E-Jack gets slapped

Major League Baseball dished out punishment to eight players involved in Thursday’s brawl between the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays.

Former Shaw High School star Edwin Jackson is among the group facing suspensions and fines.

Jackson, a starting pitcher for the Rays, received a five-game suspension and will begin serving it next Friday. Pretty stiff, but two players came out worse. Tampa Bay pitcher James Shields received a six-game suspension for plunking Boston outfielder Coco Crisp with a fastball and Crisp received a seven-game penalty for charging the mound and opening the floodgates on a massive pile-up of punching and (according to one report) hair-pulling.

The others who received the MLB-style call to the principal's office and detention are Jon Lester (five games), Jonny Gomes (five games), Carl Crawford (four games), Akinori Iwamura (three games) and Sean Casey (three games).

The Red Sox swept the series from Tampa Bay, but the Rays sent an unmistakable message during the free-for-all at Fenway.

If the Red Sox plan to win the AL East, they’ll have to fight their way through the Rays.