Sep 30
Cy Young Award-winner Zack Greinke pitched like it was 2009. Thing is, it’s not.
Last year Greinke was masterful in becoming the best starter in the American League. This year, eh, he’s ordinary, with a losing record and an ERA over 4.00.
Of course, the elixir for a starter pitcher’s ills is to face the Derek Shelton-tutored Rays bats. The Rays managed four hits on a struggling pitcher. For a team that has the American League East title in their grasps, this is inexcusable, until one remembers who the hitting coach is.
Once again Joe states he’d be more comfortable with Gary Shelton as the Rays hitting instructor.
Consider the Rays have scored a grand total of seven runs in four games against a pair of teams with heinous ERAs.
Ah, the Derek Shelton syndrome.
Just as Rays fans cherish these final moments of Carl Crawford wearing the local threads, so too can we all hope Shelton is out the door quicker than CC.
Sep 30
Two years ago on Rays Index we threw up a little in our mouth when we heard Kevin Costner’s song for the Rays first trip to the playoffs.
Kevin Costner Adds Shower Shoe Fungus To Rays Postseason [Rays Index]
Sep 30
One of the first things we thought about when we heard the Rays would be giving away 20,000 tickets to Wednesday’s home finale, was how the season-ticket holders would react. After all, there was no reward for the fans that dig deeper than most to support the team.
Well, apparently there was enough negative feedback that 18 hours after the Rays announced the ticket giveaway, and just 4 hours before the gates opened, the Rays sent the following email to season-ticket holders…
Dear XXXXXXXXX,
Starting at 4:45 p.m. today, the Tampa Bay Rays will be giving away tickets to tonight’s game. We are doing so in the Upper Reserved, Upper Box, Outfield, Loge Box, Baseline Box and Press Level locations in an effort to bring people into the stadium for the season finale and create a great atmosphere for our players and our fans.
This is not the Read the rest of this entry »
Sep 30
With the Rays set to clinch a playoff spot on Tuesday night, Todd Kalas may have thought the Rays needed a little extra good fortune. So for the first time all season, he wore his dad’s (Harry Kalas) 1980 Philadelphia Phillies Championship ring. Harry was a broadcaster for the Phillies in 1980 and passed away last year.
The ring can be seen on Todd’s right hand in this image. A closer look at one of the Phillies rings can be seen here. Todd was also wearing his own 2008 Rays AL Championship ring on his other hand.
If this was the ring of any other Phillie, this would probably bother us. Well, we would also be ok with Von Hayes. Anybody that looked like they could have been in Hall and Oates is OK by us.
Sep 30
Joe will make his regular appearance on “The Ron and Ian Show” on WDAE 620 AM at 10:30 AM today.
Those chained to a computer can listen online at 620WDAE.com.
Sep 30
Many feel that it is a forgone conclusion that the Rays will trade either James Shields or Matt Garza this off-season. The logic is simple: the Rays need a spot for Jeremy Hellickson and Shields and Garza are the Rays’ two highest paid pitchers and are the closest to free agency.
But Ken Rosenthal suggests what we have been saying for a while. The Rays are more likely to hold on to all six starting pitchers until after the 2011 season (Ed. note: actually we have said they will hold on to all 6 until at least the trading deadline)…
Matt Garza, for different reasons, also is unlikely to be moved…Hellickson is ready to join the Rays’ rotation. But a potential surplus quickly could become a shortage if the team traded Garza or another starter…At that point, the Rays would be one injury away from rushing a prospect or employing a six-year minor-league free agent to pitch in the AL East…Garza, who is earning $3.35 million this season and has three years of arbitration remaining, already is drawing long looks from clubs with potential interest….The Rays, however, are more likely to trade a starter after next season, when their next wave of pitching prospects will be closer to the majors…Left-hander Matt Moore and righties Alex Colome, Nick Barnese and Joe Cruz all ended the season at High Class A, and one or more of them could reach Triple A next season.
While Garza (~$5.25M) and Shields ($4.25M) will make a lot of money in 2011, their salaries are still cheap for what their talents bring to the Rays. And with players like Read the rest of this entry »
Sep 30
The Rays Confidence Graph is a look at how much confidence Rays fans have in the Tampa Bay Rays. The graph is designed to give us a look at how our emotional bias as Rays fans fluctuates through time. The “confidence” in the team is an inexact measure of how fans feel about the team’s current strength as well as how much confidence fans have in Joe Maddon and the franchise for the next 3-4 years…
Notes on the graph…
- Confidence in the 2010 Rays went from 9.2 to 9.0. The most common response was “9″ at 43.9%.
- Confidence in the future went from 8.1 to 7.4. The most common response was “8″ at 28.1%.
- Confidence in Joe Maddon went from 8.1 to 8.2. The most common response was “9″ at 32.1%.
Sep 30
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. Joe Maddon indicated earlier this week that he had already settled on his 4-man postseason rotation. The logical conclusion was that it would not include The Giraffe who had struggled since coming off the DL. But yesterday’s performance was more indicative of what we saw from Niemann earlier in the season when he was clearly one of the Rays 2 or 3 best starters. So did 4 hits and 1 walk against the Orioles in 7 innings do enough to change Joe Maddon’s mind about the postseason? We’ll find out soon…Free Stuff. During our worries about whether or not the Rays would be able to give away 20,000 free tickets on such short notice, several people told us not to underestimate the power of free stuff. They were not wrong. The Rays gave away the 20,000 tickets in less than 90 minutes and later announced a “sell-out” of 36,973.
THE BAD: Not Exactly Murder’s Row. It is hard to get hits and score runs when the starting lineup includes six batters hitting under .240 and only one hitting above .270…The Effin’ Bat. On the same night the Rays were shutout on 3 hits, Pat Burrell hit another home run, this one a 3-run job in the Giants 3-1 win helping them maintain a 2-game lead.
THE TELLING: As we speculated, the Rays did where their “BRayser” caps during last night’s game…Evan Longoria took batting practice on the field yesterday but will not play today…David Price will not start Sunday, but Joe Maddon said he will be used at some point this weekend.
WHERE THEY STAND: The Rays are 94-64, a half-game ahead of the Yankees. After 158 games in 2008 the Rays were 96-62.
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
Sep 29
Well, it was another Derek Shelton special Wednesday night at a packed Fruitdome (thank you Rays) that saw the Rays dish out 20,000 free tickets in 90 minutes.
That was the only thing that was impressive about the hungover Rays being limited to three hits against Kevin Millwood of all people who raised his gaudy season record to a rugged 4-16 (somewhere, Shelton is proudly smiling).
Well, Joe shouldn’t say the 20,000 free tickets was the only thing that was impressive. The pitching of Jeff Niemann was too.
After struggling mightily since returning from the disabled list, Niemann threw his name into serious contention for a rotation spot in the ALDS by mowing down the Orioles. He scattered four hits through seven innings, one of those was a two-run triple to Felix Pie.
Could it be that Niemann has returned just in time to save the Rays’ chances of a Fall Classic? Curious minds like Joe want to know.
Sep 29
[Update] Marc Topkin is reporting (via Twitter) that all 20,000 tickets have been given away and it took less than 90 minutes.
The Rays also just sent out a press release saying there are “a few tickets remaining for purchase.”
[4:30pm] Below is an image taken this afternoon of people lining up outside the Trop for free tickets. We were told that this is 100-150 yards from the gate and that it is one of three lines.
Prediction: 12,000 tickets given away. 23,000 in attendance.
