Joe Maddon Honors Tommy Tutone with Batting Order, Rays Lose Again

Of all the songs that are about trying to sleep with someone whose phone number you got from a wall in a public restroom, Tommy Tutone's "867-5309/Jenny" is probably the most memorable. The memorable set of digits is lodged firmly in pop culture and will keep Tommy Tutone safely on rotation at "classic hits"-format radio stations until there are no more "classic hits"-format radio stations.

Unrelated to a 32-year-old song, the Tampa Bay Rays are mired in their worst season in quite a while. After outsmarting a lot of teams for a long time and winning a lot of games while spending very little money, the team has regressed to the mean this season. Hard. They're dragging ass in the AL East, 9.5 games out of first, 12 games under .500. They've got a -39 run differential, good for 7th worst in MLB, and there are rumblings that they're finally going to trade David Price. Things are looking grim at The Trop.

Joe Maddon is a bit of a merry prankster. He wears glasses. He seems like a dude who'd be fun to hang out with and by all accounts, his players love him. His analytical approach to the game and ability to get dudes to go HAM for him day after day has lead to a great deal of success for him and the Rays. Five-game winning-streaks aside, when you're 38-49, sometimes you need to shake things up a little to give your team a spark. Or you can make a Tommy Tutone joke with your batting order.

Last night, before facing Max Scherzer and the Detroit Tigers, Maddon announced his batting order on Twitter.

Going with Tommy Tutone lineup today: 8-6-7-5-3-0-9.

— Joe Maddon (@RaysJoeMaddon) July 3, 2014

This was quickly corroborated by the Rays' Twitter account which also alleviated any concerns that the team would be playing the day's game without a pitcher, catcher, or second baseman.

Jenny, @RaysJoeMaddon's got your number. Tonight's #Rays batting order (by position) starts 867-5309: pic.twitter.com/m87PirbvKM

— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) July 3, 2014

The gambit was ultimately fruitless, with Scherzer retiring 23 of the last 24 batters he faced and the Tigers winning comfortably, 8-1. The Rays are now halfway to 100 losses and have three more games this weekend in Detroit.

In Maddon's defense, that is so many RTs.