Tampa Bay Rays News & Links: I Think We Could All Use a Break

It was not a great week to be a Rays fan, as the club could only manage a split in a four game series in Texas against the Rangers, and then dropped two of three at home to the White Sox. Though they are still solidly in wild card position, they slipped into third place in the division, eight games behind the Yankees and half a game behind the red hot Blue Jays. They will try to get back on track on Tuesday when they host the Cardinals for a three game series, before heading off to Minnesota for a three game set against the Fighting Roccos.

On to the Links!

Sure it was a tough week. But at least we aren’t the Biloxi Shuckers.

You can only hope to be as cool as Luis Guillorme.

Justin Choi on Jeffrey Springs.

Is the end of the stadium saga in sight?

Former Ray Nathaniel Lowe took exception with Jeffrey Springs pitching him up and in.

Old man says something cringe. Film at 11.

Cheers to Kaat for reaching out, and to Nestor for being gracious.

Baseball America’s Top 100 update is out. Six Rays make the cut:

Shane Baz - 6 (up from 7)

Taj Bradley - 46 (up from 48)

Josh Lowe - 54 (down from 44)

Vidal Brujan - 64 (down from 54)

Curtis Mead - 72 (up from 87)

Carson Williams - 91 (previously unranked)

This whole exchange is amazing.

Most of the time those exchanges are fun, but this one is just embarrassing.

The Phillies fired Joe Girardi, and honestly, the big winner here is probably Joe Girardi.

Marika Lyszczyk, who broke the grass ceiling by being the first woman to catch in NCAA baseball when she suited up for D3 Rivier University, is transferring to D2 Sonoma State, where she will pitch.

We’ve all been here, Jessica.

This is a great piece from the Athletic on Cuban big leaguers and the next World Baseball Classic.

The first rule for when you are honoring or celebrating people is, make sure they are the story and not you. For Pride Night, which the Rays have handled wonderfully on several occasions, that did not happen.

TMZ and CNN also picked up the story.

Cyd Zeigler from our sister site Outsports on why this is a huge unforced error by Rays management, saying that it would have been better to wear no rainbow gear (like most MLB teams on their Pride Night) than to do it half way.

You may recall that a few weeks ago, the Rays devoted a tweet session and some loose change to raise awareness about gun violence. Apparently this did not go down well with Governor Ron DeSantis, who vetoed $35 million from the budget earmarked for a new Spring Training site in Pasco County. And if you needed confirmation of why this wasn’t about whether or not the government should give taxpayer dollars to bazillionaires, consider:

(Also, Jason Garcia is a great follow about money in Florida politics.)

Okay we definitely need a palate cleanser. How about a triple play?

If you’re scoring at home, I think that’s 8-6-2-4-5-6.

Tristan Gray, and Ripken the Bat Dog.

Note: Due to the sensitive nature of some of the news and links today and the new moderating software, a few of your innocuous replies might get flagged for moderation before posting. It is my intent to check frequently and get all appropriate comments posted as soon as possible, because I believe these are important conversations. But I do ask for your patience.

Go Rays!