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 57.8%.
The most common response for “Confidence in future of franchise” was 10 with 47.5%.
97.6% of respondents feel the Rays have a shot at the playoffs in 2008. That number is down from 98.0% a week ago.
100% of respondents feel the Rays should be at least a .500 team in 2008. Last week that number was 99.0%.
As we mentioned earlier this morning, Evan Longoria is leading the vote for the final spot of the AL All-Star squad. Voting ends at 5pm ET on Thursday. Now we find this little piece of propaganda from none other than Dick Vitale pushing people to vote for Dirtbag (Thanks JJ).
Yikes. We love Dickie V. We really do, especially now that he is older and he reminds us of our crazy grandfather who would sometimes have entire conversations with the dog about what play the Redskins should run on 4th down. But do we need to call Longoria a “PTPer”? Really?
THE GOOD: Everything we threw last night somehow managed to miss the TV.
THE BAD: That was the worst thing the Rays could have done in the opener of this 2-game set. They walked out on the field at Yankee Stadium and took a gigantic dump right on the hallowed grounds. Losing the game, in and of itself, was not terrible. The Rays are on the road against a good team. What is bad is looking like the ’07 Devil Rays and giving ammunition to all those that still believe that it is a lock that the Yankees will come back and catch the Rays in the standings. The Rays showed absolutely no life, whether at the plate, in the field or on the mound. Worse, they were beat by Andy Pettite and Derek Jeter in a “playoff atmosphere” game, which just gives the Yankees and their fanbase hope that they still have a little of that 90s “magic” left in their tank. And Dioner Navarro. We know he is The Fat Catcher, but c’mon! How does anybody get thrown out at second base on a ground ball between second and third that Jeter fielded near the damn warning track! Greg Luzinski would have beat that throw. My 2-year old cousin would have beat that throw. And Scott Kazmir. Kid K are officially off of our Christmas list. Kazmir needs to get his head out of his ass and find a way to get his teammates 6 innings. 7 would be fabulous. But right now we’ll take 6. After last night, Kaz has started 5 straight games in which he couldn’t get into the 6th inning. He is not an all-star.
THE TELLING: It is 9am and we need a beer.
DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…
Evan Longoria has a slight lead at the midway point of voting for the final AL roster spot. Don’t forget to go vote. Dirtbag deserves your love. [MLB.com]
Rays of Light brings up the question of whether or not Scott Kazmir will be available to pitch in the all-star game since he is next scheduled to pitch for the Rays on Sunday, just two days before the mid-summer classic…In all likelihood, Kid K will not pitch in the game, but Tuesday would be his normal bullpen session day, so he could conceivably use the all-star game as his bullpen session. [Rays of Light]
Troy Percival and Al Reyes are expected to come off the DL after the All-Star break next week. [Tampa Tribune]
ArmchairGM claims that the Rays inquired about the Rockies’ Matt Holliday, but the conversation ended quickly when the asking price was David Price. [ArmchairGM]
The Serious Tip defends the recent influx of Rays “Bandwagon” fans. [The Serious Tip]
The Rays sit atop USA Today’s Power Rankings for the first time, receiving 8 of 12 first-place votes. [USA Today]
Norfolk 7, Durham 5. Mike Prochaska dropped to 2-4 after allowing 4 runs in 6 innings. He struck out 3 and walked 1…Chris Mason was bumped to the bullpen and gave up 3 runs in 2 innings on 4 hits and 2 walks. He did not strike out a batter…Elliot Johnson homered for the Bulls, his 5th and Chris Richard was 1-3 with his 19th double.
Mobile 6, Montgomery 4. Jino Gonzalez walked 4 and gave up 4 hits, which led to 3 runs in 5.1 innings…Matt Spring and Rashad Eldridge each finished 0-2 but had 3 walks apiece…John Jaso was 2-4 with 2 walks and an RBI…Chris Nowak was 2-5 with a walk and an RBI. He is hitting .291.
Ft. Myers 6, Vero Beach 3. Al Reyes started the game as part of his rehab assignment and worked 1 perfect inning…Ryan Morse relieved Reyes and gave up 6 runs in 4.1 innings on 9 hits including 3 home runs…Nevin Ashley finished 3-3 and Ryan Royster and Joey Callender each went 3-4. Royster had an RBI and is now hitting .257.
Columbus 5, Kannapolis 4. Jason Ragan gave up 4 runs in 5.2 innings on 8 hits and a walk…Justin Garcia picked up the win in relief with 4 strikeouts in 2 scoreless innings after the Catfish scored the go-ahead run in the 8th on a balk…Reid Fronk was 1-3 with a walk and his 10th home run, a solo shot…Mike McCormick finished 2-4 with 2 RBI.
Hudson Valley (off-day)
Princeton vs Bristol (ppd)
NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…
Columbus starting pitcher Jesse Darcy and Montgomery third baseman Chris Nowak were named minor league players of the month for the Rays’ organization. [MiLB]
Montgomery pitcher Jeff Kamrath is likely out for the season after doctors found a blood clot in his elbow. [Montgomery Advertiser]
James Houser will have minor knee surgery, which will cause him to miss the SL All-Star game and he could be out a couple of weeks. [Biscuits' Batter]
Notes on the RI Confidence Graph…
