SAN DIEGO — With only seconds remaining before first pitch of Game 3 of the American League Championship series, Brett Phillips stalked the Rays’ dugout, urgently tapping players on the shoulder. The slick-fielding, light-hitting outfielder had been left off the roster in favor of an extra pitcher, and he had taken this to mean he was being promoted to coach. Now, as game time neared, he pulled his pupils aside one by one to share an important tidbit scrawled across a piece of paper on his clipboard:
[A drawing of a pair of eyes] [a drawing of a baseball]
[A drawing of a bat] [a drawing of a baseball]
See ball, hit ball.