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[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Near Perfection For Garza, A Career Night For Hernandez And MVP Chants For Dirtbag
Andy Sonnanstine, Evan Longoria, Matt Garza, Michel Hernandez, Rocco Baldelli May 1st. 2009, 7:30am
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: The Garza Complex. When he is on, is there a better pitcher in baseball? In fact, when he is on, he is as close to Pedro Martinez in his prime, as you will ever see. mid-90′s with nasty movement and pinpoint control. Unhittable…Dirtbag Cometh. MVP!-MVP!-MVP!…Michel Hernandez. How safe is Shawn Riggans’ job? Hernandez is 6-14 and obviously Matt Garza likes throwing to him.
THE BAD: Timing. What inning did Matt Garza lose his perfect game? That would be the 7th. Now check this headline. And Marc Lancaster does not get a pass for his TweetJinx. We know you guys have a job to do, but would it kill you to dance around the wording a little better?…Jason Bartlett. Barty, who left Wednesday night’s game with a sore hamstring, was in the lineup but was noticeably limping.
THE TELLING: Matt Garza has had a few of these dominating performances with the Rays. We will say it again. If a Rays pitcher is going to throw a no-hitter, it will be Garza. And we will now add that if Garza ever throws a no-hitter, Dioner Navarro will not be behind the plate. Three times now, Garza has taken a 1-hitter or 2-hitter deep into a game. Each time, Navarro was on the bench…Both teams did not arrive in Florida last night until about 4:00am.
SUNBURST PLAYER OF THE GAME: Matt Garza and Evan Longoria. Don’t get used to this, but we couldn’t pull ourselves to not honor Longoria. Besides as big a win as last night deserves two Sunbursts.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe takes a look at the transformation of Matt Garza from the doghouse to bulldog. [Boston Globe]
Garza fights himself sometimes. “When he wakes up in the morning he’s amped up,” said Rays manager Joe Maddon. “So the key is to get him to stick to a game plan. That’s what he did last night.”
- Red Sox Monster calls last night’s game, the worst loss of the season. [Red Sox Monster]
- Joey Johnston takes a look at the long road Michel Hernandez took from fleeing Cuba, to the biggest night of his baseball career. [Tampa Tribune]
- Andy Sonnanstine feels that he is throwing as well as ever, but that he just needs to fight through the struggles. [St. Pete Times]
- One player that is missing from this series is Rocco Baldelli, who says The Trop was always good to him. [Tampa Tribune]
- Alden Gonzalez updates the rehabs for Shawn Riggans and Chad Bradford. Bradford is likely to throw batting practice on Sunday. [Rays Plays]
- John Romano does not see any quick fixes and feels the only thing that will get the Rays out of last place is patience, something the Rays excel at. [St. Pete Times]
- Around the Majors hands out some hardware for the month of April, giving the AL MVP to Evan Longoria. [Around the Majors]
- Rays the Stakes provides the reasoning behind the players they chose for the Tampa Bay Rays Trade Pool. [Rays the Stakes]
- In a slight modification to protocol, the Top 177 Devil Rays ever is now a Friday feature and will include 4 players each week. Up this week are #112-109. It is always fun if you try to name the players before looking at the names. [Bugs and Cranks]
Related posts:
- [THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss MVP Chants For Longoria, Heartburn Chants For Percy And The Garza Complex
- [THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Sonny’s Dying Career, Brignac’s Playing Time And Dirtbag In The Mid-Summer Classic
- [THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss A Bad Night For Kazmir And Yet Another Good Night For Bartlett
Rays continue their feast or famine approach. I have a feeling that tonight is going to be a 9-7 type of game. Hopefully the Duke can keep the ball down.
I think Hernandez deserves another start tonight after a career game last night. I don’t think he will even get a hit if he does start but it will give Navarro a much needed mental break after his poor defense in the series in Minnesota.
I couldn’t possibly agree more.
It would work twofold; one, it would reward Hernandez for a great game and two, it would remind Navi that he can’t just cruise through the season like he’s the only catcher worthy of starting.
Great point.
I too vote: !No Mas! Navarro. Not until he sits for a while. Hernandez should play, even if he had been 0 for last night, he caught last night’s game well…smoother behind the plate. Navarro did not look good even sitting on the bench…something not right there.
Agreed. Navi hasn’t swung the bat at any point this season like Michael did last night. I know Navi is an “all-star” catcher, but Michel is swinging a bigger stick than Navi is. Not to mention he looked pretty good behind the plate, with a couple of txt book blocks. Of course its easy when your guys is hitting his spots all night. To think Navi went to arbitration this off season…
Can’t dismiss Garza’s performance but that double by Longo was HUGE. If the Rays don’t score there, I don’t know if the Rays score all night bc of the ways the offense have been going it would have been demoralizing, and everybody would probably start pressing.
I am hoping we can look back on that at bat as the one that sparked the offense.
Didn’t Lancaster jinx somebody (probably Garza again) that was throwing a no-hitter last year too? Unbelievable. A Boston friend sent me a text in the fifth inning last night and I knew what he was trying to do so I didn’t even look at it. Don’t these reporters know any better?
Yeah, it was Garza during the game v. the Marlins