Archive for March 4th, 2010

Mar 04

Two Years Ago On Rays Index

The Archives Cork Gaines No Comments »

Two years ago on Rays Index we ran one of our all-time favorite SABs, featuring Matt Garza.

Separated At Birth? [Rays Index]

Mar 04

What Number Would Rocco Baldelli Wear With Rays?

Pat Burrell, Rocco Baldelli Cork Gaines 4 Comments »

Since it was announced that Rocco Baldelli has returned to the Rays, there has been some discussion on Twitter about what number Rocco would* wear if he were to suit up with the Rays this season. You see, Rocco’s customary #5 is unavailable. That now belongs to Pat Burrell.

Thomas Gemkow of Tampa Bay Rays Fan may have stumbled upon the answer, in this Sports Illustrated piece from 2003.

Baldelli is a righthanded-hitting centerfielder, wears number 5 (the number he wore in the minors), has Italian roots on his father’s side and glides through the outfield with the grace of a skater on ice. [Vince] Naimoli, the grandson of an Italian immigrant, even asked Baldelli to wear number 56, in honor of DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak in 1941, during spring training.

So, in spring training before his rookie season, Rocco wore number 56. But that was at the request of Vince Naimoli. Might Rocco return to the only other number he ever wore with the Rays?

Of course, we still think his original #5 can be bought from Burrell. Might only cost him a couple of groupies and a subscription to Highlights magazine.

*Will Rocco wear a number this spring as a minor league instructor?

Mar 04

Pat Burrell: Hall Of Famer, Sorta

Pat Burrell Cork Gaines No Comments »

In 2008, Pat Burrell was inducted into a Hall of Fame and it had absolutely nothing to do with his major league career or that night he spent in Channelside. Nope. It was the University of Miami inducting The Bat into their Sports Hall of Fame. The Fightins has the videos. [The Fightins]

Mar 04

[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Rodriguez’ Big Debut, Herrera’s Poor Debut And Things You Will Only See In March

Desmond Jennings, Dioner Navarro, Joe Dillon, Milton Bradley, Rich Herrera, Sean Rodriguez Cork Gaines 8 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: To Hell With Winter: Baseball is baaaacccckkkk!…Sean Rodriguez. In his first plate appearance with the Rays, Rodriguez hit a home run. Of course the wind was blowing out about 200mph, so lets temper the excitement a little.

THE BAD: Rich Herrera: Rich was a little rusty yesterday. On several occasions, Herrera was unable to identify Rays players that had entered the game as substitutes. In one incident, it was 5 batters into the inning and he referred to Elliot Johnson as a “Mr. Left Fielder” on a single. It’s not like Johnson is some free agent minor leaguer. Meanwhile, we can’t even see the game, but we are able to look at the MLB.com boxscore and see who is in the game. Later Rich needed an intern to identify Richard de los Santos who had entered as a relief pitcher…Acts of God: How bad was the wind yesterday? Former Rays prospect Rhyne Hughes, hit two home runs. Before 2009, dude never hit more than 12 home runs. Then again, last year he hit 25 combined with three different teams…The Bullpen. Usually the pitchers are ahead of the hitters this time of year, but apparently the Rays relievers didn’t get the memo. Dale Thayer, Heath Phillips, Jason Cromer and Richard de los Santos combined to give up 11 runs in 5 innings, including 5 home runs…Matt Joyce looks slow. Matt Joyce attempted to steal second base and was thrown out by about 6 feet…

THE TELLING: Dioner Navarro. You can already tell that Joe Maddon is going to get Navi as many ABs as possible this spring to try and get his bat going. Yesterday Navi batted second. File that under things you only see in March. Actually, Navi batted 2nd twice in 2008, but was never higher than 6th last season…Joe Dillon. The Dillionaire got his first action behind the plate yesterday, coming in to the game in the 8th inning.

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

  • Desmond Jennings was hit by a pitch and removed from the game. There was some swelling after the game, but he is expected to be OK. [St. Pete Times]
  • Gary Shelton wonders if the Rays have a dominant Ace and wonders if they even need one. [St. Pete Times]
  • From Keith Law: “Milton Bradley just loafed after a flyball and let it drop for a two-run “double”…The first day? Boy, we have no idea how much OPS would have made this worth it. [Twitter]
  • Tony Fabrizio has 5 questions for Ryan Shealy. [Tampa Tribune]