[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Burrell’s Truffle Shuffle, Momentum And The ‘New’ Edwin Jackson
Ben Zobrist, Edwin Jackson, Fernando Perez April 24th. 2009, 7:08am
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: James Shields. Wasn’t Shields’ fault. The Rays owe him one at some point. Maybe one of those nights when he gives up 3 home runs. The offense owes Shields a 10-spot…More Golden D: There was another running grab by BJ Upton and there was the play Jason Bartlett made in the hole and somehow got rid of the ball quick enough and strong enough to get Ichiro. And there were the two plays Evan Longoria made in the sixth. The first was stopping a ground ball and making the throw from foul ground. Then he ended the same inning with a diving snag to his left…Pat Burrell. He hasn’t flashed the big bat yet, but it is a good sign that Burrell is still showing mastery of the strike zone. Yesterday he singled and walked 3 times. That tells us that The Bat is not slumping and the bombs aren’t far behind.
THE BAD: No Momentum. The offense learned the hard way that momentum is only as good as the next game’s starting pitcher. one day after scoring 9 runs and seemingly breaking out of their collective slump, the Rays were shutout…Pat Burrell tagging up. Burrell tagged up from second base on a ball in deep right-center. Watching Burrell “sprint” to third base was one of the more painful things we have seen in a while. Look at that pic above. Is he running or doing the “Truffle Shuffle”?…No O-Swing%. The Rays may be one of the best teams in baseball when it comes to not swinging at pitches out of the strike zone, but that didn’t stop Ben Zobrist from popping up ball-4 with 1 out in the 9th and the tying run on second.
THE TELLING: Ben Zobrist started his third straight game in right field…The Rays were only shutout 7 times in 2008. They have been shutout twice in 16 games this season…We watched a lot of Edwin Jackson last night, and that sure looked an awful lot like the Jackson we remember. He looked great for 3 innings and then had two bases loaded walks in the fourth. Maybe we can all simmer down about the “new” EJax.
SUNBURST PLAYER OF THE GAME: James Shields. Hold a team to 1 run on 4 hits and a walk, that should be a ‘W’.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Rays the Stakes has added a couple of new writers, and one of them has their first post up calling for Ben Zobrist to be the everyday right fielder. [Rays the Stakes]
- Fernando Perez has his latest blog post up for the New York Times. and t includes one of the best lines we have read in a while. [New York Times]
When asked about helping to carry the Rays championship banners: If it was really a big deal, you’d imagine the Rays would have gotten someone iconic or wise. Someone other than me. Maybe Bob Barker or Bono or something.
- For only the 22nd time in big league history, a 1-0 game was decided by a leadoff home run. [The Heater]
- Somebody at the St. Pete Times calls The Trop, one of “10 things that suck (but are secretly awesome) about life in Tampa Bay.”…We don’t even know what that means. [St. Pete Times]
- The Rays dropped to 7th in Tim Brown’s latest Power Rankings. [Yahoo! Sports]
Related posts:
The Rays are down to #19 in the SI power rankings.
Fernando Perez is a better writer than some people who are paid to write. If he were a columnist, I’d probably read his column every day.
Ben Zobrist is swinging a hot bat and really proving himself well at this point. However, he is not the Rays long term answer for Right Field. As of right now, Joyce is. Probably after June one of the Gabes will be let go or traded and Joyce will be brought up. When that happens Zobrist can go back to being a super utility man. I do have lot more respect for Ben Zobrist as a hitter, this year, that I have in the past.
As for the game. Those are going to happen. Give credit where credit is do and tip your cap to the M’s pitching. My goal for the Rays for this four game road trip is 5-4. Hopefully the rays can 4-3 and bring it back home to St. Pete where they can get on a role.
Had a similar thought when Burrell tagged up, though I was picturing Tom Tucker walking through the hallways of Quahog High in slow motion.
Prof, our lineup seems anemic.
First, should we be seriously worried yet?
Second, why aren’t they hitting? I thought our lineup was supposed to be a serious threat this year?
tough question. yesterday is explainable in that Felix Hernandez just pitched a great game. No shame in getting shut out by a pitcher like that when he is on his game. Now if it keeps up in the A’s series i will start getting worried. these are good hitters. there are a lot of hits left in those bats.
Nando can take over for John Romano, might make me read a paper’s sports-op articles again
Funny thing about your Edwin Jackson bias, he could throw 3 no hitters and this website would still say, “let’s just wait and see how things pan out”. Your coverage and dislike of Edwin Jackson is much like Skip Bayless against Lebron James. Lebron can win the MVP, and the NBA Championship, and Skip will still say, “He’s no Michael Jordan”. You guys are funny, I guess we have to see you continue to kiss Andy Sonnestine’s ass. The Horror.
obviously you dont come around here too often, bc we are one of the only Rays fans that actually liked Ejax. we have always said, Jackson will put it together one of these years and he will be great, win 20+ and contend for a Cy Young. BUT, that one year will be in a sea of 15 mediocre-to-bad seasons. The heartache of those other seasons is not worth the one good one.
On the contrary, I visit the site daily, and I enjoy the site. I don’t post often but I read the site daily. His walking problem from last year is no different than Kazmir’s, “I have to throw 49 pitches per Inning problem”, I think both pitchers show a lack of consistency.
I think his record from last year shows he’s coming around (even with Percy blowing 2 of his wins). Like you, I agree he’s putting his game together, but I don’t really see the 15 mediocre to bad seasons, I think he can be a quality pitcher in the league (barring injury), maybe not Roy Halliday, but a quality pitcher.