Archive for April 25th, 2008

Apr 25

[MEANINGFUL GAMES] Rays Open What Could Be Most Important Series In Their Short History

Uncategorized Cork Gaines 13 Comments »

Joe Maddon will try to convince us that this weekend’s series with the Red Sox is no more or less important than any other series. But for Rays fans and more importantly, for the rest of the baseball universe, this series is very important. In fact, we feel a case can be made that this is the most important series that the Rays have ever played.

For the first time in the history of the franchise, big things were expected from the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays. Many looked at the stable of young talent and the sudden willingness to infuse veteran leadership and saw a team that was finally ready to step forward. While the playoffs may still be a pipe dream, .500 seemed reasonable and with a few lucky breaks, the Rays sans Devil could be playing meaningful games in August and September.

After starting the season 3-1, the Rays proceeded to be decimated by injuries and dropped 10 of their next 15. All of the sudden the luster of the Spring was gone and people looked and thought “Rays being the Rays”…or should it be “Rays being the Devil Rays”?

And then came the Jays in Orlando and three wins later the Rays now sit 11-11, 3 games behind the Red Sox in the East and only 2.5 games back in the wild card.

If the Rays could win 2 or 3 games in this series, they can establish themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the 2008 season. All of the sudden people outside of the Bay Area will look in our direction and see a team that is for real. Baseball people and baseball fans will take notice and see the Rays hanging with the giants and they will see a team that has done this without their #1 pitcher. But maybe most importantly, the Red Sox, Yankees, O’s and Jays will take notice, and for the first time they will not see a stepping stone to the playoffs.

On the other hand, if the Rays lose 2, or worse, get swept at home…once again, people will look and see the Tampa Bay Devil Rays of old and will feel justified in having written the Rays off in March.

Papa Joe Maddon will try to be the voice of reason and the face of calm and cool. But make no mistake, this is a very important series for the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays and a huge series for the franchise and their place in the baseball universe.

Apr 25

[MATT SILVERMAN] The Devil Still Has His Offices In St. Pete

David Chalk, Vince Naimoli Cork Gaines 3 Comments »

Every once and a while we like to stroke our ego and take a look at who is logging in to this here small corner of the blogosphere. Most of the time we get little more than a city and a state. Occasionally we get the name of the business where somebody works.

But we noticed something yesterday that had slipped past our peripheral vision in the past…


It is not unusual for computers from the Tampa Bay Rays offices to log on to our website. But we did not realize that the IP addresses for Rays computers are still working under the team’s old moniker, “Tampa Bay Devil Rays”.

So Mr. Silverman…who gets the fine for this atrocious oversight? The ISP? You? The team’s IT office? Us *gulp*? And how is that fine calculated? To us it looks like somebody owes $7 for yesterday alone. That bill is going to add up quickly if this blight on society is not rectified soon.

This whole situation eerily reminds us of the time when most Rays fans had thought Vince Naimoli was exorcised from the Rays, when it turned out he was still very much in the picture.

Let’s call this a small victory for David Chalk and everybody else that loathed the loss of the Devil in Tampa Bay.

One Blogger Is Fined For Using Moniker “Devil Rays” [Rays Index]
The Impending Return Of Vince Naimoli [Rays Index]
Fighting For The Devil & The Soul Of Bugs & Cranks [Bugs & Cranks]

Apr 25

[THE HANGOVER] Rays Climb Out Of Cellar

BJ Upton, Delmon Young, Evan Longoria, Josh Hamilton, Justin Ruggiano, Matt Garza, Matt Silverman, Mike DiFelice, Ron Gardenhire Cork Gaines 14 Comments »


THE GOOD: A rare sac bunt from the Rays as Aki Iwamura moved Dioner Navarro to third base in the 3rd inning. Navi would score the Rays first run on a Carl Crawford ground out. How rare? That was the Rays second sac bunt this year. AL teams are averaging 5 sac bunts so far this season…The Rays drew 7 walks…With the bases loaded in the 5th, Rays down 3-2, Evan Longoria sac fly tied the game and then a would-be 4-6-3 double play ended with every body safe on two bad throws. BJ Upton scored and Dioner Navarro followed with one of his standard soft line drives for the third run of the inning…Willing to bet we will be able to count on one hand, how many times Gary Glover shows up under “Good”. With Dan Wheeler unavailable, Glover came on in the 7th with 1 out and a man on 2nd. He got the next 2 batters to end the 7th and retired the first 2 batters of the 8th before giving way to Trever Miller...Troy Percival pitched the third straight game and made things interesting but was able to get through the 9th for his 4th save. Percy’s velocity appeared to be back, hitting 92 several times, after only being in the upper-80s 2 nights ago.

THE BAD: The Rays struck out 5 times in the first 2 innings…1st run scored without a hard hit. Infield single off of Andy Sonnanstine’s glove/perfect hit-n-run/bloop to center…2nd run was the direct result of another Dioner Navarro brainfart. For the second time this series, Navi inexplicably left home plate with a runner on third and without calling time. Second time this season that the Rays forgot to call time and a runner advanced…In the 4th inning with 1 out and the score tied, Eric Hinske, was thrown out trying to steal second (definitely not a missed hit-and-run). That was bad but what made it worse is that Joe Magrane thought it was a good idea because it “keeps the pressure on”. Huh-wha? We could be mistaken here, but by being thrown out, that took the pressure off of the Jays. Just sayin’…Later on Dwayne Staats, during a conversation about Dan Wheeler and Troy Percival being unavailable, notes that “there are some good arms out there…Dohmann, Glover”. Really? Five pitchers in the bullpen and the best two names he could think of were Scott Dohmann and Gary Glover? We’re not saying Goose Gossage is out there, but geez…Shawn Bleepin’ Camp owed us and he had the perfect chance to pay up last night, coming on with runner on 3rd and for some strange reason, he did not allow the inherited runner to score, after allowing about 742 inherited runners to score last year.

THE TELLING: The Rays are 6-0 all-time in Orlando…The 3-game winning streak is the longest this season and the longest since the second week of September last season…In 2007, the Rays won 3 in a row, three times, and won 4 in a row twice. They did not have a winning streak longer than 4…The Rays have not been .500 this late in a season since 2004 when they were 42-42.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

  • Mike DiFelice cleared waivers and will rejoin the Durham Bulls. [The Heater]
  • Justin Ruggiano was demoted to Durham to make room for Matt Garza who will make the start tonight. [MLB]
  • Matt Silverman said the Orlando series was a success, specifically noting that there were a lot more Rays fans in the stands this year. [Tampa Tribune]
  • Still, this year’s 3-game set drew 119 fewer fans than the series last year and none of the games sold out. The Orlando Sentinel cites a number of reasons that attendance may have been down and Matt Silverman would not commit to another Orlando series in 2009. [Orlando Sentinel]
  • We love this story…Having spent a few years in the midwest, we have a number of friends that are Twins fans. We warned them about Delmon Young. There were the obvious warnings about not standing within 50 feet of Young if he is holding a bat. But there were also the warnings that Young is not the best “team player” ever born and warnings that changing his free-swinging style would not be easy. Those Twins fans and a number of Twins fans on the internet shouted the same company-line. The Twins play baseball the right way…Just being around the rest of the guys will make Delmon want to change…He is going to be a perrenial MVP candidate…Well, we are now almost a month into the season and Young is hitting .262/.287/.321 with ZERO home runs and a 14-to-3 strikeout to walk ratio…And now Twins fans are starting to get antsy and blaming Ron Gardenhire for not only allowing the free-swinging, but encouraging it. [Fire Gardy]
  • One website has BJ Upton third in the MVP race in the early going. Disturbing is that they have Josh Hamilton second…Also, Evan Longoria is third in the Rookie-of-the-Year race. [Roto Advice]
  • There are few places we are not willing to go on this site. You need not worry though. David Chalk picks up the slack. Of course by linking to it, we could be accused of being “enablers”. We are OK with that. [Bugs & Cranks]
  • Troy Percival is now 11th on the all-time saves list, only 2 away from the top 10. [MLB]
  • Gabe Gross talks about making the transition to his new team. [MLB]
Apr 25

[DOWN ON THE FARM] Ruggiano Joins Medlock, DiFelice Back In Durham

Calvin Medlock, Desmond Jennings, Justin Ruggiano, Matt Spring, Mike DiFelice, Rhyne Hughes, Scott Kazmir Cork Gaines No Comments »

Durham: Off

Montgomery 5, Birmingham 4. Jake McGee improved to 2-1 after holding Birmingham to 3 runs in 6 innings. He struck out 5 and walked 2. He did give up a solo home run in the 3rd…Erold Andrus and Sergio Pedroza had 2 hits apiece. Andrus added his 8th double and Pedroza drove in 2.

Palm Beach 3, Vero Beach 0. Matt Walker dropped to 0-3 after allowing 3 runs in 4.1 innings…The offense didn’t help matters, as the D-Rays managed only 2 hits, a Garret Groce single in the 4th and a Chase Fontaine triple in the 9th.

Charleston 5, Columbus 3. Brian Flores got his first start in place of Jeremy Hall. He worked 3 innings and gave up 1 run on 4 hits…Henry Wrigley hit his second home run of the season a solo shot…The Catfish managed only 3 other hits, all singles.

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

  • Scott Kazmir’s next rehab start will come on Monday for the Durham Bulls. [Our Sports Central]
  • Rays of Light takes a look at Desmond Jennings. [Rays of Light]
  • Calvin Medlock and Mike DiFelice both cleared waivers and will be assigned to Durham. [Rays Report]
  • Justin Ruggiano will be joining them, as he was demoted to make room for Matt Garza at the major league level. [MLB]
  • Rhyne Hughes will have a CAT scan today after missing his 10th straight game after receiving a concussion as a result of a collision with Matt Spring. [Montgomery Advertiser]