Rays David Price knocks himself out of game with improper toweling

Looking somewhat embarrassed, David Price admitted that he knocked himself out of Thursday's game against Detroit by over-toweling.

“I was sitting in the dugout wiping myself dry. I pulled the towel forward and it caught the back of my neck. I felt a little pop and there were some spasms,” Price said. “It’s the third time I’ve done that in my career. I don’t think it will impact my schedule and hopefully it will be all-right with a little rest and good night’s sleep.”

Price was scheduled to pitch three innings, but the towel incident that happened in the dugout between the second and third innings prevented him from going out to throw the third.

Rays manager Joe Maddon doesn't remember ever having a player knocked out of a game because of an unruly towel and couldn't resist having some fun with this incident, which might be labeled TowelGate Part III staring David Price.

"Lets have him stop toweling himself down or maybe we need some toweling practice," Maddon said. "David might need better technique when it comes to toweling. He has been doing it for 20 something years now, but apparently doesn't have it down yet.

"John Wooden used to have a thing where he would teach his players how to put their socks on to avoid players losing time because of blisters. Now, I am concerned we will have players lose time because of improper toweling. Maybe first day next year we will bring out the towel. We will never throw in the towel, but we might bring it out."

Other Maddon noteworthy comments: "I loved the way we ran to first base today. We ran hard and put a lot of pressure on their defense and that is one of concepts that we want to achieve on a daily basis."

Maddon said shortstop Sean Rodriguez suffered an index sprain on his finger in the Rays game at Fort Myers against the Twins. He said injured Luke Scott will remain out a little while longer, Sam Fuld would play Saturday and Evan Longoria would take batting practice. He has lefty Matt Moore scheduled to pitch on Tuesday.

The best thing about Price?

"There should be no setback for him because of this, but we've got to improve his toweling technique," Maddon said.

In his two innings of work, Price allowed three hits, walked one and struck out one throwing 38 pitches (24 strikes).

"It was the best I felt all spring, strength wise and body wise," Price said before he was done in my his towel.