Mar 18
It’s Tuesday so it is time to update the Tampa Bay Rays Power Rankings. These rankings are a combination of overall importance to the team and a general “who’s hot and who’s not”, mixed with how we currently feel about and perceive each member of the team. It is by far, the least scientific thing we do on this site…
Mar 18
We are going to keep doing this until we run out of ideas so bear with us. This week’s comes from the suggestion box (Thanks Tommy) as we wonder if Josh Paul is hoping Karma will help him win the backup catcher’s job…
Josh Paul and………………..Earl Hickey
Mar 18
Are we the only ones that find it just a little suspicious that the Tampa Bay Rays first off-day during spring training came on St. Patrick’s Day?
It is a spring training tradition for teams to wear green caps (including the Mariners, Tigers, Pirates, Dodgers) or jerseys (including Phillies, Twins) on the holiest of days. Even a couple of basketball teams have gotten in on the fun (including the Knicks, Bulls, Raptors). [Green hat tip to UniWatch for the images]
So it seems a little bit like a conspiracy worthy of Oliver Stone, that the one team in baseball that just recycled their green caps and jerseys in favor of two shades of blue, would have the day off and thus be spared from having to decide whether or not to don green caps or jerseys.
In fact, we could probably see this coming last year. In spring training, the Rays, who were already rumored to be losing the green, actually made professional sports history, becoming the first team to wear less green on St. Patrick’s Day. It’s true. They played their St. Paddy’s day spring training game with white caps.
Maybe the team chose to avoid all of the obvious jokes, but we aren’t believing for a second that this was just a “quirk in the scheduling”.
There was one possible solution…Is two weeks in the new colors too soon for a “Turn Back The Clock” Day?
Mar 18
Tampa Bay Rays (13 days until Opening Day)
Yesterday: Tampa Bay Rays. DNP
DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…
- Apparently Elijah Dukes was crying inside…”I can communicate now without feeling like I’m afraid to say the wrong thing,” Dukes said. “These guys here, they’re willing to listen here…In the past, I don’t have people [who wanted] to hear. They hear what they want to hear.“….Ahhhh. It makes so much more sense now. When he threatened to kill his wife and kids and the time he impregnated a minor and the other times he impregnated 36 different women…Those were all cries for help. Classic case. Why didn’t we see it before. [Rays Report]
- SI.com has put together a photo gallery of the top 20 young pitchers in baseball. The list includes both Scott Kazmir and Matt Garza. [SI.com]
- One website takes a look at each of the 20 pitchers in the above gallery and comments on their pitching mechanics. [ChrisOLeary.com]
- Rays of Light see the Angels and Rays as a good fit to make a trade. [Rays of Light]
- DRays Bay throws out the name Todd Linden who is likely to be released by the A’s, as a cheap alternative for a fourth outfielder. [DRays Bay]
- The Serious Tip has constructed a list of items they will be watching during the season, including the Rays attendance at the Trop. We mentioned yesterday that the Rays set an attendance record for the spring. We have to believe that this a sign of things to come as it was the Tigers (not a big rivalry, although some in the comments section mentioned a large turnout of Tiggers fans) and it came in the middle of the spring (not opening day). As long as the Rays hover near or above the .500 mark, we should see a spike in attendance this season. That may seem obvious, but there have been plenty of people that have speculated that baseball can’t work in the Tampa Bay area. We have always argued (as have others) that the fans will come if you give them something to believe in. [The Serious Tip]
- But then Carter Gaddis has to go and piss in our Wheaties…The Rays overall attendance is actually down from 2007. [Tampa Tribune]
The Rays, playing their final season in St. Petersburg before moving to Charlotte County in 2009, have averaged 4,708 fans this year, a 4.7-percent drop from 2007 (4,940).
- Outs Per Swing takes a look at what the Scott Kazmir setback means for the rotation the first couple of weeks during the season. [Outs Per Swing]
- On Yankees blogger takes a sarcastic look at the Rays spring training success. [It Is High, It Is Far,It Is...Caught]
- Even small newspapers in Arizona are taking shots at the Yankees over recent events. “Ah, New York. If this incident had happened to any major league baseball team other than the Yankees, would anybody be talking about it?”…Good point. Of course, this is Elliot Johnson’s hometown paper. [Eastern Arizona Courier]
