All Things Bubba

According to Haunted Baseball, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays are cursed. Some blame their Satanic name, but the authors think a more likely source of supernatural woe is the fact that the Trop is built on an old cemetery. Three of them, in fact.

It sounds pretty corny. They didn't believe it at first. There are similar rumors about almost every stadium: that it was built on an old graveyard, or a Native American burial ground, and is therefore haunted. It's almost never true. But in this case, research backed up the rumors. Tropicana Field was built over three former African-American cemeteries. The remains were supposed to be removed, but not all of them were. Every once in awhile, there are unpleasant surprises unearthed when excavation is done in the neighborhood.

Perhaps the most astounding thing was when they were building the parking lot, and a reporter asked a city official about the possibility of human remains being there. The city official said it would be okay; they weren't digging very deep, since it was only a parking lot. (!!!)

Anyways, the book gives Josh Hamilton a brief mention. Part of the curse is supposedly that few of their prospects work out, and Hamilton's drug and injury problems are listed as part of the evidence.

If so, maybe getting away from Tampa Bay is the cure for him. Though he's been a little cursed this week. The other day, he got an error when he charged a ground ball and somehow missed it. And he gave away a three-run homer, when a ball bounced out of his glove and over the wall. Then yesterday, he had plenty of time to set up under a flyball, but missed it. It wasn't really his fault; the ball just changed course in midair. Weird topspin? A swirl of wind? Or the curse?

The Yankees were also a little cursed yesterday. But I wasn't surprised. It's the bleepin' Halos. To make things worse, the game went to extra innings, which means it ended about 2am.

The Yankees lost on a walkoff single by the Angels' rookie catcher. It was only his second big league hit ever. The play reminded many of the collision between Bubba and Sheff in 2005.

I didn't think it was that similar. The ball did drop into the no-man's land between CF and RF, but there was no collision. Neither Melky nor Abreu could get to it. Perhaps they were a little distracted, fearing a collision. (Hah. Bubba would probably have gotten to it. He's faster than Melky, and fearless. Not quite Ryan Freel fearless, but up there.)

And the Sox won, so the Yanks are once again five games back.

Labels: books, obake