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[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss New Shea, Zorilla And Sternberg Speaks
Andy Sonnanstine, BJ Upton, Ben Zobrist, Pedro Martinez, Stuart Sternberg, Vince Naimoli June 20th. 2009, 9:36am
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 Bullpen. Thanks to Lance Cormier, Dan Wheeler and JP Howell, the bullpen gave up a run in the 8th to ensure that the Rays would not lose yet another 1-run game.
THE BAD: Lost Power. New Shea is where home runs go to die. Just ask Evan Longoria about his fly ball in the 1st inning. Or Dioner Navarro who hit a ball that would have gone to the warning track anywhere else, but came up 30 feet short (no Navi, that would not have been a home run)…Andy Sonnanstine. Nobody hits home runs in New Shea. But Sonny found a way to serve one up to a guy that had ZERO home runs entering the game. The only thing left to decide is whether The Duke goes to the bullpen or the minors when Scott Kazmir returns.
THE TELLING: If today’s game is rained out, there will likely be a double-header tomorrow. And this radar cap does not look promising…Today’s game is the National game on Fox. If you are in an area that does not have the game, be sure to check Fox Espanol as they often carry an alternate game.
SUNBURST PLAYER OF THE GAME: BJ Upton
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Ben Zobrist now has enough plate appearances to qualify as the AL leader in slugging and OPS. [Tampa Tribune]
- Stuart Sternberg reiterated that the Rays will most likely not add payroll during the season, adding that he doesn’t see an area where the team can improve dramatically…Andrew Friedman addressed the Pedro Martinez situation, saying the team is just doing their “due diligence” by checking out Pedro but that the level of interest is not as great as it is being made out to be. [St. Pete Times]
- We lost count on the number of teams that watched Pedro Martinez throw yesterday, but you can add the Brewers and Cardinals. The Yankees have already said “no thanks,” but the George A. King III report does say that other teams were impressed, but does not mention which teams. [MLB Trade Rumors]
- Vince Naimoli versus Bernie Madoff. Yep. [Trop It Like It's Hot]
- Minor League Ball takes a look back at Ben Zobrist, the propsect. [Minor League Ball]
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Fox Comment: I have missed almost all of the Saturday games due to this BS Fox/MLB rule. What a joke. If I pay for the package, give me all the games. I usually have to sit through the crap White Sox or some other MidWest team. Let’s see if Fox Espanol works.
As much as I would like to bitch and moan about Citi Field and the lack of home runs, it would feel disingenuous after Schneider’s homer off of Sonnanstine. Between the two of them, they proved that you can, in fact, hit a homer out of that park.
And I agree with Sternberg about the lack of “glaring” holes on the team. I think they would be better served just getting more out of the guys they got instead of spending a bunch of money chasing a guy that may not help win that many more games. I also think that a healthy, revitalized Kaz could be just what the doctor ordered (that may just be wishful thinking, I’m the biggest Kaz homer ever).
Agree about Kaz if he can come back healthy. As for wishful thinking, anyone the Rays could realistically afford is not going to be a sure thing.
Opposing hitters like him pretty good!