May 04
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 GOOD: BJ! Just when all hope was lost, enter Bartholomew Jedidiah Upton. BJ hit the game-winning, trot-off 2-run home run in the bottom of the 9th to give the Rays the win…Brandon Gomes. Joe Maddon didn’t waste any time throwing Gomes into a high-leverage situation. In his first day in the big leagues, Gomes pitched the 7th and 8th innings of a 2-1 game, giving up no runs, no hits and just 1 walk…David Price. Have you seen Price’s home run trot? Be sure to check the videos below (click “Read the rest…”).
THE BAD: Joe Maddon. What will it take to get Matt Joyce in the lineup against a lefty? OK, Sam Fuld has had some success against Jo-Jo Reyes. And Evan Longoria was back and you need to keep Ben Zobrist and Sean Rodriguez in the lineup against a lefty. And yes, Dan Johnson has traditionally hit lefties OK. But when are we going to see Zobrist at first base? Wasn’t this that opportunity? We know Zobrist is not yet comfy at first. But wouldn’t you rather have Joyce in the lineup at this point, over Johnson. Joyce has been hot. At some point, you have got to give the best swing in a Rays uni a chance.
THE TELLING: No surprise here. Felipe Lopez was designated for assignment to make room for Evan Longoria…Since some seem to think that ALL reactions to BJ Upton are based on race, what say you about Evan Longoria’s choice to give BJ Upton a CHOCOLATE victory pie instead of the traditional WHITE shaving cream pie?
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
Aug 06
In the 5th inning Todd Kalas did one of his “sideline” reports, in which he interviewed Rays bullpen coach Bobby Ramos. But what was really interesting about the interview is who was sitting behind Ramos. Original Devil Ray Roberto Hernandez. And he was rocking the old school Devil Rays cap…
Hernandez, who saved 101 games for the Devil Rays from 1998-2000 and represented the Devil Rays in the 1999 All-Star game, last played in the big leagues in 2007.
Anybody think it is a coincidence that Hernandez just happens to show up to the Trop on the night after the Rays played 13 innings and needed 6 innings of relief from the bullpen? And he just happens to get a seat right behind the bullpen? If Hernandez was making himself available in case of emergency, next he should update his uniform.
Jan 08
Just the links today, Jason Giambi’s birthday. We don’t think David Chalk will be sending any gifts. Also, on this day 7 years ago, the [Devil] Rays were involved in a three-team swap that sent Roberto Hernandez to the Royals. The Rays received Ben Grieve from Oakland and the A’s received Johnny Damon from the Royals.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- In a strange twist, Jayson Stark is reporting that Cliff Floyd’s agents continue to have discussions with the Rays about returning, and that returning to the Rays is his first choice…Not sure if there is enough ice in the state of Florida for both of Floyd’s knees and we have no idea where the Rays would fit Floyd’s bat. [MLB Trade Rumors]
- The Rays Party of America wonders if Ben Zobrist is an infielder or an outfielder. [Rays Party of America]
- Another look at how undervalued Andy Sonnanstine is. [Drays Bay]
- Pat Burrell is just the fifth player since 1970 to play on a World Series team and then play for the opposing team the next season. [St. Pete Times]
Jul 23
THE GOOD: Sometimes you watch a game and you just know early on that it is not the Rays’ night. It is easier on the liver.
THE BAD: Andy Sonnanstine against the A’s this season. The Rays have only played the A’s 5 times and yet two of their worst losses are at the hands of the green and gold. In addition to last night’s 8-1 drubbing, the A’s got the beat-down on May 21 in Oakland to the tune of a 9-1 score. Sonny was the starting pitcher in both games. The only game worse than either of those was the 13-2 pounding just before the break in which we were thankfully in St. Lucia sans baseball. Oh yeah. Sonnanstine started that game also.
THE TELLING: Why was Houston Street brought into the game with an 8-1 lead? Might it be because he was being auditioned for the Rays brass? Managers will often bring closers into non-save situations if they have not been used in a while, but it had only been 3 days since Street last pitched. We counted 15 times this season in which Street had more than 2 off-days. The only explanation is that the A’s wanted to make sure that Andrew Friedman and Co. got a first-hand look at Street before the trade deadline.
DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…
- Jason Bartlett will likely be activated after today’s afternoon game. It looks like Ben Zobrist will not be demoted after all which means Jonny Gomes could be the odd-man out. That would leave Zobrist or Willy Aybar to play right field against lefties. [Bradenton Herald]
- And yet Marc Lancaster tells us that some in the organization think that Jonny Gomes can be the right handed bat that the Rays desparately need against lefties. [Tampa Tribune]
- As per our assertion in yesterday’s “Hangover” that Grant Balfour screamed “fastball!” to Dioner Navarro in the 8th inning of Monday’s game…Someone close to the team told us that Balfour says that he yelled “Fuck!” and not “Fastball!”. We went back and looked at the tape and it looks to us as if there are either two syllables or two words. So, either Balfour is thinking of a different situation or he does yell the F-bomb with a second word attached. [Rays Index]
- Outs Per Swing is doing a great job keeping up with all the Rays trade rumors…Normally we would be more on this stuff, but we would be surprised if the Rays make a move for anybody significant. Maybe a middle reliever and maybe a utility infielder. The rest is just speculation because the Rays are in contention and have a deep farm system. [Outs Per Swing]
- Brittany Ghiroli points out that the Rays have still been able to score runs with several top hitters struggling thanks to their speed on the basepaths. [MLB]
- Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports gives the Rays 2/5 odds of making the playoffs. That is 3rd in the AL behind the Angels (a lock at this point) and the Red Sox. [Yahoo! Sports]
- ESPN is running one of their silly “Sports Nation” specials looking at the all time best player for each team. They are taking votes for each team. Follow the link for your chance to vote for the Rays’ all-time greatest player…It is pretty sad when Roberto Hernandez is considered one of the five best Rays in franchise history. And it might seem silly, but one could make an argument that Evan Longoria is already the best player in franchise history. [ESPN]
- Reader J.J. pointed us to this auction for the game-used uniforms and equipment from the Rays turn-back-the-clock game recently in which the Rays donned the threads of the St. Pete Pelicans. [MLB]
The GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe.
