The Rays Tank: Delayed Game and Delayed Apology?

If the Rays and Royals played four innings but it was called off due to inclimate weather and is to be restarted at a later date, then Elliot Johnson’s RBI never happened….right? Right.

Yesterday’s game was delayed for two hours and twenty minutes before finally being called off. During the weather delay, there was rain, sleet and snow. I mean really, that sounds like perfect weather for baseball…so much better than the 72 degrees at Tropicana Field where the occasional delays we have to worry about are when baseballs break the glass on the catwalk lights. But seriously, I’m glad that our lineup of injury-prone hamstrings wasn’t sent back out to continue playing on those field conditions.

After the game was called, Joe Maddon told reporters, "It was really an ill-conceived idea from the beginning. It didn't look very good from Jump Street. I respect what the umpires did. I thought [crew chief] Teddy Barrett handled it really well, calling it when he did," per MLB.com.

"He told me they lost the field. That was the phrase he used, and I think he was absolutely correct. They did the best they possibly could, but it's not going to get any better, and I think they did the right thing, because it's not just about playing five or four and a half innings. It's about playing nine. And if you don't think you can then I think it's the appropriate thing to do."

David Price, Jeremy Hellickson and Matt Moore were all fined $1000 each after violating MLB’s social media policy with their tweets about the Tom Hallion incident. Tom Hallion was also fined $1000 for his reaction to the event where he called David Price a liar. Per Marc Topkin, the Rays pitcher’s salaries for this season are Price $10.1125 million, Moore $1 million and Hellickson $503,000.

Price was very upset at the fines, telling Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, "As many times as MLB asks us to tweet stuff for them, I find it kind of funny. It's fine. I'll remember this next time they ask me to do something. I don't feel like we were in the wrong; we were mistreated."

Price told reporters, "I didn't want any money to come out of [Hallion’s] pockets, I didn't want him to get fired or fined or suspended or anything like that. I just wanted what I thought was fair to me and the rest of this team, and that was an apology." Currently, Hallion has not issued an apology to Price or the Rays.

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Links for the day:

-Here’s an excellent read from Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports exploring Matt Moore’s friendship with David Price, and how Moore will soon assume Price’s leadership position within the Rays’ starting rotation.

-It appears Clay Bucholz’s hair goop has now found its way onto his arms. During the Rays/Red Sox game on April 14^th, one of our readers pointed out that Bucholz’s hair was exceptionally greasy throughout the whole game. Now, former Ray and current analyst, Dirk Hayhurst, is accusing Bucholz of doctoring the ball during his most recent start. Bucholz is denying these allegations.

-Julio Borbon does not have cat-like reflexes. Check out his "ouch, I got ‘hit’ by a pitch" dance which did not fool the umpire. Someone needs to take acting lessons from Derek Jeter!

-USA Today has created some pretty cool "Dream-GIFs" in which you can watch the matchups of Yu Darvish-Babe Ruth, Nolan Ryan-Albert Pujols, and Bob Gibson-Bryce Harper.

-MLB just announced an "Umps Care" auction with some pretty cool experiences up for bidding. Some teams are offering "Lunch with an Ump". Not surprisingly, the Rays are not one of those teams! But you can bid for on-field batting practice passes at the Trop.

-The Rangers had a bark in the park night and yep, someone let the dog out. During pre-game ceremonies one of the dogs in attendance escaped from its owner and began running around on the infield. Lucky dog. Perhaps this is why the Trop makes the dogs sit in the TBT Party Deck.

-Some fans claim to be "married to the game" of baseball which means ‘til death do us part, right? Well, those fans can now be buried or cremated in an MLB coffin/urn!