Jul 07
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.
Only a few games left. An updated leaderboard after the jump…
- Evan Longoria 12.5
- Ben Zobrist 9
- Carlos Pena 8
- BJ Upton 6
- Carl Crawford 5
- Willy Aybar 5
- Gabe Kapler 4
- James Shields 4
- Jason Bartlett 3
- Dioner Navarro 3
- Andy Sonnanstine 2
- Matt Joyce 2
- Gabe Gross 2
- Scott Kazmir 2
- Jeff Niemann 2
- Matt Garza 1.5
- Lance Cormier 1.5
- Aki Iwamura 1
- David Price 1
- Pat Burrell 1
- Grant Balfour 1
- Winston Abreu 0.5
Read the rest of this entry »
Jul 07
From time to time we are going to take a look at the 2009 attendance and see how the 2009 season stacks up against last year and whether the Rays can reach their goal of being average (in attendance).
Notes on the attendance follow the graph…
Notes on the 2009 attendance…
- The Rays drew 1.8 million fans in 2008. That was the most since their inaugural season of 1998 when they drew 2.5 million.
- The Rays goal for 2009 is league average which was 2.6 million in 2008 (the median was about 2.5 million). However, attendance is down overall in baseball and right now league average projects to be about 2.4 million (red line above) with a median of 2.2 million. The Rays would need to average 29,200 to reach league average and about 26,800 to reach the median.
- Last year the Rays averaged 22,370 over 81 games. After 33 home games last year they were averaging 19,711.
- This year the Rays are averaging 23,003, 25th in baseball, and are on pace for 1.86 million, barely more than what they drew last season.
Jul 07
Durham 6, Charlotte 1. Carlos Hernandez allowed just 1 run in 5 innings on 5 hits and a walk. He struck out 2…John Meloan made his second appearance since being acquired for Winston Abreu and he threw a scoreless inning with 2 strikeouts, a hit and a walk…Elliot Johnson hit a grand slam in the 5-run 5th to break a 1-1 tie, and Ray Olmedo added a solo shot…Matt Joyce was 1-2 with 2 walks and his 10th stolen base. He is hitting .277…Justin Ruggiano went 0-4 with a pair of Ks and John Jaso was 2-4 with an RBI.
Birmingham 3, Montgomery 0. Aneury Rodriguez gave up 2 runs (1 earned) in 6 innings but dropped to 4-9 on the year. He has a 5.79 ERA…Ryan Reid struck out 2 of the 3 batters he faced and now has 8 strikeouts and just 1 walk in his last 5 appearances (6.1 innings)…Desmond Jennings went 0-3 as the DH with a walk and his 30th stolen base.
Charlotte 6, Sarasota 5. Brian Flores made just his second start of the season and gave up 4 runs in 5 innings…Emeel Salem and Henry Wrigley each went 3-4 and Wrigley added his 4th home run…Shawn O’Malley was 0-3 with 2 walks and Cody Cipriano went 0-3 with a walk.
Bowling Green 4, Augusta 3. Frank de los Santos allowed 2 runs (1 earned) in 5.2 innings…Tim Beckham went 2-4 with an RBI and his 28th error…Jake Jefferies was 0-4.
Hudson Valley 2, Vermont 1.
Elizabethton 5, Princeton 2 (gm 1).
Princeton 5, Elizabethton 4 (gm 2).
Notes from Down on the Farm…
- That “Ball-Less Baseball” promotion that we told you about last week, continues to make noise. This time it is in the form of a letter from the team’s home county that suggests the promotion to “allow” only women “likely violates the New York State Human Rights Law”…Please people. Don’t we have better things to worry about. At least wait to see if somebody complains or threatens a lawsuit. Because if some guy does throw a stink about this, then there is a good chance he would have met the original criteria for admittance anyway. [Deadspin]
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