Archive for the 'Henry Wrigley' Category

Aug 05

Minor League Teams Will Do Anything To Sell Tickets

Henry Wrigley, Montgomery Biscuits Cork Gaines 1 Comment »

Alternate Title: Minor Leaguers will do anything for a date

Thursday August 19 is “Ladies Night” for the Rays double-A affiliate the Montgomery Biscuits. And as part of the festivities, Ladies will have an opportunity to win a date with Henry Wrigley. Check out his compatibility video…

Not quite the “Stone Crabs Offices” videos, but not bad for a first effort.

Jun 14

[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss The Middle Infield, Pena’s Lonely Streak And Navi’s Sore Left Roster Spot

Carlos Pena, Dioner Navarro, Henry Wrigley, Jason Bartlett, Jeff Niemann, Jeremy Hall, Joe Nelson, Justin O'Connor, Kevin Kennedy, Pat Burrell, Rocco Baldelli, Sean Rodriguez 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: Sean Rodriguez. Rodzilla was 3-3 on Sunday to extend his hitting streak to 14 games. In that span, he is 21-49 (.429) with 5 doubles and 3 home runs. We think the Rays are running out of excuses to *not* have a Brignac-Rodriguez starting middle infield…Carlos Pena. Unfortunately, Pena did not homer on Sunday. But that marked the first time he failed to homer in a game since last Saturday a streak of 6 straight games with a home run. During that span, Pena was 10-27 with 7 home runs and 10 RBI.

THE BAD: Nobody To GTMI. Of Carlos Pena’s 7 home runs in 6 games, the grand slam against the Blue Jays was the only one that wasn’t a solo shot…Bad Inning James. On Friday, James Shields walked 3 batters in the Marlins 5-run 3rd inning. How rare was that? Only 6 times in his career has Shields walked more than 3 in an entire game. And only 1 time has he walked more than 4…Bobblehead Bartlett. Sunday was Jason Bartlett Bobblehead day. Unfortunately the Rays didn’t trade those bobbleheads and substitute a Reid Brignac Bobblehead...Kevin Kennedy Hurts My Brain. On one particular play Saturday night, a play Dewayne Staats and Kevin Kennedy spent way too much time praising, a ball hit high off the wall and past BJ Upton. Kennedy noted that Upton “would have caught that if it wasn’t so high up.” Yeah, and I could do a 360° dunk if the rim wasn’t so high.

THE TELLING: Jason Bartlett will play rehab games for Durham today and tomorrow. He will likely be activated on Wednesday. At that point the Rays will likely place Dioner Navarro on the DL with a sore left roster spot. Navi hasn’t played since Wednesday. After his DL stint, Navi will almost certainly need an extended “rehab” stint at Durham…Sunday was Jeff Niemann’s first loss at home in over a year…Evan Longoria has reached base in 31 straight games, the longest current streak in baseball…On Saturday, Jeremy Hall of Montgomery extended his scoreless innings streak to 35 before giving up 2 runs in the 6th inning…Pat Burrell hit his first home run for the Giants on Friday. He is 9-24 since switching back to the NL.

WHERE THEY STAND: The Rays are tied with the Yankees at 40-23 and are 4 games ahead of the Red Sox in the Wild Card. After 63 games in 2008, the Rays were 37-26.

THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

  • Jeff Niemann talks about yesterday’s performance. [The Heater]
  • Roger Mooney reports that Rocco Baldelli threw longtoss prior to Sunday’s game…It has been his ability to throw that has limited his efforts to return to the big leagues. [Tampa Tribune]
  • Rays first-round draft pick Justin O’Connor will say thank you to his hometown tonight by signing autographs for free for area little leaguers. [Star-Press]
  • Stacy Long writes about how Matt Sweeney has shortened his swing and become more selective at the plate. Sweeney was one of the pieces of last summer’s Scott Kazmir trade. [Montgomery Advertiser]
  • Former Rays reliever Joe Nelson is pondering retirement after being designated for assignment by the Red Sox. [MLB]
  • A look at how David Price uses his fastball. [DRaysBay]
  • Prospect Henry Wrigley won the FSL home run derby. [Twitter]

DOWN ON THE FARM…

  • Check out Rays Prospects for boxscores and more detailed recaps. [Rays Prospects]
  • DURHAM: Carlos Hernandez gave up 5 runs in 5 innings…Desmond Jennings was 2-4 with a triple, 3 runs scored and 3 RBI. He is now 14-26 in his last 6 games and has raised his average to .279…Matt Joyce was 5-5 with 3 doubles and 2 RBI and raised his average to .313.
  • MONTGOMERY: Jake McGee struck out 5 and walked 1 in 6 innings. He gave up 1 run on 5 hits for his second win…Matt Sweeney hit a 2-run home run for Montgomery, his first home run since being promoted.
  • CHARLOTTE: (no game scheduled)
  • BOWLING GREEN: Kirby Yates’ first start of the year was an impressive effort. He struck out 8, walked 3 and allowed just 1 hit in 4 innings…
May 13

[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Pena’s Funk, Burrell’s Role And Jaso’s Future

Elliot Jonson, Hank Blalock, Henry Wrigley, John Jaso, Kelly Shoppach, Leslie Anderson, Matt Garza, Pat Burrell, Shane Dyer, Willy Aybar Cork Gaines 15 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: Carlos Pena. Yes he has been in a funk (a realllly bad funk) but he has always been streaky and the defense will always be there. First there was the catch to end the 7th with the tying run on second. And there was the 8th inning double to end a 1-42 skid…BJ Upton. Bossman has got to be tired after flying back to Florida for the birth of his son and then returning to LA the next day. And yet he can still make a long run and sliding grab with 1 out in the 9th of a 1-run game look so easy (if not pretty).

THE BAD: Swingin’ And Missin’. 14 strikeouts by Rays hitters. 12 from the right arm of Jared Weaver in 7 innings.

THE TELLING: In the 8th inning of a 1-run game with a runner in scoring position, Joe Maddon had Willy Aybar pinch hit for Pat Burrell against a right-handed batter. Ouch. One has to wonder why Burrell is even on the roster if he isn’t even trusted in that situation…The last time the Rays won a series in Anaheim, Wilson Alvarez was the starting pitcher and Jose Canseco and Dave Martinez hit home runs (May, 1999)…For all the heartaches of this road trip, the Rays still went 6-3. And their 1.5 game lead at the start of the trip, is still 1.5 games. Not bad for a west coast swing. Not bad at all.

WHERE THEY STAND: The Rays are 24-10, 1.5 games ahead of the Yankees and 5 games ahead of the Blue Jays and Tigers in the Wild Card. After 34 games in 2008, the Rays were 18-16.

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

  • For those of you that submitted questions for The Sporting News interview with Matt Garza, we have been told that Rays Index readers “will be well represented.” You make us proud.
  • We shouldn’t be surprised but it is still a bit of a letdown to hear Joe Maddon essentially say John Jaso will be sent packing when Kelly Shoppach returns. [St. Pete Times]
  • John Romano calls for the Rays to finally rid themselves of Pat Burrell and replace him with Hank Blalock. [St. Pete Times]
  • Tim Brown takes a closer look at the Rays rotation. [Yahoo! Sports]
  • Nicole Johnson (Elliot’s wife): “Something you may not know about baseball families is that they *try* to get pregnant during spring training.” [The Life of the Baseball Wife]
  • Shane Dyer and Henry Wrigley were named the Rays minor leaguers of the month. [Tampa Tribune]
  • Andrew Friedman spoke with WRAL in Durham. Nothing earth-shattering here, but if you have 10 minutes to kill… (audio) [WRAL]
  • Yesterday was apparently “Delmon Young Day.” Whatever that means. [Twins Target]
  • DRays Bay looks at why we might not have to worry about Carlos Pena. [DRays Bay]
  • John Jaso spoke to Roger Mooney about the first month and taking responsibility for Monday’s loss (video). [Tampa Tribune]
  • Brian Shouse hasn’t retired, but he is now working as a coach for a high school in Illinois. [Peoria Journal-Star]
  • You can count the nose hairs in this interview of Reid Brignac…Pan out, PAN OUT! (video) [Tampa Tribune]

DOWN ON THE FARM…

  • Check out “The Rundown” from Rays Prospects for boxscores and more detailed recaps. [Rays Prospects]
  • DURHAM: Richard de los Santos made his 3rd start and worked into the 6th inning, allowing 2 runs. He struck out 5…Ryan Shealy and Angel Chavez homered for the Bulls…Desmond Jennings was 1-4 with 2 strikeouts and is hitting .270…Hank Blalock went 1-4.
  • MONTGOMERY: Alex Cobb allowed 2 unearned runs in 4 innings. He struck out 4 and walked 1…Nevin Ashley was 3-4 to raise his average to .294…Greg Sexton hit his 1st home run and John Matulia added his 3rd.
  • CHARLOTTE: Nick Barnese struck out 9 and walked just 1 in 5.2 innings, but dropped to 3-2 after giving up 3 runs on 7 hits…Leslie Anderson hit his first home run as a pro…Tim Beckham went 1-4 and Matt Sweeney was 0-4.
  • BOWLING GREEN: Ryan Wiegand hit his first home run.