Tampa Bay Rays news and links: Brad Boxberger hurt again

So the Rays lost again, and even worse, that new, deeper bullpen that they were going to have? Not so much.

Brad Boxberger has a left oblique strain and will miss one to two months, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.

Also in Topkin's notes, there's a tidbit at the bottom especially for DRaysBay community member Landlord:

Cash went to an extreme to try to snap the team's skid, wearing his jersey in the dugout rather than his usual pullover.

At least the Rays have one thing going for them:

Links:

- Also from Topkin, both Chris Archer and Kevin Cash had some pretty sever words for the Rays, saying that they need to emulate the "heart" and "relentlessness" of the Kansas City Royals.

- And from Bill Chastain of MLB.com, Evan Longoria was frustrated with his and the team's defensive play (12 errors in the past nine games).

- Chastain has some good quotes from Curt Casali, who homered in the Rays loss, and who thinks he's figuring things out at the plate.

"I just thought I was guessing too much at the plate," Casali said. "I was just trying to do way too much. I was trying to get back to what I was doing last year."

Casali always speaks well, and seems like a thoughtful guy. If this whole playing baseball thing doesn't work out, he's someone I wouldn't be surprised to see go the manager route.

- Jason Collette analyzed Drew Smyly's struggles. He notes that Smyly's cutter has gotten worse over the past few starts and that Smyly has shelved the changeup entirely and thrown more fastballs. I'm really not totally sure what that means is going on, and it may partly be some change in both cutter and changeup movement being misread by Brooks, but Collette is right--there is something off.

- Behind the pay wall, but Ben Badler has a good preview of the upcoming international signing period. Which is something the Rays can't really take part in this year. :)