The dust settled and smoke cleared today and as expected, MLB disciplinarian Bob Watson handed down punishments to the Rays and Red Sox in response to Thursday night's brawl. Boston's Coco Crisp (seven games), Jon Lester (five games) and Sean Casey (three games) along with Tampa Bay's James Shields (six games), Jonny Gomes (five games), Edwin Jackson (five games), Carl Crawford (four games) and Akinori Iwamura (three games) all received suspensions and fines today for their role in Thursday's brawl.
Typically, players appeal their suspensions but if they do not, the suspensions will be staggered to prevent either team from having their rosters wiped out. The suspensions are scheduled to begin the following days:
Today - Crisp, Lester, Shields and Gomes
Wednesday (June 11) - Crawford
Friday (June 13) - Jackson
Saturday (June 14) - Casey
Sunday (June 15) Iwamura
Second baseman Tadahito Iguchi separated his shoulder on Thursday night and the San Diego Padres will be without his services for at least four weeks according to manager Bud Black. Iguchi injured himself after falling on his right shoulder trying to evade a grounder off the bat of teammate Kevin Kouzmanoff.
Iguchi joins eight others on San Diego's disabled list including Josh Bard, Jake Peavy, Chris Young and Shawn Estes. Iguchi had three hits in Thursday's game and raised his average to .259 and will create a hole in the third spot in the batting order.
The Detroit Tigers placed infielder Ramon Santiago and outfielder Clete Thomas on the 15-day disabled list and put Aquilino Lopez on the bereavement list today. To replace Santiago, Thomas and Lopez, infielder Michael Hollimon and outfielder Brent Clevlen were recalled from Triple-A Toledo and pitcher Denny Bautista was activated from the 15-day disabled list.
Hollimon hit .250 with 12 home runs in 184 at-bats with Toledo turns 26 next Saturday and will fill in as the utility man while Santiago recovers from a separated shoulder. Clevlen was hitting .324 with 13 homers with Toledo before taking Thomas' roster spot who landed on the DL with a sprained ankle.
Lopez asked for a leave of absence to deal with a family illness which made room for Bautista to return from his rehab assignment.
Pitcher Sidney Ponson's comeback will have to continue with another team -- the Texas Rangers surprised everyone by designating Ponson with the purpose of releasing him. Despite a 4-1 record with a 3.88 ERA in nine starts, Ponson's behavior was continually unacceptable and led to the two parties parting ways.
Former American League Rookie of the Year Angel Berroa was traded by the Kansas City Royals to the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for Minor League infielder Juan Rivera.
Friday night was bittersweet for the Houston Astros organization. After their 6-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals, manager Cecil Cooper announced the Astros decided to waive Jose Cruz Jr. for the purpose of giving his unconditional release. The decision was especially tough for Cooper -- he is close friends with Cruz's father, former Astros star and current first-base coach Jose Cruz Sr.
Will Junior Griffey make history in Miami? Soon after Griffey hit 599 last Saturday, Manny Ramirez joined the 500 club. Six days later, Chipper Jones joined the 400 club a few hours after Griffey bounced back from general soreness in Philly to take a swing at 600. Now, he will take on the same team Jones hit his 400th off of this weekend in the Florida Marlins. In his 20 seasons, Griffey has amassed over 10,000 plate appearances but just 25 against the current Marlins pitching staff. He's had decent success -- 7-for-20 with one homer (off of Mark Hendrickson). Maybe this will get Miami residents off the beach and to a baseball game. Despite their 32-27 record, the Marlins have the lowest average attendance in the Majors.
Michael Young is on a tear. Young is riding a 21-game hitting streak into this weekend's series in Arlington against the Tampa Bay Rays. During the streak, Young is 34-for-101 with three home runs, 12 RBI and 25 runs scored and raised his season average 20 points to .306. Currently, teammate Josh Hamilton looks like a lock for an All-Star appearance and might even get voted to be an All-Star starter. In order for Young to extend his All-Star game appearance streak to five consecutive years, he is going to have to stay hot. 
It is hard to imagine Lance Berkman having a better month than the one he just completed in May. His .471 batting average and .856 slugging percentage saw Berkman hit nine home runs, 22 RBI, 31 runs scored and he reached base in 27 of 28 games. For his effort, Berkman picked up the National League Player of the Month award. So far in June, the Big Puma extended his current hitting streak to 10 heading into the series with one of their division rivals. He leads the Majors in runs scored (57) and doubles (22) and his .382 average is second only to Chipper Jones. While Berkman has been on fire, the Astros have struggled and are 2-8 in their last 10 games and have fallen behind by eight games in the NL Central. Just one game above .500, Houston needs Berkman's bat to stay hot to take their series from the Cardinals.
The last time Paul Konerko hit a triple -- May 17, 2000. Since then, Konerko has gone 1,209 games without a triple. This weekend Konerko's White Sox take on the Twins who have the most triples in the American League with 18. Since 1956, only Mark McGwire has had a longer streak of games without a triple with 1,377 consecutive games without a three-bagger. More importantly, Konerko hit a walk-off homer in the 15th inning of Wednesday's game with the Royals and his Sox have a 2 1/2 game lead over the Twins heading into their four game series with Minnesota. This would be a perfect time for Konerko to snap out of his season-long slump where he is not even hitting his weight. He takes his .199 average into this weekend's series hoping to bounce out of one of the worst slumps of his career with the White Sox and trying to do everything he can to help the Sox stay ahead of the Twins in the standings... and maybe he will get that illusive triple, too.
In Major League Baseball, a player has achieved at least 200 hits and at least 30 steals 82 times. Ichiro Suzuki was that player seven times. The only other player to accomplish the feat that many times was Ty Cobb. Ichiro already has 25 steals this season but is slightly off pace to get to 200 hits. Currently, he has 72 hits and is on a pace to finish with 194. Ichiro is also on a pace to steal more than 60 bases. If he breaks the 60 mark, Ichiro would join Lou Brock and Rickey Henderson as the only players 34 or older to steal at least 60 bases in a season. Squaring off with Boston, Suzuki trails Red Sox rookie Jacoby Ellsbury by just three steals for the Major League lead. With Ellsbury's status listed as "day-to-day" after a hand injury on Thursday, Suzuki might be able to close the gap on Ellsbury's league lead.
He doesn't turn 24 for two weeks but the Giants top pick in the 2006 amateur draft looks like he is going to be special. In his second season, Lincecum is 7-1 with a 2.23 ERA. The team is 9-3 when Lincecum pitches and 16-32 when he does not. The young Giant is also proving to be a road warrior also. He is 5-0 with a 1.72 ERA this season and 9-2 in his short career on the road. Most of the Nationals' players have never faced Lincecum -- the current Nationals roster is 2-for-12 lifetime against him. The one thing going against Lincecum is he has not won a game in June in his career. He is 0-2 with a 6.34 ERA in six career starts in his birthday month. That being said, with Lincecum on the road, facing a Nationals team that generating just 3.75 runs per game (third lowest in the Majors), this could be another gem by Lincecum.
With everyone else in New York focused on Sunday when Joba Chamberlain takes the hill for his second start ever and Pedro Martinez takes the hill for his second consecutive start, Brian Bannister's start at Yankee Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Bannister loves to play in the sunlight. In his career, he is 11-2 with a 3.03 ERA in day games contrasted by an 8-14 record with a 4.75 ERA in night games. The 27-year-old will also have to deal with pitching at Yankee Stadium for the first time in his career and must face Andy Pettite who owns the Royals (Pettite is 12-3 against Kansas City). 
Roy Halladay has won his last four starts and is now 7-5 which is more fitting for a pitcher who has gone at least six innings in his last 25 starts dating back to last July and carries a 2.94 ERA into Sunday's game against the O's. Halladay has had more success against Baltimore than any other team in the Major League. In 26 games against the Orioles, Halladay is 16-4 including 6-0 in his last eight starts against them. The AL East race is an interesting one with only the Orioles having a record below .500 at 29-30. The Jays trail the Red Sox by 5 1/2 games and the Rays by 4 games and they have come to count on a win every five days from Halladay.
The 36-year-old reliever turned closer has converted five consecutive save opportunities which is a huge relief for manager Ned Yost and the Milwaukee Brewers. Since Torres converted his first of five consecutive save opportunities, the Brewers have gone 10-2 and pushed their record to 32-28 keeping them in contention with the red-hot Cubs. For a team with nine blown saves in early June, being four games above .500 is surprising. Now, it looks like Torres will continue to be the go to guy out of the 'pen to close out games and his 4-1 record with six saves and 2.62 ERA makes the case that Torres is up to the task.
Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones is having one of those seasons. While it's early to say what Jones' season will be most remembered for as he continues to flirt with the .400 mark, Jones became the 43rd member of the 400 home run club in the sixth inning of Thursday night's Braves-Marlins game.