In a Q&A with Bud Selig, the commissioner was asked about the possibility of contracting the Rays should they fail to land a new stadium…

No, I wouldn’t. I think we have moved past that.
We’re going into 16 years of labor peace. I regard that as maybe the prime reason for the growth of the sport.
I love the new ballparks. I love revenue sharing. I love interleague play and the wild card. But I don’t think we understood how those labor confrontations were damaging us, whether it was 1972, 1973, 1976, 1980, 1981, 1985, 1990 or 1994.
There is no question that both of those teams need new ballparks. We’ll just have to work our way through it. Tampa has done a marvelous job running their team. [General Manager] Billy Beane has done a terrific job in Oakland. With the economics of baseball today, you’ve got to have a new stadium.

Contraction was always a silly idea and we have long been surprised it got so much play. Yes, baseball operates, in part, as 30 different businesses. But in reality Read the rest of this entry »

OK, Joe took three things out of this win by the Rays Wednesday.

The first, of course, was a chance to break out the brooms. Anytime that happens it’s great, certainly. But even better when the win comes in front of so many Bostonites (rhymes with sodomites) at the Fruitdome. When you have a chance to put the proverbial foot down on the throats of the Red Sux, it gives the Bostonites a real excuse to talk as if they are being choked to death, not that they don’t always talk like that, the freaking chow-DAH heads. AAAGGGGHHHHH!!!

The second thing that crossed Joe’s mind is, he’s not so sure that David Price isn’t currently the best starter in the American League. Two consecutive strong performances against two of the American League’s best teams, the Twinkies and Red Sux. He will enter the All Star break with a dozen wins. Impressive.

Price’s 10 k/1 walk/7.2 innings performance Wednesday (wow, what a strikeout-to-walk ratio!) was just what was needed: it gave Joaquin Benoit and Rafael Soriano a much needed and deserved rest. It even provided for some unintended comedy relief with Matt Garza getting his first save as a Rays pitcher. The game ended a lot closer than it should have.

Read the rest of this entry »

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

• Marc Topkin looks at the aftermath of Carl Crawford’s all-star game catch and MVP award and what it might mean for this career. [St. Pete Times]
• Joe Maddon met with President Barack Obama prior to the all-star game, and the President complimented JoeMa on his style…Also, Ben Zobrist got to keep the ball that he caught for the final out of the game. [St. Pete Times]
• Bud Selig sounded off on the Rays stadium situation and warned that all the good the front office has done could come to an end if the Rays don’t get a new stadium. Selig added that MLB President Bob DuPuy may become very active in the situation. It was DuPuy who helped the Marlins secure a new stadium. [St. Pete Times]
• Don’t these people remember when everybody was singing Joe Maddon praises for placing Tim Wakefield on the all-star roster for what amounted to a “lifetime achievement award”? And now they want to question JoeMa’s decision to not play him? And of course, we are certain these are the same people that were up in arms when the all-star teams ran out of pitchers and the game ended in a tie. [Toeing the Rubber]
• Big League Stew says that Joe Maddon “erred in not throwing Wakefield.” [Big League Stew]
• One blog comes to Joe Maddon’s defense. Kind of. This blogger says be angry, but be be angry at Bud Selig. [Stupid Sports Blog]
• The guy arrested for selling “fake” Rays merchandise during the playoffs last year has been found “Not Guilty”. [St. Pete Times]
• Roger Mooney writes about how Evan Longoria is one of the new faces of baseball. [Bradenton Herald]

We are still waiting on an official announcement from the Rays that they have signed reliever Joe Nelson. Nelson announced on December 24 that he had agreed to a one-year, $1.3 million contract with the Rays. As per most deals, the contract requires the player to pass a physical and the holidays may be holding up that part of the process.

Rays agree to terms with reliever Joe Nelson [The Heater]

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

• Ben Zobrist’s wife, Julianna Zobrist, has released her new album, “The Tree.” Ben and Julianna are also expecting their first child in January [Ed note: you can find pre-pregnancy photos of Julianna HERE] [Iowa City Press-Citizen]
• Buster Olney says the Rays and A’s are in a bidding war of sorts over the remaining DH/corner outfielders. Olney says both teams are willing to spend money but neither wants to go first, preferring to wait until the other team is out of the market, which in turn could drive the price down on the remaining players. [ESPN]
• We already talked about how defense is the Rays’ “Moneyball”. Well, Bleeding Blue and Teal is jealous and wants the Mariners to duplicate. [Bleeding Blue and Teal]
• We have been trying to temper people’s emotions on Troy Percival, noting that he was effective when healthy in 2008. Now Drays Bay backs that up with more numbers…Of course, staying healthy is something else indeed. [Drays Bay]
• One team that was said to be interested in signing Rocco Baldelli, the Reds, have signed Willy Taveras to play center field. However, they are supposedly still looking into the medical condition of Baldelli. [MLB Trade Rumors]
• The Rays were included as part of the New York Times’ “2008 Year in Review.” [New York Times]
• Joe Maddon was voted the top story of 2008 by his hometown paper. [Hazleton Standard-Speaker]
• Bud Selig points to the 2008 success of the Rays as the culmination of 9 years of efforts to bring competitive balance to baseball. [Yahoo! Sports]
• Joe Smith reports on how much the Rays’ overseas scouting has grown, with over 70 international free agents signed in the last three years. [St. Pete Times]
• The Rays Party of America has updated their 25-man roster projection…With Gabe Gross and Matt Joyce offering a similar skillset, we don’t see them both on the roster. [The Rays Party of America]

Click on above images to be taken to full standings, box scores or schedule…

Just the links this morning and we will be off the grid most of the day. We will be back this evening with a “RIGO!”, so we will see you then…

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

• We are having a hard time finding a link but we heard from several sources that Joe Maddon said after game 5 was suspended that he was well-aware of the rule that the World Series would not have ended had the game been suspended with the Phillies in the lead. However, Maddon made it clear that he did not inform the players of this because he wanted them playing with a sense of urgency.
• Jonny Gomes when he was a paper boy. [Pearls of Wisdom] [via Bugs and Cranks]
• Jorge Ortiz of USA Today breaks down how the rest of Game 5 will be managed. [USA Today]
• Marc Lancaster reported that as of game time last night it was not raining and had not rained in a couple of hours. He does mention that the conditions (cold, wind) would have made last night an unpleasant time to try and play baseball. [Rays Report]
• David Lennon of Newsday says the Phillies have every reason to be upset but that they won’t have any problem moving past it as the players follow the lead of their manager, Charlie Manuel. [Newsday]
• Sam Donnellon of the Philadelphia Inquirer says Philadelphia is ready to lay all the blame at the feet of Bud Selig if the Phillies lose the World Series…Way to have confidence in your team guys. [Philadelphia Inquirer]
• Or maybe they will just blame God. [Philadelphia Inquirer]
• Or as Mike Lopresti of USA Today puts it, the “gods must be crazy” as Bud Selig’s no-win situation was just the latest in a very odd World Series. [USA Today]
• John Romano wonders if destiny is indeed on the Rays’ side. [St. Pete Times]
• Tyler Hissey says BJ Upton’s postseason has helped many to forget their criticisms from the regular season. [Rays Digest]
• David Chalk of Bugs and Cranks has a plan to save the World Series. [Bugs and Cranks]
• The World Series umpires chat-it-out in “The Dugout”. [Fanhouse]

Click on above images to be taken to full standings, box scores or schedule…

THE GOOD: No more Cole Hamels. The Rays are now 3 and a half innings away from sending the series back to the Trop and regaining home field advantage. And with last’s night game being suspended, they know Hamels is done for the series. Hamels only threw 75 pitches and despite the run in the 6th inning, he probably would have been good for at least one more inning…No more Scott Kazmir. While the suspended game cost the Phillies at least one inning from their ace, the Rays were already into their bullpen with Grant Balfour pitching the 5th inning…BJ Upton’s baserunning. We think it is safe to say that Upton’s trip around the bases in the 6th inning is enough to erase the 724 base running gaffes committed during the regular season. After reaching on an infield single, it was imperative that Upton get into scoring position with 2 outs. Despite 4 pickoff attempts, a tricky lefty on the mound and the River Jordan standing between he and second base, Upton got a great jump and stole second base easily. But Upton saved his best baserunning for last. When Carlos Pena drove a single into left-center, Upton first had to traverse the mud between second and third. The toughest part was then rounding third, crossing into the soaked grass while turning at near-full speed. You could see the strain on Upton’s face just to stay up-right as he raced home, slid past the catcher and slapped home plate. If the Rays go on to win the World Series, it is not hyperbole to wonder if that will go down as the biggest baserunning play in World Series history, on par with Dave Roberts’ stolen base in the ’04 ALCS.

THE BAD: Scott Kazmir. 103 pitches in 4 innings. 6 walks. Of course, maybe we should label that “Good” considering Kazmir gave up 4 hits, 6 walks and hit a batter in 4 innings and somehow only allowed 2 runs…Baserunning gaffes. In the first inning, Carl Crawford hit a line drive that Jimmy Rollins dropped. Crawford had stopped running. Otherwise he would have beat the throw to first. In the 5th inning, Rocco Baldelli led off the inning with a pop up that was dropped by Rollins. Baldelli could have easily made it to second base and yet was standing on first when the play ended. That was followed by Jason Bartlett grounding into a double play.

THE TELLING: Joe Maddon stated after the game that Grant Balfour would be his pitcher to start the 6th inning. Balfour only threw 9 pitches last night and would not have been available to pitch tonight had Maddon used somebody else to start the 6th inning. The other option would have been to go with David Price who is a starting pitcher and would be used to the typical pregame routine. Of course, with Cole Hammels due to lead off the bottom of the 6th, it is possible that Maddon is starting with Balfour to force the Phillies to use one of their left-handed pinch-hitters and then will substitute David Price without Balfour throwing a pitch…This wouldn’t have happened in The Trop…Joe Maddon moved Carl Crawford up to the 2-spot in the lineup shifting BJ Upton, Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria down a spot. Maddon said he wanted to tweak the lineup but didn’t want to do anything too drastic…The Rays had already checked out of their hotel and had to bus 30 miles to Wilmington, Delaware to find a place to stay.

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

• Bud Selig insists that he informed both teams prior to the game that a World Series game would not be shortened, only suspended no matter what the score. However, players in both clubhouses were unaware of the rule change and Rays players insisted they thought they were in their final at bat in the 6th inning. [Yahoo! Sports]
• Joe Posnanski says baseball should have never let the game start, saying they used “reasons that defied every bit of logic and sports-sense imaginable.” [Kansas City Star]
• Rob Neyer wonders why the game wasn’t suspended after the 5th inning with the score 2-1 Phillies. Some Phillies fans are a little upset to say the least. [ESPN]
• Jayson Stark says that no matter what happened before and what happens next, this series will always be remembered for the rain. [ESPN]
• Gary Shelton says the Rays are not dead yet and if the Rays go on to win the World Series, they should add some infield mud to the trophy case. [St. Pete Times]
• Joe Maddon said that he does not buy Joe Blanton’s explanation that it was just dirt on his cap. [St. Pete Times]
• John Schlegel points out that rain delays and postponements are nothing new in the World Series. [MLB]
• A Top 10 list of reasons last night’s game was suspended. [Big League Stew]

Click on above images to be taken to full standings, box scores or schedule…

THE GOOD: It was a perfect game for the Phillies. They had their best pitcher on the mound against the Rays #3 starter. They got a number of breaks during the game, including a safe-call on a pickoff attempt in the 2nd inning that showed the runner was out. In the 5th inning Pat Burrell was safe at first on an error when it appeared that he was clearly inside the base line. The Phillies had several excuse-me swings and bloop basehits. With the bases loaded and only 1 out in the 3rd, BJ Upton hit a ball about as hard as it could be hit, but the ball went right to Pedro Feliz at third base, who turned a double-play. And the biggest break may have been a non-balk call in which Cole Hammels picked Carlos Pena off first base with no outs in the 6th of a 1-run game. All of those breaks, with their ace on the mound and the Rays still only lost 3-2 and had several opportunities to win the game. If there is such a thing as a “good” loss in the World Series. This was it. With pitching matchup advantages in the next 3 games, the Rays are far from out of this…The DH is a big advantage for the Rays. Chris Coste was the Phillies DH and he didn’t even look like a major league hitter…The Rays “double” lead-off combination of Jason Bartlett and Akinori Iwamura reached base each of their first 5 plate appearances…Lefties in the lineup went 4 for their first 7 with a home run and 2 RBI against Cole Hamels.

THE BAD: Scott Kazmir once again couldn’t get out of his own way in the first inning giving up a 2-run home run. And even though Kazmir was a bit unlucky with some bloop hits after the first inning, he still allowed 11 base runners in the first 6 innings. If the Phillies didn’t go 0-9 with runners in scoring position in those 6 innings, the game wouldn’t have been so close…Phillies lead-off hitters were on base 4 times…With 2 outs in the 5th and a runner on second, BJ Upton fouled out to Ryan Howard who reached into the stands for the grab. Absolutely awful job by the crowd in that section. We have no idea how they can let an opposing player make that play…The Rays 2-4 batters went a combined 0-12 with 5 Ks….Why the hell is the “free taco” such a big story? Did people think there was a chance nobody would steal a base in the entire World Series? Taco Bell is giving away free Tacos. Good for them. We understand Fox TV making a big deal. It is a corporate sponsorship. But why are there so many news stories on the topic?

THE TELLING: Joe Maddon chose to start Ben Zobrist in right field with Gabe Gross struggling and preferring to keep Fernando Perez on the bench as a late-inning weapon. It was Zobrist’s second start in right field in his career…10 of the last 11 World Series winners won game 1. Then again 5 of those were sweeps and another 2 were 4-1. Anybody think the Rays are getting swept? Didn’t think so…There is about an 80% chance of rain in St. Pete tonight. Too bad the Rays don’t play in a dome. Oh. Wait. Never mind…According to CoolStandings.com the chances of the Rays winning the World Series is now only 36.1%.

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

• In a strange story, Daisuke Matsuzaka apparently accused (in the Japanese media) the Rays of moving the pitching rubber to benefit James Shields. MLB checked the mound and found nothing wrong. [St. Pete Times]
• Big League Stew debates the non-balk call. [Big League Stew]
• In a classic case of “hindsight is 20-20″, Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports says the Rays were “too cool” in game 1 and didn’t play the game with urgency…Of course in game 1 of the ALCS everybody was saying the Rays played too uptight. [Yahoo! Sports]
• Gerry Fraley of Fox Sports says the game 1 win cannot hide the problems the Phillies have. [Fox Sports]
• Jerry Crasnick of ESPN says Joe Maddon gives his players 30 minutes after every game to either celebrate the win or stew about the loss. After 30 minutes, that game is done and it is time to focus on the next game. [ESPN]
• We always wonder what makes one team in a championship contest a “team of destiny” and the other is not. The Press of Atlantic City thinks the Phillies are destiny’s darlings this year. [Press of Atlantic City]
• Philly, we’ll make you a deal. We’ll stop ringing the cowbells if you promise that the Phillies fans in games 3,4,5 will not yell any ignorant insults. Deal? Didn’t think so. [Philadelphia Inquirer]
• Peter Mucha of the Philadelphia Inquirer says a rainout on Saturday would move Cole Hamels up from game 5 to game 4. This will not change Hamel’s availability for game 7. If game 4 is moved to Monday, game 7 will not change. There just won’t be an off-day between games 5 and 6. Which means game 7 will be next Thursday regardless of when game 4 is played. So unless Hamels comes back on 2 days rest, Hamels is not pitching game 7. [Philadelphia Inquirer]
• Scott Kazmir just wishes he could get the one pitch back from the first inning. [MLB]
• Mark Newman gives us “Ten things to love about The Trop.” [MLB]
• Sean McAdam of the Boston Herald says that the emergence of the Rays changes the landscape in the AL East and the Yankees and Red Sox should get used to it. [Boston Herald]
• BJ Upton’s bat from the ALDS and ALCS was sent to the Hall of Fame. [Baseball Prospectus]
• Bud Selig sure doesn’t seem upset about the Rays in the World Series when he says, “I just can’t tell you how important this is…I’m really lucky I was able to see this.” [USA Today]
• Troy Percival is still at home with his family in California…Joe Maddon says he would be with the team if he was on the roster. [Tampa Tribune]
• The Tigers new pitching coach has ties to Matt Garza. [Detroit Free-Press]
• Todd Kalas joined his dad in the radio booth during the 4th inning. [MLB]
• While the Rays were celebrating after game 7 of the ALCS, Trever Miller’s 4-year old daughter nearly died in the stands. It does sound as if Miller’s wife had the situation under control, as this is a condition that is not new. [MLB]

Click on above images to be taken to full standings, box scores or schedule…

How good was The Mad Australian this season? Grant Balfour put up some sick numbers this season. In 58.1 innings, Balfour allowed only 28 hits and 24 walks while striking out 82. He pitched to a 1.54 ERA. Certainly the best season by a relief pitcher in the short history of the Rays. But we wonder if there was a bigger context we could look at to see exactly how dominating he was this season.

We went to the “Play Index” at Baseball-Reference.com.

We did a search for every pitcher that has ever posted a season with at least 11 strike outs per 9 innings, while giving up less than 9 hits and walks combined per 9 innings with an ERA less than 1.70 (minimum 40 innings pitched). Three criteria for a dominating relief pitcher.

The results? The Mad Australian is just the 4th pitcher in the history of baseball to post such a dominating season out of the bullpen. The other three is a who’s who of dominating closer performances, including Eric Gagne (2003), Billy Wagner (1999) and Joe Nathan (2006). Gagne won the Cy Young Award in ’03, while Wagner finished 4th and Nathan finished 5th. The only difference between their seasons and Balfour’s was the number of saves. They each recorded at least 36 saves, while Balfour only had 4.

We knew Balfour had a strong season, but we had no idea that it was one of the best in the history of baseball.

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

• In case you missed it yesterday afternoon, we ran a bunch of “Webtopia” links in the evening “Happy Hour” feature. [Rays Index]
• Remember the Rays fan that ended up with the Evan Longoria home run ball above the Monster at Fenway in game 3? He was kind enough to answer a few questions about the incident. [Rays Index]
• Congratulations go out to Gabe Gross and his wife Kelly, who are expecting their first child in May. [Celebrity Baby Blog]
• Rocco Baldelli could get the start in right field tonight with Gabe Gross struggling…Also, Joe Maddon is not worried about the Red Sox history of comebacks noting that he would rather concentrate on executing their own gameplan. [St. Pete Times]
• Joe Smith says the key to Scott Kazmir is surviving the first inning. Smith points out that Kid K tends to settle down after long first innings and gains confidence as the game moves along. [St. Pete Times]
• The Phillies won the NLCS 3 games to 1…The Rays aren’t there yet, but it is worth noting that every time a Tampa Bay franchise wins a championship they beat a Philadelphia team on the way. [The Fightins]
• This is worth pointing out again. 18 “experts” at ESPN.com predicted the World Series matchup prior to the playoffs. 2 picked the Rays to win the ALCS. None picked the Phillies. If the Rays win the ALCS, that will be 2 correct picks out of 36. Wow. [ESPN]
• Bugs and Cranks found a picture of the reverse mohawks from Fenway. [Bugs and Cranks]
• John Romano says Jim Hickey deserves much of the credit for the Rays success and points out that he came very close to losing his job last winter. [St. Pete Times]
• More evidence that the Red Sox Nation isn’t as devoted as they would like you to believe. Tickets can be had for ALCS games in Fenway for below face value. [Boston Globe]
• Dave Sheinin of the Washington Post says the Red Sox are being betrayed by their age and are suddenly old news. The perfect metaphor for this series is the young, speedy Carl Crawford beating out an infield single with the old Tim Wakefield scrambling on the ground trying to throw out Crawford. [Washington Post]
• Wallace Matthews seems to think the Yankees paid for the Rays success…Bitter much? [Newsday]
• John Tomase of the Boston Herald points out that this incarnation of the Red Sox is much different than the teams that made postseason comebacks. [Boston Herald]
• Tonight could be the last game for Jason Varitek in a Red Sox uniform. [Boston Globe]
• Fire Brand of the American League points out 5 keys to the Red Sox winning game 5. [Fire Brand of the American League]
• Awful Announcing gets it. We will fully admit that a Rays-Phillies World Series would not be FOX TV’s first choice. Thankfully, there is not a single mention of how Bud Selig is rooting for the Red Sox and the Dodgers. We have already pointed out how ridiculous that sentiment is. [Awful Announcing]
• The Rays signed four 16-year old players during the international free agent signing period. Among the players signed is a switch-hitting catcher from Venezuela named “Narvaez”. Coincidence? [Tampa Bay Rays Prospects]
• Stay classy Pink Hat Nation…How Youz Doin Baseball? Did this blog get their name from a line in “Friends”? That’s hot. Oh, and the only other Colby Alum we know is the guy in the bottom of THIS picture. We don’t think we have ever seen somebody more afraid of a baseball that was no where near them. [How Youz Doin Baseball]
• We are not sure where this person did their research. It is yet another attempt at showing how the Rays roster was put together. Two problems. The list of players traded by the Rays is short about 6 names. And nobody in baseball is acquired for “FREE”. What does that even mean? The Rays traded Josh Butler, a former 2nd round pick, for Gabe Gross. And Chad Bradford was acquired for a player to be named later. The Rays will likely send a player to Baltimore once the season ends. Cheap? Yes. But not “FREE”. For the complete list, check here. [Beyond the Boxscore]
• Kevin Gengler stops by The Hardball Times and gives an in depth review of the Rays farm system. [The Hardball Times]

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Troy Percival will throw from a mound on Monday and said he could pitch now but will throw a couple of bullpen sessions until the team deems him ready. [St. Pete Times]
• Joe Maddon’s managerial style is certainly unique. John Romano says Maddon has “ignored the safer, obvious choices to do what he felt was right.” Brian Anderson adds Papa Joe is “not afraid, and that’s the thing I love about watching him manage.” [St. Pete Times]
• Gerry Fraley of the Sporting News says the Rays could lose the rest of their games and Joe Maddon would still win AL Manager of the Year. [Sporting News]
• Gordon Edes of Yahoo! Sports looks at the relationship between Joe Maddon and Mike Scioscia. [Yahoo! Sports]
• In a bold statement *sarcasm*, Mike Bauman says the Rays could win the World Series if they make the playoffs…In other news Barack Obama has a shot to win the presidential election if he is nominated by the Democratic Party. [MLB]
• John Romano says umpires need to be held accountable, wishing that some umpires weren’t “so stinking arrogant.” [St. Pete Times]
• The Big Lead doesn’t know the full name of the Rays (see title) and says Bud Selig, FOX and TBS are all rooting against the Rays. The reasoning is the Rays are bad for ratings and hence bad for baseball should they make it that far…Funny. The Marlins have won 2 of the last 10 world series, and MLB seems to be doing just fine. [The Big Lead]
• One writer is finally willing to admit that the Rays are better than the Yankees…What gave it away? The 10-game lead in the standings? [Bugs and Cranks]
• Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News writes that locking up the young players has paid off for the Rays and they should be able to contend for several years. [Daily News]
• Roger Mooney says that the Rays biggest strength could be “locker room harmony.”…We prefer to think that winning breeds harmony, not the other way around. [Bradenton Herald]
• The Mets have signed Al Reyes to a minor league deal…This of course raises the question as to why Reyes turned down a minor league job with the Rays? [New York Post]
• Fangraphs takes a look at Scott Kazmir’s pitch selection and notes that he is throwing more fastballs this season. Outs Per Swing made this same observation earlier. [Fangraphs]

THE GOOD: Getting on base in the bottom of the 7th inning. The inning started with 2 walks and a hit-by-pitch. Another HBP with Aki Iwamura at the plate drove in a run. That was followed by Carl Crawford’s second career grand slam, making it 6-3 and effectively killing the rally. Stupid home runs. That is, except it didn’t. These are the Rays and they are magilicious. BJ Upton followed with a triple and then an Eric Hinske double scored another run. Hinske stole third and scored on an Evan Longoria sac fly to make it 7 runs in the 7th…The bullpen got the last 8 outs of the game without allowing a run and without the availablity of Troy Percival and JP Howell, the Rays two most important relief pitchers.

THE BAD: Carl Crawford was thrown out trying to steal by 10 feet to end the 1st inning. This seems to be happening a lot with CC and BJ Upton…The Rays had first and third with only 1 out in the 5th and were unable to score…James Shields uncharacteristically broke down in the 7th inning after cruising for the first 6 innings. Shields does not usually give up leads late in the game. But 2 doubles and a walk led to 3 runs scoring in the inning and the Rays falling behind 3-1…Will somebody please tell Joe Magrane to stick to baseball and leave the jokes and the math AND especially the jokes about math to others. When talking about Hall of Fame pitcher Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown, Magrane “joked” that by reason, Antonio Alfonseca (who has 6 fingers on his pitching hand) should be “50% better” than Brown. Of course, 6 is 100% more than 3, not 50%. You could just feel Dwayne Staats tense up in awkwardness.

THE TELLING: Evan Longoria got his first career start at shortstop after Jason Bartlett fouled a ball off his foot in batting practice and had to be scratched from the lineup…The Rays lead in the wild card is now 3.5 games. Unfortunately, it is no longer the A’s that the Rays are looking down at. It is the Yankees. Look for this to be the race for the rest of the year. Three team for two spots…This was the 9th straight home series win for the Rays after starting 1-3. On the road they are 4-4-3…The attendance last night was 34,441 and they averaged 32,515 for the 3-game set. We will let somebody else do the legwork, but we are going to assume that this is a record for a non-Yankees, non-Red Sox 3-game series…

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Don’t forget to VOTE for Carl Crawford to start the all-star game. If you haven’t voted yet today, go NOW! [MLB All-Star Voting]
• Didn’t mention this earlier in the first post of the day, but Tim Beckham’s signing bonus is a record for a drafted player. [The Heater]
• Matt Garza met with a well-known baseball psychologist at the request of Joe Maddon. [Tampa Tribune]
• Outs Per Swing has visual evidence that the Rays have been squeezed in the strike zone on several occasions. [Outs Per Swing]
• In this breakdown of the Rays-Cubs matchup, Baseball Prospectus shows that defensively Evan Longoria has already been worth one win over a replacement-level player, while Dioner Navarro’s defensive have improved drastically into one of the better defensive catchers in the game. Also, Jason Bartlett actually has a below average range factor this season. Certainly his throwing problems early in the season plays a factor, but reader Scott brings up a good point. Might a gold glove-caliber third baseman and/or second baseman lower the range factor of a shortstop by getting to balls that Bartlett would have otherwise reached? We have to wonder if that would be particularly meaningful on balls hit in the hole betwen second and third where the third baseman kinda has “first dibs” being closer to the plate. [Baseball Prospectus]
• John Romano breaks down why the Rays can no longer be considered a fluke. [St. Pete Times]
• One blog breaks down the 3-team race in the AL East by looking a little closer at each of the contenders. [No Regard]
• Bugs and Cranks is not at all pleased with Edwin Jackson’s taste in…movies? [Bugs and Cranks]
• The above link is in reference to an SI.com piece in which baseball players are quized on pop culture. [SI]
• Bud Selig did not dance around his feelings about the Trop and the Rays need for a new stadium. [Ballpark Frankness]
• Ken Rosenthal says that the Rays are one of several teams to express interest in Freddy Garcia who is a free agent and recovering from shoulder surgery…We have no doubt that the Rays are interested, but if a “bidding war” begins, as Rosenthal predicts, that is when their interest will cease. [Fox Sports]