Tampa Bay Rays News and Links: The One Where Jose Bautista Gets Decked

The Rays lost yesterday in cruddy fashion, but the taste f the defeat was quckly -- sort of -- washed away when an absolute chaotic brawl broke out between the Texas Rangers, and the Rays upcoming opponent, the Toronto Blue Jays resonating from the bizarre game five of the ALDS last year, particularly Jose Bautista's majestic bat flip.

So, on a routine double play ball, Jose Bautista -- not one to obey baseball's new slide rule -- slid hard into second, wiping out Rougned Odor -- who may or may not have tried to drill Bautista with his throw. This resulted in a lot of shoving, a brutal right jab that actually landed cleanly, and Josh Donaldson attempting to William Wallace the situation.

Rays Links:

- The Rays honored Grant Balfour before last night's game, who is pleasantly enjoying his retirement

- Taylor Motter is beyond excited to be in the majors, and will play wherever there's a need

- Baseball America has a write-up on Casey Gillaspie

- Neil Solondz offers up his recap of yesterday's game, with audio from Steve Geltz, Matt Moore, Kevin Cash, and Brandon Guyer

Around the League:

- Looking ahead to this year's free agent class

- A Wikipedia user was quick to update the page on Rougned Odor following his punch heard around the world

- MLB Daily Dish reviews the week that was