Evan made some serious waves on MLB Twitter earlier in the season, when he questioned how the Rays and their band of journeyman and never-heard-ofs were off to such a historic start to the season.
Since then, Tampa has come back down to earth, even losing their hold on first place in the AL East, and Evan says it's time he gets his due praise.
"I think this is the right time for me to take a bow," Evan said (around the 37:30 mark of the clip above) before Tampa's series opener with the Yankees. "As you may recall, I had a very strong opinion about the Tampa Bay Rays, right after they beat the Yankees two out of three in Tampa…the Rays improved their record to 28-7. I, very innocently, questioned everything they accomplished. I brought up, as a baseball fan, that there were a lot of things going on that just didn't make sense. Guy who aren't good were great, and it didn't correlate.
"Many in the media jumped to conclusions that I was accusing them of something specific, when I was merely asking a question. I was wondering aloud. Since that day…35-37! I think that's under .500."
Evan says he never directly suggested that his curiosity about the Rays fast start was connected to a suspicion of cheating, but his doubts became a rallying cry in the Tampa locker room. Since then, the Rays have looked much more human, and Evan simply wants to know where all of his critics went.
"I never said anything about cheating. The Tampa Bay Ray players, who I have respect for, made T-shirts about my comments, but it wasn't about cheating. It was about how they're just journeyman. And here's what's funny: I was right," Evan said. "Hey Luke Raley, where are those t-shirts now there, big boy?
"You're not in first place anymore. What happened? What happened to the big, bad Rays? What happened to all you tough guys down there?"
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