Jose Lobaton was a hero once again on Sunday afternoon, walking it off for the Rays for the second time this weekend. The Rays defeated the Blue Jays 2-1 and Gareth’s recap explained exactly how close yesterday’s game was.ith a Lobaton walk-off, that could only mean one thing…ICE CREAM! I can only imagine how messy the post-game flight to Baltimore was after seeing these tweets.
I told our clubhouse manager Chris Westmoreland to have a vat of ice cream on the plane for Lobaton. He earned it.
— Joe Maddon (@RaysJoeMaddon) August 18, 2013
Look what @RaysJoeMaddon just give to me OMG I need to eat this before it melts pic.twitter.com/zLUkZxHRYe
— Jose Lobaton (@JLobaton21) August 18, 2013
Per the Rays post-game notes, Jose Lobaton talked to reporters about the difference between his walk-off triple and walk-off homerun,
"It’s different. Walk-off triple, it was amazing. Walk-off homer, you run the bases like that and you know that you won the game, it was unbelievable. Something that you want to do all the time…You want to feel that every day. Hopefully this is not the last one."
He also discussed how much ice cream he got after the win, saying "I got today, I don’t know, like 10 ice creams…(Price) gave me like four, Matt Joyce gave me like five. And then while I was doing the interviews I had like 10 in my hands. I was like, ‘ah, I can’t eat it right now.’"
Lobaton wound up throwing most of the ice cream bars to the fans left in the stands after his interview with Todd Kalas.
Courtesy of Steve Carney, 620 WDAE, here’s Dave Wills’ call of Lobaton’s walk-off homerun. "It’s ice cream time!"
Our own Steve Kinsella was on hand to hear Lobaton discuss his at-bat.
After not winning a single game on their last road trip, the Rays returned home and took four of six games from the Mariners and Blue Jays. With a Red Sox loss last night, the Rays are now one game behind once again for the AL East lead. Tampa Bay still has one fewer loss than Boston, as well. The Red Sox will now travel west for series against the Giants and the Dodgers.
The Rays will now head to Baltimore for a three game series in which we will see David Price, Alex Cobb and Jeremy Hellickson take the mound.
According to Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times, Matt Moore made 55 throws from 75 feet yesterday, and will continue to play catch every day until his return. Despite Moore saying everything felt great, there is still no timetable set for a possible return yet.
Desmond Jennings isn’t the only Rays player rehabbing in Port Charlotte this weekend. According to a tweet from Alexander Colome, he will also be joining the Stone Crabs on a rehab stint.
Activo - rehabbing in Port Charlotte and hoping to be back soon #Tampa
— Alex Colome (@AlexanderColome) August 18, 2013
Links:
-We’ve all heard of GTMI, but do you know what RBO is?
-Roger Mooney of the Tampa Bay Times talked with Joe Maddon about Wil Myersin the DH role.
-The Diamondbacks recently granted the wish of a six year old diehard fan who just wanted to be a DBacks player. Grab some tissues before watching!
-Baseballs are significantly smaller and lighter than bowling balls, but that didn’t stop this Australian second baseman from picking up a 7-10 split with two baseballs.
-The ‘Field of Dreams’ will soon be home to an independent minor league team.
-Two of my favorite columns on FanGraphs, the wildest pitches of the week and the worst swings of the week.
-Kirk Gibson sounded off on Ryan Braun’s PED usage. Braun is also being sued by a longtime friend for defamation.
-There was a brawl in the Florida State League this weekend, as recapped by Steve Carney of 620 WDAE.
All of this ice cream talk....
I just finished Ice cream heeeeee hahahhahahahajah pic.twitter.com/fBXGl4PBKG