Okay, so they didn't get that crazy, but the Devil Rays were pretty friggin' thrilled to break their eleven game losing streak. After beating the Kansas City Royals, their primary competition for the worst record in baseball, the Rays looked like a team that just clinched the World Series, cutting loose in the clubhouse with plenty of loud music, high fives and extra special guest, team Vice President Andrew Friedman, who flew in just to see what the christ was going on with this team.
No one was happier than Manager and guy-most-likely-to-have-lost-his-job-if-the-losing-streak-continued Joe Maddon:
"A load is always lifted after you've lost 11 games in a row, " Maddon said, "and to say otherwise would be total denial."
Interestingly, for all his team's woe's, Maddon had been a portrait of calm throughout the 11-game skid. After the Rays dropped their eleventh, he was still finding positives, as he told Marc Lancaster of the Rays Report:
"It's never fun to stay out there and get your brains beat in, but that's what happens in this game sometimes," he said. "We're in one of those moments that is not good and there's no way to get around that. But while we are having this difficult moment, I'm looking to see what we're improving, because this is going to go away and we're going to be fine and then we're going to turn this around. I'm not discouraged, I'm not going to grab any sharp objects and go at my wrists. This will pass."
For now, Maddon's job -- and his wrists -- appear safe.
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