Aug 10
Two years ago on Rays Index we decided the “The United Countries of Baseball” needed its Florida boundaries redrawn.
Remapping Florida Within The United Countries of Baseball [Rays Index]
Archive for August 10th, 2009
Aug 10
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.
Aug 10
Pat Burrell has received a lot of heat from Rays fans, including us, this season and rightfully so. After signing a two-year, $16 million free agent contract, Burrell has been a huge disappointment, hitting only .227-9-42 in 77 games. All of this has been magnified by the recent hot bat of Willy Aybar and culminated in Burrell recently being benched for a couple of games to work on his swing.
So how bad has Pat’s bat been? Actually, not that bad, at least recently.
Over the last 27 games, Burrell is hitting .240 with 6 home runs and 19 RBI. Seems fairly pedestrian, but let’s take a look at how that compares to his career average…
As you can see, his batting average and OBP are both still down a tad, but all other numbers are actually above his career-average.
So why do so many still want Burrell on the bench? There are probably a couple of factors: 1) His numbers were so bad in the first half of the season, no matter what he does now, his numbers still look awful; 2) We all heard that Burrell was a streaky hitter. We have seen his bad streak and we are still waiting for a hot streak, not an average streak.
Both of those reasons are based on what Burrell did in the first-half. It sucked. It was really bad. But it is also in the past. All that matters now is what he can do over the final 51 games. And these numbers indicate that Burrell is doing exactly what the Rays signed him to do. And if that is true, there is no reason Burrell should not be the most-days DH.
Aug 10
Getaway Day [noun] 1) The final day of a regular season series in baseball in which the game is often played during the day so that the visiting team may catch a flight home, or to the next city on their road trip; 2) A day on which the Tampa Bay Rays suck.
The Rays lost yesterday in Seattle on Getaway Day. This is not unusual. In their last 17 road series, the Rays are now 4-13 on Getaway Day. They are 21-19 in all other road games.
So, are the Rays having trouble waking up for these day games? Are they carousing a bit too much the night before on their final night in each city?
Well, not all of these Getaway games are day games and some day games are not the final game of the series. On the road, the Rays are 7-12 in day games. Not good, but not as bad as 4-13.
So what is the answer? We have no idea, but this is no longer an interesting coincidence or a small sample size. This is 17 games of sucktitude with a clear pattern. If the goal is to win series, this is difficult to accomplish on the road if the final game of each series is almost certainly a loss.
Aug 10
[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Old Kazmir, Not-So-Automatic Runs And A Platoon Behind The Plate
BJ Upton, Dioner Navarro, Gregg Zaun 3 Comments »
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: Jason Bartlett. Little guy seems to like his new leadoff home. He was on base 3 more times on Sunday with 2 singles and a walk…Dioner Navarro. Navi provided all the offense with a 2-run home run.
THE BAD: Scott Kazmir. 28 pitches in the first inning, and it was all down hill from there. The Scott Kazmir we thought we had left behind, reared its ugly head on Sunday…Leaving Automatic Runs On Base. They did it again. Bases loaded with less than 2 outs should be at least 1 run every time. And yet the Rays seem to fail to score in that situation on a nightly basis. Yesterday it happened in the first when Pat Burrell lined into a double-play…Jeff Bennett. The shine came off that new acquisition quick. He was charged with 4 runs in 2.2 innings, but also gave up a 5th when he walked in a batter with the bases loaded, a run charged to Kazmir.
THE TELLING: According to CoolStandings.com the Rays now have a 32.4% shot at making the playoffs. The Red Sox are at 46.7%. BaseballProspectus says it is 13.3%, but if you remove the projected stats (using just real data), the number jumps to 44.6%, which is actually ahead of the Red Sox 39.0%.
SUNBURST PLAYER OF THE GAME: Dioner Navarro
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- BJ Upton batted 9th yesterday and to say he didn’t take it well would be an understatement: “It’s almost like a kick in the face.” [St. Pete Times]
- It sounds as though Gregg Zaun is going to get the bulk of the playing time against right-handed pitchers. [Tampa Tribune]
- Joe Maddon explains why it is too simplistic to say strikeouts are no worse than any other type of out and says that strikeouts in certain situations are “annoying” [Tampa Tribune]
- Joe Maddon wants his players to check their egos at the door. [St. Pete Times]
Aug 10
Durham 11, Syracuse 5. Andy Sonnanstine improved to 4-1 with Durham after holding Syracuse to 3 runs in 6 innings on 7 hits and 3 walks. He struck out 2…Desmond Jennings went 0-4 with a walk…Elliot Johnson had 3 hits and drove in 3…Matt Joyce went 2-5 and Jon Weber went 4-5…Chris Richard hit his 20th home run.
Montgomery 3, Mobile 2. Aneury Rodriguez continues to pitch well, going 7 innings and allowing 2 runs on 7 hits and 1 walk. He struck out 4…Jose Lobaton went 2-4 with his 2nd home run…Cody Cipriano was 0-3.
Charlotte 3, Palm Beach 2 (gm 1). Jake McGee allowed 1 run in 1.2 innings on 2 hits. He struck out 1…Chad Bradford worked 1 scoreless inning in his first rehab appearance. He allowed 1 hit…Fernando Perez also made his first rehab start, played center, led off and went 0-3…Shawn O’Malley was 1-2 with 2 runs scored.
Charlotte 3, Palm Beach 2 (gm 2). Shawn O’Malley won it on a bases loaded single in the bottom of the 7th. He finished 2-4…Brian Flores allowed 2 runs in 4.2 innings…Fernando Perez did not play in the nightcap.
Bowling Green 5, Greenville 4. Frank de los Santos gave up 1 run in 5 innings, striking out 4 and walking none…Tim Beckham went 0-4 and Jake Jefferies was 1-4.
State College 3, Hudson Valley 2 (10).
Notes from Down on the Farm…
- A profile of Elliot Johnson. [Durham Bulls]
