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.
From time to time we are going to take a look at the 2009 attendance and see how the 2009 season stacks up against last year and whether the Rays can reach their goal of being average (in attendance).
Notes on the attendance follow the graph…
Notes on the 2009 attendance…
[Ed. note: the son of the fan in question is six years old]
This morning we gave Troy Percival a bit of a pass because we were not certain that his antics following Sunday’s game were directed at a fan. However, several sources informed us that Percival was indeed directing his rant and obscenities at the fan.
To recap: With two outs in the ninth inning, Evan Longoria leaned into the stands to catch a foul ball that was ultimately caught by a fan sitting in the third row. While we understood Longoria’s frustration, we thought his reaction was a little over the top.
But what is absolutely inexcusable was the behavior of Percival. Several moments after the final out, Percival gestured toward the fan and yelled at least one obscenity in a fit of rage.
No matter what you feel is the proper etiquette of the fan in that situation, keep in mind that the fan did nothing illegal, and he did not intentionally interfere with the game. It may have been wrong, but it was at worst, an innocent mistake.
Under absolutely no circumstances is it acceptable for a major league baseball player to scream obscenities at a fan.
It is definitely unacceptable to scream obscenities at your own fans.
And it is downright unforgivable to scream obscenities at a fan who is standing with his young son.
While Longoria’s actions could be considered, “in the heat of the moment,” Percival’s came a couple of minutes later and were clearly premeditated.
If Percival is not suspended or at least fined by Major League Baseball or the Tampa Bay Rays it sends the wrong message to the fans and it will leave an ugly taste in our mouth.
And to Mr. Percival: You are an embarrassment. You haven’t done squat for this team in almost a year, so don’t think your hall-of-fame career has earned you any free passes with us. And last time we checked YOU have cost the Rays a hell of a lot more wins than that one fan.
Last week’s Rays Confidence Graph results.
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.
click above image for boxscore
THE GOOD: Evan Longoria. Hit his 8th home run in the first inning.
THE BAD: Scott Kazmir. It is never the home run that kills you. It is the walk, or in this case, the walks (2) before the home run…Joe Maddon’s Faith In Joe Nelson. We are not sure what Maddon saw in Nelson in the 7th inning that convinced him that Nelson was a good choice for the 8th inning. Maybe it was the walk or the double or the stolen bases…Carlos Pena. He must have left his gold glove at home as he committed 2 errors in a game for the first time since 2003…Dioner Navarro. We appreciate that he is trying to help, but is he so lost that he won’t even try to get a basehit? It seems like he is bunting every time up…BJ Upton. Amazingly, Navarro doesn’t even have the worst batting average in the lineup. That belongs to Bossman who is now hitting .152 after an 0-5…Grant Balfour. Maybe he was holding back in an 8-4 ballgame. But The Mad Australian’s velocity was once again down in the 90-92 range. He pitched 4 perfect outs last night, but this has to be worrisome moving forward.
THE TELLING: Pat Burrell had the day off after being hit in the ribs with a pitch on Sunday.
SUNBURST PLAYER OF THE GAME: Evan Longoria.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
“I know the sabermetrics, in regard to how ineffective base-stealing actually is, but I disagree because I don’t think you can evaluate the importance of it just based on if you’re successful or not,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. “It’s about the mind-set. It’s about what you do to the other team, it’s about the better pitch you get as a hitter at a specific moment, it’s about the pressure applied on the defense, it’s about the error that you create, it’s about the extra bases you take. There are so many other ways to look at it…It is really generalizing one little bucket way too easily, and I never really agreed with that component of the numerical world.”
Charlotte 8, Durham 3. Carlos Hernandez allowed 5 runs in 4.2 innings and has now given up 15 runs in his last 13.1 innings…Reid Brignac was 2-4 with an RBI…Matt Joyce was 0-4 with 1 K and Justin Ruggiano was 1-4 with 2 Ks.
Montgomery 3, Mississippi 1 (gm 1). Ryan Morse held Mississippi to 1 run in 5 innings on 2 hits a walk…Desmond Jennings will not be in double-A long if he keeps this up. He had 3 more hits in 5 at bats and 2 more steals. He is now hitting .380 with a .418 OBP…Rhyne Hughes was 0-3 with 2 Ks and now has 17 in the past 8 games.
Montgomery, Mississippi (gm 2). Jason Cromer allowed just 1 run in 5 innings on 6 hits and a walk…And Desmond Jennings had 3 more hits in the night cap. He was 6-9 in the double-header to raise his average to .394…Rhyne Hughes was 0-2 with only 1 strikeout in the nightcap. A minor victory for him.
Charlotte 10, Jupiter 8. Jeremy Hall allowed 3 runs (2 earned) in 4 innings…Matt Fields and Cody Cipriano hit back-to-back home runs in the first as the Stone Crabs led 7-0 after 2 innings. It was the second night in a row that Cipriano homered.
Bowling Green @ Rome (ppd. rain).
Notes from Down on the Farm…
