Just a few outs after Covelli Crisp instigated the thirty-ninth chapter in The Red Sox and Rays: The Feud Not Too Many People Understand, Sox left-fielder Manny Ramirez and first baseman Kevin Youkilis either yelled at each other or nearly came to blows, depending on which version of the story you hear. Anyone that has any actual first-hand knowledge of the situation isn’t talking much about it, but here are some possible reasons for the angst between these two training buddies. As always, full disclosure: I’m a Red Sox fan, and the Rays’ new-this-season logo and unis are mortifying. So there.

The prevailing thought is that Youk was upset at Manny for taking his sweet time getting out and jumping in to the second inning brawl following Crisp getting HBP. There’s some validity here, too: when your team is playing a rival and the bad blood is already boiling and the fight gets going and you’re in the dugout — trust me, this run-on is about done — you shouldn’t get beaten to the hill by the bullpen.

Worse yet, you shouldn’t get beaten to the brawl by Bartolo Colon.

Obviously Manny wasn’t all that interested in jumping into the fracas.

The thing that keeps me from being totally sold on this theory is that it went down nearly two full innings later. There had to have been one more needle on that camel’s back.

Enter an ESPN source that claims it was Ramirez that was mad at Youkilis. The ESPN report says Manny didn’t like Youk’s poor attitude after a bad at-bat that same fourth inning. Adding loads of bona fides to the claim is the known fact Youkilis has been spoken to by other teammates and staff to settle down after a poor AB. They aren’t fans of his habit of throwing helmets and bats when he gets back to the dugout. The source says Manny reiterated this, leading to their verbal/physical altercation.

Whichever the case, the Sox tend to be resilient. It’s always concerning when the fight involves members of the same team, but if the Red Sox’ perceived team-first environment doesn’t prevail over this spat, their being in first place will probably work it out.

Hey, I gave my disclosure, didn’t I?

Tags: boston red sox, Kevin Youkilis, Manny Ramirez