The Rays and Royals played a 1 hour and 53 minute game last night?

That's shorter than most Meat Loaf songs!

The Rays have an employee who has a bomb fetish

Per the St. Petersburg Times, a Tampa Bay Rays employee was arrested before Wednesday's game with the Red Sox for planting a fake bomb at Tropicana Field.

Wonderful!

38 year old William Jordan is a mechanic with the team and apparently planted a box taped to a shelf with wires sticking out which emitted a beeping sound. (Geez this guy is easily amused) The device was found in a cabinet near Gate 2 in an area closed to the public.

Of course, the police and bomb squad were called. Once they arrived, Mr. Jordan confessed that he planted this fake bomb apparently laughing hysterically and I guess saying something like, "It was me. This is what I do for kicks. You can all go now. Hey, what are you doing with those handcuffs?! I didn't hurt nobody! Hey, what are you doing?!"

He has been charged with planting a hoax device. As to Mr. Jordan's present employment status, Rays vice president Rick Vaughn would only say, "This will be handled internally."

The article then goes on to give Mr. Jordan's home address. Man, that is brutal.

Who does this post-911? Sorry but this is like a Homer Simpson-level of dimness on display here.

For fun, you make a fake bomb complete with beeping sounds and plant it in your place of employment which just so happens to be a 40,000 seat stadium where there is a game scheduled in a few hours. All the while I am guessing probably watching the festivities while hiding in a closet with the door ajar.

He couldn't get his kicks by spraying shaving cream in the head of the mascot costume or putting crazy glue on the toilet seats in the clubhouse or something?

I thought thousands of years of Darwinism weeded out people like this.

I for one am starting to have my doubts about this "evolution" thing. There is just too much of this stuff going on.

St. Petersburg is a tough place to play? Really?

Per the AP story on yesterday's Red Sox/Rays game, this from Boston manager, Terry Francona: "This is a tough, tough place."

Really? It is tough to play in St. Petersburg? Is it?

I note that the announced crowd last night was 20,823. As to how many were actually in the seats, who knows. I did catch a portion of the game the night before between these two teams and it is safe to say that attendance was sparse with a very healthy number of Red Sox fans in the crowd. It just did not strike me as a very intimidating place to play for the Red Sox. Maybe they don't clean the visitors clubhouse or just keep generic cola in the Coke machine, I don't know.

Those catwalks above the field are kind of weird but they shouldn't intimidate anybody as long as they are bolted firmly in place. I do see that the their fans waive around cowbells there but I don't think a professional ballplayer would much be bothered by that. Tampa does have a pretty decent team but not the type that would make you shake in your boots so I don't know if it is that either.

So what is it that makes St. Petersburg this unique house of horrors for Terry Francona? I don't get it.

Maybe he doesn't get out much.

He should go over to Europe and wear the visitors colors at a game in one of those dilapidated soccer stadiums. He might find that tougher than St. Petersburg.

Better yet, he should go play the White Sox at their place when the shirtless guys are there and charging the field. They are out of jail now, you know.

I bet then he wouldn't think that St. Petersburg is so bad.

Why ya wanna look like someone else?

In an effort to keep his team loose, Rays manager, Joe Madden has dyed his hair from white to black.

Per AP: "I felt we were way too uptight around here. More than anything, we have not been really relishing in victory and I think we've been like too painful in defeat. We've just got to go out there and play. Understand, it's a game. We got to the World Series last year by being kind of free-spirited about the whole thing. The black hair is symbolic of all those different items."

In theory, I have no problem with this. Whatever it takes.*

In practice in this instance, I don't know why anybody would want to do anything to make themselves look like Tom Arnold.

Just sayin.

*He should just let it grow out instead of dying it back later or washing it out. That "half and half" look, while trashy, is gonna look really cool.