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: Reaching New Heights. What in the world has gotten into Jeff Niemann? The Giraffe worked into the 9th inning for the first time in over a year going 8.2 innings. And his efficiency was amazing. And outside of the 9th inning, he appeared to get stronger as the game went deeper, needing just 17 pitches combined to get through the 7th and 8th innings. And now, in his last 6 starts he has a 1.69 ERA with 42 strikeouts and 10 walks (42.2ip)…Bossman. BJ Upton had just his third 3-hit game of the year, and was on base 5 times.
THE BAD: Sean Rodriguez. Since hitting his home run last weekend, Rodriguez is 0-11 with 4 strikeouts and no walks.
THE TELLING: The Yankees are now a game up on the Red Sox and the Rays are 9 behind the Sox…Jeremy Hellickson’s next start will be Monday…Look for Robinson Chirinos to steal some starts versus lefties from Kelly Shoppach in the near future.
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
“…with more than 50 games to go, the Rays…are already eliminated from the playoffs…This would be the equivalent of the New York Jets being eliminated from the playoff race at 6-5.” [Business Insider]
Evan Longoria got a new puppy, Jango (on the right). David Price’s dog is on the left (thanks Caity). [Image]
When asked about the differences between the Red Sox and the Rays, Carl Crawford had this to say:
It’s all baseball. But it’s a little different. It’s more a younger team [in Tampa], so it was more like party central all the time. [In Boston] it’s a little more calmer, a little more conservative. That’s probably the biggest difference.
People are apparently focusing on the “party central” part of the quote and ignoring the rest of it. The Rays are YOUNGER. That means fewer wives. That means fewer kids. That means more free time. And that means more PARTYING.
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: James Shields. James Shields entered the season with 2 career shutouts. He now has 3 this season in just 15 starts. The Red Sox came in winners of 9 in a row, averaging more than 9 runs per game during that stretch. And yet Shields held the Sox to 5 hits. He did walk a tight-rope though. Three times in the first 5 innings, he let the leadoff batter reach base…Justin Ruggiano. Maybe it is just a hot streak, but let’s keep riding it. Last night it was a home run, his 3rd, and now he is hitting .372 and appears firmly entrenched as the starting left fielder.
THE BAD: Kevin Youkilis. With 1 out in the 9th, Youkilis tried to beat out an infield single. Only he strayed WAY inside the basepath and spiked the back of Casey Kotchman’s leg (WATCH IT HERE). It was absolutely on purpose. And absolutely dirty. Good thing is, James Shields knew it. And Youk has one coming.
THE TELLING: The offensive juggernaut that is the Red Sox, has now been shutout 6 times this season…Why did all of the Carl Crawford stories revolve around “boo him or cheer him?” Why did it have to be one or the other? Couldn’t we just root for the Rays to beat the Red Sox? We’ll cheer Crawford when he retires. In the meantime, we just want the Rays to win games…
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: Joe Maddon. When Maddon gets the heave-ho, he always seems to get his money’s worth in F-bombs (as this clip indicates)…BJ Upton. Beej has been erratic with the arm this year. But he had the Cobra on display last night, nailing a runner at home in the first. How often do you see a throw from center hit the mound and take a bad bounce? That is because not many center fielders have Upton’s arm. And unlike Justin Ruggiano in the 7th, this runner was actually out.
THE BAD: Overtime Unneeded. This game only went to overtime after a terrible blown call at home plate on a sac fly in the 7th inning. Justin Ruggiano was blocked off the plate, but avoided the tag and yet was still called out…Stuck in the Mud. Elliot Johnson was picked off in the 3rd. And Sam Fuld was caught trying to get into scoring position in the 9th. Both of those you don’t like, but they happen. Especially Fuld in the 9th. That was the right play. You want to be in scoring position with 2 outs. But you cannot get caught stealing third base with one out and Evan Longoria at the plate. And yet that is exactly what Justin Ruggiano did in the 4th inning. Rookie mistake. Huge rookie mistake.
THE TELLING: That was Joe Maddon’s third ejection of the year…Matt Joyce was out of the lineup for the 2nd straight day…Jeff Niemann will make one more rehab start today, so look for Alex Cobb to make one more start for the Rays before being sent down.
RANDOM THOUGHTS: We stand and applaud Todd Kalas on a job well done during his stint in the TV booth during Brian Anderson’s vacation. We love Anderson in the booth. And someday (soon, we hope) Kalas will get a well deserved booth job. And while we will be happy when it happens, we also know we will miss him terribly.
William C. Rhoden of the New York Times wrote a piece this weekend looking at the early season struggles of Carl Crawford and how he is handling the scrutiny of the Boston media. And in doing so, Crawford took a subtle jab at the Tampa-St. Pete sports media…
It’s fascinating in sports to see how star players react to changes in scenery, especially when the change is as drastic as going from a market like the Tampa Bay area, with minimal news coverage, to Boston…“You go from a team that doesn’t have much tradition to a team with a lot of tradition,” Crawford said. “Being watched all the time, the attention you get — that’s the biggest difference…In Tampa, I was able to hide and do a lot of stuff, and people wouldn’t really notice. Now it’s like your every move is watched all the time. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. It’s nice to be noticed, but that’s the biggest difference.”
This just reeks of somebody that is desparately trying to say the right thing for the Boston media.
Today is opening day for the 14th time in franchise history. During that time, 67 different players have started on opening day for the (Devil) Rays.
Here is a word cloud (created usingWordle.net) showing each of the 67 players. The size of their names is relative to how many times that player was in the lineup on opening day. Carl Crawford leads the way with eight opening day starts.
Carl Crawford will be writing a diary for ESPN.com this year. Yes, Carl Crawford. Amazing how a nine-figure contract can change a man.
Here are a few of our favorite nuggets from CC’s first endeavor into the public domain…
On dealing with the media (keep in mind that the season hasn’t even started):
There is a lot more media here. I’m just trying to understand everything that is going on here. With all the media, I’m adjusting. It’s a day to day battle, but at some point I figure I’ll get used to it.
On asking Manny Ramirez for advice:
With Manny, I just asked him about Boston period. He’s like, “You better produce or they’re going to boo you.” He said, “I know you’re happy, but you better produce now or else you’re getting booed.”
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: El Chef. Robinson Chirinos capped the latest walk-off win with his 2nd spring home run. El Chef is already a better catcher defensively than John Jaso despite limited experience (Baseball America called him the best defensive catcher in Cubs organization). He is already a better hitter than Kelly Shoppach. Yes, the Rays do want him to season a little more, especially behind the plate. But if Andrew Friedman and Joe Maddon want the 25 best guys on the opening day roster, it is going to be hard to send El Chef back to triple-A…Andy Sonnanstine. Nice to see him bounce back with 4 shutout innings…Reid Brignac. Briggy Baseball was flashing the leather with a diving stop in the 1st inning and another in the 5th, both times getting up and getting runners. He is going to be fun to watch defensively.
THE BAD: Alex Torres. Torres gave up 3 runs in 2 innings. Not that big of a deal for a guy that will likely be in triple-A. But while Andy Sonnanstine is the “backup” starting pitcher, Torres is probably Sonny’s backup.
THE TELLING: Rays starting pitchers threw 999.2 innings in 2010, one out short of Joe Maddon’s goal…Jeremy Hellickson is expected to make his spring debut today.
RANDOM THOUGHTS: Starting to worry that this year’s Rayhawks will be beards and mullets. Some Rays fans better start now…Spring Training is so incredibly important for the Rays. 63 guys competing for one spot as our new favorite player.
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
Below, is a video on Derek Jeter’s new house on Davis Island.
The Rays released Ramon Ortiz. Ortiz, who made 2 starts for the Dodgers last year, was picked up as a free agent by the Rays towards the end of the season.
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: BJ Upton. Bossman went 3-3 with 2 opposite-field hits. So far we like what we see. But we also liked the opposite-field power he displayed last spring. So for the time being we are tempering our excitement…Jeff Niemann. 4 shutout innings with 4 hits, 2 Ks and a walk. Very Giraffe-like…Ben Zobrist. Zorilla was back in the lineup, and started at 2B…Robinson Chirinos. Nos Def expanded his repertoire by playing a couple of innings at first base.
THE BAD: John Jaso. Jaso didn’t even enter the game until the 6th inning, but still managed to give up 8 stolen bases. This is the downside that we have to live with when it comes to Jaso. He is just never going to be a very good defensive catcher. He works hard. He never takes a play off. But he also far too mechanical for the position.
THE TELLING: Carl Crawford is expected to play against the Rays today…With Ben Zobrist back in the lineup, he made his first start at 2B with Matt Joyce in right field. Does this mean that Sean Rodriguez is going to be limited to starts versus left-handed starters…Felipe Lopez earned some big-time brownie points with Joe Maddon by starting at 1B, a position that he has only started once before in his career…The Rays also played a split-squad game versus the Netherlands in St. Pete. The game was not an official Grapefruit League game and the Rays sent the “Danny Devito” roster. Port Charlotte got the “Arnold” roster. Well, “Arnold” minus the steroids.
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
The Rays were the latest team to face Justine Siegal in batting practice. Siegal is making the rounds trying to promote more participation by women in baseball. [The Heater]
