[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Kennedy’s Brief Tenure, Burrell’s Fear Of Big Babies And Kid K’s Mechanics
Adam Kennedy, Carl Crawford, Scott Kazmir, Shawn Riggans May 11th. 2009, 7:44am
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
No GBT today as we are a little under the weather. Comments are back on line so feel free to leave your GBTs there and of course we will be restarting the “Sunburst PoG” tomorrow.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- The Rays traded Adam Kennedy to the A’s for minor leaguer Joe Dillon. Kennedy was originally invited to spring training on a minor league deal but did not make the team out of spring training and accepted an assignment to Durham. Dillon is a 33-year old journeyman minor leaguer that has played 122 games in parts of 3 seasons with the Marlins and Brewers. [Yahoo! Sports]
- Joe Maddon called Scott Kazmir’s performance from Saturday “very positive” and Kazmir said he was doing a better job of repeating his mechanics. [St. Pete Times]
- Both the Rays and Scott Kazmir want to make it clear, there is nothing wrong with Kazmir’s arm. [St. Pete Times]
- Pat Burrell got a little spooked last night by a Big Baby. [Sox and Dawgs]
- In case you missed it in the early edition, Shawn Riggans had his rehab assignment cut short and will visit Dr. James Andrews, which is never a good sign. [Montgomery Advertiser]
- Carl Crawford tied the Rays franchise record for career RBI. [The Heater]
- The shoes Carl Crawford wore on the day he tied the record for 6 steals in one game were sent to the Hall-of-Fame and just happened to be added to the Rays exhibit on the day Ricky Henderson was being given a tour. [MLB]
- Speaking of shoes, it took a protest from Joe Nelson, whose mom is a breast cancer survivor, in order for the Rays to be able to wear the pink-accented shoes last night because the original charity of choice was not sanctioned by MLB. [Tampa Tribune]
- Jesse Spector interviewed Gabe Kapler for the New York Daily News about some of the “best” things in his life. [Daily News]
- It is fun to look at what kind of pace players are on this time of year. Nobody thinks it will happen, but it is interesting to point out that Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena are on pace to break the record for most RBI by a pair of teammates. The record is 347 but a couple of guys you may have heard of, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. [Baseball Musings]
- The campaign manager for one of the mayoral candidates has been fired for handing out Rays tickets. [St. Pete Times]
- The Rays are #8 in the latest Yahoo! Sports power rankings. [Yahoo!]
- In the MSN Travel Guide Tampa comes in at #2 for the “Best Destinations for Summer 2009,” and attending a Rays game is given as one of the reasons. (thanks Sarah) [MSN Travel]
- Sid Hartman of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune notes that Delmon Young and Brendan Harris are starting to contribute for the Twins and the oft-talked about trade may not end up as lopsided as it has appeared. [Minneapolis Star-Tribune]
Related posts:
THE GOOD: It seems like slowly but surely, Pat Burrell is coming around. He’s starting to get RBI even if the extra base hits aren’t there yet.
THE BAD: It is completely inexcusable for a major league team to have a runner on third with NO OUTS and not get that run home. I don’t care if you’re wrapped in a straitjacket and your bat is on fire.
THE TELLING: I got to attend the 14-5 win on Saturday. There were lots of Rays fans in the next section over, including the most adorable toddler to ever grace a Carl Crawford shirt. That child got to witness Pat Burrell’s stolen base – it’s possible no one else in her lifetime will ever see such a spectacle.
The schedule gets a little easier with 10 straight games against last place teams. But you can’t blame the Rays for losing the series at Fenway.
couldn’t put one ball in play, pena and upton then crawford struck out. They also gave the Red Sox two more runs with that pop fly by Aki or Zobrist and Willie throwing the ball to home, you know Pena makes that play. Still the Rays are playing a lot better hopefully they carry it into their next games and start gaining ground.
I was there, too. And right in the first row. I got to watch myself on TV and everything. Unfortunately, you couldn’t see my Rays gear on the TV. Didn’t see too many Rays fans, but there were at least 3 of us in the lower section behind homeplate. Great choice of games.
Nice. I was in the right-center bleachers about 20 rows behind the Red Sox bullpen. Funniest thing I heard all night was a very upset lady to my right yelling “Lugo, rot in hell!!!”
It was a great game though. Weather was great despite the clouds, and as much as I am not a Sox fan, I really do like Fenway Park.
when I saw the headline I thought Kevin Kennedy was fired. Damn you for getting my hopes up.
How doesn’t Tom Foley send Aki home on Bartlett’s single? I’ve been down on Foley as a 3B coach for years. Too many holds. Switch him to 1B (I know he is a good guy and invaluable on the staff) and get me somebody who wants to press the action. Have to tie the game, force a throw, get Bartlett to 2nd.
Upside is they are having “good” losses again — rarely blown out, always fighting in the last 2 weeks. That looks like the 2008 team and will ultimately even out now that we don’t see Boston for a few months.
You couldn’t see it because of the camera angle, but Aki held up for a second to make sure the ball fell in… atleast that’s what the commentators said
They showed a wider camera angle, you’re right, Aki held 15-20 feet past second to make sure the ball fell in. Aki would’ve been thrown out had he attempted to go home.
In the loss with the Red Sox, at least we have some humor from Minnesota – “last year’s traded wasn’t so bad for the Twins.”
Let’s look it up:
2009 Season: Wins Above Replacement Player -
TB: Garza & Bartlett: 2.5
Min: B. Harris & D. Young: 0.1
The trade is looking more lopsided than ever.
The Twins insist on playing Young in LF where he is dreadful and Harris will never be more than a backup in MN. Garza wasn’t well liked by the Twins staff so they kind of had to move him, but I’m betting they wish they had made a different trade.
More numbers that I found from that trade:
2009:
AVG/OBP/SLG
Pride (AAA) .260/.281/.301
Harris .286/.333/.413
Young .288/.333/.338
Bartlett .351/.390/.509
W-L/ERA/WHIP
Garza 3-2/3.56/1.04
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