Aug 13
Archive for August 13th, 2009
Aug 13
[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss The UFL, Playoff Hopes Dwindled And Upton’s New Position
Michel Hernandez, Orlando Tuskers, Troy Percival 13 Comments »
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: Carlos Pena. El Gato is officially on fire with 2 more home runs yesterday. But is it too little, too late?…Pat Burrell. The Bat hit another home run and continues to quietly put together a very Burrellian second-half.
THE BAD: The Bullpen. Maybe the one area of the club that kept this team afloat for much of the season, so it is only fitting that it is the bullpen that is starting to come undone as the season goes down the drain. Four relievers combined to give up 6 runs in 2.2 innings.
THE TELLING: After complaining earlier in the week about being dropped to 9th in the batting order, BJ Upton was dropped even further yesterday, all the way to Joe Dillon’s recently vacated spot at the end of the bench…Coolstandings.com now says the Rays have an 18.0% chance at making the playoffs. Meanwhile, Baseball Prospectus says the number is 24.3%. That number was 46.1 a week ago. That is the baseball version of “having a bad week.” The Rays are now 4.5 behind the Red Sox, and 5 back in the loss column. But it is worse than that. The Rays aren’t chasing just one team. They would also have to leapfrog Texas is 3 in front of the Rays. If the Red Sox go 24-25 over last 49 games the Rays would need to finish 28-20 just to tie.
SUNBURST PLAYER OF THE GAME: Carlos Pena
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- The Rays have invested in the Orlando franchise of the new United Football League and will host a regular season game at the Trop. [St. Pete Times]
- The Rays investment in the UFL team in terms of dollars is not that much…Keep in mind that the UFL needed the Rays much more than the Rays needed the UFL. It was in the UFL’s interest to give the Rays a sweet deal. [St. Pete Times]
- UFL Access weighs in on exactly what the the Rays stake in the Orlando football franchise means for the UFL. [UFL Access]
- He is still officially a Ray, so we will let you know that the $100,000 truck that Troy Percival had stolen earlier this year was returned, sorta. Many of the parts have been sold off and are still missing. If only Percy had such a good excuse for the past 12 months. [NBC LA]
- Rays the Stakes takes Tom Verducci of SI.com to task for a strange article he wrote. [Rays the Stakes]
- Joe Maddon gave BJ Upton the day off because he had been “pressing way too hard.”…Also John Meloan and RJ Swindle, two pitchers that were briefly property of the Rays, have been claimed off waivers. [Tampa Tribune]
- Michel Hernandez cleared waivers and accepted an assignment to Durham. [The Heater]
Aug 13
Gwinnett 2, Durham 1. Jason Cromer pitched 6 shutout innings, allowing just 4 hits and 2 walks. He struck out 4 and lowered his ERA to 2.03…Dale Thayer blew the lead in the bottom of the 9th when he gave a 2-run, bases loaded single…Desmond Jennings and Reid Brignac each went 1-5…Matt Joyce did them one better going 0-5…Rhyne Hughes continues to hit well in triple-A, going 2-4 and raising his average to .322.
Montgomery 4, Mississippi 1.Rayner Oliveros pitched 5.2 shutout innings. He gave up just 2 hits and 2 walks, striking out 3 to improve to 5-1…Jose Lobaton went 2-3 with 2 singles and an RBI.
St. Lucie 8, Charlotte 3. Charlotte took a 3-1 into the 9th inning before the dam broke, allowing 7 in the 9th for the loss. Two relievers combined to give up 4 hits and 4 walks in the final frame…David Newmann was in line for the win with 5 innings pitched and just 1 unearned run…Chad Bradford pitched a scoreless 6th inning and Fernando Perez went 1-4 on their rehab stints.
Bowling Green. (no games scheduled)
Notes from Down on the Farm…
- No links today
