The Rays Tank: The Rosin Controversy

The internet was full of speculation yesterday about whether or not Jon Lester had an illegal substance on his glove during game one of the World Series. As we all know, Boston went on to win that game 8-1.

Riley Unroe, the Rays’ 2013 second-round draft pick, took to his Twitter to voice his opinion on the matter. "@riley_unroe: If I'm hitting against Lester last night I would be livid that he had a substance in his glove to get a better grip on the ball" Unroe wrote.

He also stated, "I don't care what team player whatever is doing it. It's baseball and it shouldn't be blown over like this. And if he needs rosin then there is a bag one step behind him. Thought it wasn't allowed to have substances in the glove, hat, belt, ect."

St. Louis Cardinals’ Minor Leaguer, Tyler Melling, thought that Lester may have been using Vaseline on his glove, as highlighted in this New York Daily News article, which also shows a Vine of Lester rubbing the spot in question on his glove.

Never fear, Jon Lester was quick to speak up yesterday and announce that it was only rosin on his glove!Lester told MLB.com reporters, "The rosin bag's back there for a reason, and I just so happen to put it in my glove."

The Cardinals took game two in Fenway last night, defeating the Red Sox 4-2 after a three-run rally in the seventh inning. Game three will be played in St. Louis on Saturday, so enjoy another day without baseball today!

Links:

-Bud Selig discusses instant replay and praises the umpires for overturning a controversial call in game one of the World Series.

-Craig Calcaterra of NBC’s Hardball Talk examined the Kozma play and noted, "the correct call was made, but the entire process took a long, long time. We had the call, one manager arguing, the conference of umps, then the other manager arguing. Ultimately, it led to a delay in play of several minutes."

-Also from Hardball Talk, Clay Buchholz is suffering from arm fatigue, but it still in line to start game four for the Red Sox.

-The Marlins promise not to lose 100 games next year. (But they probably had their fingers crossed)

-Over in the Not Graphs section on FanGraphs, Zach Reynolds wrote a humorous piece on justifying your hatred for the Red Sox and Cardinals.

-Danny continued with part three of his "Gauging Interest in David Price" series, this time featuring the Pirates and Angels.