* After a handful of games, the pattern is already a familiar at Tampa Bay Rays’ games at the Trop. If it’s not opening night, a notably cool, bobble-head (Wil Myers) giveaway or a weekend series with the Yankees, attendance remains a challenge.
* How weird was that Friday night win over the New York Yankees–and not just because the Rays finally scored a lot (11) of runs. Yankees reliever César Cabral had a score line that hadn’t been matched in 100 years. In just 23 pitches, Cabral managed to give up three hits, yield three runs and hit three batters without recording an out in the eighth inning.
Cabral was ejected from the game by home plate umpire Joe West after hitting Evan Longoria, James Loney and Logan Forsythe. West was afraid Cabral would hurt–not just hit–one of the Rays and retaliation could jeopardize some Yankee players. West did the right thing.
Yankee manager Joe Girardi, however, was not pleased with West’s ejection of Cabral. He didn’t like having to further deplete his bullpen. Too bad. Joe Maddon is too classy to say it, but it should have been Girardi’s job–not West’s–to remove a player who was becoming, for whatever reason, a danger to those around him.