unfortunately Rays short stop Jason Bartlett blocked the bag with his knee. So while Coco was safe, he injured his left thumb on the slide when his hand made contact with Bartlett's knee. (It's now bandaged and we'll have to wait and see how bad the injury is.)

Bartlett should not have been blocking 2nd that way. He's a short stop, not a catcher and this is 2nd base, not home plate. Yes, he should have been straddling the bag, but not at the knees. He should've been straddling with his feet. But he wasn't, Coco was pissed and he let Bartlett know it. So, since this is baseball and Coco was hurt, of course it's time for payback.

Just to be clear, I have no problem with payback. It's part of the game. When a pitcher hits a batter, I totally expect the opposing pitcher to hit a batter on the opposing team. Everyone expects it. The umpires even give warnings over it. But that's pitchers. These are infielders and in my opinion it's a different set of rules. You don't go after an innocent bystander. If Bartlett's the one that hurt you, go after him.

Well, it turns out that was Coco's intention. He admitted after the game that he thought Bartlett would be the one covering 2nd in the 8th since he was covering 2nd during the original steal. Unfortunately he was wrong and Iwamura got the brunt of Coco's attack.

Now, I've seen base runners take out 2nd basemen, and I've always felt it was a little shady. I can get behind it though, when the point of the attack is to avoid the double play. But this was not a double play ball. This was a steal. And the fact is Coco slid waaaaay too late. Coco wasn't stealing to be safe, he only had one thing in mind - take out the baseman. And that's exactly what he did.

Iwamura wasn't hurt, but I wouldn't be surprised if Coco gets hit by a pitch in today's final outing against the Rays. Even Coco says he wouldn't be surprised if the Rays decide to retaliate. He just doesn't want them to take it out on his teammates. Guess we'll just have to wait and see how steamed Rays manager Joe Maddon really is.