TORONTO -- A day after Boston's Curt Schilling took some verbal shots at Lou Piniella, the Devil Rays' manager responded with a few words of his own for the veteran pitcher.

Schilling blasted Piniella during an interview on a Boston radio station on Tuesday, saying Piniella had forgotten how the game is played after the first of two bench-clearing fracases erupted between the Red Sox and Devil Rays when Lance Carter threw a pitch over the head of David Ortiz on Sunday.

A batter earlier, Carter had thrown a ball behind Manny Ramirez in response to Boston pitcher Bronson Arroyo hitting Aubrey Huff in the sixth inning.

"Forget how the game is played?" Piniella answered back in a prepared statement before Wednesday's game against the Blue Jays. "I have forgotten more baseball than this guy knows. The problem is, Curt has a short memory. He doesn't remember when he was a young pitcher. We have a lot of young pitchers here, and they're trying to learn to pitch at the big-league level."

Six players were ejected after the fracas, including Carter, as well as Piniella and Boston manager Terry Francona.

"I've always admired [Schilling's] pitching ability and competitiveness, but I can honestly tell you I've lost a lot of respect for him," Piniella said. "If I were Curt, I would be really embarrassed at the cheap shot he took and get the story correct."

Schilling went on to say he heard some Devil Rays players were making negative comments on the field about their skipper.

"Lou's trying to make his team be a bunch of tough guys, and the telling sign is when the players on that team are saying, 'This is why we lose 100 games a year, because this idiot makes us do stuff like this,'" Schilling said in the interview.

Piniella held a short team meeting before Wednesday's game to help clear the air, and said that to a man, every player denied making those remarks.

"On the 'idiot' subject, I'm appalled he would actually say something like that," Piniella responded. "He's questioning my character and integrity, and that is wrong."

In the three-game weekend series against the Red Sox, seven batters were plunked, including four Devil Rays.

Piniella said this morning the Red Sox organization told him Schilling was going to call, but that had yet to happen a couple of hours prior to Wednesday's game.

"I'll be happy to pick up the phone and call him if that's what it takes," Piniella said.

No suspensions have been levied against any of the players involved in Sunday's incident.