The Death of Randy Land - Reds 3, Rays 2

In the early hours of what would be yet another Randy Land feature at Tropicana Field, the Rays traded the face of the franchise, robbing him the opportunity to take the field and enjoy the lime light one last time.

It was then surreal when the broadcast noticed that Randy and his family were seated in the left field stands in the fourth inning.

I shared my thoughts succinctly on X, and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to watch this game, too emotional and too upset to face this particular Rays broadcast with the moment still raw on my heart and in my mind.

To that point, two runs had scored, with Jose Siri picking up an RBI with a fielder’s choice and Caballero adding another with one through the left side and a quality bat spike into the dirt in celebration.

In the top of the fourth Yandy made an impressive diving stop and got the runner advancing to second base.

Then the cameras found Randy.

After that you could have found me at the beach, with two of my best friends, playing catch. Once I’d exhausted enough frustration, I donned my Randy Land shirt and went to get wings. Then we went back to the beach and smoked some cigars. When I got home I couldn’t even check the score.

Turns out the Rays lost yet another good start from Shane Baz, who had seven sterling strikeouts against the decent Reds side. The game went into extras, and the guy they game Kevin Kiermaier’s number to gave up the winning run to the Reds in the tenth.

Kiermaier, another face of the franchise, announced this is his final season. He’s one of six players in franchise history to appear across eight seasons with Tampa Bay, an impressive feat.

Also represented on that list are Carl Crawford, BJ Upton, Ben Zobrist, Evan Longoria, and Chris Archer.

Not joining that list, evidently , will be Randy Arozarena.