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[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Huge OPS, Dirtbag’s Squints And Even More On Pedro
Ben Zobrist, Evan Longoria, Pedro Martinez June 19th. 2009, 7:53am
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…
- A couple of our readers and regular commenters have branched off and started their own blog, Trop It Like It’s Hot, with bonus Jenn Sterger photo. [Trop It Like It's Hot]
- The source of Ben Zobrist’s nickname is indeed “Gorilla”, sorta. Some of the other Rays had started calling him “Gorilla Zoe,” after the hip-hop artist. Joe Maddon then shortened it to Zorilla. [MLB]
- And now we learn that the other Rays are jealous of Ben Zobrist’s nickname. And he is soooo innocent: “I don’t know what’s in the tabloids.” Ain’t it cute? Somebody needs to give him an update on John and Kate. (thanks Amanda) [SI.com]
- Here is the latest on Pedro Martinez, as it looks like both the Rays and the Cubs are balking at his asking price. And the Rays are indeed interested in Pedro as a relief pitcher. [MLB Trade Rumors]
- However, the Rays and Cubs will still watch Pedro Martinez pitch again today. And you can add the Yankees and Angels to the teams that will watch. [Fox Sports]
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garza should go back to the shrink, walking off the mound while hicks was there was just plain, INEXCUSABLE. I hope Papa Joe fines the bejesus out of him.. maybe a stint in front of the Kangaroo court too.
i noticed that and I thought about saying something. but he went to the back of the mound to clean the clay out of his spikes. yeah, it looks bad to do it while Hickey is talking to you, but i get the feeling that standing still is not something Garza is good at.
i hate to play amateur doctor, but would anybody be surprised if Garza was ADHD? he seems to be constantly moving. constantly fidgeting.
I think that earlier in the season B.A. alluded to the fact that he (Garza)was indeed diagnosed with A.D.D. as a child.
What about JB going 2 for 4 with a triple and a run ???
definitely runner-up. just thought the Zorilla single in the 9th was the closest we came to having hope for winning the game
The batting order is perpelexing. When I saw Gross batting above Bartlett (at No.7, in an NL park!), I thought how stupid. Sure enough Bartlett triples with 2 out and surely the Rockies will pitch around Navarro (they didn’t, so the Rays got a gift there). But in 9th inning, the leading hitter in the AL is hopelessly on deck while Gross (who did have a nice at bat) makes last out.
The Zobrist in the 5 hole need to stay where it is when Burrell gets back. I’d go Bartlett at 1 and Upton at 6, but what do I know.
An unlucky game for the Rays but sometimes as Joe Maddon’s idol (Branch Rickey) liked to say, luck is the residue of design. That was a bad design by Joe in Colorado.
yep.