Up until first pitch, 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). The commenter that correctly predicts who we will name the Sunburst Player of the Game the most times prior to the all-star game, will win two tickets to a second-half game. Runners-up get their choice of a t-shirt. [Click HERE for rules]
Check Marc Topkin’s blog for the starting lineups.
Here is a short three-minute interview with 2008 top pick Tim Beckham. From the context, it sounds as if the interview happened just prior to start of the regular season. The video appears to have been shot by Kige Ramsey of Deadspin fame, and about the 2:30 mark, you can here Kige chime in with a question of his own.
Is it just us, or did it sound like Beckham takes a none-too-subtle shot at the Rays spring home of Port Charlotte?
Yesterday morning, Peter Gammons appeared on ESPN Radio’s “Mike and Mike” show. Near the end of the interview, he was asked whether the Rays will feel pressured to promote David Price sooner than they planned. Gammons offered his prediction (if you have an Insider account, you can find the full interview here).
I think still May 1st was always sort of the goal.
Gammons sounded as if this was pure speculation and not based on insider information.
However, there is a problem with this prediction. Price already has 31 days of service time from last season. Once the Rays decided to keep Price in the minors to start the season, they might as well wait until they can delay his free agency clock before promoting him.
Based on our calculations, the Rays will gain an extra year before free agency if they wait until at least May 18 for Price’s promotion. A promotion on that date or after would give Price a maximum of 140 days of service time this season, and at most 171 days of service time at the end of the year. 172 days is considered a full season.
May 18 is the opening night of a home series against the Oakland A’s.
While service time may not have been a factor to start Price in the minors this season, it is silly to think it will not factor into the Rays decision if they are targeting a promotion in either May or June. If waiting two or three extra weeks, or 3-5 starts means Price will be pitching for the Rays in 2015 instead of for the Yankees, that is not being cheap. That is being smart.
The Rays Confidence Graph will appear every Thursday 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 week’s agida-level can be found after the graph..
Notes on the RI Confidence Graph…
Three years ago on Rays Index we declared our love for “The Fossum Flop.“ That is about the only thing we miss about Casey Fossum.
The Fossum Flop [Rays Index]
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.
click above image for boxscore
THE GOOD: Signs. The signs are there. The first 4 innings last night were the best 4 innings we have ever seen from Jeff Niemann. He looked great…Top O’ The Order To Ya. BJ Upton, Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria combined for 9 hits in 15 at bats with 2 walks, 5 runs scored and 4 RBI. Every position player had a hit except for Dioner Navarro…Plate Presence. Only 5 strikeouts and 8 walks is a good sign for a team that came in about 3-to-1 in the other direction (strikeouts to walks)…Shades of Bullpen Past. 3 relievers combined to throw 3.2 shutout innings, allowing 1 hit and 1 walk, striking out 4.
THE BAD: Falling Apart. Jeff Niemann has to give the Rays more than 5.1 innings last night. He was perfect through 4 and was staked to a big lead. Niemann can’t be walking batters on 4 pitches. And there is no reason for him to get so emotional with that lead. Settle down. Pitch to contact. Let the gold gloves take over. And for gosh sakes, give the bullpen a breather…Aggressive Indeed. We love aggressive baserunning, but last night the Rays had 3 players thrown out on the basepaths. Carl Crawford was out trying to tag up from first base. Carlos Pena was picked off first on the old fake-to-third play. And Ben Zobrist was caught trying to steal third.
THE TELLING: Can somebody please get the number for the sports psychologist that Matt Garza went to see last season? We think Jeff Niemann is going to need it…And for those that ask why we call Jeff Niemann, “The Giraffe.” Here is why.
SUNBURST PLAYER OF THE GAME: Carl Crawford. We were tempted to go with The Giraffe, but man, it was scary how quickly he fell apart mentally. It is a little too easy to get inside his head. He may not show it the way Matt Garza used to, but it looks just as bad, maybe worse. So instead we go with CC who was the spark plug last night with 4 hits and 3 runs. It seemed like every time we looked up Crawford was wheeling around third base and heading home.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
“Of course you’re going to get questioned on different things based on the fact that we’re doing something a little bit different in a sense,” said Rays manager Joe Maddon, “but I think the results have actually been very good to this point.”
Durham 6, Gwinnett 2. Wade Davis retired 9 of the first 10 batters he faced and allowed 2 runs on 3 hits and 3 walks in 5 innings. He struck out 2… Chris Richard had a big night with a pair of home runs in his first two plate appearances, a 3-run shot in the first and a 2-run blast in the third…Reid Brignac was 1-5 and is hitting .264…Adam Kennedy was 1-2 with a pair of walks and now has a .391 OBP…Matt Joyce was given the night off.
Mobile 12, Montgomery 2. Heath Rollins dropped to 1-1 after giving up 6 runs (5 earned) in 4.2 innings…Chris Mason continues to struggle in relief, giving up 3 more runs in 1.1 innings. He has now allowed 8 runs in 9 innings…Desmond Jennings was 1-3 with his 2nd home run.
Charlotte 7, Sarasota 4. Jesse Darcy was touched for 4 runs (3 earned) in 5.1 innings…Six different Stone Crabs had at least 2 hits. Shawn O’Malley led the way with a 4-5 night including a double and a triple.
Bowling Green 11, West Virginia 4. Shane Dyer gave up 4 runs (2 earned) in 5 innings…Jake Jefferies was 1-5 with 2 RBI and Henry Wrigley hit a solo home run…Tim Beckham had the night off.
Notes from Down on the Farm…
