May 19
TOSS UP
Eric Hinske or Gabe Gross?
On May 11th, Cliff Floyd came off the DL and rejoined the Rays for the first time in over a month. As long as Floyd is healthy (and the Rays are playing in an AL park) he will be the Rays starting DH against right-handers. What isn’t clear is who will be the starting right fielder in those same games. Eric Hinske has been with the Rays all season and he has been one of the Rays most consistent offensive contributors hitting .250/.343/.508 with 7 home runs in only 120 at bats. Gross was added to the roster on April 23rd and has hit .229/.333/.396 in 22 games (14 starts). Gross’ contribution is his glove and his patience. He is a better glove and has a far superior arm to Hinske. We have seen Hinske make several bad plays in the outfield including two instances in the last week in which he played outs or singles into triples. And while Hinske is the bigger offensive threat, Gross has shown a level of patience at the plate not seen often in the Rays lineup.
In 5 games since Floyd came back off the DL (not including the Cardinals series without the DH), Hinske has made 5 starts in right field while Gross has started twice and subbed for Hinske in a 3rd game.
Which one should be the regular right fielder versus righties? At times the offense has sputtered. in the last 10 games the Rays have scored less than 3 runs 4 times. But they have also shown they are hitting the ball well, with 41 hits in the Cardinals series despite no DH. With solid defense everywhere else on the diamond, the Rays can afford one below-average fielder in the lineup on most nights. The bat is too good and Joe Maddon should continue to ride the extra base hit threat as long as possible. HINSKE
OVER/UNDERS
2 runs allowed by James Shields tonight:
In Shields last 4 starts he has allowed 0,7,0,2 runs. The Red Sox outing (7 runs) really seemed to get under Shields’ skin and he has been outstanding since. He will be facing a mediocre offense with the A’s that is coming off a long road trip in which they went 2-7. Not to mention, Shields will be taking the mound in a pitcher-friendly park. Last year in his only start in Oakland, Shields went 8 innings and allowed only 1 run on 4 hits and 1 walk. In his other start versus the A’s he allowed 2 runs in 8.1 innings. UNDER
1.5 Wins for the Rays in this series against the A’s:
Oakland is returning home from a 9-game road trip in which they lost 7 games. They now sit 24-21, 1.5 games behind the Angels in the AL West and 1.5 games behind the Rays in the Wild Card race. The A’s are 12-9 at home but they are only 7-10 against lefties which bodes well for the Rays tomorrow when Scott Kazmir takes the mound. The A’s do lead the AL with a +31 run differential, but that is due in large part to their pitching staff which has the 2nd best ERA in the AL at 3.38. They are also 2nd with 320 Ks and have allowed the 5th fewest walks. However, with James Shields on the mound tonight and the 6-1 Andy Sonnanstine on the hill for getaway day on Wednesday, look for the Rays to take at least 2 of 3. OVER
ODDSMAKERS
What are the chances of James Shields throwing a no-hitter this season?
If the question was “for the Rays in any season?” the number would be close to 25%. His stuff is that good. Shields has shown on a number of occasions that he is capable of no-hit stuff. But the question is “this season”. So far, in 9 starts he has a 2-hit shutout and a 1-hit shutout. Last year he threw 9 3-hit innings against the O’s and against the Indians he had a start in which he only allowed 2 hits in 8 innings. The problem is, Shields only has 23-24 starts left in ’08 and we have to assume that 4-5 of those will come against the Yankees or the Sox. 5%
May 19
Last week’s Rays Confidence Graph results.
Below you will see two polls that ask about your confidence in the Tampa Bay Rays. Please take a moment to answer each question. We will present these same polls every Monday. The results will be presented in graphical form on Wednesday, and will be displayed permanently in the sidebar. The goal of the Confidence Graph is to get a feeling of how Rays fans feel about the team and the franchise and track how that level of confidence changes through time. Thanks!
Raysiverse events of the past week that could impact confidence levels…
May 19
We laid out our complaint this morning about the idiotic idea to wear the Batting Practice jerseys during yesterday’s game, but here is the visual evidence to show just how atrocious this idea was.
Here we get a nice view of Edwin Jackson’s pit-stain…
Here we can see how the white stripe underneath the pit-stain, clashes with the blue piping on the side of the pant-leg…
And of course, the most atrocious atrocity of this amateur mishmash is the coloring. It is not even the same blue that is found on the caps…
And for the record. This not the first time that a major league team has worn the new Spring Training/Batting Practice jerseys in the regular season. We know the the Rangers and the D-Backs did it last year and we are pretty sure the Mariners have in the past also. That does not make it OK for the Rays. It was stupid before. It was stupid yesterday and it will be stupid in the future.
May 19
THE GOOD:
Ben Zobrist getting the start. Everytime he did something good, we were rewarded with shots of his wife
Julianna. That’s it. That was the only redeeming quality of yesterday’s game.
THE BAD: Joe Maddon had some questionable (read: idiotic) pitching changes on Sunday. First he brings Dan Wheeler in to face Ryan Ludwick one day after Ludwick had taken Wheeler deep for a walk-off home run. First pitch on Sunday? Home run. But the really stupid move? After Wheeler walked the lead-off hitter of the 8th inning. A lefty was due up. So Papa Joe brings in Trever Miller. Seems fine with the lefty due up, EXCEPT IT IS A BUNTING SITUATION AND THE NEXT BATTER IS A RIGHTY. Why Miller, who was allowing righties to hit 8-25 (.320) prior to that at bat? Result? You guessed it. A single to left that scores 2. Game tied…More poor fundamentals. On a sunny Sunday afternoon, why on earth did anybody let Evan Longoria go out to the field without sunglasses? Sure enough, he lost a pop-up in the Sun. Eric Hinske was thrown out at second trying to stretch a double. And the pitchers walked 10 batters, 4 in the 8th inning alone. It is a miracle the Cards only scored 5…But the real reason the Rays lost on Sunday? They angered the gods of baseball. The Spring Training jersey in the regular season is idiotic. First of all they are acceptable for practice, but they are ugly and do not look like a major league baseball jersey. The pit-stain coloring is horrendous. The wide white stripe on the side clashes with the piping on the pants. Not to mention the color of the jersey is not the same as the cap. We’d expect that from an AAU team. Not from a major league baseball club. For all that is holy, please never do that again.
THE TELLING: Jason Bartlett was out of the lineup with an illness. This was siginificant as the very first batter for the Cards hit a ground ball in the hole, that Zobrist got to, but threw late to first. We have seen Bartlett make that play two dozen times this season…The Rays batters only went down 1-2-3 in 2 innings during the entire 3-game series. Both of those innings came on Sunday. While the Sox now have a 1-game lead in the East, the Rays and Sox are still tied in the all-important loss column…The Rays have a 1.5 game lead in the Wild Card standings over the O’s and the A’s.
DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…
- Don’t forget to VOTE for Carl Crawford to start the all-star game. If you haven’t voted yet today, go NOW! [MLB All-Star Voting]
- We will have the Rays Index Live Blog-A-Baloo on Wednesday afternoon for game 3 of the Oakland series. The Live Blog-A-Baloo will be held right here.
- A “24-hour bug” has hit the Rays clubhouse recently, but Jason Bartlett was the first player to get sick, and had to sit out yesterday’s game. [MLB]
- Big League Stew called the Rays-Cardinals series the “best of ’08 interleague debut”, noting that the series “actually oozed playoff intensity at times” although we have to take exception to the suggestion that the Rays have a “fundamentally sound approach”. Clearly they did not see Saturday’s game with all of the baserunning mistakes or the 10 walks on Sunday. “Fundamentals” cost the Rays a sweep. [Big League Stew]
- Rays of Light called yesterday’s games the first “Maddon-loss” of the season…They are too kind. [Rays of Light]
- Jonny Gomes has only started 1 of the last 8 games, but should get 2 starts in the A’s series as they are scheduled to throw 2 lefties in the series. [Tampa Tribune]
- Is Jonny Gomes shilling for Kevin Costner? Some (very) circumstantial eveidence suggests that Oliver Stone needs to be called. [Bugs & Cranks]
- Yesterday, DRG linked to a story about Gary Shelton suggesting that the Rays roster is better than the Yankees roster. Today we have Bugs & Cranks offering a rebuttal. [Bugs & Cranks]
- The same Bugs & Cranks writer (not David Chalk) thinks that the Rays “followed the lead of the perennially low-budget Florida Marlins by ponying up the money to sign one of their key stars, pitcher Scott Kazmir, to a four-year contract worth $28.5 million”…The Kazmir-deal is only the latest of a several long-term deals that the Rays have given to young players. Evan Longoria, James Shields and Carlos Pena have already been locked up long-term in the past few months. If anything, the Marlins are following the Rays and even then, they have a ways to go as one deal hardly compares to four. [Bugs & Cranks]
- Akinori Iwamura has cut-down on the flyball outs and it has helped to the tune of 26 hits in the last 15 games. [MLB]
May 19
Charlotte 6, Durham 3. Ben Hendrickson gave up 2 runs (1 earned) in 5 innings and dropped to 3-3…Dan Johnson was 1-4 with a double and 2 RBI…Reid Brignac did not play.
Tennessee 3, Montgomery 2. Richard de los Santos allowed 3 runs (1 earned) in 6 innings…Ronnie Merrill had 3 singles in 4 at bats…Rashad Eldridge was 2-4 with a double…Rhyne Hughes and Chris Nowak had RBIs.
Tampa 5, Vero Beach 1. Heath Rollins picked up his 3rd loss in 5 decisions, getting touched for 4 runs in 7 innings on 5 hits and a walk…Wade Townsend face 4 batters in his first action since being demoted to Columbus to work on his mechanics. He allowed one hit…No batter had more than 1 hit and Matt Fields drove in the only run.
Augusta 13, Columbus 2. Glenn Gibson drops to 1-6 after allowing 5 runs (3 earned) in 5 innings. He did not strike out a batter…Greg Sexton was 3-4 and Mike McCorkick hit his 2nd home run.
NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…
- Andy Cannizaro cleared waivers after being DFA’d by the Rays and has accepted his assignment to Durham.
