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Kutter Crawford and his ex-Boston Red Sox teammate Matt Strahm paid the price for their standoff after the national anthem on Saturday.
Anthem standoffs, which involve players competing to be the last one off the field after the national anthem is played, have become a trend in MLB. But with the strictly-enforced pitch clock coming into play, both Crawford and Strahm were ejected from the Red Sox-Phillies matchup and fined by the league for not leaving the field after the umpire's warning.
You can watch the standoff below, courtesy of WEEI's Rob Bradford.
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Crawford's fine was especially hefty as he currently is on the 15-day injured list. Fortunately for the 27-year-old right-hander, who's on a pre-arbitration contract, he'll get some help from a veteran teammate.
“If you get thrown out and you’re on the IL, you get crushed,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said on Sunday. “I know there’s a guy that went to the same school as him that’s probably going to take care of that.”
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That guy Cora is referring to is none other than Chris Sale. Both Crawford and Sale attended Florida Gulf Coast University.
As for Strahm, the former Red Sox reliever probably won't be in another standoff any time soon.
“Zero of it was planned. Just, (the) anthem was over and I looked across and Kutter kind of gave me a grin and I know exactly what that grin meant so just stood there,” Strahm said, per Bradford. ...
"If you know me, you know competition is everything to me so kind of felt like I was being called out right there. Looking back on it, probably not the wisest decision I’ve made in my big league career. … I guess I should’ve known better with how strict they are with pitch clock.”
The Red Sox will look to complete a three-game sweep of the Phillies and extend their win streak to nine games when the two clubs face off on Sunday.