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[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Good Starts, Joe’s Gut And Killing Rallies
Evan Longoria, Matt Garza, Willy Aybar July 1st. 2009, 6:48am
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: Good Starts. Rays led 1-0 after just 1 pitch when BJ Upton took the first pitch deep…Good Rally Killers. With 1 out, Adam Lind hit a ball to the wall in right. Gabe Gross gunned him down at second. And the pitchers did their job when it mattered. The Jays were 0-7 with runners in scoring position…Joe’s Good Gut. Joe Maddon gave Evan Longoria a night off. He could have easily shuffled the batting order, but instead let his replacement, Willy Aybar, bat 3rd. Aybar responded with 3 hits including his 7th home run…Good Choate. Came on in the 8th with tying run at the plate, 2 on and only 1 out. He got Adam Lind on strikes and Lyle Overbay to fly out to CC in left.
THE BAD: Bad Rally Killers. With no outs and 2 on, Ben Zobrist was picked off first base. Two batters later Jason Bartlett doubled, but nobody scored and the inning ended that way.
THE TELLING: Evan Longoria was given the night off to rest his sore hamstring. Willy Aybar started at third and batted third…The Rays have now won 7 in a row, matching the longest winning streak under Joe Maddon…The Rays 3 home runs last night gave them 41 for June, setting the team mark for any month…The Rays are now 4 behind the Red Sox, but have picked up little ground on the Yankees who won their 6th in a row. The Rays have put some space between themselves and the Jays who sit 3 behind the Rays.
SUNBURST PLAYER OF THE GAME: Willy Aybar.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Joe Maddon called Randy Choate’s performance “awesome” and Joe Smith notes that lefties are now 1-22 against Choate…Also Maddon insisted Evan Longoria was fine and that he would have played “under different circumstance.” Sure, if by different circumstances Maddon meant having a healthy hamstring
- The Rays Party has the pitch f/x breakdown for Matt Garza’s performance last night. [The Rays Party]
- Evan Longoria maintains his large lead over Alex Rodriguez in the All-Star voting, while Carl Crawford is in a tight race for the outfield, but is currently on the outside looking in. [The Heater]
- Tom Verducci of SI.com picks his all-star rosters and 3 Rays are starters and one is coming off the bench. [SI.com]
- An open letter to The Not So Skinny Catcher. [Trop It Like It's Hot]
Related posts:
- [THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss No Suspensions For CC Or JoeMa, Bossman’s Night Off And Strong Starts
- [THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Sonny’s Dying Career, Brignac’s Playing Time And Dirtbag In The Mid-Summer Classic
- [THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss A Near No-No, Dirtbag’s Impending Absence And Aybar On The Mound
I’d also like to nominate the Red Sox bullpen for a “Good” today. Nice work, fellas!
Not too worried about the Yankees, yet. While it would be nice to pick up some games on them, the first goal was to scoot past the Jays. The Yanks and Jays face off this week and it’s a win/win for the Rays. If the Yanks take care of the Jays, then it just knocks them down further. If the Jays can beat the Yankees, the Rays can catch some ground.
How many teams have “bench” players who come in and bat 3rd and get
three hits…and play an excellent 3rd base….
Willie….. you the MAN ….Longo…. “rest” anytime you want!
When I saw “Joe’s Gut” in the post title, I thought maybe we were in the midst of a multi-part series looking at weight problems in the organization.
I kid of course. Joe’s gut is always right on – decisions like that are what separate the good and great managers. I would love to know how much genuine interest Maddon got from other teams looking for a new manager. I know he was pretty loyal to the Angels, but I have to believe someone recognized him as a future manager. Not that I’m complaining.