Jun 01
- Rays 5, Rangers 4 (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: Evan Longoria. We guess it’s official. He’s baaack. After the Rangers took a 1-run lead in the top of the 8th, Longoria responded with a go-ahead 2-run home run that just cleared the wall. That proved to be game-winner. Dirtbag finished with 2 hits and a walk and has now been on base 12 times in the last 4 games including 5 walks…Alex Cobb. Cobb’s linescore could have been a lot worse. He survived a shaky first inning in which he faced a runner on first with no outs, and first-and-third with one out. And after 6.1 innings, he allowed just 2 runs despite giving up 4 hits and 4 walks. Still, not a bad effort against the Rangers in just his second big league start…Mashing Lefties. Matt Joyce hit his second home run off of a lefty in 2 weeks. Those are also the only two home runs he has ever hit off of a lefty.
THE BAD: Kelly Shoppach. Enough already. Read the rest of this entry »
Jun 14
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
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…
Sep 11
Louisville 5, Durham 2 (series tied 1-1). Mitch Talbot worked just 3 innings, and gave up 3 runs on 6 hits and 1 walk. He struck out 3…The first two batters of the game for the Bulls would score. The first on a Joe Dillon single and the second on a Matt Joyce double-play ground ball. But that would be all the scoring for Durham.
Charlotte 3, Ft. Myers 2 (Charlotte wins series 2-1 ). David Newmann struck out 10 batters in 6 innings, giving up just 1 run on 4 hits and a walk to help the Stone Crabs advance to the FSL championship series…Mike McCormick’s 2-out, 2-run single in the 2nd gave the Stone Crabs an early 2-0 lead they would never relinquish.
Notes from Down on the Farm…
- Triangle Offense has the game 2 recap…Also, due to all of the promotions to the Rays and the season-ending injury to Carlos Hernandez, games 4 and 5 (if necessary) will be started by Rayner Oliveros and Paul Phillips. [Triangle Offense]
- Charlotte will face the Tampa Yankees in the FSL Championship Series starting Friday night in a best-of-5 series. Games 3-5 (if necessary) will be held in Port Charlotte beginning on Sunday.
- Jeremy Hall who went 14-7 with a 3.62 ERA for Charlotte this season, overcame a horrific eye injury and several surgeries his senior year of college. Really, don’t read this story if you just ate. [Charlotte Sun]
Jul 01
Durham 5, Richmond 2. Ben Hendrickson gave up 2 runs in 6 innings for his 7th win…Scott Dohmann picked up his 8th save…Jon Weber was 3-5 with his 10th home run and 9th steal…Joel Guzman went 0-3 with a sac fly and Reid Brignac went 1-4 with an RBI.
Montgomery 6, Mississippi 5. James Houser gave up 2 home runs and 5 runs total in 5 innings. He struck out 4 and walked none…Ronnie Merrill led off and went 3-5, scoring 2 runs…John Jaso went 2-5 with 2 doubles and Erold Andrus hit his 11th home run.
Vero Beach (off-day)
Rome 11, Columbus 6. Jeremy Hall gave up 5 runs in 2.2 innings on the same day he was named pitcher of the week…Quinn Stewart went 3-5 with a his first home run and 3 RBI. He is hitting .324/.388/.465 in 19 games since being demoted.
Brooklyn 6, Hudson Valley 5. Nick Barnese struck out 9 in 4 innings.
Princeton 3, Greeneville 2.
NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…
- Jeremy Hall was named SAL pitcher of the week. [MiLB]
- Jake McGee is scheduled to have his Tommy John surgery on July 8. [Biscuits' Batter]
