Off-Season (click image for random Wikipedia page)
Earlier this week we wondered if there would be any lingering animosity between the Rays new reliever and the local media due to an ugly incident back in 2009.
Back in June, 2008, James Shields plunked Coco Crisp after Crisp had slid a little too hard into second base in a previous game and then mouthed-off about the incident.
Crisp seems to blame the entire situation on Jason Bartlett who blocked second base with his knee, breaking an “unwritten rule.” But more importantly — and this shows just how nuts Crisp is — Crisp was apparently most upset about what happened when he got up and yelled at Bartlett…
So I got up and had some choice words for Jason Bartlett. He didn’t even look at me…My next at-bat, I get up and I’m like “I don’t care how I get on, but I’ve got to get on.” If he covered the bag, I wasn’t going to slide. I was going to do the dirty, you know, take him out. He didn’t want to say anything to me, fine. You play it dirty, I can play it dirty too. You’ve got to nip stuff right in the bud when it happens.
He then goes on to describe the brawl in great detail, even noting who did what in the scrum… Read the rest of this entry »
Today is the deadline for teams to add minor leaguers to the 40-man roster in order to protect them from being eligible for the Rule 5 draft. Wade Davis will be added, as will Jake McGee. Eddie Morlan is also likely to be added.
Other players that will be eligible for the Rule 5 draft, but are unlikely to be added, include Chris Mason, Ryan Royster and Mike Wlodarczyk.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
Trever Miller has signed with the St. Louis Cardinals. [MLB Trade Rumors]
Rocco Baldelli’s name continues to swirl around the Red Sox. Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe says there is an even bigger need for Baldelli now that the Sox have traded Coco Crisp. [Boston Globe]
Thanksgiving came early to some in St. Pete as the Rays served a Thanksgiving dinner to about 300 people. [MLB]
David Chalk is back with his “Ain’t S#!t” series. This time he compares the nominees for Sports Illustrated’s “Sportsman of the Year” award to Joe Maddon. [Bugs and Cranks]
The Harvard Crimson profiles alum Matt Silverman, class of ’98. [Harvard Crimson]
THE GOOD: 8, 13, 12, 13, 20, 14, 10. That is how many pitches Scott Kazmir threw in each of the first 7 innings for a total of 90. That allowed Kid K to come out for the 8th inning. Only one inning with 15 or more is a very good sign. Kazmir averaged 17.5 pitches per inning in ’07 and was at 16.2 pitches per inning this season, prior to last night…Rays batters walked 4 times and struck out only 5 times against one of the better starting pitchers in baseball. In the Red Sox series the Rays struck out 28 times in 3 games with only 8 walks.
THE BAD: BJ Upton did hit a home run and Carl Crawford had a rare triple, but the top 4 batters in the lineup were only a combined 3-19.
THE TELLING: Evan Longoria’s home run in the 5th inning landed in the club-level, an area that had only been reached 13 times previously. It was fun watching the left fielder take one step back and then realize it was wasted effort…
DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…
In case you missed it yesterday, Rays Index is now on Twitter. [Rays Index]
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]
The suspensions were handed for Thursday night’ brawl. James Shields (6 games), Jonny Gomes (5), Edwin Jackson (5), Carl Crawford (4) and Akinori Iwamura (3). The suspensions are staggered so that the Rays will not be without more than 1 position player and 1 pitcher at a time. However, Shields and Gomes were start their suspensions last night, but chose to appeal. The other will likely do the same when their suspensions are set to begin. Three Sox were also suspended including Jon Lester (5 games), Coco Crispy (7) and Sean Casey (3). [St. Pete Times]
With off-days before and after the Marlins series, the Rays will be able to rework the rotation so that only one emergency starter is needed (most likely Jason Hammel) despite losing 2 starting pitchers to suspension. [MLB]
Bugs & Cranks has a video clip showing the heated history between the Rays and the Red Sox. Of course the one not mentioned is the unprovoked punch by Julian “I am crazeeee” Tavarez thrown at Joey Gathright in spring training. [Bugs and Cranks]
Bugs and Cranks purveyors of all Devil Rays videos, also has CooCoo Crisp’s postgame comments. [Bugs and Cranks]
Rays the Stakes wrote an open letter to CooCoo Crisp. [Rays the Stakes]
Troy Percival will be ready to come off the DL when he is eligible on June 13, while Carlos Pena will need more time than his June 19 return date. [St. Pete Times]
By now everybody has seen the image on the left (above). We knew there was something familiar about it, and now we know. James Shields threw a pitch at Coco Crisps leg and then when Crisp charged the mound, Shields threw another “pitch” at Crisp’s head. Luckily for Crisp, it was either a change up or his head wasn’t in the strike zone.
THE GOOD: Playing the game the right way. The Rays did everything right in the last two games. Coocoo Crisp did everything wrong. If Crisp walks to first base the situation is over.
THE BAD: Giving Coocoo Crisp an opportunity to win the game by getting James Shields ejected in the second inning. We really thought Crisp had something coming but we assumed it would wait until later in the game to find a less meaningful moment or a time when losing Shields would mean less. Still, there was little reason to expect CooCoo to charge the mound. And we can’t fault Shields for sticking up for his teammates. Shields had to throw at CooCoo for the bushleague slide on Wednesday and Shields handled the situation perfectly. The ball was at CooCoo’s leg. Not his head. If that pitch cost the Rays one win for the sake of playing the game the right way and for a little extra team unity, we are all for it…The umpires letting Jon Lester get away with several inside pitches and never even issuing a warning. At least one of those pitches was intentional…Pitching toManny Ramirez in the first inning with 1 out, first base open and Mike Lowell on deck. The worst-case scenario if Joe Maddon walks ManRam is a 2-run wall-ball double. The best-case scenario is a double-play waiting to happen. Instead, Papa Joe chose to pitch to Manny Being Manny and Manny Was Manny, hitting a 3-run home run.
THE TELLING: The Rays have a 2 game lead over Oakland and a 4 games lead over Toronto and Minnesota in the wild card race.
DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…
The best news we heard all day yesterday? The Bucs original “Bucco Bruce” helmet was named the “2nd Coolest Helmet in History”. [Shutdown Corner]
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]
Bugs and Cranks has their weekly power rankings up and the Rays are #1 again…These posts say they are written by the “B&C Staff” but we have a funny feeling that Chalk is stuffing the ballot box. [Bugs and Cranks]
Joe Maddon met with his hitters before last night’s game and emphasized the need to cut down on the strikeouts. After striking out 19 times in the first two games of the series, the Rays struck out 9 times last night. [MLB]
First of all, this photo is AWE.some, even if James Shields didn’t actually connect…But will somebody please tell James the Greater, that the next time a batter chargers the mound…keep the cap and DROP the glove. Those left hooks are much more menacing without the leather…not too mention the risk of breaking a bone in his pitching hand.
Thanks to David Chalk over at Bugs and Cranks we now have video of the slide by Coco Crisp and the subsequent confrontation with Joe Maddon. The best part of this video is the reaction of the ESPN2 announcers…This should add a little spice to the Live Blog-A-Baloo of the week tonight.
