Archive for the 'Freddy Garcia' Category

Jul 03

[THE HANGOVER] Rays Sweep Red Sox, Stretch Lead In East

Brian Fuentes, Carlos Delgado, CC Sabathia, David Ortiz, Dioner Navarro, Freddy Garcia, Johan Santana, JP Howell, Mitch Talbot, Troy Percival Cork Gaines 5 Comments »



THE GOOD: The 7th inning. Gary Glover was ginormous in the 7th with a man on second with no outs and Manny Being Manny up in a 4-1 game. There is a very big difference psychologically, between a 3-run lead and a 4-run lead. After working the count full on Ramirez, Glover got Manny to fly out to Gomes in right. He then got Mike Lowell to pop up to Carlos Pena who had to reach over the dugout railing. After an intentional walk, Jason Varitek went down on 3 pitches setting up the bottom of the 7th…In the bottom of the 7th Jason Bartlett did what he needed to do leading off the inning. The biggest reason Bartlett bats 9th is so Joe Maddon has 2 “leadoff” hitters in front off the heart of the lineup. Bartlett hit a double to right and got the rally started. And then in a very risky move, Bartlett stole third after getting a walking jump off second. Akinori Iwamura then beat the pitcher to the bag on a ground ball to first to score the first run of the 7th, and the Rally was on. The first 6 batters of the inning reached base. The big blow was a bases loaded 2-run double by Evan Longoria, of course (is it too early to start MVP chants at the Trop?)…The Top of the 9th saw several close calls. A great running grab by BJ Upton facing the wall in center field. A line drive by Jason Varitek that went just foul and then Dioner Navarro throwing out the tying run trying to steal second base. One of the more bone-headed base running plays we have seen in a while.

THE BAD: The Rays just swept the Boston Red Sox and now lead the AL East by 3.5 games. We repeat the Rays lead the AL East by 3.5 games with the best record in baseball. We dare you to try and come up with something bad.

THE TELLING: The Rays magic number to clinch a spot for the playoffs is 73 (3.5 lead over BOS, who has a 2-game lead in the Wild Card over MIN)

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

  • Mitch Talbot replaced Troy Percival on the roster when the closer went on the DL but Talbot is not expected to see much, in any playing time as he will be the Rays emergency relief pitcher. [Tampa Tribune]
  • Since 1995, only one team had the best record in baseball on July 1 and failed to make the playoffs. That was the ’06 Red Sox. [Sully Baseball]
  • Outs Per Swing offers their take on the recent rumors of the Rays interest in Rockies’ closer Brian Fuentes. [Outs Per Swing]
  • Outs Per Swing also wonders if Freddy Garcia is a better option for the Rays than CC Sabathia. [Outs Per Swing]
  • Earlier this week, we wrote that we thought Dioner Navarro was the Rays first-half MVP…Rays The Stakes counters with JP Howell. Their argument is solid, but we just can’t bring ourselves to give out an MVP honor to a middle reliever. [Rays the Stakes]
  • “10 reasons to hate the Red Sox”…We hate the Sox and their Pink Hat nation, but this article is a bit of a stretch as you can tell Tom Jones had a little trouble coming up with 10 reasons. In fact, the various stretches needed to be made actually had us defending the Sox as we read it and that is something we never want to do. [St. Pete Times]
  • Newsday comes up with “Top 10 reasons the Rays are for real.” [Newsday]
  • David Ortiz says the Yankees are still the team to beat for the AL East title…That is fine by us and should be great news for the Rays players. We much prefer that the Rays keep flying under the radar. [Boston Herald]
  • We love all the fans jumping on the Rays bandwagon, but this is one “fan” we are happy not to have. He is a Mets fan looking for a “secondary” team. He bashes the new surge in fans at the Trop and yet he is the one bailing on his team looking for a new team to root for. And of course he fails to realize that 90% of all fans become fans of teams when that team is good. We are willing to bet that this guy is in his mid- to late-20s meaning he was in his formative years when the Mets were the best team in the NL and the best team in NYC. It is Mets “fans” that actually booed Johan Santana on opening day in his first start for the Mets. And it was Mets “fans” that will regularly boo Carlos Delgado early in a game and then give him a standing ovation later in the game when he hits a home run. And then they wonder why he won’t come out for a curtain call. We are so glad to not be in the NL East. Mets fans make Red Sox fans look classy and that is not an easy thing to do. [200 Miles From the Citi]
  • It used to be the worst day of his life, but now Scott Kazmir calls his trade from the Mets “a blessing”. [NY Daily News]
Jun 20

[THE HANGOVER] The Rays Are Magilicious

Bud Selig, Dioner Navarro, Edwin Jackson, Evan Longoria, Freddy Garcia, Jason Bartlett, Joe Maddon, Joe Magrane, Matt Garza, Tim Beckham Cork Gaines 2 Comments »



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]