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 of the perks of what we do here at Rays Index is free stuff. The most common items that we receive are books. Well, we are big fans of two books that we received recently and if you are looking for a last minute Father’s Day gift, these come highly recommended.
The first is “Satchel” a great even-handed look at Satchel Paige, one of the greatest players ever and one of the most fascinating personalities you will ever read about.
The second is “Bert Sugar’s Baseball Hall of Fame: A Living History of America’s Greatest Game.” Bert Sugar and Baseball? Yeah, we were a little confused also, but if you have never been to the Hall of Fame, this book is great just for the pictures, especially the inclusion of the plaque of every single Hall of Famer.
This is a tough time for the newspaper industry. Some have stopped home delivery, some have gone to online content only and still others have shut down completely. And the papers that are still above water, many of those are cutting staff.
And the local newspapers are not immune to these troubled times.
We hear lots of rumors about the future of the two local papers, but what we do know is that the Tampa Tribune has gone through at least four rounds of staff cuts and about half of the staff was offered buyouts last year. Things are a little better over at the St. Pete Times, but only after 200 staffers accepted buyouts last year and the remaining employees are under a salary freeze.
Over the years here at Rays Index we have been rough on some of the local writers from time to time. But the fact that we have only been strongly critical of a dozen or so columns out of the thousands that have been written, says a lot about how great the content is 99.9% of the time.
And more importantly, we will be the first to admit, that there is no Rays Index if there is no local baseball coverage, especially Marc Topkin and Marc Lancaster.
This is not to say that there is any indication that either of the Marcs will be leaving us anytime soon. We certainly hope they are with us for years to come. But the recent firings of several baseball beat writers across the country, especially the incident at the Baltimore Sun, in which their O’s beat writer was fired at the game, has at least heightened our senses.
So at this point we say “Thank You,” to all the local writers that cover the Rays.
If you would like to do the same, the best way is to always click on the links to the Tribune and the Times, that you see here. It may not be that much traffic in the grand scheme of things, but every little bit will help the Suits realize the importance of the local baseball writers.
Yesterday, the Rays played a day game on a cloudless day in Denver. In the first inning, Evan Longoria stepped to the plate wearing Nike sunglasses.
He struck out swinging on a 97mph fastball up in the zone.
In his next at bat in the 3rd inning, Dirtbag was sans shades.
This time he struck out on a curve ball in the dirt. He also swung and missed at 97mph fastball up in the zone for strike two.
Just wanted to take a moment to let you know that Rays Index is now on Twitter.
We are up over 500 followers (and thy said there weren’t 500 Rays fans) and here are a few of the things you can expect if you follow @RaysIndex…
And for those that are worried that Twitter is just another teen fad that is dumming down adults, keep in mind that Twitter is the first social media that was started by adults for adults.
Three years ago on Rays Index we learned about BJ Upton’s arrest for DWI.
B. J. Upton Arrested For Being An Idiot [Rays Index]
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: Barty And Zorilla. Sounds like a wine cooler, but where would the Rays be without the surprise bats Jason Bartlett and Ben Zobrist? Both now sport an OPS north of 1.000 (1.080 and 1.017 respectively). Zorilla actually leads the AL in OPS…Speed Kills. All the talk of Carl Crawford being 37-40 on the basepaths, but few have noticed that BJ Upton is 25-30 and Jason Bartlett is 14-15. As a team they are 109-128 (85%). That’s pretty good.
THE BAD: The 4th Inning. Again a Rays pitcher was done in by one really bad inning in the light air of Coors Field. This time it was the 3rd inning and it is never a good sign when you give up a single to the pitcher with 1 out. That was followed by back-to-back home runs with 2 outs…The 9th Inning. The Rays had exactly what they wanted, 2 on with no outs and Evan Longoria, Carlos Pena and Ben Zobrist due up. But Longo and Pena struck out, so Zorilla’s single came up 1-run short and Gabe Gross’ long drive came up a few feet foul…Evan Longoria’s Eyes. anybody else notice how much Dirtbag was squinting yesterday at the plate? Has he always done this in day games? It is hard to hit the ball with your eyes closed.
THE TELLING: The Rays are now 8-14 in 1-run games. Every other team in the division is at least .500 in those situations…The sting of losing 2 of 3 to a very good Colorado team (just check their run differential) is helped a bit by knowing that the Yankees lost 2 of 3 to the Nationals…The Rays will go from one of baseball’s homer-happy parks to one of the stingiest, New Shea Stadium (we are not calling it by the other name). There has been a lot of talk this season about the frustration of the Mets players who claim that many sure-thing home runs are dying in the outfield.
SUNBURST PLAYER OF THE GAME: Ben Zobrist. That 2-run basehit in the 9th was about the only exciting thing to happen to the Rays all day.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
Notes from Down on the Farm…
