Advertisement

Rays journal: Gomez down on drug tests; Miller talks about shiner

 
Published May 30, 2018|Updated May 30, 2018

OAKLAND — OF Carlos Gomez wants to make clear he isn't mad.

And that he has nothing to hide, willing to be drug tested however often.

But the 12-year-veteran feels very strongly that Major League Baseball needs to come clean and stop claiming players are chosen to be tested randomly.

"Hey, I won the lottery again,'' Gomez shared as soon as the Rays clubhouse opened to the media Tuesday, noting it was the sixth or seventh time he had been tested in the first nine weeks of the season.

"It's not random. They pick names. Tell the truth. Tell the truth to the baseball world,'' Gomez said. "You're going to tell me this is random? It's not 1930 anymore. People know.

"You can come any time; I'm available to do a drug test. But don't tell people it's random. That's the only complaint that I have. …

"I have plenty of pee and plenty of blood. But don't say that's random, because it's not. So, tell the truth. It doesn't cost nothing.''

Gomez first shared his concern that older and/or Hispanic players are targeted on a Yahoo Sports podcast two weeks ago, and sought out a Tampa Bay Times reporter Tuesday to further his point about a process that is "not right.''

"I'm not mad,'' he said. "I'm not upset. I just want the right answer. Why can't they tell us this is not random. Why is that complicated? I'm going to continue to say this is not random until they show us (differently).''

If he was a hockey player …

1B Brad Miller was back in the lineup Tuesday, the day after a scary batting cage accident that left him with an intense black eye that he said didn't hurt anywhere near as bad as it looked, despite some heavy bleeding and swelling. "I really don't feel a thing,'' Miller said. "I was lucky. It hit me right in the eye, no stitches, no nothing.'' Miller did note seeing Kendrys Morales have a similar incident a couple years ago, where a ball he hit rebounded off the screen in front of the pitcher, and broke his nose. … Miller was the recruiting host at Clemson for Oakland's Tuesday starter, RHP Daniel Gossett.

Draft breeze

Rays officials provided an update Tuesday on preparations for next week's draft, when the No. 16 selection is the first of a potential haul, with three of the top 32, five of 71 and seven of 120. Amateur scouting director Rob Metzler joked that they best they can say is they know they'll get one of their top 16 choices, but senior VP Chaim Bloom said that's really all they know at this point. "I think in every draft room there's always going to be some speculation and some hunches, 'What if it fell this way?' or 'What if it fell that way?' " Bloom said. "But the best feeling going into the draft is knowing that you're as prepared as you can be for any situation that comes your way. … The most we can do to reduce the anxiety is to make sure we're prepared for anything that we can think of — and that means not speculating too much."

Stat of the day

23 Consecutive innings pitched without allowing a run by Rays pitchers until the A's got an unearned one in the third inning Tuesday, four shy of the team record set in 2013. They had also posted 24 zeroes three times.

Number of the day

2,470 Days between saves for LHP Jonny Venters, whose last before Monday was Aug. 20, 2011, for Atlanta. In between, 469 other pitchers logged saves. On May 15, Venters got his first win since Aug. 17, 2012, with 2,096 days in between.

Miscellany

• C.J. Cron, Joey Wendle and Wilson Ramos all homered in the third inning Tuesday, the fourth time in franchise history for back-to-back-to-back homers, first since 2016.

• Manager Kevin Cash said going into Tuesday's game that RHP Ryne Stanek was "penciled in" as Thursday's game opener, with LHP Ryan Yarbrough slated to work behind him.

• The Rays have to make room on the 25- and 40-man rosters to reinstate RHP Nathan Eovaldi from the 60-day DL for tonight's start. Eovaldi will be the 11th starter this season.

• It may have been the fatigue of playing 13 innings, but Stanek didn't get the customary beer shower after earning his first career win Monday. He did get a game ball and the lineup card.

• Monday's shutout was the Rays' first of the season, leaving the Blue Jays as the only team without one.