Tuesday, April 16. Game 17: Bad bathroom joke, Snell breaks toe

Rays  4,  Orioles  2

Record:   13-4


Attendance:  9,842.   Pathetic.  Tampa-St. Pete just doesn't have a baseball culture.  They'll only show up in numbers to root for the other team.  These "fans" don't deserve the Rays.

Here's how Eduardo A. Encina put it in the Tampa Bay Times the next morning:  "Let's put all the excuses aside.  We all can agree that Tuesday's announced crowd of 9,842 is thoroughly embarrassing in support of a team with baseball's best record that was playing its first home game in two weeks after a 7-2 road trip."  Amen to that brother.

There are all sorts of better things to report on the game, however.  The Rays managed four runs on six hits, the big blow coming from Avisail Garcia, who hit a two-run homer with two out in the fourth.  He had three RBIs on the night and his average is up to .327.  On the mound was Tyler Glasnow who won his fourth game of the year without a loss, even though he gave up single runs in the first and third innings, only struck out three on the night (eight less than his last outing), and had to grind out a victory for the first time this year.  Alvarado and Castillo wrapped it up in the 8th and 9th for a hold and a save.

The big news of the night had nothing to do with the game:  Blake Snell went on the Injury List after suffering a freak injury--in his bathroom.  Somehow he managed to fracture a toe and is now facing an unknown recovery time, although the official line (with fingers crossed) is that he may miss only one start.  He was replaced on the roster by reliever Emilio Pagan, who just missed the opening day roster and was fine tuning his talents and picking up speed on his fast ball in Durham.

The toe mishap was the result of Snell trying to move a decorative granite stand (no pictures of the offending stand have been published).  It had two pieces, one of which fell heavily onto Snell's fourth toe on his right foot.  The upside is that we are about to see Mgr. Cash go into his magic bag of baseball tricks.  I'm thinking this will be fun.  Stay tuned for the good news.  And keep those fingers crossed.  Toes too if you can.

Tommy Pham, btw, extended his consecutive game on-base streak to 48.

And Joey Wendle's hamstring seems a thing of the past at this point.  He is eyeing a return to action from the IL on Saturday, a roster change that will bench someone every day.  It's hard to imagine the Rays will be any better than they already are by tinkering with the very successful roster they've been playing with.  But Mgr. Cash has been a magician so far, so let's see what he comes up with.