Jul 07
OK, Joe took three things out of this win by the Rays Wednesday.
The first, of course, was a chance to break out the brooms. Anytime that happens it’s great, certainly. But even better when the win comes in front of so many Bostonites (rhymes with sodomites) at the Fruitdome. When you have a chance to put the proverbial foot down on the throats of the Red Sux, it gives the Bostonites a real excuse to talk as if they are being choked to death, not that they don’t always talk like that, the freaking chow-DAH heads. AAAGGGGHHHHH!!!
The second thing that crossed Joe’s mind is, he’s not so sure that David Price isn’t currently the best starter in the American League. Two consecutive strong performances against two of the American League’s best teams, the Twinkies and Red Sux. He will enter the All Star break with a dozen wins. Impressive.
Price’s 10 k/1 walk/7.2 innings performance Wednesday (wow, what a strikeout-to-walk ratio!) was just what was needed: it gave Joaquin Benoit and Rafael Soriano a much needed and deserved rest. It even provided for some unintended comedy relief with Matt Garza getting his first save as a Rays pitcher. The game ended a lot closer than it should have.
Read the rest of this entry »
Jul 07
MLB today announced that Rafael Soriano has been added to the AL All-Star team to replace the injured Mariano Rivera. Soriano joins Evan Longoria, Carl Crawford and David Price on the team.
Jul 07
Reason #4,543 Todd Kalas has the best job in baseball. Sorry for the awful screengrab, but somewhere among those beauty contestants is our brave reporter Todd Kalas.
We can only hope Todd got out of there in one piece.
Jul 07
Stuart Sternberg must have found a cheap mid-week flight from New York to attend last night’s game against the Red Sox. The owner that says he has lost between $10 and $100 million since taking over the Rays insists the team will be able to add players if that will help them reach the playoffs…
“By any means necessary. We’ll do whatever; money won’t be an object. Players are always an object for us. And the money will be an impediment, but we’ll figure it out if it makes all the sense in the world for this team…We’re well beyond stretched (payroll-wise), but for me, personally, this is a very special year, it’s a special team, can be a special team, and we’re going to do whatever we can, whatever’s necessary, to try to give us the best opportunity to win this year.”
So money “won’t be an object” and it will “be an impediment”? What does that even mean? Silly double-speak.
Sternberg also suggested that the team won’t mortgage too much of their future by trading prospects… Read the rest of this entry »
Jul 07
Ladies and gentlemen, can I please have your attention. We’ve just been handed an urgent and horrifying news story. We need all of you, to stop what you’re doing and listen. BLOG-A-PALOOZA!!
If you were around these parts in the last 24 hours, you may have already noticed some renovations such as the banner at the top of the screen. Rays Index has partnered with the awesomeness that is Joe Bucs Fan and will now also be known as Joe Rays Fan.
My role here will not change much. You will still get “The Hangover” most mornings as well as all the other posts, analyses, criticisms, movie references and weak jokes. However, you will get more material as Joe will be making regular appearances.
The partnership also means we have moved the Raysheads Forum to a new site. You can now get all of your discussion needs over at the 620 WDAE website, where the forums will be powered by Joe Bucs Fan and Joe Rays Fan.
It also means I will be making regular appearances on local sports radio (more details to come). And that is just for starters.
Basically, a Rays Index-Joe Rays Fan partnership offer endless possibilities, zero subtlety. So hang on lady, we goin’ for a ride!
Jul 07
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: Jeff Niemann. The Giraffe uncharacteristically struggled with his pitch count, having to be pulled after 6 innings with 107 pitches. Still, he improved to 7-2 after giving up just 1 unearned run, lowering his ERA to 2.65…Carl Crawford. He was only 1-4, but the 1 was a huge solo home run in the 8th inning to give the Rays a 2-run cushion and some breathing room. He is now 24 for his last 54 (.444)…Joe Maddon. With 2 outs in the 9th and 1 run in already and the tying run on third. JoeMa chose to intentionally walk David Ortiz with Kevin Youkilis out of the game. Rafael Soriano got the next batter to ground out to end the game. We think Maddon has officially learned his lesson with David Ortiz.
THE BAD: Rafael Soriano. MFIKY came on and recorded his 4th save in the last 4 days and 5th in 7 days. That is indeed good even if he walked his first 2 batters since mid-May, a span of 18 appearances. But this is bad because we can’t imagine Soriano will be available tonight. Let’s hope he isn’t needed…Evan Longoria’s BJ Moment. With just 1 out in the 6th and the bases loaded in a 1-run game, Longo was picked off third base. Making it worse, Carlos Pena would walk, but the Rays failed to score in the inning.
THE TELLING: BJ Upton led off versus the left-hander and went 0-4…The Rays have now won three in a row against the Red Sox, 4 in a row overall and 6 of 7…According to PECOTA, the Rays have a 68.5% shot at the playoffs.
WHERE THEY STAND: The Rays are 50-33, 2 games behind the Yankees and 1.5 games ahead of the Red Sox. After 83 games in 2008, the Rays were 51-32.
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA… Read the rest of this entry »
Jul 07
Joe raises a mug of Folgers Brazilian this morning to Rays slugger Carl Crawford. If there was still any chatter that the Rays should trade Crawford in the next few weeks, the Rays slugging left fielder all but put that to rest last night.
Sure, the Rays pitching was solid. But if not for Crawford’s blast behind the right field seats in the eighth inning, a critical insurance run in the Rays 3-2 win over the Red Sux, who knows how that game ends? The Rays bullpen is just about taxed and an extra-inning game was not wanted nor needed.
No, no need to trade Crawford. He’s just about the only guy who didn’t go into a June swoon for the Rays.
CC is needed. Maybe four or five years from now, the fruits of the draft picks the Rays will receive for losing CC in free agency will begin bearing fruit in the Rays new tank (ballpark), wherever that may be.
Hey, Joe can still dream, right?
