Rays Split with Yankees – Yankees Suck T-shirt Not allowed at the Trop?

The Yankees broke their six game losing streak with a solid performance by rookie Ivan Nova and offensive help from Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada. James Shields took the loss after dishing  up eight hits and wasting a nine strikeout performance.

The Rays are now 11-13 at home and for some reason can’t seem to shake their offensive woes when playing under the dome.  With the exception of Monday’s game that saw two home runs in the fifth inning providing the offense for a scintillating 6-5 win, the Rays offense continues to sputter at Tropicana Field.

The Rays have played 24 games at home, scoring only 69 runs for an average of 2.88 runs per game while hitting at a measly .227 clip. On the road they’ve been beastly in comparison, scoring 111 runs in18 games for an average of 6.2 per game, while the bats have hit at a robust .272.

The Rays averaged 26,074 per game in attendance for the twin bill, which wasn’t bad considering how tough things have been at home.  I know the local economy has a lot to do with the attendance figures, but listening to Steve Duemig on local sports radio The Sports Animal, maybe there is  more to it than poor offensive numbers?

Duemig, dubbed “Big Dog” because his show is by far the best sports talk in the Tampa Bay area, had a caller on the line last night who was told by Rays security that he had to take off his “Yankees Suck” tshirt or leave the stadium.

Really? Seriously? Maybe the Tampa execs need to come out and listen to the foul language and commentary spewing from the mouths of Yankee fans, who could care less if there are small children present.  While I applaud the Rays management for the handling of the team in general, they should be handing out Yankees Suck and Red Sox Suck tshirts to the fans for FREE when those teams come to town instead of telling a season ticket holder who spends in excess of $30,000 a year to remove his shirt.

From what I gathered from Duemig’s conversation this won’t be the end of the story.  The person who called in is both a personal friend of Steve’s and a lawyer, so expect some fireworks.  If anyone has more information on this please contact me through the blog. I’d like to have a conversation with the season ticket holder and get some reaction from the team.

He did say that there is something in the handbook they give to attendees that consider any shirt with the word “suck” as offensive.  I think they need to get more cowbells ringing and be less concerned that some drunk Yankee fan is going to take exception to a shirt that sells all over the internet.  The Yankees have plenty of detractors, and a tshirt that says “Yankees Suck” is by far one of the least offensive things I have seen or heard at a Rays game.