One year ago on Rays Index, The Professor visited Scott Kazmir at home to discuss his difficulty working deep in games. Kid K had a little trouble finishing the interview.
Strikeouts Are Fascist, Groundballs Are More Democratic [Rays Index]
The Tampa Bay Rays have averaged 26,613 fans for their 10 home dates in June. That nearly doubles the 13,999 that the Devil Rays averaged in June of 2007.
Unfortunately, as far as we can tell, none of the 836,453 fans that have attended Rays games at the Trop this season were Jenn Sterger.
WHERE IS JENN STERGER?!?!
For all the new fans jumping on the Tampa Bay Rays bandwagon this season, it is disturbing that the fanbase appears to have lost one of their more recognizable bodies faces.
Besides, we need an updated photo of miss Sterger in the new Rays colors.
THE BAD: The offense. From the 9th inning on, the Rays were 1-14 with 4 strike outs and no walks. Only two batters reached base: Evan Longoria with a 2-out single in the 9th and James Shields who reached on an error while pinch-hitting with 2 outs in the 12th.
THE TELLING: With Aki Iwamura starting his 3-game suspension, BJ Upton batted leadoff, Evan Longoria moved up to the 3-hole and Willy Aybar started at second base for the first time since 2006. Upton finished 1-5 with a walk…The Rays missed an opportunity to move back into first place as the Red Sox lost to the Astros.
DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…
Durham 6, Norfolk 3. Mitch Talbot improved to 7-6 after holding Norfolk to 1 run in 6.2 innings. He struck out 4 and walked none…Chris Richard (15) and Joel Guzman (15) homered for the Bulls. Guzman finished 3-4 with 3 RBI. Fernando Perez was 2-5 and Justin Ruggiano added 2 hits in 4 at bats…Reid Brignac did not play.
Mobile 5, Montgomery 3. Jino Gonzalez started but was pulled after 2 innings. He had not allowed a run…John Jaso went 2-4 with a walk. He is hitting .254.
Sarasota 6, Vero Beach 0. Brandon Mann dropped to 3-9 after giving up 5 runs (4 earned) on 11 hits in 5 innings…The D-Rays managed only 4 hits.
Columbus 5, Rome 4. Alex Cobb gave up 3 runs in 6.1 innings, all on solo home runs…Greg Sexton was 3-5 with 2 RBI, including the walk-off single with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th.
Hudson Valley 3, Staten Island 1.
Princeton 8, Burlington 7 (11). Tim Beckham went 1-4 with 2 walks and 2 strike outs. He played shortstop for the first time and did make a throwing error on his first fielding chance. He later handle two ground balls, a pop up and a line drive. In 3 games he is 2-11 (both singles).
NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…
While he only went one for four with an infield hit Tim Beckham showed some of the tools that made him the first overall pick in the draft. By signing early he is only helping himself getting a jump on other high draft picks that have yet to sign. I would be very surprised if rookie ball gave Beckham much of a challenge and it wouldn’t surprise me if he was promoted to Single-A ball late in the year. The Rays could also leave him partnered with his brother Jeremy in rookie ball all year to aid his comfort level. I’ll be checking in with the Beckhams throughout the year so look for more updates as the season goes on.
