The Rays Tank: Luke Scott As The Gift That Keeps Giving

Who knows how Luke Scott will perform for the Rays this season, but one thing is already for certain: the man is a God-given gift for bloggers. The muttonchops are spectacular, but even more than that, I couldn't stop laughing at some of his quotes out of Bill Chastain's most recent column:

[On Red Sox fans] "The fans come in and they take over the city. They're ruthless. They're vulgar. They cause trouble. They talk about your family. Swear at you. Who likes that? When people do that, it just gives you more incentive to beat them. Then when things like [the last game of last season] happen, you celebrate even more. You go to St. Louis -- classiest fans in the game. You do well, there's no vulgarity. You know what? You don't wish them bad."

Aaaaand the clincher:

[After Game 162] "I got to see a priceless thing driving back to my apartment," Scott said. "I see all the Boston fans walking around, and I mean they were crying crocodile tears. People were like this, walking side by side."

Scott wrapped his arm around a reporter's waist and began to wail to demonstrate.

"It was like someone shot their dog. I rolled down the window and I'm like, 'Ah, hah, sucks doesn't it, when someone laughs or makes fun of you when things aren't going your way.'"

Not gonna lie, I could not stop laughing when I first read that. If we can't turn this into some quality memes over the course of the season, we've failed. This is pure Internet gold.

In other news, there are plenty of links to pass along from yesterday, so let's dive in:

• Anyone speak Portugeuse out there? Rays Prospects has unearthed a video that suggests the Rays Academy in Brazil has been nixed by the city, but it's difficult to say exactly why. This is disappointing news, as the Rays have been hoping to be the first to break into Brazil, but at least it was a relatively small investment.
• Catcher pitch blocking ratings have been added to FanGraphs, so now catcher defense includes both A) stolen base runs and B) pitch blocking runs. Pitch framing hasn't been incorporated, but hey, this is still a huge step. Jose Molina rates as just below average defensively (minus the pitch framing bit), but he's still no worse than John Jaso or Kelly Shoppach.
• So the second wild card proposal is a go, and will be implemented in 2012. I'm a fan of the proposal; it doesn't solve every problem, but it gives the Rays, Blue Jays, and O's a bit more of a shot in the AL East.
• Joel Peralta sounds like someone that really enjoys being a part of the Rays' organization. And Matt Joyce admits he was affected by a shoulder injury last season, and he's aiming to be more consistent this year.
• If you want to watch Stu Sternberg's comments the other day, Rays Digest has multiple videos of him speaking.
• Henceforth, Mike Stanton shall be known as Giancarlo Stanton. Seriously. This is for real.