Upton suspended two games for tirade

By foxsports
Published

Tampa Bay Rays outfielder B.J. Upton was suspended two games and fined by Major League Baseball on Saturday after he launched into a tirade following an ejection earlier this week.

Upton was scheduled to begin serving his suspension Saturday against the Baltimore Orioles but decided to appeal.

Before facing the Orioles, Upton said the fine was $1,500 and indicated his appeal was being made in part because he liked playing in Camden Yards.

''I like hitting in this park, I guess,'' said Upton, who had a .281 lifetime batting average in Baltimore through Friday.

Manager Joe Maddon said, ''He's had a lot of success here and that was his call at that particular moment. I didn't want to argue with that. We just went with his wishes right now and he's playing today.''

Upton was ejected by umpire Chad Fairchild after striking out for the fourth straight time leading off the ninth inning Wednesday night against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Upton slammed his bat and helmet to the ground and had to be restrained by third base coach Tom Foley after he was tossed. Upton also threw several other items, including his arm guards, toward the plate area while heading toward the dugout.

''I've never really been suspended. Normally you just get a fine,'' he said. ''They will look at it the way they want to look at it. Once it was over it's out of my hands. They felt it was a fine and couple of games suspension.''

Earlier in the game, Maddon was ejected by Joe West after the umpires got together and reversed West's safe call on a tag play by first baseman Adam Lind. Video replays appeared to show that the reversal was a mistake.

Maddon subsequently watched Upton's tirade from the clubhouse.

''I actually had the privilege of watching it on television at that point, and those were pretty egregious calls, so I can understand why he was so upset,'' Maddon said after the game. ''I really believe that that particular at-bat should be reviewed by the umpiring higher-ups as opposed to it being all over B.J. Upton right now.''