Yesterday, Peter Gammons appeared on WFAN in New York and the subject of the Rays came up. Gammons had nothing but nice things to say. However, there was one strange comment.
[You can listen to the segment here: PETER GAMMONS ON WFAN]
Gammons says he voted Ben Zobrist fourth in the 2009 American League MVP voting. There is just one problem: Zobrist didn’t receive any votes higher than sixth.
After Friday night’s loss to the Angels, Peter Gammons and Nick Cafardo discussed BJ Upton on NESN. At issue was a flyball that Upton seemed to give up on with some nicely timed alligator-arms (you can see the play here). A run scored on the play and the Rays would go on to lose the game 4-3.
The telling quote comes at the end from Cafardo:” He went through a stretch, maybe a month ago, where he looked like Willie Mays. And now he is back to being BJ Upton.”
Peter Gammons
Interesting nugget of information from Marc Topkin prior to the Rays game Tuesday with the Red Sux. Speaking on the Rays Radio Network, Topkin, a Rays beat writer for the St. Petersburg Times, was asked about the rumors of embattled Rays centerfielder B.J. Upton being swapped to Seattle for southpaw ace Cliff Lee as Twittered by noted baseball scribe Andrew Jackson Peter Gammons earlier Tuesday.
Topkin floated the possibility that Gammons, who also works for NESN, the TV broadcast partner of the Red Sux, planted that rumor via Twitter purposely to distract Upton and perhaps the Rays in this critical series played at the Fruitdome this week.
Now call Joe naive, but Joe doesn’t totally buy that. Then again, it wouldn’t be the first time Gammons spread rank misinformation, which smelled to high heaven of a dubious plant at the time it was so outrageous.
If in fact it can be proven that Gammons indeed planted a fake rumor via a social media forum to create a ruckus, it’s beyond an ethical breach of any respected journalist and Gammons should have his credentials yanked by MLB Advanced Media as a result.
Two weeks ago, Peter Gammons called the Rays attendance “shameful” and remarked that the Rays should be drawing 30,000 fans a game. This was after Gammons previously wrote that the Rays should move to New Jersey or Connecticut. Joe Sherman of the New York Post also called for the Rays to move to Connecticut.
So if this is what these, and many other people, think of the Rays, then why are they not writing the same columns about the Cincinnati Reds?
The Reds are also in first-place, are supposedly in a “good baseball town” and play in a ballpark that is less than 10 years old. And yet, the Reds are drawing fewer fans than the “shameful” Rays.
Let’s compare the numbers…
Maybe it is time for the talking heads to shut up and admit they were wrong about the Tampa-St. Pete area. Maybe the Bay Area will never draw 4 million fans in a season, but if one were to rank big league cities by how well they support major league baseball, the Rays are far from the biggest problem.
Earlier today we wrote about Peter Gammons’ (incorrect) comments about the local ratings for the Rays and the Yankees. We reached out to Gammons to see if his thoughts on the Rays had changed now that he knows his information was incorrect. They haven’t. And in fact, his response was even more derogatory towards Rays fans.
Here is his response:
The radio ratings thing was presented to me at the end of April, and I now believe they were mistaken. But the fact remains that they are arguably the best team in baseball, certainly the most exciting, and the 18000? [Ed. note: we pointed out to Gammons that the Rays drew 18,000 for a Monday night matchup with the Indians after he commented that the Rays might draw 20,000 for the Yankees] fans should be angry that they don’t support the team well enough. The players are very good, the starting pitchers brilliant and management from the dugout to the front office is as good as it gets. In my mind it’s shameful that they aren’t getting 30,000 a game.
Rays attendence is up. The ratings have doubled. And just last week, Gammons himself wrote that attendance overall in baseball could be down as much as 20% this year. How is 18,000 on a Monday versus the Indians “shameful”?
Clearly there is a diconnect between Gammons and what is going on in the Bay Area. The growth of the Rayshead Army is slow, but it is growing. And rather than looking at that for what it is (good for baseball), Gammons continues to play off of old stereotypes.
And that is disappointing. We expect better from Gammons.
Yesterday, Peter Gammons appeared on “The Dan Patrick Show” and had the following exchange with Dan Patrick (you can here the full audio here)…
DP: Is there a better rivalry with the Yankees and Rays than the Yanks and Red Sox?
PG: No, because the Rays can’t…the Rays might draw 20,000 people for the Yankees. But I think the ratings on the station in Tampa, the ESPN station that carries the Yankees games actually are better than the Rays games. I mean it’s terrible.
There is only one problem with this statement. It is dead wrong. In fact, it is not even close to true.
The fine folks at Joe Bucs Fan forwarded some numbers to us:
On Monday night, the Rays and Indians on 620-AM did an 8.2 rating, #1 in the market, while the Yankees and Red Sox on 1040-AM were dead last with a 0.0 rating. The television numbers paint a similar picture, with Sun Sports pulling a 6.7 while the local ratings on ESPN for Yankees-Red Sox was a 2.3
Meanwhile, Gammons adds that the Rays “might draw 20,000 for the Yankees.” And yet, on a Monday night against a non-divisional foe, the Rays drew more than 18,000.
Tom Jones of The St. Pete Times reached out to Gammons via email, who was quick to lay the blame elsewhere for his false info…
“I am very happy to hear:
1. The information I was given by two people is wrong — and I raise my hand as wrong.
2. People care about the Rays.”
Well, it was nice of Gammons to clarify his comments for the Bay Area audience. In the meantime, the myth that the Rays have no fans continues to resonate among Dan Patrick’s national audience.
Just the links today as we loathe the observance of National Clean Off Your Desk Day.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
Back in September we heard rumblings that the Rangers might be interested in Gerry Hunsicker to be their new general manager. The feeling was that if the Rangers decided to make a change, team president Nolan Ryan, would look to Hunsicker, with whom he has worked in the past with the Astros. It appears that Ryan has opted to stick with the incumbent GM, Jon Daniels, as any move would have been made by now.
Hunsicker was also rumored to be on the short list for the GM position of the Mariners and the Phillies. The M’s hired Jack Zduriencik, while the Phillies went with Ruben Amaro Jr. as their new GM.
Hunsicker, who is “Teller” to Andrew Friedman’s “Penn” (or “Silent Bob” to Friedman’s “Jay” for the younger crowd), is the quiet partner, but by all accounts just as responsible for the product seen on the FieldTurf. It is with great relief knowing that the front office nucleus will remain intact for at least one more season.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
Team USA 5, Japan 1.
Evan Longoria had a 2-run double in the 8th that put the game out of reach. He finished 1-4. Justin Ruggiano also went 1-4.
Team USA 12, Spain 2.
Evan Longoria went 2-4 and hit his second home run of the World Cup, a 2-run shot. Justin Ruggiano went 1-3.
DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…
Three different baseball people insisted that Tampa Bay rookie third baseman Evan Longoria will hit more than 30 homers next year based on what they saw in the Arizona Fall League.
