[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Rocco’s Move, Injured Pitchers And The Disparity Between 1st Base And 3rd Base Coaches

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

WHERE THEY STAND: The Rays are 69-45, 2 games behind the Yankees and 4 games in front of the Red Sox (5 in the loss column). After 114 games in 2008, the Rays were 68-46.

THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

• Rocco Baldelli has been promoted to Durham. [The Heater]
• The August 29 game against the Red Sox has been moved to ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball. [Rays Report]
• The Rays have a black first base coach and a white third base coach. That is a growing (and disturbing) trend in Major League Baseball. [New York Times]
• Well, now we know just how far (or high) Noah Pransky is willing to go for a stadium story. Be sure to check out the video in the right column. Scary stuff. [10 News]
• The Rays have a lot of pitchers on the DL right now. More than you realize. [Watching Durham Bulls Baseball]
• We would argue that Carl Crawford has been more valuable, but if Evan Longoria has a huge final 6 weeks, he could sneak into the AL MVP discussion. [St. Pete Times]
• Joe Smith looks at why the Rays took a chance on Chad Qualls. [St. Pete Times]
• Tony Fabrizio looks at how the Rays defense has stepped up recently. [Tampa Tribune]
• Trying to project who will make the playoffs. [New York Times]

DOWN ON THE FARM…

• Check out Rays Prospects for boxscores and more detailed recaps. [Rays Prospects]
• DURHAM: Richard de los Santos picked up his 12th win after holding Charlotte to 2 runs in 7 innings. He struck out 5 and walked 2…Desmond Jennings (2006-10) went 2-5 with a double and his 31st stolen base…Dioner Navarro was 3-5 with a double. He is hitting .306…Leslie Anderson was 2-3 with a double and a walk. He is 12-26 (.462) in 7 games since being promoted.
• MONTGOMERY: Jeremy Hall gave up 4 runs in 5 innings striking out 2 and walking 2…Nevin Ashley’s (2006-6) 14th double was one of just 5 hits for the Biscuits. He is hitting .260.
• CHARLOTTE: Frank de los Santos allowed just 1 run in 7 innings. He struck out 6 and walked none…Rocco Baldelli (2000-1) went 3-4 with a double and a walk. He is 13-46 (.283) in 11 games…Tim Beckham (2008-1) was 1-4 with a walk…Stephen Vogt (2007-12) went 3-5 to raise his FSL leading average to .338.
• BOWLING GREEN: Kyle Lobstein (2008-2) allowed 3 runs in 6.1 innings, striking out 6 and walking 1…Ty Morrison (2008-4) went 2-4 with his 43 stolen base.
• HUDSON VALLEY: Wilmer Almonte threw 6.1 shutout innings to lower his ERA to 2.56. He struck out 8 and walked none…Robby Price (2010-13) went 2-3 with a double and 3 RBI.
• PRINCETON: Eliazer Suero struck out 6 and walked 1 in 5 innings. He gave up 2 runs. He now has 42 Ks to just 11 walks in 49.1 innings.

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