Archive for July 4th, 2009

Jul 04

The Sunburst Player Of The Game Pick ‘Em

Sunburst of the Game Cork Gaines 9 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.

Jul 04

[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss A Sputtering Offense, Skipping Starters And JoeMa On Twitter

Dioner Navarro, Hudson Valley Renegades, Jeff Niemann, Joe Maddon Cork Gaines 5 Comments »

Rays Rangers Baseball

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. 3 more shutout innings…Savvy Navi. He didn’t score, but with 2 outs, a base runner on first base should always try to get second. And Navi knows this as well as anybody. In the 5th he stole second base to get into scoring position. Navi has 6 career steals with the Rays, 5 have come with 2 outs and nobody else on base.

THE BAD: Scott Kazmir. Not terrible and his defense let him down, but 3 of the 5 leadoff hitters got on baseAnd of course he was out of the game after 5 innings. Not good…Offense Has Gone South. The Rays, the highest scoring team in baseball, have now scored 1 run in the last 19 innings…It’s Not The Home Run. It is the batter before the home run. This time a Jason Bartlett throwing error turned Hank Blalock’s home run in to a 2-run shot…All In The Name Of Sales. MLB wants to be “patriotic”? We are throwing up the bullsh*t flag on that one. They already wore the red caps on Memorial Day. That’s fine. nice gesture. But now they have to wear them this entire series? THEY LOOK HIDEOUS.

THE TELLING: The Rays got 3 hits and 1 run off a guy with zero major league wins.

SUNBURST PLAYER OF THE GAME: Grant Balfour.

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

  • The Rays will skip Jeff Niemann’s next start with Matt Garza going tomorrow…It is not surprising that Garza is going tomorrow, as Joe Maddon likes to keep him and James Shields on normal rest. But it is surprising that JoeMa is skipping Niemann completely (who will be available out of the ‘pen). We are struggling to remember the last time JoeMa skipped a starter completely. [Rays Report]
  • BJ Upton was named the AL Player of the Month, joining Evan Longoria who won the award for April. [Rays Report]
  • Remember the “Ball-Less Baseball” promotion we told you about a coupld of days ago? Some people are less than thrilled…We are shocked! And notice that Marc Topkin never actually uses the name of the promotion in his write-up. [The Heater]
  • @evanlongoria is 100% fake, but @RaysJoeMaddon is apparently real. Go figure. However, Marc Lancaster writes that Joe Maddon “began authorizing short messages to be posted.” In other words, these are his thoughts, but he is not the one actually Tweeting. Meh. That seems no different than catching his quotes in the Times or Tribune. [Tampa Tribune]
  • We don’t drop a lot of FIPs around here, but that doesn’t mean we don’t appreciate the stat. And it doesn’t mean we don’t shake our head in shame when Patrick Reusse writes “Apparently, FIP stands for Fudge I’m Pathetic among bloggers.” Sad. Oh yeah, and appreantly the only reason the Tigers are ahead of the Twins in the standings right now is because the Tigers ripped off the Rays and the Twins didn’t. [Minneapolis Star-Tribune]
  • In honor of the 4th of July, Rays the Stakes has written a Constitution for the Rays. [Rays the Stakes]
  • David Chalk is up to #76-73 on the top 177 Devil Rays Ever. [Bugs and Cranks]
  • Joe Smith has some quotes from Andy Sonnanstine on his recent demotion. [The Heater]
Jul 04

Down On The Farm: Brignac Goes Deep Twice

Reid Brignac Cork Gaines No Comments »

Durham 3, Charlotte 2. Jason Cromer pitched 6 innings and picked up his 2nd win, while Dale Thayer earned his 13th save…Reid Brignac was 2-4 with his 5th and 6th home runs. He drove in all 3 runs.

Jacksonville 5, Montgomery 3. Jeremy Hellickson gave up 5 hits in 5 innings, but 2 were home runs as he allowed 3 runs…Desmond Jennings went 0-4 while Matt Fields was 3-4 with a double.

Ft. Myers 2, Charlotte 1. Darin Downs gave up 2 runs (1 earned) in 7 innings…Shawn O’Malley and Cody Cipriano each went 0-4.

Bowling Green 2, Rome 0. Matt Moore struck out 9 in 7.2 shutout innings. He gave up 5 hits and 2 walks…Tim Beckham went 1-4 with a double.

Hudson Valley 2, Vermont 1 (gm 1).

Vermont 4, Hudson Valley 2 (gm 2).

Princeton 3, Danville 2.

Notes from Down on the Farm…

  • Chris Nowak has been demoted from Durham to Montgomery. [Biscuit Crumbs]