[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Navi And Garza, The Final Roster Spot And Beckham’s Sore Wrist
Joaquin Benoit, Mike Ekstrom, Tim Beckham April 3rd. 2010, 9:14am
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: Matt Garza. Garza was impressive facing just 1 over the minimum in the first 4 innings and finished with 5 shutout innings, with 1 hit, 2 walks and 6 strikeouts…Randy Choate. Another scoreless inning for Choate. He has not allowed an earned run in his last 5 outings.
THE BAD: Waiting. The season opens tomorrow night, but we have to wait until Tuesday night for the Rays opener.
THE TELLING: If each starting pitcher is indeed going to be paired with one of the catchers on a regular basis is was surprising to see Dioner Navarro catching Matt Garza. Garza has had most of his dominant starts with other catchers, so we would have expected to see The Garza Complex with Kelly Shoppach…Matt Joyce will be eligible to come off the DL on April 10, the 5th game of the season.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Hank Blalock on going to Durham: “The reason I would go play in Durham if no other team wants to pick me up right now is because I love baseball” [Lakeland Ledger]
- Joaquin Benoit is yet to go back-to-back games so the final spot in the bullpen goes to Mike Ekstrom. Joe Maddon’s quotes indicate that it is just a matter of time for Benoit, who could be back with the Rays in a month or so. [The Heater]
- Tim Beckham is nursing a sore wrist but is expected to be ready for Charlotte’s opening day. [Montgomery Advertiser]
- Marc Topkin writes about how the final roster decisions were about helping the Rays win now. [St. Pete Times]
- Stacy Long spoke with Jeremy Hellickson about the upcoming season. [Montgomery Advertiser]
- Tyler Kepner of the New York Times previews the Rays. [New York Times]
- There is a new member of the Rays blogosphere, Tampa Ball Talk. [Tampa Bay Talk]
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Having 4-5 games in hand to start the season is actually a plus in my book, remember baseball fans, the more you win in April, the less you have to win in Sept.
GOD I cant wait…….;o)
Seems so long ago..remember Maddon in April 2009…”Well its only one loss ….its such a long season”…well it looks like the attitude has changed…for the better…
Maybe Navarro and Garza have kissed and made up…. or Navarro is so happy just to be here he’ll kiss anyone!
Dear Mike: Please don’t suck for the two weeks that you will be apart of the roster.