- Orioles 6, Rays 2 (click image for boxscore)
The GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe.
THE GOOD: Matt Moore. No, he wasn’t good. The last 3 batters he faced got hits, including a death-inducing home run from Matt Wieters. But before that we got our first look at why this kid is special. He was consistently 96-98 with his fastball. And he does it with ease. Whatever the opposite of “max effort” is, that’s Matt Moore.
THE BAD: Not in the Cards. Playoff teams don’t lose 2 of 3 to the Orioles in September. And good teams don’t go 9-9 against the Orioles on the season. If the Rays are just 11-7 against the O’s this year, there would be a serious playoff push going on.
THE TELLING: Sam Fuld, who was starting in place of Desmond Jennings, left the game in the 5th with a wrist injury…The Rays have promoted Dan Johnson and Alex Torres. To make room on the 40-man roster, they have released Jay Buente.
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- According to Alex Cobb, he is “a little ahead of schedule” on his rehab. [TCPalm]
- The 2012 schedule has been released. [TBO.com]
- For a team that has always said it is a priority to be strong up the middle (C, 2B, SS, CF), they sure have a problem finding a decent catcher or shortstop. [The King David Show]
- All Joe Maddon does is win. [TampaBay.com]
- MLB Trade Rumors calls the Casey Kotchman signing the second best minor league deal of this past off-season. He might have been first if had received stem cell treatments. [MLBTR]
17 Comments
GREAT timing: Sheldon’s article; JOE MADON finds a way to win, has as much credibility as liberal newspaper writers saying Obama is a great president.
If you asked Sheldon for THREE things (moves) MAddon made the last three days to help beat the last place Orioles then ask the Avg Fan for three things Maddon did to hurt the team the last three days…guess who gets it right. I could give you 13 damaging moves…but thats just sour grapes we lost…your right..
Don, can you fix Joe in 15 minutes like you did BJ? Any tips for Matt Moore? We should cut him, right? Dude just sucks out loud!
I guess Joe Maddon didn’t read my post yesterday about how Weiters is destroying left-handed pitching.
Dan Johnson? Really? Dan Johnson. Are we really going to entertain that childish “Red Sox Killer” myth and bring DAN JOHNSON up for this series?
As long as we’re talking “what ifs” (above – “what if Rays had gone 11-7 against the O’s”), here’s one for ya: WHAT IF Casey Kotchman had started the season’s first two dozen games at first base and in the lineup instead of Dan Johnson? This isn’t 20/20 hindsight – the two players’ spring stats don’t even compare to each other.
Maddon is a great, entertaining, unique manager, but loyalty is one of his downfalls.
See above: “MLB Trade Rumors calls the Casey Kotchman signing the second best minor league deal of this past off-season”
I’ll bet anyone here that the Pumpkin pinch-hits at least once during this series. Against Pappelbum.
Kotchman had also put up OPS+ of 72,90, and 93 in the preceding 3 seasons. He has been a great surprise but there is a reason no team signed him to a Major league contract.
…then Dan Johnson started and hit .108 through 25 games.
Kotchman came into spring training claiming that he had dealt with a chronic eye problem and it made all the difference in his ability to see and hit the ball. Then he backed it up. If we’re only going to look at “last year’s” stats, then Shields should’ve started the year in the pen.
I really do hope Dan Johnson comes here with a much improved bat, or gets lucky when he inevitably pinch hits in this series — defeating the Red Sux is all that matters to me in the end. But if he does get meaningful at bats, I’m not going to pretend he’s earned the right to be there. On a team with astonishingly inconsistent offense, his was by far the worst.
I wish him well, I really do.
Hal you sound exactly like Brian Anderson, he couldn’t shut up how good moore is, how good he looks, how good his mechanics are..until he gets shelled by the mighty Orioles, then he shut up real quick… the kid is a good minor league pitcher who has a chance to make in in the majors thats it..also he is Joe MAddons “go to guy”…with 10 major league relievers sitting in the bull pen…plus Maddon couldn’t even remember when he was suppose to put Moore in adding to the circus act..Maddon should have asked Davis when?
MY “Manager of the year”
“the kid is a good minor league pitcher who has a chance to make in in the majors thats it”
Is that how you felt about David Price in 2008? Because Moore is arguably better than him and I’d say he had slightly more than a chance to make it.
I agree with everything that you say Don. Always! You fixed BJ, everyone involved in any way with baseball agrees with you that Maddon sucks and must go, and especially that Matt Moore is a “good minor league pitcher with a chance…” Cut that no good minor leaguer now!
Your observations are so astute! Moore is obviously Maddon’s “go-to guy.” That’s why he came in with the game on the line on Tuesday…no wait that was JP. Maddon definetly should have gone with the Great Dane or perhaps Sonny in last night’s spot – 2 of the fabulous “10 major leaguers” in the pen.
Are you available to manage the team next year? Hell, how about now? Fire Maddon now! Don can save us!
Cork, is there a way to find out what the Rays record is when they rest starters?
Normal 4-days rest: ERA 3.55 (59 starts)
5-days rest: 3.44 (61 starts)
6-days (or more): 3.18 (27 starts)
Yeah, that 6 man rotation was clearly a disaster.
Maddon must go! No set line-up! 6 man rotation! Dress-up road trips! The horror! The horror!!!!!!!!!!!
Hal…. Now your catching on…DO you have Black horn rimed glasses and JP howell long dirty grey hair?
Oops, I’m sorry, I meant a win-loss record when starting fielders are rested (ie resting Jennings or Longoria).
(But thanks for posting those other stats for the pitchers. I was curious about that too.)
What was the team’s record?