Tampa Bay Rays news and links: Rays offense igniting in Toronto

All this offense sure is fun. It's not exactly something Rays fans are accustomed to, but I certainly could get used to this. 25 runs, 15 extra base hits, LoMo's first 2 RBIs, and also this:

First time #Rays had back to back games of 17 or more hits since April 12-13, 2009

— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) May 18, 2016

The game last night also featured the 1st major league HR of Taylor Motter. Motter came into the game as a pinch hitter for Brad Miller, who was a HR shy of the Cycle.

#Rays Motter said something to Miller about being homer short of cycle, said Miller told him to finish it off for him. And he did.

— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) May 18, 2016

Links:

- Marc Topkin is reporting the Rays have pushed back Matt Moore's next start.

- Janson Hanselman at the Process Report dives into the Exit Velocity leaderboards, both for Rays batters as well as for Rays pitchers.

- While on the subject of Exit Velocity, check out this Baseball Prospectus feature about the need for refinement in those numbers in the form of Adjusted Exit Velocity.

- Suspensions were handed down for those involved in the brawl between Texas and Toronto, notably Rougned Odor getting 8 games, Jose Bautista 1 game, and Blue Jays manager John Gibbons receiving a 3 game suspension.

- So, this hasn't been what one would call a "good" season for the Atlanta Braves. Manager Fredi Gonzalez was fired yesterday, because (among other things) he somehow couldn't make a lineup with Erick Aybar, A.J. Pierzynski, and Jeff Francoeur into a competitive team.

- Stacey Gotsulias on Beyond the Boxscore profiles the absolute worst of the worst players to start the 2016 season(spoiler alert: no LoMo or DJ).

- Kyle Sammin at Hardball Times breaks down which teams are actually overdue for a World Series win.