Tonight, the Rays come home. Finally. The Rays last played at Tropicana Field on the 23rd of September, a full two weeks ago. Since the last time the gang spent the night in their respective home beds, they’ve played in five cities in two countries, and they’ve won six games and lost four.
But this time going home means more than just the comfort of a warm bed or a home cooked meal. It means shedding distractions. And over the last two games, the two key Rays have had their mental composure shook by the beatings in Boston.
While I already covered the Fenway Faithful’s Game 1 ode to Wil Myers, a much more experienced Rays player lost his cool after Game 2. After leaving one too many pitches up in the strike zone and give up a gaggle of runs, David Price could have done what other pitchers through the years have done. He could have:
- Destroyed a Gatorade cooler with a bat a la former Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano
- Punched a cooler like White Sox pitcher Chris Sale
- Beat up old school Powerade coolers with a bat a la former Dodger Carlos Perez
- Tossed his glove and cursed cameramen like former Mariners hurler Tim Belcher
- Thrown a ball into the stands like former Rays pitcher Chad Qualls
- Or fired a ball into the press box like current teammate Fernando Rodney once did
But Price is too 21st century for that type of outburst. Instead he took to Twitter and ripped TBS analysts Dirk Hayhurst (another former teammate, by the way) and Tom Verducci in a tweet. Regardless of the content, and Price’s opinions of Hayhurst’s career or Verducci’s athletic ability, this isn’t the first time Price has taken to twitter to express his frustration. Little can we forget in late 2010 when Price tweeted about Rays fans, saying their attendance, or lack thereof, was “embarrassing”.
Of course, Price “apologized” for his most recent outburst as he did the 2010 comments, with a sad, cliched “if I offended anyone, then I am sorry” statement. But the distraction lives on, looming over a series that already has the Rays needing to play do-or-die baseball for the next three games.
Thankfully, the Rays are at home for the next two games, where the sold-out crowd at Tropicana Field will be behind them, doing their best to will them to win. And thankfully for David Price, he probably won’t be pitching in Boston again anytime soon. Red Sox fans might try to get under his skin with a “Nerds, Nerds, Nerds” chant.