This Week in Sun Sports: Shadows and Dust Edition

Welcome back to This Week in Sun Sports, kids. As always, we'll be looking at the oddities of the Rays broadcasts from this past week. Anything from the announcing, to a crazy video segment, to the fans in the stands. If it's on Sun Sports, we see it. Because--like Pigman in PCU--we're always watching.

This "week" covers Monday, May 21st - Sunday, June 3rd. If you missed last week's, you can find it here.

"Better late than pregnant," that's what my mother used to say. Well, thanks to Memorial Day and the Draft, we're a bit behind on "This Week in Sun Sports," but on the bright side, we're practically bursting with content. We're covering two weeks worth of games here, so let's get started.

Monday, May 21st

We begin this week in the top of the first inning with a look at the Rays lineup card and a special friend.

That's the ZimBear hoping to give the lineup a little extra luck. Apparently Don Zimmer wasn't able to be at the ballpark for the game, but he was there in spirit (bear form). Dewayne Staats claimed Zim was doing well after his brief hospital stay, so that's good. I'm just glad this was a "happy hanging." We all remember the last time a beloved Rays figure was strung up in the dugout, don't we? From August, 25th 2011:

Woof.

Gladiators, some keen observations, and the Dark Side of the Moon... after the jump...

In honor of the GFFP, we move back in time to two minutes and 58 seconds before gametime:

This is Matt Joyce teaching the newly acquired Drew Sutton the important things about being a big leaguer: the celebratory hand... pats? Shakes? What do you call this? Looks like 'Patty Cake' to me. With all these injuries, I suppose it's important to keep up these rituals. How did these injuries occur? Well, Behind the 'frigerator / there was a piece of glass / Longo fell upon it / And broke his big fat...

Ask me no more questions / Tell me no more lies / the Rays are in the dugout / zipping up their... Flies are in the meadow / the Rays in Fenway Park / and since they play the Red Sawks / we'll be here way past after D-A-R-K D-A-R-K dark dark dark!

OK, I'm done. Kinda fun though. Like a banana, I can see the appeal.

In the bottom of the second, we caught a glimpse of Maximus Decimus Meridius:

OK, maybe not Russell Crowe, but still damn scary. I know we've all thought this, but I'm gonna say it anyway: Is there anyway this could be a legal batting helmet?

If one Gladiator is awesome, then two is nice at thrice the price. The next half inning:

Yes, there were two in the first shot as well, but whatever. That's Fernando Rodney on the left and Joel Peralta on the right. Apparently, these masks belong to Luke Scott and Carlos Pena, but Rodney and Peralta decided to have a bit of early-inning fun before lumbering down to the 'pen. So, to recap: Before the bottom of the second inning, we've seen a hanging bear totem, a game of 'patty cake,' and two relievers patrolling the dugout in gladiator masks. There are certain teams that abstain from facial hair or beer and chicken, but here is a first place team at the pinnacle of the sport, treating the game for what it is, a game. After all, we are but shadows and dust.

I'm a fan of it, but apparently the Rays laissez faire nature offends Jose Bautista:

At the end of the inning, Jose Bautista proves that, while he has been one of the most dominant hitters in baseball for 2+ seasons, he is no Bo Jackson. Hellickson clearly gets in Bautista's dome. Remember a similar clip from April 19th?

That's two thus far, Shooter. Here's to the trifecta!

Finally, before we finish out this game, it should be noted that there was an issue with the commercials during the game. Apparently, this was an issue with many (if not all) the Fox RSNs. Dewayne, BA, and TK had to keep up that banter we love so much throughout the intended commercial breaks. Nothing crazy happened, but it was a good job in an unusual situation nonetheless. /shoutout

Monday, May 28th

What, we're already on next Monday? Get with the times, Peggy Sue, we've got two weeks to cover.

H/T to pudieron89, JoshFreemanHasAPosse, and Rjw123 for catching this next act of food violence in the bottom of the second inning:

In the spirit of Memorial Day, it looks like Michael Bay took over the Sun Sports directorial reins. Probably came in there all, "It's going to be fricking AMAZING! Explosions everywhere. You can taste the fire in the air. Transformers in left field! Nic Cage in right! A giant, anthropomorphic eagle that throws 177.6 MPH will pitch! Lo, it will be the greatest spectacle the world has ever seen! Explosions!"

Then Stu Sternberg was all like, "You can have a foul ball hit some popcorn, that's it. If it hits the hot dogs, I'll straight murder you. Those things are expensive."

Tuesday, May 29th

HUGE R/A to DRB commenter Hatfield for this next tip: In the bottom of the second inning, Hideki Matsui came to the plate and this graphic appeared:

Then, Brian Anderson gave us some amazing insight into his stroke:

Avid video watcher. This guy's constantly pouring over video looking for ways to do it better. He's got a spare minute, he's watching video.

I'm not going to go into great detail here. If you get it, you get it. Therein lies the rub. If you don't, I suggest you go to Google and get it on. If I said anymore, I'd be a jerk. Off-topic, is James Shields sleeping?

Wednesday, May 30th

In the bottom of the third, DRB commenter downtownres caught a glimpse of the dark side of the moon:

If you play this clip backwards, you can see what this pants-down ass-clown had for breakfast: eggs, milk, and bread.

Saturday, June 2nd

In the bottom of the first, Luke Scott was spotted in the stands wearing, not a Gladiator helmet, but an entirely different kind of helmet, altogether.

An entirely different kind of helmet.

An entirely different kind of Luke Scott, too.

Here's another clip for our ongoing segment, "AHHHHHH.... BALL!" In the top of the second (h/t Paul Ellis):

Can you see the lady in the pink completely lose her mind? No? Click here to see it zoomed in.

Anyhoo, that's it for This Week in Sun Sports! Thanks again to everyone who sent stuff in this week. If you see something during the game that would fit "This Week in Sun Sports," please help us out and tag it (#TWSS) in the GDT or email a description or screencap (including inning and outs) to ThisWeekInSS@gmail.com. See you next week!