We hate losin’…It’s like worse than winnin’ and we especially hate losing to Jered Freakin’ Weaver. And we really hate staying up past midnight to watch the Rays take a gigantic dump on the field.
So it is only fitting that that with the loss last night, the Tampa Bay Rays Professional Baseball Club ran their all-time record to 683-999. One more for loss number 1,000.
We would really love to insert a poop joke now, but…Jered Weaver? C’mon!
We are not sure why we never ran it (we blame DRG) as it has been sitting on the RAYSHEADS Facebook page for quite some time. But somebody put together a video in which they examine the history of the “Fist Bump”. Several members of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays make appearances in the clip, including Stuart Sternberg, Joe Maddon, Jonny Gomes and Carl Crawford who claims he wouldn’t be where he is today without the fist bump.
Also, Papa Joe explains to us how it went down the first time somebody tried to fist bump him…a story that we are sure most of us can relate to.
“Well the first time I was introduced to the fist bump, I didn’t really know what to do. He stuck his hand out to me and I didn’t know if he was going to hit me or if I was supposed to grab it or latch on to it.”
In Joe’s defense, they weren’t even doing the high-five when he was in school. Back then it was the kiss-on-each-cheek.
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 8 (They will be in playoff contention all season) with 55.7%.
The most common response for “Confidence in future of franchise” was 9 with 50.7%.
95.7% of respondents feel the Rays have a shot at the playoffs in 2008. That number is up from 94.0% a week ago.
98.6% of respondents feel the Rays should be at least a .500 team in 2008. Last week that number was 98.7%.
THE GOOD: James Shields faced only one over the minimum in 6 of the 8 innings he pitched. That’s it. That’s the only good thing we could come up with…Oh, and Evan Longoria had 2 doubles, responsible for half of the Rays’ hits.
THE BAD: Jered Weaver? Unfortunately for the Rays, Weaver pulls one of these out of his ass once a month. In 3 previous starts this season he had thrown at least 7 shutout innings with 3 hits or fewer and yet he still had an ERA closer to 5 than 4…The top 4 hitters in the lineup were a combined 1-14 with 4 strikeouts and a walk.
THE TELLING:The Rays will go for the series win today. On the season the Rays are 12-6-3 in series. Only 4 teams have a better series mark, including the best mark of 15-3-3 by the Angels. The Rays won only 14 series in ’07, and have not won a series in Anaheim since ’99…All 5 teams in the AL East are over .500.
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]
Cliff Floyd has not started the last 4 games and Joe Maddon says he is just going with the “hot bats”. Floyd is 1-12 on the road trip. [MLB]
Troy Percival threw 30 pitches to Jonny Gomes in a simulated game and is now ready to be activated Friday. [St. Pete Times]
Playing on the Trop’s artificial surface has been troublesome for Carl Crawford’s sore knee and likes the idea of playing one or two nights of homestands as the Rays’ DH. [MLB]
An Angels draftee is reminding some in Nebraska of Carl Crawford. [Husker Extra]
The Rays announced contracts with six of their draft picks, none from the first 10 ten rounds. [Rays Report]
Rochester 14, Durham 2. Chris Mason dropped to 2-7 on the year after allowing 7 runs (5 earned) in 5 innings. He gave up 9 hits and 2 walks…Fernando Perez and Joel Guzman were each 2-4..Reid Brignac did not play.
Montgomery (off day)
Ft. Myers 6, Vero Beach 2. After hitting 2 batters and intentionally walking a third, Brian Baker gave up a 1-out grand slam in the bottom of the 9th inning for the loss…Making his first start since being demoted from Montgomery, Mike Wlodarczyk pitched 4 shutout innings, allowing 2 hits and no walks. He struck out 2…Desmond Jennings was 1-4 with a double…Ryan Royster was 1-3 with a triple.
Savannah 4, Columbus 1. Jason Ragan dropped to 5-4 giving up 2 runs in 5 innings, both solo home runs. He struck out 4 and walked none…The Catfish managed only 4 hits.
We hate losin’…It’s like worse than winnin’ and we especially hate losing to Jered Freakin’ Weaver. And we really hate staying up past midnight to watch the Rays take a gigantic dump on the field.
