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.
One year ago on Rays Index we offered Mets fans a consolation prize after Scott Kazmir signed an extension with the Rays.
Scott Kazmir Back To The Mets Has Now Been Postponed [Rays Index]
We don’t have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. The Rays suck right now. The Rays are playing like everybody’s scared of losing their job. The starters can’t even work five innings, the closer can’t protect a six-run lead, the all-star catcher can’t hit, the center fielder is not playing like an all-star and there’s nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there’s no end to it.
We know the Rays are hard to watch, and we sit watching our TV’s while Dewayne Staats tells us that today the Rays struck out 15 times and committed four errors, as if that’s the way it’s supposed to be.
We know things are bad – worse than bad. They’re crazy. It’s like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don’t watch after the sixth inning. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, ‘Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let us have our LOST and our Daily Show and our Conan O’Brien and we won’t say anything. Just don’t make us watch this shitty baseball team. But no, we have to watch.
And because we watch, all we know is we are mad. WE ARE MAD AS HELL AND WE ARE NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!
But we are not going to protest. We are not going to riot. We are not going to write our congressman. Heck we are not even going to open the window and yell.
We can live with one ugly loss. Heck we are Rays fans…we can live with a LOT of ugly losses. But if the Rays are going to play like the Devil Rays, well, then we are going to start calling them the Devil Rays.
From now, until the Tampa Bay Rays have a winning record, we will only refer to the team as the “Devil Rays.” The team wants to be “The Rays” and be the beacon of sunlight shining through The Trop’s roof? Then they better damn well stop playing like the bottom-dwelling fish.
And we will pay the fines. For every instance in which we use the team’s old moniker, we will donate $1 to the Tampa Bay Rays Foundation, until the team has a winning record, or the end of the season, whichever comes first.
But the team better not assume that we will be giddy because the money will go to a good cause. We are talking about our beer money and we don’t give that up without throwing a few punches.
By our count, we are already out $5 and the Devil Rays ($6) are still 4 games under .500. So this might add up.
Matt Garza made an appearance in yesterday’s “Pop Culture Grid” on SI.com (thanks Amanda). In this feature, various athletes are asked to complete a series of sentences.
For example, Garza was asked to complete the following: I cant believe ___ is dating _____….Garza’s response: I can’t believe Cameron Diaz isn’t dating Troy Percival.
That’s cute and all. But what left us dumbfounded was Garza’s response to the following: If I could steal one body part from a teammate it would be…
Garza’s response? It’s a doozy…
If I could steal one body part from a teammate it would be…Joe Nelson’s.. he knows what it is
If we are reading this right, and we would like to think we are, that was way too much information. We will never look at Nelson the same again.
Guess we have a premise for Nelson’s nickname. Let’s start the bidding at…
Two nights ago as the Rays were adding insurance runs we said the following on Twitter:
4-run lead now. Not even Percy can [bad bad word] this one up , right?
Luckily for us and the Rays, they actually built the lead up to 6 before Percival was called upon in the 9th inning. Because 5 batters later, he had surrendered 4 runs.
But listen to the quotes from Joe Maddon, and not only is he going to still run Percival out there, he’s going to do it more often.
We went a whole week without throwing him. He got hot once up in Boston, and that was it. You liked the idea that he’s not been overused in a sense, but I don’t like to have him so underused, either…Seven days not pitching was not good.
Joe Maddon, your Tampa Bay Rays manager. He would have complimented the captain of the Titanic on his mustache, after hitting the iceberg.
Percival undeterred by uneven results [MLB]
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: Zorilla! We wish we could better appreciate the season that he is having. 6 home runs in 75 at bats ain’t too shabby.
THE BAD: James Shields. When Shields retires and we look back on his career we will remember how he often gave up an early run or two, usually a home run, but then settled down and shut the opposition out over the next 6 or 7 innings. Last night, looked like it was going to be a gem. He survived his typical early scare in the first by getting out of a 1st and 3rd situation. He then cruised through the 2nd and 3rd with the greatest of ease. And then? 8 hits in the next 2 innings. And it wasn’t the home run. It was 6 singles and 2 doubles.
THE TELLING: Cleveland has the worst record in the AL…Pat Burrell, Carl Crawford and Dioner Navarro were all out of the lineup…This team is in trouble. They are at home with their ace on the hill and trailed 9-0 before a too-little-too-late rally. The Rays are now 6-8 at home after going 57-24 a year ago. If they are to match that mark, they would have to go 51-16 the rest of the way. Not likely.
SUNBURST PLAYER OF THE GAME: Ben Zobrist.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
Durham 11, Louisville 6. Durham trailed 5-0 early but scored 8 runs in the 3rd and 4th innings. Ray Sadler had the big blow, a 3-run home run in the 3rd…Justin Ruggiano was 3-3 with 2 walks. He scored 4 runs and drove in 3…Reid Brignac was 2-3 with a double and a walk and he scored 3 times…Jason Isringhausen gave up a run on a hit and a walk in 1 inning of work…Matt Joyce had the night off.
Montgomery 4, Mobile 2. Jason Cromer improved to 3-1 with Montgomery and 4-1 overall, working 7 innings and allowing 2 runs…Rhyne Hughes was 2-3 with a walk and hit his league-leading 12th home run. He also leads the SL with 31 RBI…Desmond Jennings was 1-3 with a walk. He scored twice.
Palm Beach 2, Charlotte 0. Jesse Darcy allowed 2 runs in 6 innings on 6 hits and no walks. He struck out 4…Charlotte managed only 3 hits, including 2 doubles by Ryan Royster.
Savannah 8, Bowling Green 1. After two straight strong starts, Matt Moore (above) struggled with his control last night. He was pulled after 2.2 innings after walking 6 batters and allowing 4 hits that led to 4 runs…Tim Beckham was 0-4 and is hitting .288.
Notes from Down on the Farm…
