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.
Rays Prospects hands out the “Arpy Awards” to various minor leaguers for various accomplishments. Beyond that, the post is an excellent read on the Rays prospects including how top prospects performed, players that have jumped into the picture and those that may have fallen off the prospect radar.
The 2009 Arpy Awards [Rays Prospects]
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.
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: David Price Late. From the second inning on, Price worked 6 shutout innings, giving up just 3 hits and a walk. He retired 13 in a row at one point… Reid Brignac. Last night was “The Cajun God of Baseball’s” coming out party. It only took 28 games, but last night Brignac had 4 hits, including 2 doubles and his first big league home run. He even stole a base…Top And Bottom. The top 2 batters and the bottom 3 went a combined 13-24 with 6 runs scored and 6 RBI. The rest of the lineup was 2-15.
THE BAD: David Price Early. After retiring the first batter, the second batter was retired on a ground ball off of Price’s foot. The the wheels came off. The next 5 batters reached base, with 4 scoring, and that quickly, the Rays early 1-0 lead was erased…
THE TELLING: The Rays are now 2-12 in September…Evan Longoria is just the 9th big leaguer to have 30 home runs, 40 doubles and 100 RBI prior to turning 24. The others? Maybe some names you have heard before: Ted Williams, Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols, Hal Trosky, Scott Rolen, Eric Chavez, Aramis Ramirez and Miguel Cabrera. [USA Today]…JP Howell worked a scoreless 9th inning. It was his first appearance since Sept. 6…Remember when Carl Crawford was going to steal 100 bases? Or even be the first to steal 80 in 20 years? Not so much. CC is not even leading the AL. His 57 are now 4 behind Jacoby Ellsbury.
SUNBURST PLAYER OF THE GAME: Reid Brignac
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
Tampa 3, Charlotte 1 (Tampa leads series 2-1). Alex Cobb held Tampa to 1 run in 6 innings on 4 hits and 2 walks. He struck out 5. However, Tampa scored 2 in the 9th on a double to stretch their lead to 3-0… Ryan Royster had an RBI single in the 9th and Charlotte got the tying run to second base with only 1 out. A strikeout and a ground out ended the threat…Matt Sweeney was 2-3 with a walk
Notes from Down on the Farm…
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