[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Maddonology, Return Of The Bats And Zorilla’s Back
Adam Dunn, Ben Zobrist, BJ Upton, Desmond Jennings, Rafael Soriano, Seth McClung July 29th. 2010, 7:15am
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: Maddonology. For the second straight night, Joe Maddon walked Miguel Cabrera with runners on 1st and 2nd to put the tying run on third base. And once again, Grant Balfour came up huge. This time inducing a flyball to end the inning…Offensive Rebound. Still a little shaky, but every Rays hitter that came to the plate got at least one hit. Evan Longoria led the way with 3 hits, including a 2-run home run in the 8th that gave the Rays a little breathing room…Carlos Pena. In the 1st, the Tigers shifted against Pena allowing the runner on second to take third unchallenged. But in 3rd inning, with Carl Crawford on second, the Tigers did not shift against Pena and he delivered a basehit between first and second to score Crawford.
THE BAD: Abusing Soriano? After 42 pitches the past 2 nights, it is hard to believe he will be available for the noon start today. Which of course raises the question of whether Joe Maddon could have used somebody else in the 9th with a 3-run lead…Emo Squeeze Fail. Joe Maddon’s “safety squeeze” is not your typical safety squeeze and it bit the Rays in the ass last night. Willy Aybar was thrown out at home on Jason Bartlett’s squeeze attempt. JoeMa loves overly aggressive baserunning and last night it cost the Rays.
THE TELLING: Ben Zobrist was removed from the game with a lower back strain (apparently from carrying Gabe Kapler all season) and will not play today…BJ Upton hopes to return Friday. Joe Maddon says Saturday or Sunday but that he could pinch-hit before then…The Rays at 62-38 are 24 games above .500. Even if they only play .500 the rest of the way, they will finish 93-69. If they go 33-29, they will finish 95-67. In the Wild Card ERA, no AL team has ever won 95 games and failed to make the playoffs…Evan Longoria’s single in the 4th snapped an 0-19 skid…Rafael Soriano’s 28th save is a career-high…Fewer than 1,000 tickets remain for each of this weekend’s games against the Yankees.
WHERE THEY STAND: The Rays are 62-38, 2 games behind the Yankees and 5 games ahead of the Red Sox. After 100 games in 2008, the Rays were 59-41.
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria have a laugh about Longo robbing CC of his 400th stolen base, twice (Video). [Bright House Sports]
- Ben Zobrist discusses his back injury (Video). [Tampa Tribune]
- Jon Heyman says the Rays are still a possibility to land Adam Dunn. Obviously Matt Garza was a ridiculous request, but what about Wade Davis? Keep in mind that Dunn will fetch 2 draft picks after the season. [Twitter]
- However, Joel Sherman says the Rays are concerned about Adam Dunn’s potential transition to DH. [Twitter]
- Desmond Jennings has switched agents to Scott Boras. This of course means, that there is little chance Jennings will sign a long-term deal before he becomes a free agent in 6 or 7 years. [MLB Trade Rumors]
- No more stadium negotiations until after the season. [St. Pete Times]
- David Price looks back and feels the Rays decision to delay his ’09 debut is paying dividends this season. [Baseball Prospectus]
- The 2011 season will start on Friday…Fack the heck? [Big League Stew]
- According to Forbes, The Trop is not the worst stadium in baseball. Of course, #30 (Dolphin Stadium) will be replaced in 2012. [Forbes]
- So is the Trop Stuart Sternberg’s version of Pensacola beaches? [Shadow of the Stadium]
- Gary Shelton wonders if David Price can reach 20 wins. [St. Pete Times]
- Seth McClung is now coaching girls basketball. [Rays Rev]
- Are Bucs games going to be blacked out in your area? [Joe Bucs Fan]
- Military Fail: An Army vet who wasn’t pleased with the performance of the Marines in recent wars, tried to steal a Marines flag outside the Trop. Only one problem, it wasn’t a Marines flag. It was the Florida state flag. And no, they do not look anything alike. [St. Pete Times]
DOWN ON THE FARM…
- Check out Rays Prospects for boxscores and more detailed recaps. [Rays Prospects]
- DURHAM: Brian Baker, filling in for the injured Carlos Hernandez, struck out 6 and held Lehigh Valley to 2 runs in 5 innings. Both runs came off solo home runs…Dan Johnson was 2-3 and is now hitting .306…Desmond Jennings (2006-10) was 0-5 with 2 strikeouts. He is now hitting .278.
- MONTGOMERY: (no game scheduled)
- CHARLOTTE: (no game scheduled)
- BOWLING GREEN: Kyle Lobstein (2008-2) gave up 3 runs in 7 innings on 6 hits and no walks. He struck out 5. The big blow was a 2-run home run in the 3rd…Cody Rogers (2009-7) was 1-5 with a double.
- HUDSON VALLEY: Wilmer Almonte picked up his first win with 9 strikeouts in 5 innings. He gave up 2 runs on 3 hits and 3 walks…Burt Reynolds went 4-5 with a double and 3 RBI.
- PRINCETON: Jacob Partridge (2009-18) improved to 4-2 after 5 shutout innings. He gave up 4 hits and 2 walks, striking out 1…Ruben Contreras was 3-5 with a double and drove in 3.
Related posts:
- [THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss The Return Of Missing Bats, Lil’ Sammy Fuld, And Injury Timetables
- [THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss More Maddonology, Pena’s Sauciness And Dirtbag’s Expectations
- [THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Zorilla In Center, Garza’s Strong Start And The Return Of Big Innings
If Dunn for Big Dub could be done, I’d do that, but the Nats would have to chip in some cash to make that work probably, which would mean they’d want something in addition to Wade. Still, Dunn would become the top SLG, OPS, and OPS+ guy on a team that needs offense. He’s also durable and consistent. The downside is that he strikes out a TON. But with Dunn, Pena, and Longo in the middle, at least one of those guys is going to get something to hit every time through the lineup.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Cork Gaines, Tampa Bay Rays Buzz. Tampa Bay Rays Buzz said: Rays Index >> [THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Maddonology, Return Of The Bats And Zorillas Back http://buzztap.com/-7OZlga [...]
A couple things. I don’t have any problem w/ Maddon using MFIKY last night. Maddon didn’t want to mess around w/ Cormier or Sonnanstine last night. This is a very important home stand with the Yankees coming in to town. The Rays need to make sure they stay within striking distance of the Yankees. In this type of pennant battle, I think the Rays need to put their best guy out there every day.
I’m also wondering about a DL stint for someone w/ both Bossman & Zorilla nursing injuries. The Rays aren’t going to want to face the Yankees with a short bench.
Michael, I’m with you 100% on both matters. When I saw Cormier warming up with Soriano I felt sick. You’d need at least a five run lead to use Cormier.
And I also don’t like having both our center fielders “day to day” going into a big series. What if “day to day” turns out to be “sometime next week?”
I hear Bossman says he’ll be ready tomorrow. He’d better be. Sean Rodriguez missed a game to clean out his condo after a flood and has had trouble breaking back into this lineup. Bossman could find himself platooning and defensive replacement’ing. LOL
I see it as a good sign that any player can get “Wally Pipped” if he misses a couple of games — shows that there are enough talented players to step in an take advantage of the opportunities they are given. Heck, with Zobrist and Upton both out, perhaps Gabe Kapler will heat up!
[...] Earlier we heard that the Rays are still a possibility for Adam Dunn. However, Ken Rosenthal reports (scroll to 12:55am) that Dunn is “adamant about his reluctance to become a designated hitter.” You have to wonder about a player that is not willing to DH for two months with a shot at going to the World Series. Dunn will be a free agent at the end of the season. [...]
Ha ha, McClung is working at Pinellas Park High. That’s my old high school. Nice. Too bad I graduated in ’08, I just missed seeing a superstar!
HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!!!