ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Fans and sports analysts were enraged Thursday as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, with no reasonable chance of making the playoffs, stubbornly refused to concede to the New York Yankees at Tropicana Field.

Ungentlemanly player Joe Kennedy spitefully pitches to the best of his ability at Tropicana Field.

After taking the field Thursday, it rapidly grew apparent that the Rays had no intention of conceding the game and in fact were demanding that the Yankees play all nine innings.

Sports commentators were shocked and disgusted.

"The Rays are pretty much out of the running. They have no real shot at the playoffs. When they're faced against the Yankees, a team that's actually looking at a possible playoff berth, why don't the Rays do the right thing and concede?" said baseball sportscaster Dingus "Chick" Beaver during the game Thursday.

The Yankees are 58-36 for the season so far, having a slim lead over their fellow division members the Red Sox, who are 55-39. The Rays, meanwhile, are 32-61.

As the Rays would not concede the game Thursday, both New York fans and Rays fans in attendance began booing and throwing trash onto the field.

"Don't we have a right to play the game?" asked Manager Lou Piniella during a news conference afterward, to the heckling and catcalls of reporters present.

"You know, this team could really take a lesson from Magic: The Gathering," Beaver said after the game. "In Magic: The Gathering, the coverage of which you may have seen on ESPN, if a player is 9-0 in a Nationals and can afford to lose a few matches, and he gets paired against his friends, he does the right thing, you know, lays down, and gives them a few points by chucking in the towel."

Beaver said that if baseball teams would adopt such behavior, it would make for a "better World Series" because the teams "that really deserve it" would get the free wins they have coming to them.

"I mean, sure, in any other sport we would call such behavior 'grotesque collusion; immoral; a slap in the face to the very concepts of fair play and sportsmanship; a mockery of competition that apparently is merely alleged to be professional; unmanly; dirty; and downright fraudulent,' but, um, they don't call it that in Magic and so that's what I'm saying," Beaver said.

"And, you know, in Magic, a player who can't win would do the same thing and concede if he got paired against a player who can," he said.

"The Rays need to get with the program."

Yankees Manager Joe Torre said he doesn't believe Piniella realized the seriousness of his actions.

"He could have cost us a game! Does he understand that?" Torre said. "What if we didn't make the playoffs because the Devil Rays refused to concede? Can you imagine? Another team would have a better record and make the playoffs!"

"What was he, just doing it out of spite?" Torre said.

Baseball has a long, fine tradition of teams conceding or otherwise losing on purpose, said baseball historian Tina Gaffney.

"Did you ever see 'Eight Men Out'?" Gaffney said. "The 'Black Sox'? Now that was the age of gentlemen."

Discuss this article in the Magic: the Gathering Forums!

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Fans and sports analysts were enraged Thursday as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, with no reasonable chance of making the playoffs, stubbornly refused to concede to the New York Yankees at Tropicana Field.

Ungentlemanly player Joe Kennedy spitefully pitches to the best of his ability at Tropicana Field.

After taking the field Thursday, it rapidly grew apparent that the Rays had no intention of conceding the game and in fact were demanding that the Yankees play all nine innings.

Sports commentators were shocked and disgusted.

"The Rays are pretty much out of the running. They have no real shot at the playoffs. When they're faced against the Yankees, a team that's actually looking at a possible playoff berth, why don't the Rays do the right thing and concede?" said baseball sportscaster Dingus "Chick" Beaver during the game Thursday.

The Yankees are 58-36 for the season so far, having a slim lead over their fellow division members the Red Sox, who are 55-39. The Rays, meanwhile, are 32-61.

As the Rays would not concede the game Thursday, both New York fans and Rays fans in attendance began booing and throwing trash onto the field.

"Don't we have a right to play the game?" asked Manager Lou Piniella during a news conference afterward, to the heckling and catcalls of reporters present.

"You know, this team could really take a lesson from Magic: The Gathering," Beaver said after the game. "In Magic: The Gathering, the coverage of which you may have seen on ESPN, if a player is 9-0 in a Nationals and can afford to lose a few matches, and he gets paired against his friends, he does the right thing, you know, lays down, and gives them a few points by chucking in the towel."

Beaver said that if baseball teams would adopt such behavior, it would make for a "better World Series" because the teams "that really deserve it" would get the free wins they have coming to them.

"I mean, sure, in any other sport we would call such behavior 'grotesque collusion; immoral; a slap in the face to the very concepts of fair play and sportsmanship; a mockery of competition that apparently is merely alleged to be professional; unmanly; dirty; and downright fraudulent,' but, um, they don't call it that in Magic and so that's what I'm saying," Beaver said.

"And, you know, in Magic, a player who can't win would do the same thing and concede if he got paired against a player who can," he said.

"The Rays need to get with the program."

Yankees Manager Joe Torre said he doesn't believe Piniella realized the seriousness of his actions.

"He could have cost us a game! Does he understand that?" Torre said. "What if we didn't make the playoffs because the Devil Rays refused to concede? Can you imagine? Another team would have a better record and make the playoffs!"

"What was he, just doing it out of spite?" Torre said.

Baseball has a long, fine tradition of teams conceding or otherwise losing on purpose, said baseball historian Tina Gaffney.

"Did you ever see 'Eight Men Out'?" Gaffney said. "The 'Black Sox'? Now that was the age of gentlemen."

Discuss this article in the Magic: the Gathering Forums!