2009 June 07 | Rays Index

Jun 07

Two Years Ago On Rays Index

The Archives Cork Gaines 1 Comment »

Two years ago on Rays Index we visited Joe Maddon at home*.

Papa Joe And His Rose-Tinted Glasses [Rays Index]

*not really

Jun 07

The Sunburst Player Of The Game Pick ‘Em

Sunburst of the Game Cork Gaines 8 Comments »

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.

Jun 07

[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Price Overcoming A Bad Day, No More Flyballs Over Upton’s Head And Burrell’s Return

David Price, Pat Burrell Cork Gaines 7 Comments »

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: David Price. Yes, “Good” even though he threw 106 pitches, with half of them missing the strikezone. The Good is because even though it was a day in which he was clearly struggling with his control and his stuff, he still held a good offensive team to 2 hits and 1 earned run in 5.2 innings…Willy Aybar. He finally hit a home run with runners on base and boy was it a big one. Trailing 3-2 in the 6th, a 3-run shot gave the Rays the lead…Zorilla. We don’t knonw what to say anymore. The guy is just plain awesome…BJ Upton. Is it better jumps? Playing a step deeper? Whatever it is, recently, Upton has been catching flyballs like the one that ended the game (above). A month ago, that would have landed on the turf and maybe the Rays don’t win the game.

THE BAD: Navi’s Bad Day. Dioner Navarro threw 3 balls into the outfield, with 1 runner scoring and another would eventually score after moving to third base…Running on Price. The Yankees only had 2 stolen bases, but they did not appear to fear David Price’s pickoff move, consistently going on his first move.

THE TELLING: Joe Maddon called on Matt Joyce to pinch-hit for Gabe Kapler in the 9th even though Mariano Rivera is tougher on lefties. Joyce hit a flyball to the warning track…The Rays are now 4-2 versus the Yankees and 3-0 in Replica Yankee Stadium. With the win, the Rays are now a game over .500 for the first time since they were 4-3.

SUNBURST PLAYER OF THE GAME: Willy Aybar

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

Pat Burrell will play a 2-game rehab stint with Montgomery on Monday and Tuesday. He is expected to rejoin the club on Friday. [Biscuit Crumbs]
As we suspected, the Rays will only select a catcher with their first pick on Tuesday if that is the best player on the board at the time. [Tampa Tribune]
Happy Belated Birthday to Rays the Stakes. [Rays the Stakes]
Wade Boggs is a big fan of Evan Longoria. [Bradenton Herald]
Fernando Perez read to school children in the first installment of the second annual “Reading with the Rays.” [MLB]