Joe Maddon possesses one of the most calculating minds you’ll see in baseball. He doesn’t do anything without thorough consideration of the consequences, good or bad. So, when he actively sought Boston CF Coco Crisp in the Red Sox dugout during an eighth-inning pitching change tonight, and fervently let Crisp know exactly what he tought of a late slide into second baseman Akinori Iwamura, there was a purpose behind the public vitriol.

“I was not pleased with the slide,” Maddon said.

No kidding.

As Red Sox manager Terry Francona took advantage of the break to duck into the restroom, Maddon stood near the mound and stared into the Boston dugout.

“I was kind of looking into the dugout until I found [Crisp],” Maddon said. “And then it was a long-distance exchange.”

Crisp’s story? He was angry because of what happened on a sixth-inning stolen base. Crisp said shortstop Jason Bartlett blocked the bag with his knee, and because of that, Crisp jammed his left thumb. Crisp told reporters he warned Bartlett that he’d see him again. Bartlett wouldn’t talk about it, but Crisp would: “If you’re going to do something like that, cover the bag and take your licking,” he said.

In the eighth, Crisp came barrelling into second base on a stolen base attempt and was out. The slide was clearly late, and Crisp’s spikes appeared to connect with Iwamura’s foot before Crisp’s elbow connected with Iwamura’s ... midsection. They both went tumbling. Iwamura wasn’t hurt on the play. But he could have been, and that’s what infuriated Maddon.

“There was something that happened earlier that I believe provoked him, but you could ask [Crisp] specifically,” Maddon said. “But I totally felt there was intent to hurt one of our players. And that’s what upset me.”

Iwamura said he was “honored” that Maddon stuck up for him in such a public manner.

For his part, Maddon wouldn’t be drawn into a conversation about an ulterior motive, such as, say, lighting a fire under a team that was about to be bumped from first place after a 10-day stay at the top and had lost its slugging first baseman, Carlos Pena, to a fractured finger earlier in the day.

It was, Maddon insisted, strictly an effort to point out Crisp’s wrongdoing in a forceful way.

“There’s right and there’s wrong, and that was wrong,” Maddon said. “It was very simple to me. I don’t see it as being very complicated.”

Oh, and the Rays did lose, 5-1, to drop a half-game behind the Sox in the AL East. Tomorrow’s pregame conversations should be somewhat compelling.