Just a few quick links on Sammy Sosa’s birthday. He is 41. His face is not.

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

• We did a Q&A about the Rays off-season for Simon on Sports. [Simon on Sports]
• Michel Hernandez has signed a minor league deal with the Orioles. With 4 catchers on the 40-man roster and the chance the Rays will add another veteran, there was little or no hope of Hernandez seeing any big league time with the Rays in 2010. [Baltimore Sun]
• Chris Richard has declined his triple-A assignment and has chosen to become a free agent.
• The Rays and Cubs continue to discuss trading Pat Burrell for Milton Bradley, but nothing sounds hopeful as both sides are still far apart on the most important issue, money. [MLB Trade Rumors]
• John Romano addresses Carl Crawford’s future with the Rays and says a long-term extension “will probably never happen.” [St. Pete Times]

1. BJ Upton
2. Carl Crawford
3. Evan Longoria
4. Carlos Pena
5. Ben Zobrist
6. Pat Burrell
7. Jason Bartlett
8. Gabe Kapler
9. Dioner Navarro

Above is a pretty standard batting order used by the Rays this past season versus left-handed pitchers early in the season. In fact, no other batting order was used more often this season. How often? Six (6!) times. Joe Maddon employed 125 different batting orders this season. He used 115 in 2008. By comparison, The Yankees used 107 and the Red Sox used 114.

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

• Joe Nelson, Michel Hernandez and Joe Dillon were granted free agency as minor leaguers. We would not be surprised to see Hernandez and Dillon back with Durham next season. [Baseball America]
• Rays Renegade spoke with members of the bullpen about their off-season plans. JP Howell, Grant Balfour and Scott Cursi will all be getting married (not to each other). [Rays Renegade]
• Strange story: Former Devil Rays pitcher Geremi Gonzalez will have his body exhumed in Venezuela to determine if he died of a lightning strike (as original believed) or foul play. We are not really sure how those two could get confused…Gonzalez made 33 starts for the Devil Rays from 2003-2004, going 6-16. [St. Pete Times]

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: Carlos Pena. El Gato is officially on fire with 2 more home runs yesterday. But is it too little, too late?…Pat Burrell. The Bat hit another home run and continues to quietly put together a very Burrellian second-half.

THE BAD: The Bullpen. Maybe the one area of the club that kept this team afloat for much of the season, so it is only fitting that it is the bullpen that is starting to come undone as the season goes down the drain. Four relievers combined to give up 6 runs in 2.2 innings.

THE TELLING: After complaining earlier in the week about being dropped to 9th in the batting order, BJ Upton was dropped even further yesterday, all the way to Joe Dillon’s recently vacated spot at the end of the bench…Coolstandings.com now says the Rays have an 18.0% chance at making the playoffs. Meanwhile, Baseball Prospectus says the number is 24.3%. That number was 46.1 a week ago. That is the baseball version of “having a bad week.” The Rays are now 4.5 behind the Red Sox, and 5 back in the loss column. But it is worse than that. The Rays aren’t chasing just one team. They would also have to leapfrog Texas is 3 in front of the Rays. If the Red Sox go 24-25 over last 49 games the Rays would need to finish 28-20 just to tie.

SUNBURST PLAYER OF THE GAME: Carlos Pena

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

• The Rays have invested in the Orlando franchise of the new United Football League and will host a regular season game at the Trop. [St. Pete Times]
• The Rays investment in the UFL team in terms of dollars is not that much…Keep in mind that the UFL needed the Rays much more than the Rays needed the UFL. It was in the UFL’s interest to give the Rays a sweet deal. [St. Pete Times]
• UFL Access weighs in on exactly what the the Rays stake in the Orlando football franchise means for the UFL. [UFL Access]
• He is still officially a Ray, so we will let you know that the $100,000 truck that Troy Percival had stolen earlier this year was returned, sorta. Many of the parts have been sold off and are still missing. If only Percy had such a good excuse for the past 12 months. [NBC LA]
• Rays the Stakes takes Tom Verducci of SI.com to task for a strange article he wrote. [Rays the Stakes]
• Joe Maddon gave BJ Upton the day off because he had been “pressing way too hard.”…Also John Meloan and RJ Swindle, two pitchers that were briefly property of the Rays, have been claimed off waivers.  [Tampa Tribune]
• Michel Hernandez cleared waivers and accepted an assignment to Durham. [The Heater]

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: Jeff Niemann. He came a little unhinged in the 7th, but that was only after retiring 17 of 18 batters prior to the 7th. He struck out 5 and walked only 1 and was failed by the bullpen…Pat Burrell. He was only 1-5, but the 1 was a massive upper-deck home run and one of the other 4 was an RBI groundout…Red Sox Fail. A-Rod hit a walk-off HR in the 312th inning last night and the Yankees have now taken the first 2 games of that series. And while the Red Sox still lead the Wild Card, most in Red Sox Nation think their season is over.

THE BAD: The Bullpen. Grant Balfour faced 2 batters, giving up a single and hitting a batter. Brian Shouse faced 2 batters. 1 singled. And JP Howell. Well, Howell grooved a pitch. The Dude usually abides. But last night he did not.

THE TELLING: The chance of winning the division is almost all but gone with the Rays now 7 games behind the Yankees. The Rays remain 2.5 behind the Red Sox and 1.5 behind the Rangers in the Wild Card.

SUNBURST PLAYER OF THE GAME: Carl Crawford.

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

• Michel Hernandez was designated for assignment to make room for the addition of Gregg Zaun. [The Heater]
• If you haven’t seen Gregg Zaun’s website yet, please do so. This is going to be fun. [GreggZaun.com]
• Marc Topkin has some quotes from Andrew Friedman on the acquisition of Gregg Zaun, saying Zaun will play “a fair amount.” That is good, because it sounds like Zaun was an unhappy camper in Baltimore after Matt Weiters was called up and took most of Zaun’s playing time. [The Heater]
• Joe Maddon said that bringing in Gregg Zaun was not intended to “light a fire” under Dioner Navarro…Also, Pat Burrell will continue to be the most-days DH. [Tampa Tribune]
• Last year the Rays received Chad Bradford from the O’s for a Player to be Named Later. Well, the “player” turned out to just be $20K cash. Peter Schmuck says that this time the O’s will receive a prospect from the Rays. [Baltimore Sun]
• The Rays also picked up RJ Swindle off waivers from the Brewers. Best we can tell, he is the next coming of Casey Fossum, but he does have a minor league option. To make room, the Rays designated John Meloan for assignment. [St. Pete Times]
• Rays Revolutionary says 36 more wins for the Rays should get them to the playoffs. [Rays Revolutionary]
• Dock of the Rays takes a look at some of Andy Sonnanstine’s trends and what can be expected down the road. [Dock of the Rays]
• The On Deck Circle takes a closer look at Ben Zobrist’s breakout season and whether or not he can keep it up. [The On Deck Circle]

Time to bring back 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: The Garza Complex. When he is on, is there a better pitcher in baseball? In fact, when he is on, he is as close to Pedro Martinez in his prime, as you will ever see. mid-90′s with nasty movement and pinpoint control. Unhittable…Dirtbag Cometh. MVP!-MVP!-MVP!…Michel Hernandez. How safe is Shawn Riggans’ job? Hernandez is 6-14 and obviously Matt Garza likes throwing to him.

THE BAD: Timing. What inning did Matt Garza lose his perfect game? That would be the 7th. Now check this headline. And Marc Lancaster does not get a pass for his TweetJinx. We know you guys have a job to do, but would it kill you to dance around the wording a little better?…Jason Bartlett. Barty, who left Wednesday night’s game with a sore hamstring, was in the lineup but was noticeably limping.

THE TELLING: Matt Garza has had a few of these dominating performances with the Rays. We will say it again. If a Rays pitcher is going to throw a no-hitter, it will be Garza. And we will now add that if Garza ever throws a no-hitter, Dioner Navarro will not be behind the plate. Three times now, Garza has taken a 1-hitter or 2-hitter deep into a game. Each time, Navarro was on the bench…Both teams did not arrive in Florida last night until about 4:00am.

SUNBURST PLAYER OF THE GAME: Matt Garza and Evan Longoria. Don’t get used to this, but we couldn’t pull ourselves to not honor Longoria. Besides as big a win as last night deserves two Sunbursts.

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

• Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe takes a look at the transformation of Matt Garza from the doghouse to bulldog. [Boston Globe]

Garza fights himself sometimes. “When he wakes up in the morning he’s amped up,” said Rays manager Joe Maddon. “So the key is to get him to stick to a game plan. That’s what he did last night.”

• Red Sox Monster calls last night’s game, the worst loss of the season. [Red Sox Monster]
• Joey Johnston takes a look at the long road Michel Hernandez took from fleeing Cuba, to the biggest night of his baseball career. [Tampa Tribune]
• Andy Sonnanstine feels that he is throwing as well as ever, but that he just needs to fight through the struggles. [St. Pete Times]
• One player that is missing from this series is Rocco Baldelli, who says The Trop was always good to him. [Tampa Tribune]
• Alden Gonzalez updates the rehabs for Shawn Riggans and Chad Bradford. Bradford is likely to throw batting practice on Sunday. [Rays Plays]
• John Romano does not see any quick fixes and feels the only thing that will get the Rays out of last place is patience, something the Rays excel at. [St. Pete Times]
• Around the Majors hands out some hardware for the month of April, giving the AL MVP to Evan Longoria. [Around the Majors]
• Rays the Stakes provides the reasoning behind the players they chose for the Tampa Bay Rays Trade Pool. [Rays the Stakes]
• In a slight modification to protocol, the Top 177 Devil Rays ever is now a Friday feature and will include 4 players each week. Up this week are #112-109. It is always fun if you try to name the players before looking at the names. [Bugs and Cranks]

How good is it to be Evan Longoria these days? Las Vegas Weekly reminds us…

Tampa Bay Devil Rays third baseman Evan Longoria took Hugh Hefner’s VIP table at the Playboy Club with his eight friends for two hours atop the Palms and enjoyed several games of blackjack in between his dance floor duties with fans.

Of course, by “fans” they mean random Vegas hotties. And by “dance floor duties” they mean being a lucky son of a biscuit.

Dirtbag. He puts his pants on just like us, one leg at a time. Of course, after he puts his pants on, he gets to sit at Hugh Hefner’s VIP table and dance with “fans”.

For those suffering from baseball withdrawal as we are, following the links we present video of Willy Aybar hitting a home run for Licey in the Dominican Winter League.

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

• Rays pitching prospect Jino Gonzalez was arrested at Tampa International Airport after an unloaded gun was discovered in his carry-on bag. Gonzalez made 37 appearances (11 starts) for double-A Montgomery in 2008, posting a 5.44 ERA with 68 strike outs and 57 walks in 87.2 innings. The left-hander was originally drafted in the 46th round of the 2002 draft. [Fox Sports]
• The Rays resigned Michel Hernandez to a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training. The spring invite is simply due to the need for extra catchers in camp with so many pitchers needing work each day. During the season, Hernandez is likely to serve as the Rays’ “break glass only in case of emergency” catcher down at Durham. [The Heater]
• The Providence Journal caught up with Rhode Island native Dan Wheeler and spoke to him about his unusual rise to the big leagues. [Providence Journal]
• As usual Her Rays doesn’t disappoint with the imagery. This time it is her “New Years Rays-o-lutions” and an attempt to stay pure and stop reading so much smut. [Her Rays]
• Last night was Joe Maddon’s private dinner at the White House with President George Bush. [St. Pete Times]
• If you are interested, here is a news video clip featuring Joe Maddon’s recent effort to help raise money for his former high school. At this rate, we have a feeling Papa Joe is going to still be wearing that Rays Santa cap in the dugout next season. [YouTube]
• The King of Lists is back and this time he has outdone himself. David Chalk is now counting down the top 177 Devil Rays of all-time, starting with Kevin Witt…Witt was like the backup quarterback. For a while he was the most popular guy in the organization, but proved to be a four-A player. Since then he went to Japan was never heard from again. We assume he joined the Yakuza. [Bugs and Cranks]
• Just speculation on his part, but Buster Olney sees Pat Burrell landing with the Rays. [MLB Trade Rumors]
• No surprise that the Rays are involved, but Jon Heyman is reporting that four other teams have expressed interest in Ken Griffey Jr. While Griffey may prefer to play close to his Orlando home, he is clearly just one name on the Rays’ Plan B list for DH. [SI.com]
• The Examiner previews Carl Crawford. [Examiner]
• Peter Gammons has an interesting write up on baseball teams going young. [ESPN]
• ESPN includes BJ Upton on their list of players to watch in 2009. [ESPN]

Just a couple of notes and links for now. Will be back in a little while with more…

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

• The AL Manager of the Year award will be announced today.
• Michel Hernandez has been granted free agency and removed from the 40-man roster.
• Stacy Long has his list of the top 30 prospects “not named David Price.”…Keep in mind that Long is the only person that will make one of these lists that has seen most of the players play more than a few times. [Biscuit Crumbs]
• Rays Prospects looks at the statistical value of the starting pitchers throughout the Rays organization. [Rays Prospects]
• The Examiner is running a series of “Prospect Reports”. Next up is Desmond Jennings. [The Examiner]

Click on above images to be taken to full standings, box scores or schedule…

THE GOOD: The Rays have won 4 of the last 5 against the Red Sox under playoff-like atmospheres.

THE BAD: Those games no longer count.

THE TELLING: Our best guess on the 25-man roster is that Troy Percival will be added to the roster and either Eric Hinske (more likely) or Fernando Perez (less likely) are removed for the ALCS.

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

• In case you missed it yesterday afternoon, we ran a bunch of “Webtopia” links in the evening “Happy Hour” feature. [Rays Index]
• Joe Maddon hinted that he would keep Carl Crawford in the 5-hole of the rotation noting that he didn’t want to break up the top of the order especially with the way BJ Upton is swinging the bat…He also emphasized that in a 7-game series it is more important than ever for the players to play one game at a time. [MLB]
• In response to Gary Shelton’s assertion that the Red Sox are “the entire cast of Bond villians“, Bugs and Cranks breaks down which Bonds villian each player represents. [Bugs and Cranks]
• Nice story about backup catcher Michel Hernandez and his family. [St. Pete Times]
• Outs Per Swing breaks down the Rays ALDS victory over the White Sox. [Outs Per Swing]
• Why is it newsworthy that the Rays “believe they can knock off” the Red Sox? Do we get a lot of cases where a team has survived a 162-game season, won their best-of-five first round series and doesn’t think they can win a seven-game series against a team they took the season series from? Of course not. But this is the Rays. Apparently they are eating at the adult table and some think it is time the rest of baseball noticed. [NY Daily News]
• Gary Shelton breaks down what Andrew Friedman means to the Rays. [St. Pete Times]
• A Braves blogger jumps on the Rays’ bandwagon…The more the merrier. [The Launching Pad]
• John Lott says the key to the Red Sox success is their depth. [National Post]
• Roger Mooney is the latest to run down his list of the Rays’ biggest games from the regular season. [Bradenton Herald]

Click on above images to be taken to full standings, boxscores or schedule…

THE GOOD: Evan Longoria. There has been some recent talk that his extended stint on the DL would cost Dirtbag the Rookie of the Year award. 3 home runs last night. What about now? That’s what we thought.

THE BAD: Joe Maddon. With 1 out and men on first and second in the 9th with the score tied Maddon brought Trever Miller in to face the lefty Jason Kubel. Ron Gardenhire countered by pitch-hitting with the righty-hitting Adam Everett. Maddon has 86 pitchers in the bullpen now, so it would have been fine to go back to the bullpen and bring in a righty. Instead Papa Joe leaves Miller in to face the righty, the same pitcher that has a .642/.800 OPS split against lefties and righties. For all the good moves this season, the one move he continues to make that leaves us dumbfounded is having Miller face righties. Earlier this season there were situations, because of injuries, where it was necesaary. But with the expanded roster, it should never happen [Ed. note: Prof suffered a brain-fart this morning. A pitcher must face at least one batter when brought into a game as noted in the comments. As the commenter notes, that does not change the point that Miller should not have been brought in to the game anyway if it is just one lefty batter in a bunting situation]... Bizarro Bullpen. There is a problem when the two relievers that we have the least amount of confidence in are the two guys that the Rays depend on to close out games. If the Rays continue to go to Dan Wheeler and Troy Percival in the 8th and 9th inning, we will see more games like last night.

THE TELLING: As we suspected, Troy Percival was eased back into live action, as he was called upon to work the 8th inning last night. With his recent back and leg problems, Joe Maddon wants to make sure Percy is ready to dominate before handing him the closing duties. Percival does say that his back feels better than it has all season.

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

• Apparently there is still a scenario under which the Rays could clinch a playoff spot tonight. According to Marc Lancaster, if the Rays win AND the White Sox, Blue Jays and Yankees all lose, the Rays clinch at least a wild card. We can only guess that this has something to do with head-to-head matchups among those teams. We will take Lancaster’s word for it, as just typing that sentence hurt our brain. [Rays Report]
• A situation we have speculated on since Spring Training could come to fruition in the next few days. We have long thought BJ Upton would make a great right fielder with his strong arm as long as Fernando Perez was in center. With Upton’s legs still not 100% we might see that exact lineup as early as Saturday or Sunday according to Joe Maddon. [MLB]
• Brittany Ghiroli reports that Carl Crawford will not be back during the regular season, as he is still a ways away from even being able to swing a bat. If he plays in the first round of the playoffs, he will be limited to pinch-running and late-inning defensive substitution roles. [MLB]
• The second starter in Tuesday’s double-header in Baltimore looks to either be Mitch Talbot or David Price. The availability of Price will depend on whether Joe Maddon needs King David out of the bullpen in the next couple of days. [Tampa Tribune]
• Shawn Riggans was officially placed on the DL and it now appears that he is done for the season…Although there is no official word, the backup catcher in the playoffs will likely be Michel Hernandez who had 5 career games under his belt prior to September. [Rays Report]
• “Little-name trade”? Seriously Scott Miller? Anybody that thinks the Matt Garza-Jason Bartlett-Delmon Young trade was a trade of “little names” is somebody that does not follow baseball. Young was a former #1 overall pick. Garza was the Twins top prospect. Bartlett’s glove was not a mystery among baseball fans. This was a blockbuster, and anything but a “little name trade”. [CBS Sportsline]
• The guys at one of our favorite new blogs, Joe Bucs Fan are worried that the Bucs will start playing second fiddle to the Rays. [Joe Bucs Fan]
• Speaking of the Bucs…We are not sure what bothers us more…the fact that Jerramy “King of Turds” Stevens has now been activated or that some day when Stevens is facing a felony charge, the press will refer to Stevens as “Former Bucs Tight End”. Seriously. Is this creep going to be the difference between being a playoff team and being home for the holidays? Is the reputation of the entire franchise worth the risk? If the Rays ever signed a nutcase like Stevens we would become a Red Sox blogger in about 0.4 seconds. [Joe Bucs Fan]
• Al Reyes was released by the Mets without making an appearance for the ballclub. [New York Post]
• Former Rays Delmon Young and Brendan Harris commented on the Rays success. [MLB]
• Jayson Stark says it was the Rays that “played as if it had been there, done this pennant-race stuff a thousand times. And it was the Red Sox who did the mumbling, the stumbling and the fumbling.” [ESPN]
• Chad Finn of the Boston Globe updates his list of “those subpar, non-descript and just plain lousy ballplayers who have tormented the Sox in recent years.” The latest incarnation of the list includes several Rays. [Boston Globe]
• DRays Bay shows one benefit of having Andy Sonnanstine in the rotation. He faced the Red Sox twice in a week and the Red Sox basically saw two different pitchers…Although one problem we have run into in the past with Sonnanstine’s Pitchf/x data, is that he throws so many different pitches from different arm angles, that it is difficult to classify exactly which pitch he is throwing sometimes. [DRays Bay]
• The Serious Tip shows that there are indeed Rays fans at the Trop and attempts to classify them. [The Serious Tip]
• Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. [San Diego Union-Tribune]

THE GOOD: Andy Sonnanstine. Facing the Red Sox for the first time this season, Duke didn’t disappoint. Despite hitting 2 batters (he only had 3 entering the game), he did not walk a batter and struck out 7, giving up only 1 unearned run…Carlos Pena. We thought it was just going to be off the wall, but he hit that ball so high that it just kept going. Of course, our neighbors would not call this a “good”. Loud noises…Lost amongst Carlos Pena’s home run were Akinori Iwamura and Rocco Baldelli who both singled with 2 outs to prolong the inning…Jason Hammel. We have handed out more than our fair share of grief to The Grim Reaper, but we tip our hat to Hammel after last night. Honestly that had to have been the first time in history that we were actually happy to see Hammel come in to a game. And he didn’t disappoint. The Jason Bay at bat was as good as we have ever seen Hammel and it was not his 95 mph fastball. After Bay missed the first slider by a foot, we hoped Dioner Navarro was smart enough to just keep throwing that pitch as Bay was not going to touch it. Four sliders later, Bay was the second out and the threat was almost over.

THE BAD: Troy Percival. Percy struggled once again. We were relieved at the beginning of the inning that the lead was 3 and not 1 and yet, even that didn’t seem safe 5 minutes later. Turns out Percy’s back tightened up on him when he was warming up. Which begs the question: Why did he allow himself to go into the game in the first place? It is one thing to be a “gamer”, but it cannot be done if it hurts the ballclub. Right now, Troy Percival is hurting the ballclub…The Rays were 0-13 with runners in scoring position before Carlos Pena’s home run.

THE TELLING: On the season the Rays have been walked 17 times and been hit by a pitch 4 times with the bases loaded. The 21 total “free” runs is second only to the Red Sox who have 17 walks and 5 hit batters…James Shields will now pitch on Saturday against the Yankees, rather than his originally scheduled Friday start. Matt Garza will be moved up one day and will make the start on Friday. This means Shields will not be available in the Red Sox series next week. Also, Mike Mussina has been pushed back a day to give him an extra day of rest and he will now face Shields on Saturday…The Rays magic number to win the division is now 16 and the magic number to clinch at least a wild card is 11*…The chances of the Rays making the playoffs is now 99.8% according to Baseball Prospectus and 75.5% to win the division.

*The White Sox and the Twins play each other 3 more times. The most wins the second place team in the Central can have is 96. So technically, the Rays magic number is 10. We could mark off the “guaranteed” loss now or we can do it when it actually happens…We choose the latter.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Troy Percival said this time it was his back that tightened up. He said it happened the last time warmed up in the bullpen, prior to entering the game…Which makes us wonder why he didn’t inform the coaches. Apparently Percival thinks he, unable to bend over, is a better option with the game on the line than somebody else. [The Heater]
• Shawn Riggans had surgery on his right knee yesterday in St. Pete. He is scheduled to be sidelined for 2-4 weeks, which means he could be done for the season. In his absence, Michel Hernandez will be the backup catcher and not John Jaso. Hernandez, who has played in 5 major league games in 11 seasons, will likely get a start this weekend against the Yankees. [The Heater]
• Evan Longoria took about 30 pitches of batting practice and Marc Lancaster is reporting that Dirtbag may go to Durham to play a rehab game and should be back in the lineup on Friday against the Yankees. [Rays Report]
• Joe Maddon seemed a bit annoyed when asked if he would be happy just winning the wild card. [Tampa Tribune]
• The Rays…as Muppets? Oh, Chalk. [Bugs and Cranks]
• The Snapper jumps on the bandwagon…Welcome! The more the merrier. [The Snapper]
• Jack Curry of the New York Times takes a look at what the last two nights mean for the Rays. [New York Times]
• Everybody is starting to believe, even ESPN.com. [ESPN]