Jun 08
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.
Here is the Rays leaderboard, and the contestant leaderboard is after the jump…
- Evan Longoria 9.5 (he and Garza tied in one game)
- Carlos Pena 8
- Carl Crawford 5
- Ben Zobrist 5
- James Shields 3
- Jason Bartlett 3
- BJ Upton 3
- Andy Sonnanstine 2
- Dioner Navarro 2
- Matt Joyce 2
- Willy Aybar 2
- Matt Garza 1.5
- Lance Cormier 1
- Aki Iwamura 1
- Scott Kazmir 1
- David Price 1
- Jeff Niemann 1
- Gabe Gross 1
Read the rest of this entry »
Jun 08
We linked to this Bradenton Herald story yesterday but saved the best part for today.
At the end of this Roger Mooney piece, hall-of-famer Wade Boggs offers his thoughts on Joe Maddon’s use of Evan Longoria as a DH on days he doesn’t play third base.
Boggs also had a message for Rays manager Joe Maddon: Keep Longoria out of the designated hitter role.
“He’s only 23,” Boggs said. “He’s too young to be the DH. That’s the reason old guys DH. There’s nothing left to pull. That was our old joke. You can’t be a DH until you’ve torn both your hamstrings.”
You hate to ever see Dirtbag out of the lineup, but it does seem that if Maddon wants to give Longoria a day off, he shouldn’t half-ass it. Either give him the day off or don’t.
On a side note, why don’t the Rays hire Boggs as a special instructor? Given Boggs ability to drink he would certainly be as entertaining as George Brett, right? Maybe he would finally earn having that number up on the wall.
Boggs digs Longo [Bradenton Herald]
Jun 08
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: Joe Nelson. Nelson looks to have emerged from his mini-funk and has pitched much better of late, throwing 2 scoreless on Sunday.
THE BAD: Matt Garza. He only allowed 1 run, but it took him 96 pitches to get through 5 innings forcing Joe Maddon to go to the bullpen in the 6th. And it could have been worse. He walked the 8 and 9 hitters to lead off the 5th but got out of it without allowing a run…Grant Balfour. 2 more earned runs for Balfour and his ERA is now 6.31. Balfour was the one reliever whose high innings count last season had us worried…Willy Aybar. Brutal. Just brutal defense the past two days…JP Howell. Before yesterday, Howell was the one dependable arm in the bullpen but his control (and maybe the umpire’s strike zone) eluded him on Sunday…Reid Brignac. It may not have seemed that big at the time, but what the heck happened to Brignac when he was trying to steal in the 7th with the Rays up 3-1? He was out by 20 feet.
THE TELLING: The Rays lead the AL with 244 walks by their hitters. But yesterday they managed only 1 walk against a starting pitcher who entered the game averaging 4.6 walks per 9 innings…Evan Longoria was once again not in the lineup. We are all for being careful, but it seems that EVERY player that has missed time this season has been out longer than was originally planned. Remember when Jason Bartlett wasn’t even supposed to go on the DL? Or when Pat Burrell was day-to-day?
SUNBURST PLAYER OF THE GAME: Gabe Gross
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- No surprise here, but Marc Topkin finally confirmed what we already knew. The Twitter account, @evanlongoria is a fake. [St. Pete Times]
- Joe Maddon has altered the rotation a bit, moving James Shields up a day (will pitch Tuesday) so that he can pitch his next two starts at home and to give Jeff Niemann an extra day of rest. [St. Pete Times]
- No doubt about it, Evan Longoria is having a great season. But one reason that he is tied for the MLB lead in RBI is that he has had more opportunities than anybody else. Longoria has come to the plate this season 231 times. In those plate appearances he has had 114 runners in scoring position, the most in baseball. Only one other player has more than 105, Andre Ethier of the Dodgers (111). By comparison, the co-leader in RBI, Jason Bay has had 92 runners on second and/or third.
- Would you be susprised to learn that Evan Longoria does not lead the Rays in VORP? Jason Bartlett has a 31.8 VORP, good for second in the AL (Joe Mauer 37.1), and ahead of Longo’s 29.8.
- Tyler Hissey is still alive in “BP Idol” and his latest is about Desmond Jennings. [Baseball Prospectus] Brittany Ghiroli is also still competing for the title. [Baseball Prospectus]
- Will Ferrell was heckling Joe Maddon on Saturday, but apparently Dave Martinez said “earmuffs” first. [Rays Report]
Jun 08
Durham 5, Pawtucket 4. The Bulls scored 4 in the top of the 9th for the win with the final run coming a bases loaded ground ball that Chris Richard beat out before Pawtucket could turn the double-play…Matt DeSalvo made his third start for Durham and pitched 5.1 scoreless innings with only 1 hit and 3 walks. He struck out 4.
Montgomery 3, Birmingham 0 (10). The Biscuits scored 3 in the top of the 10th on a Fernando Cortez single, a JT Hall suicide squeeze and a wild pitch…Heath Rollins started and threw 7 shutout innings, allowing only 3 hits and 1 walk. He struck out 6…Eddie Morlan picked up the win with 2 innings of scoreless relief.
Charlotte @ Brevard County (ppd. rain).
Bowling Green 10, Asheville 8. The Hot Rods scored 3 times in the top of the 9th on a Henry Wrigley home run, to break a 7-7 tie. It was his 4th home run and he drove in 4 total…Shane Dyer allowed 5 runs on 10 hits in 4.1 innings…Tim Beckham was 4-4 with 2 doubles and a walk. He is hitting .300.
Notes from Down on the Farm…
- Chad Bradford has left his rehab assignment to be with his wife for the birth of their third child. [Biscuit Crumbs]
- Maybe the best reliever in the farm system this season has been Winston Abreu, a 32-year old with big league experience in parts of two years with the O’s and Nationals. This season, Abreu has allowed only 12 hits and 10 walks in 31 innings with 47 strikeouts. That translates to a 0.39 tRA.
