What can Joe say about a game when the most interesting part was seeing Merlot Joe going all Billy Martin and trying to toss all four umps after he himself got run, then Merlot Joe made a curtain call to get in some more choice words? Joe hopes the good [...]
Why does it not shock Joe that this Dan Wheeler would blow a game? And why does it not shock Joe that Merlot Joe is culpable? Wheeler — who has become such an embarrassment Dwayne Staats is secretly hoping his daughter gets a divorce — shouldn’t have been out there [...]
![[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Joe Maddon The Overthinker, Wet Tracks And Time Of Death For Rays Season](http://www.raysindex.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/hangover29-150x150.jpg)
The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe. THE GOOD: Jeff Niemann. The Giraffe was the hard-luck non-winner going toe-to-toe with one of the best in baseball in Justin Verlander. Niemann allowed just 5 hits in 7+ [...]
![[THE HANGOVER] Not The World Series We Would Have Hoped For](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3192/2967120862_a7be589629_o.jpg)
Click on above images to be taken to full standings, box scores or schedule… THE GOOD: After every game (well most games), we take a few moments to celebrate “the good”, to dwell on “the bad” and reflect on what we learned (“the telling”). Once that is done, that game [...]
![[THE HANGOVER] Joe Maddon Genuflects To Babe Ruth Josh Hamilton](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3068/2774723146_d1b285a63a_o.jpg)
THE GOOD: Carlos Pena continues his torrid pace, hitting another home run, his 25th and 10th in last 22 games…BJ Upton returned to the lineup and took out his frustrations on the Rangers, hitting a line drive double down the left field line and following later with a home run [...]
![[THE HANGOVER] Rays Anger Baseball Gods By Forgetting To Change Out Of BP Jerseys](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3038/2503841643_f2736887a0_o.jpg)
THE GOOD: Ben Zobrist getting the start. Everytime he did something good, we were rewarded with shots of his wife Julianna. That’s it. That was the only redeeming quality of yesterday’s game. THE BAD: Joe Maddon had some questionable (read: idiotic) pitching changes on Sunday. First he brings Dan Wheeler [...]
![[PAPA JOE MADDON] Joe Maddon No Longer Thinks The Titanic Put Up A Good Fight](http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/25315247-5558874837842159060.gif?l=raysindex.blogspot.com)
In an ESPN.com story about the Tampa Bay Rays’ bullpen, there was a telling quote from Joe Maddon about his own managerial style. “My role has shifted,” Maddon said, “from being the eternal optimist to being the more pragmatic one. And I recognized both goals in advance. When I first [...]
![[PAPA JOE MADDON] Joe Maddon Keeps Promising To Tighten The Leash On His Players](http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/25315247-5202493658518088890.gif?l=raysindex.blogspot.com)
Marc Topkin of the St. Pete Times recently wrote a piece entitled “Maddon shortens his leash” discussing how Joe Maddon would hold players more accountable in 2008. Accountability is already manager Joe Maddon’s favorite word of the spring…And it’s going to become more prevalent, and more apparent, Maddon says, in [...]
![[THE HANGOVER] Akinori Iwamura Need Not Worry About Second-Year Struggles Of Other Japanese Position Players](http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/25315247-2732749599756350105.gif?l=raysindex.blogspot.com)
Tampa Bay Rays (24 days until pitchers and catchers report)DRays Bay looks at the history of Japanese position players that have made the switch to Major League Baseball and their improvement (or lack thereof) from year one to year two. History does not bode well for Akinori Iwamura as only [...]
![[GREG DUPAS] Greg Dupas Holds The Ball Like An Egg And The Batters Scramble It](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2021/2197796066_73845d7553.jpg)
Last week we unveiled our Meta-Analysis of the Rays top prospects. Nowhere to be found on the list is the prospect pictured above, Greg Dupas (the one standing). Dupas was an undrafted free agent signing by the Rays in 2003. After missing all of 2004, Dupas rebounded in 2006 with [...]
