This gameday open thread will have two parts and it is all user-generated…
WIN TICKETS! Part 1 of the GBT open thread will be your predictions for the Sunburst Player of the Game.
Use the comments section to predict who you think will be the Sunburst Player of the Game (be sure to use a valid email address while leaving the comment).
Every morning in “The Hangover” we will pick the Sunburst Player of the Game.
You can leave your selection anytime up until the first pitch of the game..
The commenter that correctly picks the most Sunburst Players of the Game prior to the All-Star break will win Two (2) tickets to a Rays game in the second half of the season (if you do not live close enough to a game, you can instead choose Two (2) T-shirts from the Rays Index store.
The commenters that finish with the second and third most correct choices will win their choice of a t-shirt from the Rays Index Store.
In the event of any ties, we will play sudden death in the games immediately following the All-Star break.
Your GBTs. Part 2 of the GBT open thread will be your thoughts during that day’s game of what you think is The Good, The Bad and/or The Telling.
Every morning in “The Hangover” we give our thoughts on what we thought were the more important moments of the game from the day before and whether those moments were Good, Bad or Telling (something that teaches us about the players, coaches or the team).
The comments section on this post will be your chance to offer your thoughts on what the Good, Bad and Telling moments of the game are.
Below you will see two polls that ask about your confidence in the Tampa Bay Rays. We will present these same polls every Tuesday. The results will be presented in graphical form on Thursday, 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.
Raysiverse events of the past week that could impact confidence levels…
Time to bring back the GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe.
THE GOOD: No Rays, but watching the O’s beat up on the Yankees and CC Sabathia was a nice replacement. Sabathia getting pounded was good for the Rays and for Mankind.
THE BAD: Having to wait one more day for the Rays opening day.
THE TELLING: Yesterday was the first opening day rainout in franchise history.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
Marc Topkin looks at how the MLB schedule is generated and why the Rays had to open on the road, noting that the schedule was put together last summer before anybody knew who would win the AL…And of course, we would never expect MLB to tell you they are doing it to maximize revenues, which was the reason we proposed yesterday. And there have been plenty of people smarter than us, that say it is ALL about maximizing revenues. [St. Pete Times]
David Brown of Big League Stew interviewed Joe Maddon. In the interview Maddon talks about being Mark Twain for a day, what could get him to ride his bike coast-to-coast, eradicating assumptionism and wearing contacts. [Big League Stew]
Vince Naimoli, who still owns about 25% of the Rays, has put his $14 million home up for sale. [Tampa Tribune]
Jonah Keri (if you are not familiar with his work, we highly recommend) has picked the Rays to win the AL East. [JonahKeri.com]
Meanwhile, that bum Rob Neyer has the Rays third in the AL East (we kid cuz we care). [ESPN]
Joe Maddon spoke with reporters about having to play opening day at Fenway Park, and was able to once again break out his Elmer Fudd cap while doing so. [Boston Globe]
Jeff Niemann talks about winning the fifth spot in the rotation. [Tampa Tribune]
Around the Majors analyzes the Jason Hammel trade. [Around the Majors]
The Rays Party has pieced together an organizational depth chart. [The Rays Party]
Former first-round pick Dewon Brazelton has signed with an independent league team. [Montgomery Advertiser]
