Williams Hit for Five Games for Brawling

Tampa Bay outfielder Gerald Williams was suspended for five games and fined $2,000 for last week’s fights against the Boston Red Sox, and four teammates were suspended for three games apiece.

Williams was penalized Tuesday for “charging the mound, inciting a bench clearing incident and returning to the dugout following an ejection,” according to the commissioner’s office.

Pitchers Dave Eiland, Tony Fiore and Cory Lidle were suspended for three games each and fined for “intentionally throwing at batters after a warning had been issued,” and Devil Ray Manager Larry Rothschild was suspended for three games and fined for “failing to preempt his players’ wrongful conduct and for making inappropriate comments during and after the game.”

“The person that precipitated the event walks away,” Rothschild said of Pedro Martinez, who hit Williams to touch off the incidents. “I don’t know if that is a good precedent.”

The players’ association appealed the penalties imposed on Williams and Fiore.

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Houston Astro third baseman Ken Caminiti, the 1996 NL most valuable player, left the team to undergo evaluation for chemical dependency, a source close to Caminiti said. Further details were not available.

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New York Yankee outfielder Bernie Williams will likely be out at least four games because of recurring soreness in his ribs.

The news was brighter for second baseman Chuck Knoblauch (elbow tendinitis) and reliever Ramiro Mendoza (shoulder tendinitis). Both could return soon after being sidelined for more than a month.

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With 25 games left in an injury-plagued season, Colorado Rocky outfielder Larry Walker has agreed to have season-ending arthroscopic surgery Thursday or Friday to remove a bone spur and other debris from his right elbow. . . . Cincinnati Red shortstop Barry Larkin will have surgery Friday to clean out his left knee and most likely is out for the season. . . . The Chicago White Sox, awaiting the results of a bone scan on Cal Eldred’s troublesome right elbow, said the right-hander is unlikely to return this season. . . . Montreal Expo reliever Ugueth Urbina was acquitted of assaulting a man during a fight at a nightclub. . . . Umpires will get raises of 10.2% to 14.9% this year under their new five-year contract, boosting the minimum salary this season to $104,704 and the maximum to $324,545.