Earlier today Major League Baseball “re-interpreted” their previous ruling and will now allow Joe Maddon to wear his signature cold weather “hoodie.” And after a first inning home run by Carl Crawford, we get this look at the Rays dugout.
Look at all those hoodies! Love it.
FIRST INNING (A look back)…
The Rays have looked great on this 10-game roadtrip and are now in first place of the AL East…If we pull the curtain back a bit, is there anything to be concerned about?
During the seven-game winning streak, several games were blowouts and in most the starter did a good job of working deep into the game. The bullpen depth really wasn’t tested like it was the first week. We are still maybe a month from JP Howell’s return and we have no idea how effective he will be when he does. Also, now that Kelly Shoppach’s out for at least a month, there is a glaring hole in the bottom of the lineup every night. If the Rays want to be contenders they will need consistency from the bullpen and Navi needs to be something other than a rest area for the opposing pitchers….BULLPEN AND CATCHER
SECOND INNING (Headlines)…
Reid Brignac is off to a solid start (8-22, 3 extra-base hits) while Sean Rodriguez is not (4-25, no extra-base hits)…Has Brignac earned the right to be the most-days second baseman?
It is still very early but Reid Brignac looks very good at the plate and Sean Rodriguez does not. Brignac already had the edge defensively. If Navarro is going to play most-days, the Rays may not be able to afford having a weak bat playing second base which means Rodriguez is going to keep getting playing time. The problem is, we still haven’t seen enough to know if the real Rodzilla is closer to the spring training version or the regular season version…..NOT YET, BUT HE IS CLOSE
THIRD INNING (Headlines)…
Pat Burrell’s bat is finally showing signs of life…Is this the real deal, or should the Rays think about once again trying to trade Burrell?
It is very easy to get blinded to the big picture by slumps or hot streaks. In the case of Burrell, is the production from the past week a hot streak or is it a sign that he has rediscovered his hitting ways? At this point, the Rays are just going to have to hope it is the latter. Even if some other teams did step up at this point, they would almost certainly still ask the Rays to eat some of Burrell’s contract. And if there is any hope that Burrell can be productive, the Rays are better off keeping the Bat around…..NO CHOICE, GOTTA STICK WITH BURRELL
FOURTH INNING (Headlines)…
BJ Upton is off to a great start with 4 home runs in the last 7 games…Will he continue to hit 6th in this lineup?
The one is tricky. Another week or two of this version of Bossman and it will be clear that he should not be hitting sixth in any lineup. But where do you move him? 2-5 are set. That leaves leadoff. Bartlett is not off to a good start with an OBP below .300. And last year Joe Maddon paid dearly for waiting too long to pull the plug on Upton in the leadoff spot. But if Upton is now the hitter the Rays thought he could be last year, then why is he not leading off? At some point in the next two weeks, JoeMa will give Bartlett a day off and we wouldn’t be surprised to see Upton lead off. That will be an indication that a change is coming….FOR NOW
FIFTH INNING (Headlines)…
Matt Joyce suffered a setback in his rehab…Is there any chance he will be playing right field for the Rays this season?
What is interesting about this latest setback is that the Rays are treating Joyce like a big leaguer. A big league team doesn’t usually monitor rehabbing prospects this closely. Bringing a player to St. Pete is what they would do with a player that is expected to be on the 25-man roster. Does this mean he has a big league job waiting when he is healthy? That may depend on Sean Rodriguez and any other injuries that may occur in the next month or so….YES, BUT NOT ANYTIME SOON
SIXTH INNING (A look outside the box)…
The Rays have a half-game lead in the AL East…What other series should Raysheads watch closely this week?
The Yankees are the real deal and will be in this until the end. But there is a real chance that the Red Sox could be on life support very soon. This week they have the Rangers and Orioles at home. The Rangers are another team with promise that is off to a slow start and the Orioles are due for a good showing. It is one thing to get swept at home by the Rays but if the Red Sox struggle this week, the East could become a 2-team race…RANGERS @ RED SOX, ORIOLES @ RED SOX
SEVENTH INNING (Oddsmakers)…
Home runs for Ben Zobrist vs White Sox: 0.5
Zorilla had 3 home runs in 7 games last year against the pale hose. But he has no home runs in 13 games this season. This seems like a good place to start…OVER
Hits for the Rays on Wednesday versus White sox: 7.5
The Rays average 8.7 hits per game this season. But the last time they faced Mark Buehrle, 27 batters went to the plate, and 27 batters were retired without getting on base. This is not the ’09 Rays…OVER
Wins for Matt Garza: 17
At this point, Garza could win 18 games with the Royals with the way he is pitching. And in reality, the offense hasn’t been that great yet. As long as Navarro keeps his mouth shut, Garza could be the Rays first 20-game winner…OVER
Average attendance for this weekend’s series versus Blue Jays: 22,000
This might be the first real test for the Rays in terms of attendance. The team is hot. It ISA divisional rival that is also playing well and it is a weekend. A strong showing at the ticket booth will go a long way towards showing everybody that the fans will at least support a winner…OVER
EIGHTH INNING (On deck)…
The Rays are riding a 7-game winnings streak, but have two tough series this week (@White Sox, vToronto)…How many wins would be considered a good week?
As good as the Rays are playing right now, neither of these series are going to be pleasant. The White Sox will throw Danks, Buerhle and Peavy to start the week. If the Rays win 2 of those matchups, that will be a success. And a sweep may be too much to hope for against a hot Blue Jays squad…4-2
NINTH INNING (Putting out the fire)…
Joaquin Benoit is off to a hot start with triple-A Durham…When will he be in a Rays uniform?
So far in 6.1 innings, Benoit has 13 strikeouts and 3 walks. Our guess is it will be sooner, rather than later…AFTER THE ROAD TRIP
Randy Choate has struggled early against both righties and lefties…Will he still be the LOOGY a month from now?
Almost certainly Andrew Friedman is talking to other teams looking for a lefty. But they ain’t cheap this time of year. And there are no lefties in triple-A…CHOATE IS HERE TO STAY
We hear that you pick your beverages each series based on the opponent…What is your poison pick this week?
We didn’t post a Pepper last week, but we did drink Summit IPA for the Red Sox series. It is a Minnesota beer and we were hoping for some of that Twins Karma after they took 2 of 3 from the Red Sox. The Rays swept 4-straight and now sit on the East Summit. And a wise man once said: “Never f*** with a winning streak.”…SUMMIT IPA
There are many black sheep in the Devil Rays family, one of which is Jose Canseco. The former slugger and admitted steroid user has quite a following on Twitter (more than 300,000). And it is not unusual for the Bash Brother to say crazy things. But whether it was drugs or depression or bi-polar disorder or the need for a straight-jacket or just a publicity stunt, yesterday Canseco just lost it.
Here are some of the high (low?) lights (warning, vulgar language ahead)…
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: BJ UPTON. Dude is red hot and it sure looks like our Bossman is back. This time it was an opposite-field 3-run home run, his 4th home run of the road trip. BJ hasn’t looked this comfortable at the plate since the 2008 playoffs…PLAYING FOR 1 RUN. We are not big fans of the sacrifice bunt and Joe Maddon usually isn’t either. But yesterday he played for 1 run in the first innings when Carl Crawford bunted Jason Bartlett to third. Bartlett then scored on Ben Zobrist’s groundout for the early lead…NIEMANN’S ESCAPE. The Sox had runners in scoring position with less than 2 outs in the first and second innings. In the third he walked the leadoff hitter. In the 4th the Sox had second and third. And in each case he escaped without allowing a run. Then he settled down and retired 9 in a row until a 2-out single in the 7th…THE BAT. A 6-game hitting streak for Pat Burrell. 3 more hits yesterday. It was only his second 3-hit game with the Rays. Don’t look now, but Burrell is hitting .270…JASON BARTLETT. Bartlett was in an 0-14 funk before getting 3 hits yesterday.
THE BAD: TRUFFLE SHUFFLE. OK, he had 3 hits and we love his newfound enthusiasm and hustle. But what the hell was Pat Burrell thinking when he tried to stretch his wall-ball into a double in the 6th? He was out by 15 feet…STRIKEZONE. When Ben Zobrist is dropping F-bombs, the home plate umpire is not doing a good job.
THE TELLING: We know spring training means little, but the Rays are now 9-0-1 against the Red Sox this season including the spring…This was the 4th time the Rays have swept a 4-game series on the road and first since 2008 (Baltimore)…Matt Garza is the first AL pitcher in 20 seasons (Roger Clemens 1991) to go at least 8 innings in each of his first three starts and allow no more than 1 run in each start. Clemens won the Cy Young award that season.
WHERE THEY STAND: The Rays are 10-3, one-half game ahead of the Yankees and 5.5 in front of the Red Sox. After 13 games in 2008, the Rays were 6-7.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
DOWN ON THE FARM…
