- Kevin Tall
- Stock photo
Every once in a while, a fan has nothing to bitch about. Their team did everything right and just got outplayed.
Tampa Bay Rays fans found themselves in such a situation Tuesday night, as their team lost to the Detroit Tigers 7-6.
The Rays hit the ball well.
It just wasn’t their night.
Apologism aside, this really was a Tigers win more than a Rays loss.
The Rays’ floundering offense faced Justin Verlander on the hill for Detroit. The next Disturbed album is expected to have more hits than the prospective performance from Tampa Bay bats.
They tuned him up for six runs on nine hits.
Cross that one off your to-do list.
So what would happen when Matt Joyce—leading the majors in hitting with a .357 average—faced off against Verlander, who leads led the majors with a .178 average against?
The first time around it took a brilliant snag by Detroit left fielder Andy Dirks to rob Joyce of what looked like a two-base hit. Seriously, it was a catch worthy of a Sam Fuld reference.
The second time around?
Too bad for Verlander the fans in right field aren’t on Detroit’s active roster.
Joyce took a pitch well out of the strike zone deep to give the Rays a 3-1 edge, a hot commodity in what was shaping up to be a close game.
This article appears in May 19-25, 2011.