Archive for the 'Dewon Brazelton' Category

Jun 04

[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss A Good National Anthem, And A Game Lost

Andy Sonnanstine, Dewon Brazelton, Pearl Jam Cork Gaines 3 Comments »
Rays 7, Indians 0
Mariners 7, Rays 0 (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: The National Anthem. Mike McCready performed the national anthem prior to the game. That was the only thing worth watching all night (VIDEO).

THE BAD: Andy Sonnanstine. We don’t think it is an exaggeration when we say the Rays probably have Read the rest of this entry »

Apr 02

[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss No Offense, Bad Defense And A Brain Fart

BJ Upton, Dewon Brazelton, DJ Jones, Don Zimmer, Johnny Damon Cork Gaines 14 Comments »

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: Dan Johnson. He got good wood on his 2nd inning double. It is a little worrisome that the ball didn’t get out as he had a few of those this spring. But as long as he is making good contact, the power should come…Ben Zobrist. Thanks to a 9th inning solo home run by Zorilla, we are not left wondering when the Rays will score their first run.

THE BAD: Offensive. The Rays had just 2 baserunners in the first 7 innings and picked up just 3 hits and 1 walk off of Jeremy Guthrie in 8 innings. At one point, Guthrie retired 13 in a row…Offensive Defense. With the Rays trailing 1-0 in the 5th, Johnnt Damon played a 1-run double into a 2-run triple. And then Brian Roberts scored on a sac fly when he should have been on second base. With the way Guthrie was tossing, the game was essentially over at that point…BJ Being BJ. The Rays finally got 2 runners on in the 8th. But trailing by 4, that is not the time to try to get both runners in scoring position. The Rays needed more than 2 runs. But Upton got caught leaning and was picked off. And yes, the umpire blew an obvious interference call, but BJ shouldn’t have been in that position. That killed the rally and any hope of a comeback.

THE TELLING: Lefty Brian Matusz, who beat the Rays twice last year, will not start today as originally scheduled. Tomorrow’s starter (Chris Tillman) will be moved up, and Zach Britton will be called up from the minors on Sunday…Yesterday was Don Zimmer’s 52nd opening day. And it was Manny Ramirez’18st consecutive start on opening day, second-best among active players…Joe Maddon said he will use Sam Fuld as a late-inning defensive replacement for Johnny Damon to ease Damon’s workload…Former Devil Rays Randy Winn has retired.

THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

Jul 12

[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Superman’s Big Game, Future Stars And Maddon’s Curious Move

Carl Crawford, Dan Wheeler, Desmond Jennings, Dewon Brazelton, Jayson Werth, Jeff Niemann, Jeremy Hellickson, Joe Maddon Cork Gaines 17 Comments »

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: Carl Crawford. With one out in the 1st and the Rays trailing 3-0, CC got himself in a rundown between 3rd and home. Only 2 throws later, Crawford was scooting past the catcher after he dropped the ball, scoring the Rays first run. Later, he would hit his 11th home run, giving the Rays the lead. Don’t look now, but guess who is leading the Rays in slugging (.521) and OPS (.901)? Yep. Superman…Jason Bartlett. He hasn’t delivered too many big hits this season, but he came through in the 10th inning with a walk-off base hit to score Carl Crawford…Future Stars. In yesterday’s MLB Futures Game, Desmond Jennings went 0-3 with a walk and a hit-by-pitch. He stole a base and scored 3 times. Jeremy Hellickson started for the US, picking up the win after giving up 1 run in 2 innings. He struck out 1. Alex Torres pitched 1 scoreless inning for the World squad.

THE BAD: Jeff Niemann. He had a rough first inning that put the Rays in an early 3-0 hole. But after a 1-out visit from pitching coach Jim Hickey, Niemann settled down and retired 14 of the next 17 batters. But then he apparently tweaked his back and had to be pulled after throwing only 70 pitches…Joe Maddon? Jeff Niemann was replaced by Dan Wheeler who promptly allowed the first 4 batters he faced to reach base and blowing the 2-run lead. We have to wonder if Wheeler had enough time to warm up. If Niemann was indeed hurt, Wheeler should be allotted as many warm-up pitches as needed to start the 6th. It was difficult to tell on TV, but it did not appear that Wheeler took extra warm-up pitchers. So why didn’t Maddon make it clear to the umpire that this was an injury substitution? And why didn’t Wheeler insist on taking extra warm-up pitches?

THE TELLING: Carl Crawford DH’d on Sunday admitting his shoulder is still sore…Joe Maddon will start the second half with James Shields, Jeff Niemann and David Price getting the 3 games against the Yankees coming out of the break…The Rays will give $5,000 to A Boys and Girls Club in Clearwater that had several items stolen over the 4th of July weekend…If David Price starts the All-Star game, he would be the youngest starter since 1988 (Dwight Gooden).

WHERE THEY STAND: The Rays are 54-34, 2 games behind the Yankees and 3 games ahead of the Red Sox in the Wild Card. After 88 games in 2008, the Rays were 55-33.

THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

  • Several people sent this to us over the weekend…The Rays have expressed interest in Jayson Werth of the Phillies. [NY Post]
  • Marc Topkin writes about Evan Longoria’s road the big leagues and now back home in California as an all-star starter. [St. Pete Times]
  • Jerry Crasnick writes about Read the rest of this entry »
Mar 26

[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Ashley’s Big Day, Overlooking Brazelton And Sleeping Wilking

Dewon Brazelton, John Mollicone, Nevin Ashley, Scott Kazmir, Wilking Rodriguez Cork Gaines 8 Comments »

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: Nevin Ashley. With Dioner Navarro injured, the Rays may need a backup catcher for the first week or two. Alvin Colina would appear to be the leading candidate but Ashley has received a couple of starts the past week. And throwing out Denard Span in a first inning strike-em-out-throw-em-out doesn’t hurt his chances. He also added a single and a double…David Price. He was shaky early, had a rough 5th inning and allowed 2 home runs on the day, but he retired 9 in a row at one point and was able to work 6 full innings, walking 1 and striking out 5…BJ Upton. Bossman had 2 more hits including a deep double, this one to left-center. It is early, but Bossman seems much more confident at the plate than he did at any point last year. Hat tip to Derek Shelton.

THE BAD: Carlos Pena. Well we praised Pena for his increased contact rate earlier this spring even though he was hitless at the time. So it is only fair that we point out that he struck out 3 times yesterday in 3 plate appearances…The Bat. Pat Burrell started in right field. The Twins radio crew had this to say about one play: “Pat Burrell making a routine play look adventurous out there in right field”…sounds about right. He was also booed after one at bat when he struck out to end the inning with a runner in scoring position. You know things aren’t going well when you get booed by the home crowd during spring training.

THE TELLING: Sean Rodriguez was back at third base for the second time.

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

  • Uh oh. Scott Kazmir and “shoulder injury” in the same title. [LA Times]
  • The always great Wezen-Ball put together a list of the “worst opening day starters of the last 50 years.” Amazingly, Dewon Brazelton is not #1. In fact, he isn’t even on the list. Brzelbum was the Devil Rays opening day starter just 5 years ago, making 8 starts before being demoted. He would only make 2 more starts in his big league career. [Wezen-Ball]
  • The Rays released a couple of minor league catchers, Alex Jamieson and John Mollicone (from Fordham). [Baseball America]
  • Ben Badler on Rays minor leaguer Wilking Rodriguez: Sleeper of the day: Rays RHP Wilking Rodriguez. Fastball up to 96, plus CB, advanced control/feel for pitching for 20-yr-old…Remember that name folks. [Twitter]
  • Sports Networker uses the Durham Bulls as one example of teams that are taking advantage of social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook. [Sports Networker]