Jul 28
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…
- The Rays are 61-43, 1 game up in the AL East over the Red Sox and 3 games ahead of the Yankees…In the past week three Rays won 2 of 3 from the A’s at home and split a 4-game series in Kansas City.
- The Rays are 6-11 in their last 17 games, but are 6-4 since the All-Star break.
- It appears as though Gary Glover is going to be DFA’d.
- There are lots of rumors concerning whether the Rays will or won’t make any trades before Thursdays deadline.
- The Rays are closing in on the franchise record for wins in a season.
- Some are not very happy with BJ Upton’s recent play. Ok, many are unhappy.
- Could Rocco Baldelli be the right-handed bat the Rays need?
- The Rays are making it clear that their top prospects are not available in any trades.
- Jason Bartlett came off the DL, Ben Zobrist was sent back to Durham.
- One writer says that the Rays have a better than 50% shot at making the playoffs.
Jul 28
THE GOOD: Got nothin’
THE BAD: Using the batting practice jerseys during a game. We have made our feelings known about this in the past. And we are not the only ones that hate the idea…Yet another GIDP for Carl Crawford…Anytime Jason Hammel is in a game. Not just because it is Hammel, but because he is like the Grim Reaper of the Rays. He only comes into games when death is imminent.
THE TELLING: Got Nothin’
DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…
- Gary Glover is ready to come off the DL, but did not go with the team to Toronto, even though he was in Kansas City. Marc Lancaster feels that this is a sign that Glover will be Designated for Assignment in the next day or two. That means the Rays will have 10 days to trade him. If they don’t, the Rays will release him or try to send him to Durham. He can then opt to become a free agent. [Rays Report]
- Following Saturday’s game in which Aki Iwamura failed to score from first on a 2-out bloop double, Joe Maddon ripped into the team, with one player describing him as “borderline irate”. [St. Pete Times]
- Joe Maddon made it clear that Troy Percival is the Rays’ closer…The quote below is exactly why we believe that Percival should give up the 9th inning, if just for a week or two. If his mechanics are not 100%, we do not understand why Percival is closing games. [MLB]
“His arm feels good, but I still think he’s working his way through the body mechanics of coming off a leg injury,” Maddon said. “As he becomes more comfortable with that, I think you’ll see more strikes on a more consistent basis.”
- Troy Percival is not the only reliever struggling recently. Add Al Reyes to that list. [Tampa Tribune]
- Well, the Rays are still in first place, but (no surprise here) they are not getting any respect. The New York Post says that the weekend series between the Yankees and the Red Sox apparently proves that the Rays will be the team without a chair when the music stops at the end of September. [New York Post]
- As the Rays head to Toronto, Joe Maddon says their last game above the border was the day the Rays proved they were a playoff contender. [Bradenton Herald]
“That night meant a lot to me because we could easily have caved in,” Maddon said. “We could have caved in the ninth, and we did not. We came back. And when you’re on the road playing so many extra innings you have so many ways in which you can lose that game, and we did not. We had the mental resolve to battle through that.”
- The Ledger takes a look at the unorthodox style of Joe Maddon. [Lakeland Ledger]
Jul 28
Durham 2, Louisville 0. Ben Hendrickson pitched 6.1 scoreless innings, allowing only 3 hits and 3 walks. He struck out 4 and hit a batter…Scott Dohmann pitched the 9th for his 14th save…All of the offense came in the first inning on back-to-back home runs by Justin Ruggiano and Dan Johnson…John Jaso finished 1-3 and Reid Brignac was 0-3 with a pair of strikeouts.
Montgomery (off-day)
Vero Beach (off-day)
Greenville 5, Columbus 3. Greenville scored 3 in the top of the 9th off of Austin Hinkle for the win…Brian Flores started and allowed 2 runs in 6 innings…Chase Fontaine went 2-4 and hit his 2nd home run…Greg Sexton was 2-4 with a double and an RBI.
Hudson Valley 9, Aberdeen 2. Even though he was demoted to Hudson Valley, Glenn Gibson will apparently still work out of the bullpen, as he did yesterday pitching only two-thirds of an inning, striking out 1 and allowing 1 hit.
Pulaski 4, Princeton 2. Tim Beckham did not play.
NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…
- Despite his recent improvements, the Rays will not accelerate the return of Rocco Baldelli and will keep with their original plan, which is just to see how it goes. [Tampa Tribune]
- The New York Sun calls David Price, one of two top prospects in baseball that should be called up soon. [New York Sun]
- Rays Digest takes a look at the recent struggles of Vero Beach. [Rays Digest]
