Rays' Ben Zobrist stared down by opossum on field at O.Co Coliseum

Tampa Bay Rays left-fielder Ben Zobrist was accosted Monday night at O.Co Coliseum when an opossum wandered down the third base line, stared him down and caused

Tampa Bay Rays left-fielder Ben Zobrist was accosted Monday night at O.Co Coliseum when an opossum wandered down the third base line, stared him down and caused all sorts of havoc. Tuesday, Zobrist expressed his feelings regarding the incident to the Tampa Bay Times' Marc Topkin, who then passed along Zobrist's comments to the San Francisco Chronicle's Susan Slusser.

Zobrist boasted to Topkin he "was the discoverer of the opossum." It gets better from there:

It looked like a rat going along the side. I was like, ‘Oh geez, there’s this rat walking along the side of the wall. I hope they don’t hit a ball down there.’

Then in the 10th, [Alberto] Callaspo hit a foul ball over there and I stopped when I saw it was going foul and going over to their bullpen. I was like three feet from the line and I noticed something out of the corner of my eye and it was literally right there, and it looked straight at me in the eyes. Then it started coming towards me and I was just kind of looking to see what this thing was going to do.

It is unclear whether the opossum was apprehended or formally charged in any for misconduct. It was last seen "going past the bullpen and right past the security guard to wherever its home was. It was kind of awkward."

The opossum is still at large, although Zobrist said the beast is believed to live in fair territory.

Below are photos of the incident from Monday's game, as tweeted by fan @Oaklandishchick.  

@TheZobrists made a new friend at @OdotCoCOLISEUM at the #Rays-#Athletics game tonight. pic.twitter.com/JJyXOvIwRn

— Oaklandish Chick (@oaklandishchick) August 5, 2014

- Will Green