Sep 15
Archive for September 15th, 2008
Sep 15
FIRST INNING
A look back…
Last week Joe Maddon, with the off-day, switched James Shields and Matt Garza in the rotation. Garza was to pitch on Friday on normal rest, with Shields going on Saturday with 6 days rest. However, because of the rain-out on Friday, both pitched on Saturday. Now, Garza has to come back on Wednesday on 3-days rest…Would Maddon have been better off just skipping Garza on Saturday?
With the double-header, the Rays now have 6 games in 5 days, which means somebody has to pitch on 3-days rest. Unless, Maddon decided to use somebody else for one of the starts. It does seem like Maddon is being a little greedy trying to stick to his normal 5-man rotation in this situation. Whether it was the Saturday start or the Wednesday start, one should probably have gone to one of David Price/Jeff Niemann/Mitch Talbot…NOT LIKE MADDON TO OVER-REACH WITH HIS STARTERS
SECOND INNING
Headlines…
Outs Per Swing was adamant that David Price should be in the rotation in place of Edwin Jackson…Isn’t this just a knee-jerk reaction to just one start?
Normally we would say “yes”. Just as you can’t judge a baseball team on one game, it is nearly impossible to get a complete picture of a starting pitcher in one start. But there was something about watching King David on the mound. It was more than the “stuff”, which is electric. He has a poise on the mound. A “presence” that is undeniable. The Rays only need 4 starting pitchers in the post-season, and it would not bother us if Price is the 4th starter ahead of both Edwin Jackson and Andy Sonnanstine. We think both of those pitchers have made great strides and if the chips fall the right way, either could win a post-season game. But we would have much more confidence in Price…WE HOPE JOE MADDON AGREES
THIRD INNING
Headlines…
On Wednesday, Matt Garza will start against the Red Sox on 3 days rest…Is this a good idea?
Pick your poison. Garza on 3 days rest or Niemann making his first big league start in 5 months or Talbot making his first major league start. EVER. We guess that Garza is the best option, but we don’t like a young pitcher working on short rest, especially this late in the season and this close to the playoffs. We probably would have gone with a committee start. Give 4-5 pitchers 1-3 innings each. But in the end, none of the options are very appealing…NO, BUT WE DON’T HAVE A BETTER ONE
FOURTH INNING
Headlines…
Troy Percival says he is taking some new muscle relaxers and is now ready to start closing again…Would Joe Maddon just throw him back out there and should we be worried?
Papa Joe is loyal to his players, but he is rarely loyal “to a fault.” Twice this season, Maddon has pulled Percy from a game against his will. We have a feeling that this time around we will see Percival in at least one non-save situation. Most likely a game in which the Rays are trailing in the 9th inning. If Percival can come out of that appearance unscathed, then he will get the job back. But the games are too important right now. Percival has to show he is ready…WE HOPE NOT
FIFTH INNING
Headlines…
[RAIN DELAY: Queue the reruns of "Home Run Derby"]
SIXTH INNING
A look outside the box…
With the Rays facing the Red Sox…what other series should RAYSHEADS watch closely?
There are other games this week? We thought the Trop was the center of the baseball universe this week. OK, OK. The only other series that matters it the Twins in Cleveland. The magic number for a playoff spot is now 8. If the Rays can win 1 or 2 against the Sox and the Twins drop 1 or 2 against the Indians, the Rays will be in a position to clinch their first-ever playoff spot this upcoming weekend when the Twins come to the Trop. On a side note, the Yankees tragic number is 5. Playing at home against the White Sox, the Pinstripers are on the verge of elimination…TWINS @ INDIANS
SEVENTH INNING
Over/Unders…
Starts for Willy Aybar in this series: 1.5
Aybar has been one of the Rays best weapons over the past month. With Evan Longoria back, Joe Maddon will have to be creative to get Aybar playing time. Aybar has been much stronger as a right-handed batter this season. With Fernando Perez and Ben Zobrist (both switch-hitters) batting right-handed against Mike Mussina, we wonder if Aybar might be in the lineup against Wakefield, batting right-handed. Many switch-hitters prefer to bat right-handed against the knuckleballer. But other than that game, we are not sure that Aybar will get a start in the first two games of the series, both featuring righties…UNDER
Post-season starts for Fernando Perez: 0.5
Perez was promoted in time to qualify for the post-season roster, and he is already getting much more playing time than we or Joe Maddon would have thought. The only concern is the return of Carl Crawford. Will Maddon need Perez if CC is back playing everyday? We still think Papa Joe has seen enough and Perez is now part of the regular rotation…OVER
Post-season starts for David Price: 0.5
We think Joe Maddon will need to see one more start, but you know the thought has crossed his mind once or twice since Price fired that first fastball on Sunday…OVER
Wins for the Rays versus the Red Sox in this series: 1.5
This could be an ugly series. Scott Kazmir versus Daisuke Matsuzaka is a toss-up, but Andy Sonnanstine against Josh Beckett is tough and Matt Garza on 3 days rest against the Rays-Killer Tim Wakefield is not much better. The good news is, the Rays only need 1 win to maintain a lead in the loss column…UNDER
EIGHTH INNING
On deck…
It seems that every time the Rays play the Red Sox now, many call it the “most important series in franchise history”…Is this series the most important in franchise history?
We still think the sweep of the Red Sox back in late June was bigger. The Rays entered that series with a half-game lead over the Red Sox. That was supposed to be the series that put the Rays in their place. Instead they made clear to not only the Red Sox, but also to the rest of baseball and most importantly, to themselves, that they were in this for the long-haul. The second most important series was the Toronto series right after the all-star break. The Rays entered the break losers of 7-straight. Most were saying that the clock was about to strike midnight for the upstart Rays. Don’t get us wrong. This series is very important, but the Rays are going to the playoffs even if they are swept in this series. And after winning 2 of 3 in Boston last week, not even a sweep could hurt the confidence of this squad…NO
NINTH INNING
Putting out the fire…
Bugs and Cranks produced pictures of Evan Longoria and BJ Upton, in their new Mohawk hairdos…Who looks worse?
This is an easy one. Dirtbag looks like something out of “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome“…We once wrote that if we had a daughter, we would let Longoria marry her. We immediately regret that decision…EVAN LONGORIA
Bugs and Cranks also has the new postseason commercial from Fox featuring Evan Longoria, Carlos Pena and the Rays…Too soon?
Fox knows the Rays exist? We are surprised they are not still featuring the New York Roadkills…HELL NO, THERE IS ONLY ONE OCTOBER WHICH IS UNFORTUNATE SINCE IT HAS THE PLAYOFFS, OCTOBERFEST AND HALLOWEEN
Her Rays has an image of several Rays dressed in costumes, some in drag…Who has the best costume?
OUR EYES!!…OUR EYES!!
Drink of choice for the Red Sox series?
In an attempt to determine what the “Opposite of Sam Adams” would be, we recalled that Sam Adams (the person) was a key leader in the events that led to the Boston Tea Party. So obviously we should go British. Our favorite English beer is…BODDINGTON’S
Sep 15
[THE HANGOVER] Percival Is Back, Upton And Longoria Have Mohawks And Maddon Ready To Get Freaky; Hide The Children
BJ Upton, David Price, Evan Longoria, Grant Balfour, Jason Bartlett, Joe Maddon, Matt Garza, Raul Ibanez, Troy Percival No Comments »
THE GOOD: David Price. Price said he was so nervous that he had trouble breathing in the first inning and when he started warming up, his first 20 throws missed the strike zone. But he somehow managed to quell the nerves as he made his big league debut in the 3rd inning and retired the side on 7 pitches including an inning-ending strikeout of Ivan Rodriguez. He retired the first 6 batters he faced before giving up a solo, wind-aided, home run to Derek Jeter …Fernando Perez is fast like rabbit and he has a little pop in the bat. Dude can fly, beating out another infield single. And his 3-run home run on a tough inside fastball in the 2nd inning kept the Rays in the game, at least for a little while.
THE BAD: The wind, mixed with Edwin Jackson’s fastball up in the zone. Jackson gave up 2 home runs in the first 2 innings, a grand slam to Alex Rodriguez and a 2-run shot to Jason Giambi’s mustache. The wind appeared to be really blowing out, of course that just meant the Giambi blast landed in the upper deck instead of the lower deck.
THE TELLING: With 87 pitches thrown, David Price will not be available to pitch again until Thursday or Friday. If he is to start one game in the September 23 double-header on a full 4-days rest, he cannot pitch after Thursday. In other words, Price will likely only be available to throw a couple of innings on Thursday or Friday between now and September 23.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Matt Garza will likely start Wednesday on 3 days rest. [MLB]
- BJ Upton will try to be available during this series with the Red Sox and Troy Percival is on new muscle relaxers which help his back. He says he is now available to close again…Hide the children. [St. Pete Times]
- Yesterday we mentioned that Evan Longoria and BJ Upton decided in between games on Saturday to get haircuts. But not just a regular haircut. They went with Mohawks. We asked for pictures and David Chalk came through as usual…Hide the children as we await HerRays’ reaction. [Bugs and Cranks; Longoria; Upton]
- While winning the division is still the goal, Joe Maddon insists that the Rays will celebrate if and when they clinch a playoff spot. Maddon even says he’ll “go freaky”…Hide the children, again. [Sportsline]
- Outs Per Swing wants David Price to take Edwin Jackson’s spot in the rotation immediately, noting that they have seen enough from Jackson…We agree. But keep in mind that only 4 starters are needed in the playoffs. Should Price be in the rotation over Jackson and Andy Sonnanstine? It wouldn’t take much to convince us. [Outs Per Swing]
- Joe Maddon says David Price is reassuring, “Like a handkerchief.” [New York Times]
- John Perrotto of Baseball Prospectus throws in this little gem towards the end of a long piece: “Left fielder Raul Ibanez is unlikely to return to the Mariners as a free agent, and is a good bet to land with the Rays as their designated hitter in 2009.“…Other than the fact that the Rays already have several DH-quality left handed bats, the real reason why there is about a 0.01% chance of this happening is Ibanez is a Type-A free agent. It seems highly unlikely that the Rays will spend the type of money that Ibanez will command and a first-round draft pick on a player that will only DH against right-handed pitchers. [Baseball Prospectus]
- Ever wonder why so many of the players that the Rays Designate For Assignment choose to accept their minor league assignments (ie. Grant Balfour back in Spring Training)? It might be because the Rays are willing to overpay for their minor league services, giving them more money than other teams may be willing to pay a guy who is going to triple-A. The benefit for the Rays is a triple-A ballclub filled with veteran players, many of whom came in handy when injuries kept occurring on the big league club. [St. Pete Times]
- Rays from across the pond explores “The Rays Effect”. [Rays from across the pond]
- MVN Outsider takes a look at 10 moves made by GMs that affected this season’s pennant races. #5 is the Rays’ acquisition of Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett. [MVN Outsider]
- For those that think the Saturday night sell-outs were due only to the post-game concerts, need only see the attendance for a recent D-Backs post-game concert featuring Jessica Simpson. The stadium might have been half full for the concert of an act that is arguably a bigger name than any of the acts that performed at the Trop… Excluding MC Hammer of course. [Deadspin]
Sep 15
[RAYS INDEX POLICY SHIFT] In The End, We All Lose
DRaysBay, Things that don't end well 26 Comments »The following post is not baseball related. If this bothers you, please do not read. “The Hangover” will be up shortly, and we can all get back to more important matters…kicking the Sox asses.
I would much prefer to discuss this in the comments section at DRays Bay, but I cannot. I have been banned from commenting at DRays Bay. Seriously. Why? Apparently because I disagreed with the author and tried to have a discussion on the matter within the comments section of their site.
For the few of you that actually give a crap, you can see the entire thread HERE.
The worst thing I said was to point out that 29 general managers disagreed with the author. In return I was falsely accused of plagiarism by Editor-In-Chief RJ Anderson.
Also nice touch on the GM line. Completely original, did you see that one on Deadspin too?–R.J. Anderson implying that everything on Rays Index is stolen/copied from Deadspin.com. This is not the first time I have been accused of this by R.J. Anderson.
Later I was referred to as “numbnuts” by the same guy (“Vin“) who is apparently worthy of being a comment moderator.
You have your own blog for that, numbnuts–Vin’s response to my assertion that “I was just trying to talk baseball”
The “D” must stand for “Irony”.
Over the years I have been openly critical of DRays Bay on about 4 or 5 occasions. Most of the times that we disagreed with assertions that they made about baseball-related matters, our policy has been to limit our disagreements to the comments section on DRays Bay. Even the times when they stated something that was blatantly wrong, I chose to comment on their site, rather than nitpick their posts on this site.
Only a handful of times in three years have I felt that they wrote something that required me to step away from that policy. Those were usually for the times when they stepped away from talking about baseball. Like the time one writer called Rays fans “dumb” or another time when a writer called Rays fans “morons”. And one time we poked a little fun at them for their dramatic decision to commit themselves to the Rays new color scheme.
That is three posts out of several thousand posts on DRays Bay in the past three years.
On the other hand we have posted positive or neutral reactions to their site hundreds of times. One time we even dedicated an entire post to defending RJ Anderson against some belittling comments made by a member of the mainstream media.
I expressed my concerns about the above comments on DRays Bay to RJ Anderson in an email. His response was to ban me from the site. So now if there is a post on DRays Bay that I feel needs a comment, correction or clarification, I will have to find a new venue to make my point. I will have to post any future comments in a more public forum. Here.
As they say…The gloves have come off.
