Rays 3, Blue Jays 1
Record: 33-19
Attendance: 5,786 A new low, maybe? An all-time low? In fact, according to Marc Topkin in the Tampa Bay Times, this was indeed the lowest Rays attendance of all time, that would be 22 years. He commented that "there is no excuse for the embarrassment of Tuesday, with the lowest crowd in franchise history." The newspaper for May 30, carried this unbowed quote from team president Brian Auld: "We appreciate the support of our fans, and we believe that St. Petersburg, Tampa, and the entire Tampa Bay region will rally around this exciting and compelling Rays team."
But almost as though he were answering Auld, one Hal Batey of St. Petersburg wrote this to the editor of the same May 30 edition of the Times: "The Tampa Bay Rays have a great fan base. But competing with beaches ins't going to work. I'd much rather go to the local watering hole, pay three bucks for a beer and watch the game there. The fan experience at Tropicana Field involves paid parking, walking, searches, lines, and ridiculously priced everything at a venue that doesn't take cash anymore." This is a fan base or sorts, but it isn't going to keep the team in the Tampa area.
Note too that going to a low attendance game is better than going to a game with transplants who root against the Rays. This is a good team that may have a very serious upside come October, which means either that the crowds will finally catch up to the team they have, or they will continue to ignore the team and guarantee that the franchise will end up in Portland, Montreal, Las Vegas, or elsewhere. Blame the transplants who are too stubborn to embrace their new local team. It's their fault that we (and they) are likely going to lose major league baseball. Then the transplants will be totally stuck. They deserve it.
The game itself was a routine Rays victory, with single runs in the first and third plus one more in the eighth. Two of them came on homers. Austin Meadows, who played right field after two in a row as DH, went 2 for 4, including one of the homers, which puts him at 7 for his last 11 at bats, three homers, and seven RBIs. He's up to 12 homers on the year--and he was on the IL for three weeks. It's hard to imagine a hotter hitter in baseball. The other "homer" was hit by Avisail Garcia, a routine fly ball to short right field that was so completely misplayed by Randal Grichuk that it bounced the length of a double wide behind him rolling all the way to the wall. Garcia, who is so much faster than anyone thought, circled the bases and slid home for an inside-the-park dinger.
Pitching was the story once again as the Rays gave up only six hits all night and would have had a shutout if Diego Castillo could have gotten out of the ninth unscored on. Ryne Stanek opened for two innings, Ryan Yarbrough was the bulker who went three and two-thirds for the win (4-1), and then came Roe, Pagan, and finally Castillo for the slightly sloppy save.
Two roster items. First, two-way guy Brendon McKay made his triple A debut at Durham, after his promotion from double A Montgomery, and worked five scoreless innings. It is not out of the question at this point that he may have an impact on the major league team this summer. The lefthander continues to pitch every sixth day and DH three other days a week, according to the Times, which also reports that Mike Zunino is rehabbing his quad strain at single A Charlotte, where he went 3 for 3 with two walks yesterday. When Zunino returns, it will be interesting to see how the Rays manage the four catchers they currently are supporting. Travis d'Arnaud may have sticking power.
At 33-19, the Rays are 14 games over .500. Up tonight is Blake Snell (3-4), who is pitching better than his record and may be poised to make a big-time impact on the rest of the season.
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