The Rays Tank: Bobby Valentine Has A Meltdown

Instead of focusing on the Rays' frustrating loss last night -- I swear, EJ, that's the last straw -- I want to talk about something a little bit...happier. Yesterday afternoon, Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine appeared on a radio show and lashed out at the host. I haven't listened to the clip, but from reading the quotes and seeing the reactions around the interwebs, he came off as, "belligerent, fatalistic and miserable."

In case you somehow missed this story, be sure to check out the link above for some of the highlights. Valentine threatened to punch the host (to be fair, in a joking manner) and had a complete meltdown on the air, which is either a very poor sign of his mental state right now or else is a deliberate ploy on his part to get fired ASAP. Either way, the Red Sox really need to step in and fire the poor guy already; this isn't going to end well for anyone involved at this rate. Anyone want to start taking Over/Unders?

To add a bit of a humorous twist to this story, Valentine referenced Joe Maddon a couple times during his meltdown, mentioning how Maddon always shows up at the park around 4pm for night games (and also somewhat implying that this was late or lazy). Those comments led to Maddon being awesome:

Apologies to the writers for being late to today's pregame session. My pedicure appointment ran a little late.

— Joe Maddon (@RaysJoeMaddon) September 5, 2012

They also made a couple snide jokes about timeliness during the Rays broadcast last night. I really hope this turns into a recurring meme...

• Sean Rodriguez has divulged the name of the player that pissed him off so much he punched a wall and broke his hand: Dane De La Rosa. While neither party will say anything else about the incident, there are apparently still some lingering tensions and De La Rosa hopes to talk with Maddon about it.
• Jeff Niemann received some good news today: his shoulder doesn't require surgery! It turns out he's just suffering from some mild shoulder inflammation, and could even return by the end of the season depending on how his arm recovers.
• Why did Maddon construct his lineup in such an odd way for Tuesday's game against Freddy Garcia? Tommy Rancel investigates.