Sometimes Merlot Joe’s mixing and matching works perfect. Sometimes it blows up in his face. Today was a little of both but more so the juggling of lineups like shuffling a deck of cards worked for the Rays skipper. John Jaso sits for Kelly Shoppach. Boom! Two-run homer. The immortal Elliot Johnson [...]
Yes, the Rays won. Yes, Kelly Shoppach (!) of all people gave the Rays a two-run lead by leading off the bottom of the third. But the offense still stunk out loud. Half of the Rays eight hits came in the last two at-bats. Good thing the Rays were playing [...]
No, Joe’s not drunk. He actually wrote the headline above stone sober. Even Joe has a hard time believing he wrote that headline, but it’s true. It was Kelly Shoppach that likely had the key hit of the game, a two-run single to left that plated Bossman and SRod. It gave the [...]
This was set up for a glorious win by the Rays. Ailing Dirtbag comes off the bench to pinch-hit Matt Joyce home to cap a three-run eighth for a 6-5 lead. Six outs by the solid bullpen seemed a pretty solid bet. But with one out in the eighth and [...]
Joe was going to sign off on his allegiance to Sonny in this missive. The words of how good of a pitcher Sonny (is alleged) to be from the likes of Don Zimmer and Tony La Russa as well as the memory of his studly pitching in 2008 make Joe [...]
For our friends at Happy Hour with JP Peterson
Are Kelly Shoppach’s Days Numbered?
![[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Dirtbag’s Longo Ball, Cobb’s Second Start, And Shoppach’s Bat](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2804/5774538050_cac71757b2.jpg)
The One Where We Discuss Dirtbag’s Longo Ball, Cobb’s Second Start, And Shoppach’s Bat
![[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss The Cobra, Shoppach’s Lack Of Contribution, And Another Shortstop Goes Down](http://www.raysindex.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/39609070411_Rays_at_Rangers-150x150.jpg)
[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss The Cobra, Shoppach’s Lack Of Contribution, And JP Howell’s Suggestive Motion
When a player is at the plate, there are a number of different possible outcomes. And maybe the worst of those is the swinging strike. For the batter, a swinging strike is one pitch closer to an out. But unlike a called strike which may just be a matter of [...]
