Oct 06
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 Rays used 129 different lineups in 162 games this season. The most common?
- Jason Bartlett
- Carl Crawford
- Ben Zobrist
- Evan Longoria
- Carlos Pena
- BJ Upton
- Pat Burrell
- John Jaso
- Reid Brignac
Only two players played more than half of the games in one spot. Crawford spent 100 games in the 2-hole and Longoria batted fourth 84 times.
129 is a lot, but it is not that crazy for Joe Maddon. In fact it is not even his career-high. He used 123 different lineups in 2009, 115 in 2008, 122 in 2007 and 145 in 2006. Yes, 145. Now that is Maddonology.
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Rafael Soriano flew home for a personal matter, but will be back in time for today’s game…Also, Joe Maddon said he is thinking of doing something new for the lineup in today’s game 1. [St. Pete Times]
- David Price was named the winner of the Warren Spahn Award as baseball’s top lefty. [Tampa Tribune]
- James Sheilds says the Rays are the team to beat. [The Heater]
- Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning-News did a short Q&A previewing the ALDS. He noted that the Rays “can win this series with base running alone.” [DallasNews]
- The 7-person Read the rest of this entry »
Jun 01
Pawtucket 14, Durham 7. Jeff Niemann gave up 10 runs in 4.2 innings including 4 home runs. Jon Weber, Justin Ruggiano and Elliot Johnson homered for the Bulls. Reid Brignac was 1-3 with his 20th double.
Carolina 7, Montgomery 6. Chris Nowak and Gabby Martinez homered for the Biscuits. Martinez’ shot was a grand slam. Mike Prochaska gave up 6 runs in 5 innings.
Brevard Co. 3, Vero Beach 2. Jeremy Hellickson took his first loss of the season and drops to 5-1 after giving up 3 runs in 6 innings. He struck out 5 and walked 1.
Greenville 6, Columbus 2.
NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…
- Jeremy Hellickson spoke to his hometown newspaper, and said he is hoping for an all-star break promotion. [Des Moines Register]
- James Houser is battling a knee injury and will be skipped the next time through the Biscuits rotation. [Biscuits Batter]
- The Sporting News previews the MLB Draft. Gerry Fraley says that one NL Executive says that RJ Harrison is being pressured to select Buster Posey suggesting that the Rays are more concerned about drafting need over talent. This goes against everything the Rays have ever said about the draft process, so it will be interesting to see if the Rays do pass on a more talented player. [The Sporting News]
- However, DRays Bay has a quote from RJ Harrison that suggests that he prefers Pedro Alvarez. [DRays Bay]
- According to Marc Lancaster the Rays have not even narrowed down the top pick, having spent more time trying to figure out who will be available in the second round and beyond. [Tampa Tribune]
May 30
Durham 10, Norfolk 7. Jon Weber tied the game with a 2-out single in the top of the 9th, and the Dan Johnson put the Bulls ahead for good with a 3-run home run, 2 batters later. Johnson finished 3-6. Weber was 5-6 with 2 RBI…Ben Hendrickson started and gave up 6 runs in 4 innings…Justin Ruggiano was 3-5 and Reid Brignac did not play.
Chattanooga 4, Montgomery 2. James Houser struck out 5 in 5 shutout innings. He was touched for 2 hits and 3 walks…Rhyne Hughes was 3-4 while Gabby Martinez and Chris Nowak were each 1-4 with an RBI.
Vero Beach 6, St. Lucie 4. Joey Callender tied the game with a 2-run single in the 9th with no outs. Garrett Groce put the D-Rays up with a 1-out RBI single and Neil Walton would stretch the lead to 2 with a ground ball to short…Heath Rollins allowed only a single unearned run in 7 innings. He gave up 3 hits and no walks. He struck out 4, but picked up the no-decision…Ryan Reid pitched the final 5 outs allowing only 1 hit and no walks. He struck out 3 and now has 45 strikeouts to 3 walks on the season.
Greenville 7, Columbus 5 (10). Glenn Gibson started and gave up 4 runs in 5.2 innings…Shawn O’Malley had 2 of the Catfish’ 3 hits. 4 of Columbus’ 5 runs were unearned.
NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…
- Seven members of the Vero Beach Devil Rays have been voted to the FSL All-Star game, including Jeremy Hellickson, Heath Rollins and Ryan Reid. [MiLB]
- With 1 week until the draft, nothing has changed as far as the Rays are concerned. According to RJ Harrison the Rays are still considering 5 players for the top pick…Let’s hope this is a negotiating tactic, because there is little reason to not have narrowed their choice down to at least 2 or 3 at this point. Nobody is drafting ahead of the Rays so there is no need to play games. But certainly they have a plethora of scouting reports on all 5 kids and have in their mind 1 or 2 that are at least a head better than the rest. [Rays Report]
- MiLB interviews the GM of the Vero Beach Devil Rays in their weekly profiles on minor league clubs. [MiLB]
May 05
THE GOOD: Carlos Pena hitting his first home run in almost a month (Apr 12).
THE BAD: With 2 on in the first, Evan Longoria hit a ball in left-center that would have been a sure double, IF Manny Being Manny was in left field. Instead he was DHing with David Oritiz getting the day off. Jacoby Ellsbury made the catch costing the Rays 2 runs early in the game…Shawn Riggans. 2 passed balls, an error and 0-2. Not good. Anybody think Mike DiFelice will be back sooner rather than later?…Jonny Gomes being robbed of a double on a ball that was clearly fair off the Green Monster and nobody appeared to even question the call, much less ask for help from another umpire…
THE TELLING: We guess the positive spin would be that if entering last weekend’s series, and somebody offered us 3 wins in 6 games against the Sox, we probably would have taken it and ran.
DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…
- BJ Upton was in the lineup after missing the last 2 games with a sore shoulder, but Joe Maddon said that Upton “didn’t want to turn it loose.” And Upton admitted to some hesitation in his approach. [Tampa Tribune]
- Akinori Iwamura is one of only 2 starting second basmen in the majors without an error. [USA Today]
- Marc Lancaster takes a look at the upcoming draft and wonders who the Rays will draft. RJ Harrison says that the choice is not nearly as clear-cut as it was last year with David Price. As a side note, does anybody know why it is OK in baseball for a player to select an agent while they are still competing in college, as Pedro Alvarez has with Scott Boras and yet it is not OK in basketball and football? This one really stumps us. And yes, we realize that the player doesn’t actually “sign” with the agent yet, but they are still aligned with one. And we are pretty sure that would still be illegal in baseball and football. [Tampa Tribune]
- Fox Sports list the Rays as only the 4th worst franchise in sports and only 3rd in baseball behind the Pirates and the Royals. [Fox Sports]
