The acrimony between the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays took on a new edge Friday, after Major League Baseball handed down its punishment for Wednesday's melee between the two teams.
This time, Yankees general partner Hank Steinbrenner took up the charge, reaffirming the front office's support of manager Joe Girardi, backing the players and making a comment that clearly was directed at the small-market Rays.
"I don't want these teams in general to forget who subsidizes a lot of them, and it's the Yankees, the Red Sox, Dodgers, Mets," he said to The New York Post.
The dispute between the teams started last Saturday, when Rays infielder Elliott Johnson slammed into Yankees catching prospect Francisco Cervelli at home plate. Cervelli broke his wrist and is out for 10 weeks.
On Wednesday, Duncan went spikes-up as he slid into
Akinori Iwamura at second base, which caused the benches to clear and
Jonny Gomes to rush in from right field to tackle Duncan.
clipped from: sports.espn.go.com