Archive for August 25th, 2009

Aug 25

The Sunburst Player Of The Game Pick ‘Em

Sunburst of the Game Cork Gaines 12 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.

Aug 25

One Year Ago On Rays Index

The Archives Cork Gaines No Comments »

One year ago on Rays Index we broke down the Zapruder Film of Rays baseball. It was the AJ PieHead incident.

Umpires Refuse To Admit Mistake; Sound Even Dumber [Rays Index]

Aug 25

Tracking The 2009 Attendance

Attendance Cork Gaines 5 Comments »

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). While attendance has been down most of the season, the league average has picked up recently. League average projects to be slightly less than 2.5 million (red line above) with a median of 2.3 million. The Rays would need to average 30,646 to reach league average and about 29,010 to reach the median.
  • Last year the Rays averaged 22,370 over 81 games. After 54 home games last year they were averaging 21,581.
  • This year the Rays are averaging 24,169, an increase of 12.0% over the same period last year.
  • The Rays average attendance actually fell after that latest homestand. They averaged only 23,406 over the last 9 games including 3 games with attendance figures below 20,000.
  • The Rays fell one spot and now are ranked 23rd in attendance.
  • The Rays are on pace for 1.96 million, which would be a 8.0% increase over last season.
Aug 25

The Tampa Bay Rays Confidence Survey

Confidence graph Cork Gaines No Comments »

Last week’s Rays Confidence Graph results.

Below you will see two polls that ask about your confidence in the Tampa Bay Rays. We will present these same polls every Tuesday. The results will be presented in graphical form on Thursday, and will be displayed permanently in the sidebar. The goal of the Confidence Graph is to get a feeling of how Rays fans feel about the team and the franchise and track how that level of confidence changes through time.

Raysiverse events of the past week that could impact confidence levels…

  • The Rays are 68-56, 3 games behind the Red Sox and 1.5 games behind the Rangers in the wild card race. They are 20-15 since the All-Star break.






Aug 25

[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss JoeMa’s Patience, CC’s Back And Pena’s Home Run-To-Singles Ratio

Andy Sonnanstine, Ben Zobrist, Carl Crawford, Joe Maddon Cork Gaines 7 Comments »

Rays Blue Jays Baseball

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: Jeff Niemann. Let’s ignore the 2nd inning for a second. How The Giraffe made it into the 7th inning after that is beyond us. With the game on the line in the middle innings, Niemann retired 12 of the final 13 batters he faced…JoeMa. If there is one thing Joe Maddon does, quite often he will stick with a struggling player longer than most managers. Sometimes it backfires. But many times his patience pays off. All the time, it tells his players that he believes in them and he has their back. Not many managers would have let Niemann finish the second inning…Down With OBP. 7 of the Rays starters were on base at least 2 times. Get on base, good things happen…Bonus W’s. The Rays have given away their fair share of wins this season. They got one back last night. Anytime you face Roy Halladay and give up 7 runs and win, that is a bonus win. That was one they probably didn’t deserve, but got anyway.

THE BAD: The Second Inning. Our blood pressure does not need innings like the second. Your sitting there. Enjoying some good food and a good beer. Your Rays have scored 3 off one of the best pitchers in baseball in the first inning. And then the second inning happened. The first 9 batters reached base in the second inning. 5 runs scored before Niemann finally got an agida-ending double-play.

THE TELLING: Carlos Pena hit his 35th home run last night. He also has 35 singles this season…The 8 runs (7 earned) given up by Roy Halladay was the most he had allowed since June, 2007 when also gave up 8 runs (7 earned) against the Devil Rays. That was also Andy Sonnanstine’s big league debut…Jeff Niemann’s 12th win is the most in the majors for a rookie.

SUNBURST PLAYER OF THE GAME: Ben Zobrist. At his utility best. Was on base 4 times. Scored 4 times. Started at second base, moved to left when Carl Crawford came out in the third and then went back to second in the 9th.

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

  • Carl Crawford left the game in the third because of back tightness. He will not play tonight, but hopes to be back in the lineup Wednesday. [Tampa Tribune]
  • In the same piece, Marc Lancaster speculates on September call-ups based on some comments from Joe Maddon. [Tampa Tribune]
  • Marc Topkin also speculates on possible September call-ups…He also notes that tonight’s game will not be broadcast locally. [St. Pete Times]
  • Did you know that in 12 seasons, a ball has hit a catwalk in fair territory 102 times. That is 954 games at the Trop. That is actually a much higher rate than we would have expected at once every 9.4 games. [USA Today]
  • Bill Chastain notes that the Rays will need an extra starting pitcher on Sept. 7 when the Rays play a day-night double-header…Paging Mr. Sonnanstine. Mr. Andy Sonnanstine. [MLB]
  • The Rays Party takes a look at the starting rotation moving forward into the 2010 season. [The Rays Party]
  • Good question. It does seem to happen a lot. [Trop It Like It's Hot]
Aug 25

Down On The Farm: Andy Sonnanstine Rebounds With Strong Start

Uncategorized Cork Gaines 1 Comment »

Durham 3, Syracuse 2. Andy Sonnanstine rebounded with his 5th win, working into the 8th inning and allowing just 2 runs on 5 hits and a walk. He struck out 3…Winston Abreu picked up his 12th save, striking out 3 of the 5 batters he faced…Fernando Perez went 1-5 with 3 strikeouts and Desmond Jennings was 0-3 with 2 walks. Jennings played left field…Aki Iwamura was 1-5 as the DH…Joe Dillon had 2 singles and Reid Brignac went 1-4.

Huntsville 6, Montgomery 4. Rayner Oliveros gave up 4 runs in 6 innings…Jose Lobaton went 2-4 with a double and an RBI…Cody Cipriano was 2-3 with a walk.

Charlotte. (no games scheduled)

Bowling Green @ Kannapolis. (canceled: rain)

Hudson Valley. (no games scheduled)

Burlington 3, Princeton 0.

Notes from Down on the Farm…

  • Marc Lancaster has the Rays’ selections for the Arizona Fall League…There are limited number of spots each team can fill in the AFL and they are usually filled by lower-level players that the team has high hopes for. [Rays Report]
  • The Rays Party takes a look at how the ’09 draftees are doing in their first year of pro ball. [The Rays Party]