Topkin: Joe Maddon doesn’t believe umpires have it in for David Price

So it is D.J. Reyburn and not Rayburn…

If you want to believe in a conspiracy, that the diverse umpiring crews throughout MLB have somehow banded together to doom Price, the difference could be just a few borderline pitches a game going against him.

Rays manager Joe Maddon said that though he knows the umpires compare notes, he does not think they are working against Price.

“Honestly, I haven’t seen anything different,” Maddon said. “Of course they talk. That’s undeniable. They’ll be the first ones to tell you that, too. I know they have shared conference calls, and there’s a lot of things they do in an attempt to make themselves better.”

But not to conspire against a certain pitcher.

“I think it’s hard to do that with today’s technology to do the old-school thing where you’re really going to stick it to somebody because there’s too many checks and balances out there now compared to 10 years ago, 15 years ago where it was a lot easier for maybe a group to try to teach somebody a lesson,” Maddon said. “It’s much more difficult to do that in today’s game.”