“That team's very beatable and we know we can beat them. We’ll be here all year.” - Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Taylor Walls throws shade at the New York Yankees with some big trash talk
It's easier when they're dealing with a boatload of injuries, but Taylor Walls of the Tampa Bay Rays thinks the New York Yankees are "beatable."
After mashing a go-ahead solo shot in the bottom of the fifth, Walls was feeling pretty good. The Rays were up 2-1 on the league-best New York Yankees, and the home crowd was loving it. Cheers were raining down louder than they usually do at Tropicana Field. A couple Rays beat reporters approached Walls to ask him about the home run.
Taylor Walls - Tampa Bay Rays (2)
https://t.co/Q0S5Hl8sOX
"Taylor Walls - Tampa Bay Rays (2)" - @MLB HR Videos
Walls' response was as cocky as they come.
Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Taylor Walls throws shade at the New York Yankees with some big trash talk
Walls didn't even wait for the seventh-inning stretch, let alone the postgame press conference, to give reporters something to write about. Beat writer Tricia Whitaker was the first writer to tweet about Walls' trash talk.
“This team is beatable. We’ll be here all year.”
- Taylor Walls on the Yankees
Walls hits a HR in the bottom of the 5th to give the Rays the lead.
“'This team is beatable. We’ll be here all year.' - Taylor Walls on the Yankees Walls hits a HR in the bottom of the 5th to give the Rays the lead." - @ Tricia Whitaker
For context, the Rays are going for the weekend series victory this afternoon against the Yankees. They lost the first game Friday night by a score of 0-2, but rebounded yesterday with a 3-1 victory. At the time of writing, the Rays are up 2-1 in the seventh inning. If the game ended now, Walls' home run would count as the winning run.
But there's more. Whitaker didn't tweet out all of Walls' smack talk. Ironically, a Yankees reporter did. Bryan Hoch tweeted out his version of the quote, and it's slightly different from Whitaker's.
He did. Here's the Taylor Walls quote:
"That team's very beatable, and we know we can beat them. We're here. We're going to be here all year. There's (18) more games. We're going to be here." twitter.com/HoodieArod/sta…
"He did. Here's the Taylor Walls quote: 'That team's very beatable, and we know we can beat them. We're here. We're going to be here all year. There's (18) more games. We're going to be here.'" - @Bryan Hoch
In Hoch's version, Walls elaborated a bit and drove home his intent: The Rays aren't going away, and they won't give the Yankees an easy run. Reporters will be asking Yankees players what they think of the quote after the game. There should be some interesting reactions.