Sep 04
OK. Scott McClain was not on the opening day roster in 1998, but he did make his major league debut with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays that season. He appeared in 9 games, going 2-20. Eleven years later McClain hit his first major league home run with the San Francisco Giants.
It took Scott McClain 19 seasons to hit a major league home run. When he got his first one Wednesday, he soaked it in…McClain has been with seven major league organizations and played four years in Japan. He signed with San Francisco in January 2007 and hit .300 with 29 homers and 108 RBIs for Fresno this year.
After his cup-of-coffee with the Devil Rays, McClain would not be back in the majors until 2005 when he made a brief appearance with the Cubs, appearing in 13 games, then again last season with the Giants. But it wasn’t until after 2,062 games combined, between the minors and Japan, and 30 major league games that he hit his first big league home run.
At this rate, McClain will surpass Barry Bonds’ all-time home run mark in the year 9628.
McClain was originally drafted in the 22nd round way back in 1990 by the Baltimore Orioles. The top pick in this year’s draft, Tim Beckham, was 5 months old.
McClain was named the Devil Rays minor league player of the year in 1998.
After 19 seasons in minors, McClain hits first major league homer [ESPN]
Sep 04
Recently we noted that BJ Upton seemed to have lost some of his bat speed. We wondered if he was still experiencing pain from the shoulder injury he suffered earlier this year during a swing. And then this morning John Romano just casually mentions that Upton has a torn labrum in his shoulder and will need surgery this off-season.
Upton has a torn labrum in his left shoulder. It prevents him from swinging the bat with authority. It caused the shoulder to pop out of its socket in May, and it will require him to have surgery in the offseason.
Huh-wha?!?! How did we not know this? Why does Romano write that third paragraph as if it is just common knowledge? We went back and searched the archives to see if this had been reported earlier. Maybe we missed it…Nothing.
We had also wondered why Upton seemed to take so many fastballs this season despite having such quick wrists. Turns out Upton is afraid of aggravating the injury.
It is a subject Upton talks about reluctantly, and the Rays would prefer to keep it that way. It does no good to acknowledge one of the team’s centerpieces is in constant discomfort. Or that he occasionally lets pitches go by because he’s wary of certain angles when he swings.
When Upton is swinging well, he has one of the quickest bats in baseball. That is why a player as frail as Upton was able to hit 24 home runs last season despite missing a month of the season. This season he has 8.
“If I could swing the way I wanted to, there would be less doubles and more homers,” Upton said. “A lot of my doubles have been off the wall or they one-hop the wall. If I could have really put a full swing into it, I think the story would be a little different.”
I cannot emphasize enough how painful this must be for Upton. I once suffered the same injury. I couldn’t even lift my arm over my head without surgery.
Unfortunately for the Rays, other teams certainly are already aware of this. We are sure they know the pitch-locations that Upton avoids. That he is still able to maintain a solid OBP (.381) is testimony to just how great Upton can be.
Shoulder issue pains Rays’ Upton [St. Pete Times]
Sep 04
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 9 (They are a lock to make the playoffs) with 51.5%.
- The most common response for “Confidence in future of franchise” was 10 with 58.5%.
- 97.9% of respondents feel the Rays have a shot at the playoffs in 2008. That number is down from 99.0% a week ago.
Sep 04
THE BAD: Edwin Jackson. We had pointed out Nuke’s “Ace-like” performance in the second-half. Others noted that Jackson had just been lucky pitching out of a lot of jams. We didn’t think it was luck so much as Jackson just seems to pitch better from the stretch (helps his slider?). Of the Rays starting pitchers, only Jackson and Scott Kazmir have opponent OPS marks that are lower when runners on base. But last night Jackson struggled with runners on base. The Yankees were 7-13 with 4 doubles when Jackson threw from the stretch. Prior to last night, opponents had an .833 OPS when bases were empty versus .664 with runners on base…The Red Sox trailed 4-0 entering the 7th inning and rallied to beat the O’s. That might have been the Rays only chance to get help from Baltimore.
THE TELLING: Yes, the lead is “down” to 3, but it is still 4 in the loss column and that has always been our magic number. As long as the lead is 4 in the loss column, nothing can change in any one series. We promised ourselves that we would not panic until the lead in the loss column was reduced to 3. And there is still a lot of room between the Rays and the Twins (9 games in the loss column). With the Twins loss last night the magic number is now 17*. At this point, if the playoffs are the ultimate goal, this series makes little difference. To make the playoffs, the only series that truly matters is the 4-game set with the Twins in late September. If the Rays have not clinched a playoff spot by that point, winning just 1 or 2 of those games will probably seal the deal.
* The White Sox and Twins play each other 3 more times, so the second place team in the Central cannot win more than 99 games. So technically the Rays’ magic number is 16. We could choose to knock off the loss now, or we can choose to knock it off when it actually happens. We choose the latter.
DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…
- Instant replay was used for the “first time” in the 9th inning on an Alex Rodriguez home run. [Rays Report]
- Or was it?…Stacy Long reminds us last night was not the first use of instant replay in baseball. Rather it was the first authorized use of instant replay in baseball. [Biscuits' Batter]
- Earlier this week we wondered if we would see Evan Longoria at all on the upcoming road trip. That is starting to look more like a reality as days continue to pass without Dirtbag taking batting practice…This is just our own guess, but we don’t think Longoria will be back in the lineup until the Red Sox series at the Trop, September 15-17. [St. Pete Times]
- While Joe Maddon would prefer to give some of his regulars an occasional night off, injuries won’t allow that. Brittany Ghiroli reports that Maddon is instead allowing players to skip pregame batting practice and drills feeling that it is unnecessary this late in the season. [MLB]
- An 11-person committee has been convened to find alternate locations for the Rays new ballpark…Their priority appears to be Piniellas County, but there is some suggestion that they will also consider “possibly surrounding areas”. [Tampa Tribune]
- Joe Posnanski calls the Rays the “ultimate underdog” and takes a look at how the Rays got to where they are. [SI.com]
- Tim Dahlberg says everybody loves underdogs but wonders if anybody would love a Brewers-Rays World Series. [USA Today]
- The Blue Workhorse takes a look at the improbable comeback of Rocco Baldelli…which gets us to wondering, should Rocco be a leading candidate for Comeback Player of the Year? Isn’t Rocco the epitome of Comeback? [The Blue Workhorse]
- “Don’t think, it can only hurt the ball club.”- Jason Bartlett edition. [Tampa Tribune]
Sep 04
Durham 3, Louisville 0 (Durham leads best of 5, 1-0). David Price and 3 relievers combined on a 6-hit shutout. King David pitched the first 5 innings (only 92 pitches) striking out 6 and allowing 3 hits and 3 walks…Scott Dohmann pitched a perfect 9th inning for the save…The Bulls got all their offense from the long ball. Elliot Johnson hit a solo home run in the 5th. Dan Johnson and Chris Richard hit back-to-back solo shots in the 7th to put the game out of reach…Game 2 is tonight with Mitch Talbot going head-to-head with the Reds top prospect, Homer Bailey.
Brooklyn 9, Hudson Valley 6. Tim Beckham did not play.
NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…
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