Archive for April, 2008

Apr 25

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

David Chalk, Vince Naimoli 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 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 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]
Apr 24

[WORLD B. FRIEDMAN] Andrew Friedman Running Rays Like A Fantasy Baseball Team

Andrew Friedman, Bud Selig 2 Comments »

We have no idea if Andrew Friedman plays fantasy baseball. We have a feeling that Bud Selig might frown upon the idea of team executives logging in every morning to check the rosters of imaginary teams with real players.

Looking at the Rays transaction wire this season, we have to wonder if Friedman is seeking his fantasy-release with the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays. While injuries are to blame for most of the moves, that is still a lot of moves for the first three and a half weeks of the season.


DATE PLAYER DROPPED PLAYER ADDED
April 4 Dioner Navarro (DL) Mike DiFelice
April 9 Matt Garza (DL) JK Ryu
April 9 Cliff Floyd (DL) Justin Ruggiano
April 11 Willy Aybar (DL) Evan Longoria
April 12 JK Ryu (demoted) Jeff Niemann
April 16 Al Reyes (DL) Kurt Birkins
April 20 Jeff Niemann (demoted) Dan Johnson
April 22 Mike DiFelice (DFA) Dioner Navarro
April 23 Dan Johnson (DFA) Gabe Gross

And that doesn’t include minor leaguers that were included in some of the above transactions (Josh Butler, Calvin Medlock).

If Friedman did have a fantasy baseball team, we imagine the name would have to be “World B. Friedmans“. There really is no other choice.

Apr 24

[THE ARCHIVES] One Year Ago On Rays Index

Uncategorized No Comments »

One year ago on Rays Index, we told you about Manny Stiles running a live blog from the Trop’s press box.

ManRay Goes Where No Blogger Has Gone Before [Rays Index]

Apr 24

[THE HANGOVER] Rays Likely Without Wheeler And Percival Tonight

Dan Johnson, Dan Wheeler, Joe Maddon, JP Howell, Ruddy Lugo, Shawn Riggans, Troy Percival, Wade Davis 4 Comments »


THE GOOD: With McScrappy on third base and two outs in the first, Jason Hammel got Vernon Wells to strike out to end the inning and avoid early trouble…Lots ‘o goodies in Rays Rally in 6th inning with the Rays down 3-0. Opposite field lead-off double by Dioner Navarro, followed by another slap-hit to the right side by Jason Bartlett with Navi on second base. Carl Crawford had an RBI single one out later. BJ Upton walks on 4 pitches to load the bases. After a Carlos Pena strikeout, Evan Longoria goes opposite field with a great swing to tie game at 3. Pitch was in on his hands. Dirtbag kept his hands in and ahead of the barrel of the bat. Not easy. Eric Hinske followed with a one-handed wrister and just flipped the ball into right field for a 4-3 lead…Nice 5-4-3 to end the 7th with a great scoop by Carlos Pena…The bullpen was fantastic once again. 2 scoreless innings from Dan Wheeler and 3 scoreless overall…We guess we should file under “good” keeping Roy Halladay in the game in the 8th inning, down 4-3. He only had 96 pitches entering the inning, but had thrown 34 in the 6th inning alone. A Carl Crawford triple followed by a BJ Upton sac fly and the Rays had a huge bonus run to make it 5-3.

THE BAD: Jason Hammel versus Roy Halladay. Turned out OK last night, but that does not mean we will be too excited to see the same matchup in the future…Asshole Jays’ TV announcer: “Jason Hammel has worked 20 innings this year and allowed only 1 home run.” About 0.4 seconds later a ball off the bat of Matt Stairs is flying over the right field wall. In the bottom half of the same inning: “Well [Evan] Longoria has some pop in his bat. He showed it last night.” About 0.2 seconds later Dirtbag grounds into a 5-4-3 double play…Jason Hammel walked 2 batters in the second with only one out. He got out of it…Joe Inglett stole second and third in 5th. Counts against Dioner Navarro in the stat sheet, but that is all Jason Hammel’s fault. Anytime a runner steals third, it is almost always on the pitcher…Joe Maddon got lucky in the 8th inning. We wondered if maybe Trever Miller would get the 8th inning with Dan Wheeler coming on in the 7th inning. Seemed smart with Matt Stairs due up in 8th and already with 2 home runs. Instead, Papa Joe stuck with Wheeler in the 8th inning and Stairs just missed a home run to the opposite field that would have tied the game…The Jays broadcast network runs these idiotic 10 second commercials smack dad in the middle of innings. So fucking annoying. Your first reaction is, “What the hell happened? That was only the first out!” We cannot emphasize enough how annoying this is. It completely interrupts the flow of the game for the viewer.

THE TELLING: Dan Wheeler worked 2 innings last night and is probably not available to work tonight…Troy Percival might not be available either. He has worked the last two nights and his fastball was clearly not sharp last night touching only 88 on the gun after hitting 92-94 the night before. Joe Maddon may have to be careful how often he uses Percy on back-to-back nights in the future. We have no idea who Maddon would use in the 9th inning tonight. Trever Miller? Maybe Papa Joe is counting on another complete game from Andy Sonnanstine...Joe Maddon got caught with his pants down in the 7th inning. Not anticipating the Rays to take the lead in the bottom of the 6th, Dan Wheeler was not ready to go at the start of the 7th. Jason Hammel had to go out to the mound and pretend to be staying in the game while Wheeler got in a few more warmup pitches…Carlos Pena was back at first base…Only two teams in baseball are batting better than .300 with runners in scoring position and two outs, the Los Angeles Angels and the Tampa Bay Rays…Noticed on Carl Crawford’s triple that he is running the bases batter this year. Crawford has mentioned in previous seasons that he hates “rounding” bases. He prefers to run straight to a base and make very sharp turns. He always felt that rounding bases was a waste of steps. Last night, CC took rounded approaches at first and second base. Looks like Dave Martinez finally got into CC’s head when others could not…The Rays are now in 4th place and have won 2 in a row for the third time this season. They are yet to win 3 in a row.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

  • Wow. We predicted that Dan Johnson’s stay in a Rays uniform would be short, but we didn’t think it would be this short. To make room for the newly acquired Gabe Gross, the Rays DFA’d Johnson. To recap: Johnson’s career with the Rays included one game, zero plate appearances. [The Heater]
  • Joe Maddon has finally come to the realization that back-to-back-to-back lefties in the lineup is not necessarily a good thing and has recently altered the lineup accordingly. [MLB]
  • Sorry, this one missed the “Down on the Farm” feature, but for our Y-Chromosome deficient readers, you might be happy to know that Wade Davis has made the list of hottest prospects at Ladies… [Ladies...]
  • Rays Digest wonders if the Rays are stretching too far by reaching out to potential fans in Orlando. Their biggest piece of evidence is the empty seats from Tuesday night’s game…It should be noted that the Rays were going head-to-head with an Orlando Magic playoff game. It is difficult to gauge exactly how much the impact is, but they probably should have waited to see how attendance was in game 2, which was up about 700 over game 1. While there were still empty seats last night, this is a town that is mad for the Magic right now. [Rays Digest]
  • No surprise here…there appears to be a disagreement over how much parking would be available for Rays games at the proposed waterfront stadium. The Rays say plenty. The city of St. Pete says “don’t count your parking spaces before they hatch” or something like that. [St. Pete Times]
  • Apparently a Canadian likes to stereotype people from Orlando and calls the Rays stupid for trying to expand their fanbase. [The Heater]
  • Shawn Riggans and JP Howell read to some Orlando-area school kids. A truly noble effort, but let’s hope it went better than the Shawn Camp-Ruddy Lugo incident last year. [MLB]
Apr 24

[DOWN ON THE FARM] Kazmir Not Happy With How Rehab Start Was Handled

Emeel Salem, Fernando Perez, Gabe Gross, Scott Kazmir No Comments »

Charlotte 11, Durham 2. Chris Mason dropped to 0-3 after allowing 5 runs in 3.2 innings…Joel Guzman hit his 4th home run and Reid Brignac was given a night off.

Jacksonville 15, Montgomery 9. Mike Wlodarczyk gave up 8 runs (6 earned) in 3.1 innings…Joh Jaso was 2-4 with a triple and his 3rd home run, he drove in 2 and scored 3 times…Ronnie Merrill was 4-5 and drove in 3.

Palm Beach 4, Vero Beach 3. Scott Kazmir struck out 4 and did not walk a batter, but was touched for 7 hits and 4 runs in 4.2 innings. The first batter he faced and the last batter he faced hit home runs. At one point he did retire 10 in a row…Garrett Groce was 3-5 with 2 doubles and scored twice while Matt Fields added 2 hits including a double.

Columbus 5, Rome 2. Jason Ragan struck out 4 in 5 innings and gave up 2 runs as he improved to 4-0…Emeel Salem was 2-4 and stole his 18th base, in 20 games. Salem leads all of professional baseball and has 4 more than the next most prolific base stealer. Only 3 other players in all of the minor leagues have more than 11.

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

  • A 10:30 start and confusion over his pitch count left Scott Kazmir less than thrilled following his latest rehab start. [MLB]

“It was frustrating,” Kazmir said following his 64-pitch effort, his second start following a left elbow strain in late February. “I wanted to work on a lot of things and stretch myself out. I felt strong. [pitching coach Jim] Hickey and I were both on the same page, but it didn’t happen…They wanted me finish up in the bullpen, and it didn’t really make too much sense,” said Kazmir. “[My start] was originally set for 70-75 pitches, and we certainly wanted me to go five [innings]. I got done after four innings and I had thrown 54…They said, ‘Finish up in the bullpen. If you had 50 pitches, we’d let you go back out there.’ So I’ve got to have a 20-pitch cushion to go out there for another inning? That’s a lot of confidence.”

  • Baseball America takes a closer look at the Gabe Gross trade and notes that the Rays dealt from “an area of strength”. [Baseball America]
  • Baseball America talks to Fernando Perez about the transition to AAA. Our favorite quote is the answer to his thoughts on OBP. [Baseball America]


“It’s the only important stat for a leadoff hitter. When I’m on base a lot, everything goes well for everyone. Fastballs for all, RBI opportunities for the tall guys, runs on the board, excited fans, happy GM, et cetera.”

Apr 23

[RI CONFIDENCE GRAPH] The Rays Index Confidence Graph: Week 4

Confidence graph No Comments »

The Rays Confidence Graph will appear every Wednesday and is a look at how much confidence Rays fans have in the Tampa Bay Rays. The graph is designed to give us a look at how our emotional bias as Rays fans fluctuates through time. The “confidence” in the team is an inexact measure of how fans feel about the team’s current strength as well as how much confidence fans have in the franchise for the next 3-4 years. Notes on this weeks agida-level can be found after the graph..

Notes on the RI Confidence Graph…

  • The most common response for “Confidence in 2008 Rays” was 7 (If things break right, they could be in race for playoffs) with 31.0%.
  • The most common response for “Confidence in future of franchise” was 8 and 9 equally with 30.3%.
  • Confidence in the 2008 Rays ranged from 1 (The Rays will lose 120 games) to 10 (The Rays are built/playing like a World Series contender).
  • Confidence in the future ranged from 3-10.
  • 33.4% of respondents feel the Rays have a shot at the playoffs in 2008. That number is down from 57.3% a week ago.
  • 84.5% of respondents feel the Rays should be at least a .500 team in 2008. Last week that number was 92.1%.
Apr 23

[THE ARCHIVES] Two Years Ago On Rays Index

The Archives No Comments »

Two years ago on Rays Index, we declared our love for “The Fossum Flop“

The Fossum Flop [Rays Index]

Apr 23

[THE HANGOVER] Rays Stay Undefeated In Orlando

Andrew Friedman, Andy Sonnanstine, Dan Johnson, Eric Hinske, Gabe Gross, Joe Maddon, Josh Butler, Justin Ruggiano, Matt Silverman, Nathan Haynes, Trever Miller 11 Comments »


THE GOOD: James Shields showed us that he is a winner last night. He struggled early without his best stuff and with shoddy defense behind him, but fought through it and still managed to give Joe Maddon 7 innings. For all the changes to the bullpen, the biggest reason the relief corps is better this year is because the starters are working deeper. Any bullpen will be better if it only needs to throw 2 innings instead of 3-4…And last night wasn’t any different. Shields handed the ball off in the 8th to Dan Wheeler (a role we expect he will keep once Al Reyes comes off DL) and then Troy Percival in the 9th. The two combined for 2 perfect innings…Eric Hinske continues to swing a hot bat, only this time it was against his former team and went to the tune of a double, triple and home run…Dioner Navarro added 3 hits in his return. We still can’t get over Navi. Nobody hits more line drives. And nobody hits the ball softer than Navi…Jason Bartlett finally did something productive with the bat, executing a perfect hit-and-run with Dioner Navarro running from second base.

THE BAD: James Shields walking the first two batters of the second inning, followed by the play that led to the Jays first run. On the play the Rays were only charged with 2 errors, but there should have been three plus a couple of mental errors. A ground ball to Eric Hinske’s right was bobbled after the runner on first distracted Hinske. Hinske then tried to backhand the ball to Shields covering first and missed him by 10 feet with the ball rolling towards the plate. For some reason, with a runner now on 3rd, Dioner Navarro left home to retrieve the ball. Shields sprints home to cover the plate. Throw from Navi was in time, but Shields dropped it.

THE TELLING: The Rays are now 4-0 all-time in Orlando…The Rays are 2-1 this season during our Live Blog-A-Baloos and 7-10 in all other games. Just Sayin’…The Rays need to sweep the Jays to get out of the cellar of the AL East and reach .500.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

  • We commented on this last night during the Blog-A-Baloo, but the Rays traded for Gabe Gross from the Brewers, giving up single-A pitcher Josh Butler. Butler was the Rays 2nd round pick in the 2006 draft. Gross is a left-swinging outfielder that can play all three outfield spots…While Justin Ruggiano will likely be the first player to go, this move probably marks the end of the Nathan Haynes-era. Andrew Friedman announced during the game last night that the Rays had been talking to the Brewers about Gross since Spring Training. [Tampa Tribune]
  • Outs Per Swing sees the Rays crowded outfield and wonders if the Rays should trade Eric Hinske while the value is at its peak…We say yes. [Outs Per Swing]
  • Through 19 games the Rays have the best bullpen in baseball. Trever Miller says that the biggest reason is they are not walking anybody. [Bradenton Herald]
  • New Ray Dan Johnson suffered from an infection in the spring that caused him to lose 30 pounds. He has since gained most of it back. [Bradenton Herald]
  • Marc Lancaster notes that Dan Johnson’s injury history is quite extensive. [San Francisco Chronicle via Rays Report]
  • While the Orlando Magic playoff game may have affected attendance, the Rays could not have been happy with the non-sellout or that a large portion of the crowd was not Orlando residents. [Orlando Sentinel]
  • Brittany Ghiroli takes a look at the “Green” practices of the Tampa Bay Rays and notes the team will continue to make a commitment to environmental sustainablity after Earth Day. [MLB]
  • The Serious Tip thinks they have figured out why Andy Sonnanstine has struggled at times this season…He’s is jinxed. [The Serious Tip]
  • A couple of new renderings of the proposed waterfront stadium, with one that apparently gives a reference to how big the new stadium will be compared to existing structures. [The Heater]
  • Matt Silverman and Joe Maddon were set to attend the Bruce Springsteen concert in Tampa on Monday but missed it after the show was postponed until Tuesday. [Orlando Sentinel]
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