Evan Longoria and B.J. Upton Get Into it

It’s always a shame anytime we post an item about teammates getting into a dust-up. Much like Hanley Ramirez who had to be reprimanded for being lazy going after a ball, Rays third baseman Evan Longoria confronted center fielder B.J. Upton who coasted for a ball hit in the left-center gap on Sunday. Rusty Ryal got a triple on the play and Gerardo Parra homered next, so luckily the play didn’t really affect the boxscore, but I’m sure the Rays now have an issue to address. Here’s a video of the Evan Longoria and B.J. Upton fight in the dugout via The Big Lead:

The only way I give Upton a partial excuse for the play is if he’s playing hurt, but even if that’s the case then he shouldn’t be in the lineup considering he’s down to .223 on the year and batting 7th. As long as you’re out there, you should be giving everything you have and it didn’t look like Upton was. Typically you’d prefer to see that sort of thing be addressed inside the clubhouse rather than in the dugout in front of television cameras, but at least it’s a good sign that Longoria won’t put up with that crap on his team. These guys just got no-hit and then two-hit Sunday so they need to do everything possible to keep up in the AL East. There’s no room for not hustling.

Sources:
Evan Longoria and BJ Upton Nearly Fight in Tampa Bay Rays’ Dugout [Video] [The Big Lead]