Today is the second anniversary of the greatest game in Rays history. Game 7 of the 2008 ALCS in which Matt Garza gave up just 2 hits and struck out 9 in 7 innings. And David Price earned his nickname by coming on to retire the final 4 outs, slaying Goliath. And the unsung hero of that game has always been Aki Iwamura who fielded a bad-hop grounder and ran to second base for the final out. If that ball gets past Aki, all of the sudden the Red Sox would have had the tying run at the plate and the top of the order due up.

What a hell of a night that was.

THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

• Dave Martinez was indeed granted permission by the Rays to interview for the Blue Jays managerial job...We really hope Martinez lands a managerial job, but we would prefer it not be in the division. He does know a lot of Joe Maddon’s tendencies. [The Heater]
• Was the Rays attendance Read the rest of this entry »

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: Maddonology. For the second straight night, Joe Maddon walked Miguel Cabrera with runners on 1st and 2nd to put the tying run on third base. And once again, Grant Balfour came up huge. This time inducing a flyball to end the inning…Offensive Rebound. Still a little shaky, but every Rays hitter that came to the plate got at least one hit. Evan Longoria led the way with 3 hits, including a 2-run home run in the 8th that gave the Rays a little breathing room…Carlos Pena. In the 1st, the Tigers shifted against Pena allowing the runner on second to take third unchallenged. But in 3rd inning, with Carl Crawford on second, the Tigers did not shift against Pena and he delivered a basehit between first and second to score Crawford.

THE BAD: Abusing Soriano? After 42 pitches the past 2 nights, it is hard to believe he will be available for the noon start today. Which of course raises the question of whether Joe Maddon could have used somebody else in the 9th with a 3-run lead…Emo Squeeze Fail. Joe Maddon’s “safety squeeze” is not your typical safety squeeze and it bit the Rays in the ass last night. Willy Aybar was thrown out at home on Jason Bartlett’s squeeze attempt. JoeMa loves overly aggressive baserunning and last night it cost the Rays.

THE TELLING: Ben Zobrist was removed from the game with a lower back strain (apparently from carrying Gabe Kapler all season) and will not play today…BJ Upton hopes to return Friday. Joe Maddon says Saturday or Sunday but that he could pinch-hit before then…The Rays at 62-38 are 24 games above .500. Even if they only play .500 the rest of the way, they will finish 93-69. If they go 33-29, they will finish 95-67. In the Wild Card ERA, no AL team has ever won 95 games and failed to make the playoffs…Evan Longoria’s single in the 4th snapped an 0-19 skid…Rafael Soriano’s 28th save is a career-high…Fewer than 1,000 tickets remain for each of this weekend’s games against the Yankees.

WHERE THEY STAND: The Rays are 62-38, 2 games behind the Yankees and 5 games ahead of the Red Sox. After 100 games in 2008, the Rays were 59-41.

THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

• Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria have a laugh about Longo robbing CC of his 400th stolen base, twice (Video). [Bright House Sports]
• Ben Zobrist discusses his back injury (Video). [Tampa Tribune]
• Jon Heyman says the Rays are still a possibility to land Adam Dunn. Obviously Matt Garza was a ridiculous request, but what about Wade Davis? Keep in mind that Dunn will fetch 2 draft picks after the season. [Twitter]
• However, Joel Sherman says the Rays are concerned about Adam Dunn’s potential transition to DH. [Twitter]
• Desmond Jennings has switched Read the rest of this entry »

THE GOOD: The offense. It was only 5 runs, but we are starting to see signs of the bats coming out of their funk. Carlos Pena homered. Again. His 5th in 14 games since the all-star break. Carl Crawford tripled. Again. His 5th in 6 games. Evan Longoria homered. Again. His 20th and 4th since the all-star break…The bullpen. Knowing early on that the bullpen was going to work overtime, 4 relievers combined to throw 4.1 shutout innings, allowing only 1 basehit.

THE BAD: Scott Kazmir. 4 walks in the first, including one with the bases loaded and 6 overall, led to Kaz being pulled without even completing the 5th inning after 110 pitches. It was Kazmir at his stereotypical worst…Scott Kazmir’s shoes? HERE is a picture of Kazmir’s shoes last night. And HERE is a photo of Kazmir’s shoes from his July 21st start (we could not find a photo of his July 26th start). Are those the same shoes? They are clearly a different color, but are they different models. We ask because Kazmir seemed to really struggle last night with his “landing” foot. Kazmir repeatedly would look down at where his lead foot would land on the mound. Did Dwayne Staats or Joe Magrane say anything about Kazmir struggling with new shoes? It did not appear to be a problem with the mound or Kazmir would have brought the groundcrew out to fix it. It would not surprise us to see Kid K come out in his next start with the old model.

THE TELLING: Jim Leyland of the Tigers thought that Miguel Cabrera’s RBI triple in the 3rd should have been ruled a home run feeling that the ball hit the catwalk. BJ Upton disagreed…The Rays picked up another game on the suposedly superior Yankees.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• There was some confusion over the status of Jonny Gomes. In yesterday’s “Pepper” segment, we said Gomes would be DFA’d if Rocco Baldelli is activated. The feeling was Gomes is out of minor league options. This was verified by somebody close to the team…However, Gomes was only in the minors for 16 days in ’07. A player must be in the minors for 20 days to count as an optional assignment. We double-checked with the Rays and sure enough Gomes does have an option remaining. Our bad. We blame Mrs. Professor. This is one of the more confusing aspects of baseball transactions. Last season, the Rays optioned Seth McClung to the minors at the end of spring training after his agent told him the Rays were out of options.
• Marc Lancaster originally thought Rocco Baldelli could be activated today, but is now reporting that Rocco will be “run through various baseball drills during the weekend” to see how he responds. Lancaster then says that Rocco could be activated at some point during this homestand. [Tampa Tribune]
• The Gary Glover era is over in Tampa Bay. After being DFA’d, Glover has cleared waivers and declined an assignment to the minors, instead choosing to become a free agent…Settle down, settle down. Yes, we are excited also. [MLB]
• Finally somebody that does not label the Rays “losers” at the trade deadline. [Seamheads]

THE GOOD: Little Ball and Long Ball. The Rays are not big on “Little Ball”, but it sure helped in the 6th inning. An infield single by Ben Zobrist (OK, it went to the OF, but it bounced over Scott Rolen’s head), a bunt single by Aki Iwamura, a dribbler down the line by Carl Crawford (it was fair no matter what the Jays announcers said), was followed by a Carlos Pena bloop single to score the first run of the game. Of course, funny thing about silly “Little Ball”. That only gets you one run. One out later, Evan Longoria connected on the 10th pitch of his at bat for his first career grand slam. Game Over.

THE BAD: Bean Balls. With 2 outs in the 6th inning, and up 5-0, Dioner Navarro bunted for a basehit. Roy Halladay then tried to hit Ben Zobrist. Two innings later, Navi would be hit by a pitch. Since when is a 5-0 lead in the AL an “insurmountable lead” in which a team should no longer try to score? That was BS by Halladay and even more BS that they would still be fuming 2 innings later. The Jays announcers talked about how “you just don’t [bunt] in that situation”. This peeves us to no end. As a longtime proponent of the “unwritten rules” the one “unwritten rule” that is idiotic is the “no bunting with a big lead” rule. In the 70s a 5-run lead might have been insurmountable, but how many 5-run leads did the Rays blow last year? If the Jays think that a 5-run lead is “too big” for bunting then we suggest they stop throwing breaking balls and go take an effin’ shower. The Rays better sweep these bitches. And if Sunday’s game is a blow out in the 7th inning or later, a Blue Jay is going down and they are going down hard…Anything produced by the Blue Jays. Whether it is the in-inning commercials (no shit, they actually show commercials during an inning) or the runner in the 9th inning that went from first to third and then was apparently thinking about “tagging up” and going home on the same play. You can tag up on a basehit? Seriously? We can’t make this shit up.

THE TELLING: Of the players in the top 15 in baseball in stolen bases, only Alex Rios (14) has hit into more double plays than either BJ Upton (10) or Carl Crawford (9)…Despite assertations by several websites this week that BJ Upton was not struggling, Joe Maddon moved BJ Upton down to the #7 spot in the order…What? The national media doesn’t notice that the Rays once again have a 1.5 game lead in the Easy despite a 7-game losing streak? Of course not. So much for those, “Rays are coming back down to Earth” stories from last week.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Joe Maddon was also a little upset about Dioner Navarro being hit by a pitch in the 8th inning. [St. Pete Times]

Maddon said. “Maybe in 1922, you wouldn’t (bunt) because nobody is going to hit a home run. But in the year 2008, people hit home runs. And you could see how they came back. Once again, in baseball, for me, there are moments when people definitely mentally move at a glacier pace, and they really have to get beyond it. That’s what I think about that situation. And it stunk.”

• We are not really sure what this writer is talking about. Les Levine is critical of those that blame Terry Francona for using Scott Kazmir in the All-Star game. In fact, we don’t recall anybody blaming Francona. We said that Francona and the Red Sox benefitted, but we also understand he had to use Kid K. And the Rays actually praised Francona…This is just another example of a writer in the mainstream media trying to invent a controversy. [News-Herald]
• Man, Yankees fans hate Seth McClung more than we do. [The Big Lead]
• Jon Heyman says the Rays have not talked to Oakland about Houston Street although he suggests the Rays would have a good shot at landing the A’s closer. [SI.com]
• We proposed the question a couple of days ago, now Joe Maddon is emphasizing the point…Grant Balfour is closer material. [MLB]

“He’s got that kind of stuff,” Maddon said. “And the biggest thing to me is the makeup. The closer makeup — it’s different. Those last three outs of the game are different. People can argue as much as they want, but they are. And the last out of the game is always the most difficult. … I think, from my perspective, [Balfour is] growing into that makeup where he could do that one day. Definitely his stuff is good enough.”

THE GOOD: (see “THE TELLING”)

THE BAD: (see “THE TELLING”)

THE TELLING: C’mon people. Think about this for a second. It was Edwin Jackson versus Josh Beckett in Fenway Park. If they played that game 100 times, the Rays would win it 1 time and only because Beckett would be struck by lightning in the first inning and Manny being Manny would accidently hit a 3-run home run for the Rays…Look, it’s not in our nature to be mysterious. But we can’t talk about it and we can’t talk about why.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Quick reminder: The Rays Index Live Blog-A-Baloo of the Week will be held tonight right here. And don’t forget the early start time of 6:05.
• Evan Longoria is up for MLB’s Rookie of the Month award and the fans can vote for the award. Go to this link and show your love for Dirtbag. [MLB]
• Don’t forget to VOTE for Carl Crawford to start the all-star game. If you haven’t voted yet today, go NOW! [MLB All-Star Voting]
• Joe Maddon and Coco Crisp got into a heated exchange in the 8th inning after Crisp intentionally slid late on a steal attempt and shoved a forearm into the chest of Aki Iwamura like a little bitch. MLB.comhas video of the slide…Crisp might want to wear a little extra padding on his backside tonight. [MLB]
• Carlos Pena was placed on the 15-day DL with a broken finger. Justin Ruggiano was called up to take his roster spot. [St. Pete Times]
• There is another entry into the Rays Blogosphere, and this one comes from one of our regular commenters, Dirtbagfan. [Rays The Stakes]
• Sorry we missed this one yesterday, but did anybody else notice who gave up only 1 run in 6 innings and beat Randy Johnson two nights ago? Answer: Seth Freakin’ McClung. Sweet Fancy Moses! We sat and stared and tried to wrap our brain around this one for a while. This is more complexing than trying to understand Salma Hayek and Ed Norton as a couple. [Bugs and Cranks]
• Baseball Analysts will be live-blogging the draft. [Baseball Analysts]

White Sox 5, Devil Rays 4.
Ahhh…the nostalgia. For a brief momen there it was like we were watching pre-All-Star break Edwin Jackson, all over again. We should thank Edwin for reminding us that he is still Edwin Jackson and we are still Devil Rays fans.

It should come as no surprise, but look for Akinori Iwamura to be the starting second baseman in 2008. The move for Aki, likely means that center field is going to be the permanent home for BJ Upton, with Evan Longoria manning the hot corner sooner rather than later.

“Longoria is going to be the third baseman, so you eventually have to do something, but now’s not the time, not yet,” manager Joe Maddon said. “You’re always thinking about that, but yeah, that’s an offseason discussion…He’s (Iwamura) a little more of a middle infielder on the corner right now,” Maddon said. “Just from what I’m seeing, the assumption is second base. When you make assumptions like that, that’s something you’d want to see. You look at his arm strength and that’s probably more applicable to second base, although his athleticism and range could play at shortstop.”

If Iwamura is moved to second base with either Longoria as the starting third baseman on opening day or Joel Guzman as a place-holder until Longoria is ready, that leaves only one position without a starter for 2008…Shortstop. Brendan Harris? He can hit, but his range may be too limited to be an everyday shortstop on a team that needs an upgrade in their middle infield defense. Josh Wilson? Not likely. Below average in all aspects. BJ Upton? O god no! Please don’t put us through that again. He throws from the left side of the infield like he is trying to give every fan behind the first base dugout a souvenir. Joel Guzman? Hard to say if he can be an everyday short stop. He has the arm and glove for the position, but does he have the range and can he hit major league pitching on a consistent basis?

No, the smart move is a veteran shortstop with an above average glove and a dependable bat. There is enough offense in the lineup already to carry a little dead weight at short. Omar Vizquel? He will be 41. Can he be enticed to play short for the Rays for two seasons and anchor a young team defensively? Look for the Rays to at least inquire as to how much it would cost.

On a more immediate note, the move of Iwamura to second base, will likely occur during spring training and could mean the end of Rocco Baldelli’s tenure as a Devil Ray. Five of the Rays six minor league affiliates will have completed their regular season schedules by Monday, with Hudson Valley playing until Friday. With Rocco shut down after experiencing soreness in his legs, there will be no place to conduct a rehab assignment once he is cleared. Unless Upton is moved back to the infield, with shortstop being a possibility, Baldelli is likely without a position for 2008.

The team will likely try to move Baldelli this off-season for pitching help, but if they are unable to find suitable value, he could return in 2008 as a part-time DH and fourth outfielder with the aim being to increase his trade value.

All of the sudden, Baldelli’s long term contract, once seen as a bargain, is not such a bargain after all. He will still be relatively cheap in 2008, as he is set to earn $2.25 million, but his $6 million tag in ’09 to go along with the hefty $4 million buyout could be a burden if Rocco cannot remain healthy for an entire season.

2B shift in the works for Iwamura [tampabay.com]

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• For those keeping score at home, the Devil Rays elimination number is 3 in the division and 10 in the wild card.
• We missed this in our first post this morning, but Troy Johnson of the Ledger-Enquirer had a one-on-one with David Price after a recent bullpen session with the Columbus Catfish. [Ledger-Enquirer]

“It’s just getting to know the guys and Tampa Bay’s system. They say they have the same system from rookie ball all the way up to the big leagues. That’s definitely one of their main (points of) emphasis, just to get used to their system because that’s the way I’m going to be doing it for the next six years. It’s nothing bone-crushing. It’s something you can stick to.”

• It is understatement to say that strikeouts are aplenty during Rays games. Both the hitters and the pitchers are on pace to set franchise records for strikeouts in a season, with the hitters threatening the AL record. [TBO]
• We are not surprised anytime Joe Maddon praises something that does not deserved to be praised, but to praise the “progress” of the infield defense is a bit absurd as it has been shown in several different forums that the Rays have been atrocious defensively this season. In fact The Hardball Times suggests that the Rays defense may be the worst ever. E.V.E.R. [devilrays.com]
• Is Jason Hammel the next Edwin Jackson? Or the next Seth McClung? so far, he has yet to perform up to his talent, but he is working on his mechanics to try and rediscover the success he experienced in the minors. [devilrays.com]
• Scott Kazmir set a team record for reaching 10 wins in three consecutive seasons. [Herald-Tribune]
• Carlos Pena is only the 5th player in the last 25 years to hit 30 home runs after being a non-roster invitee to spring training. [tampabay.com]
• Look for the Rays to sign Carlos Pena to a multi-year deal and avoid arbitration in the off-season. [tampabay.com]

Boston 8, Devil Rays 6.
Rays fans are abuzz after Curt Schilling announced during a radio interview in Boston that he would consider playing for the Devil Rays after his contract expires at the end of the year.

“It’s one of those situations you’d certainly have to look at. Knowing that I’m probably going to spend one more year playing, if circumstances happen and things happen and they made some moves that were positive, I’d love nothing more than to finish my career working on a pitching staff where I know that there are young guys that are going to be positively impacted by me being around [after] I was gone. I enjoy that. I love working and talking and being around young pitchers.”

If there is one thing Schilling loves, it is attention and headlines. This looks like nothing more than another attempt to say something so far out that writers will have no choice but to write about it and fans will have no choice but to talk about it.

It obviously made big headlines in Boston as well as in the Tampa area. But the story was also picked up in places like Atlanta as well as making the “notes” section of many other papers across the country.

The other angle that cannot be ignored here is that Schilling is a free agent after this season and he is probably looking to increase the number of bidders for his services. His first choice is probably to remain with the Red Sox, and Schill may be bluffing interests in other teams to increase the offer from Theo Epstein.

Still, we doubt the Devil Rays are the longest shot at acquiring Schilling’s services. We would still give them better odds than half of the teams in Japan.

Curt Answer [tampabay.com]
Schilling’s comments devilish [boston.com]
Schilling exclaims his love for Devil Rays [AJC.com]

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Scott Kazmir is frustrated by being pulled with lower pitch counts in the second half. In his last ten starts, he has topped 100 pitches only six times. [Devil Rays]

“It just frustrates me,” Kazmir said. “It’s kind of in my head. You come to the late innings and you always have to look at the pitch count. It’s something where you just don’t need it. You’ve got enough stuff going on; you don’t need to be looking at the pitch count.”

• Fernando Cabrera, who turned down a waiver claim by the Devil Rays, signed a minor league contract with the Baltimore Orioles. [Baltimore Sun]
• Seth McClung was called up to the majors by the Milwaukee Brewers after winning the PCL pitcher of the week award. In his first appearance, he nearly blew a 3-run 9th inning lead, allowing two runs before being pulled. Seth being Seth. [WFRV]
• Could the last two months of the regular season be Joel Guzman’s last chance to become an impact player? Minor League Beat thinks it might be. Reality is, Guzman only seems like he has been a prospect forever…well, because he has been. He was signed by the Dodgers when he was 16. But he is still only 22, and he has something you cannot teach…size. He is 6 foot-friggin-6-inches tall. The dud is huge and wings a mean stick. If he fails with the Rays, somebody else will certainly give him a shot. Carlos Pena anyone? [Minor League Beat]

We are still not back from our self-imposed exile in the sunshine state, so the regular posts will not return until tomorrow, but in the meantime, we heard some rumors that Andrew Friedman may have made a move or two this weekend to improve the Rays relief corps. We have reviewed the wires and consulted our abacus, and this was the final count…

Ty Wigginton traded to Astros for Dan Wheeler [Devil Rays]
In the biggest move from the weekend, Ty Wigginton was sent to the Astros for reliever Dan Wheeler, who will begin his second stint with the Rays after being a Rays a draft pick in 1996. Wheeler has struggled this year with a 5.07 ERA, but being reunited with his former pitching coach Jim Hickey may reignite the pitcher that posted strong numbers as a setup man the past two seasons.

If the Rays decide to move Al Reyes, Wheeler would conceivably step into the closers role and could fill the same capacity in 2008. The one drawback to the trade is that Wheeler is a free agent after the 2008 season. However, seeing the current value of relief pitchers in the trade deadline market, Andrew Friedman may already be looking at Wheeler as a commodity that would be sought after in July of next year. If Wheeler can rebound in the next 12 months and flourish in either a setup or a closer’s role, he could demand additional pieces that are missing from the Rays puzzle.

Seth McClung traded to the Brewers [Devil Rays]
Has anybody else noticed the irony the in the Devil Rays acquiring a relief pitcher with the name “Bal-four”? Seriously, there is no way this can end well. The enigma enema that is Seth McClung, the big red-headed right hander with a power fastball and an inability to throw it anywhere near the strikezone in crucial situations was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers for relief pitcher Grant Balfour.

Balfour, an Australian (we thought they only played Australian rules football?), played parts of three seasons with the Minnesota Twins, before getting a cup-of-coffee this year with the Brewers. He is mostly a journeyman right-hander that may eat innings in middle relief. He posted impressive numbers at AAA this season with 47 strikeouts and only 11 walks and 17 hits in 32 innings. He had a 1.69 ERA and a 0.88 WHIP. At 29, we will have to wait and see if the AAA numbers were an anomaly and he is just a AAAA pitcher or if he has turned the corner can can be an effective big league reliever.

The Brewers were forced to part with Balfour, who was out of Minor League options, because they needed roster space Friday for reliever Scott Linebrink, whom they acquired in a trade with San Diego on Wednesday…”He was a guy I was thinking about counting on for next year,” said Brewers general manager Doug Melvin. “You look at other teams’ bullpens, and that’s the kind of arm that teams get and, all of a sudden, they find it. It clicks.”

Jorge Cantu traded to the Reds [Devil Rays]
And in a move that only surprised us because a team actually gave up a little value, Jorge Cantu was shipped to the Reds for two pitchers and a player-to-be-named-later. Calvin Medlock is a minor league pitcher who dominated at AA but who has struggled in first 13 appearances at AAA. Brian Shackleford has spent parts of each of the last two seasons with the Reds, but is best known for THIS. Maybe the Rays picked him up to mentor Elijah Dukes. The Rays also sent minor leaguer Shaun Cumberland to the Reds to complete the trade. Cumberland is an outfielder with speed, who has struggled this season in his first year above A-ball.

Cantu was not happy being with the Devil Rays any longer, and with limited defensive skills (re: cement feet), and questionable offensive skills (.544 OPS in 2006, .484 OPS in 2007), he no longer had a future with the Rays. The Reds will ship Cantu to AAA and hope they catch lightning in a bottle. In return the Rays received yet another upgrade

Shawn Bleepin’ Camp demoted to the minors [Devil Rays]
This move was so obvious that we were actually surprised when we heard that Shawn Bleepin’ Camp was sent to Durham. We do wonder though who Andrew Friedman has been watching the first 3 months of the season.

Camp is a guy who’s obviously been struggling some recently. When his sinker’s really working, he can help out a major-league bullpen by getting groundballs and he’s extremely effective against right-handed hitters. He’s been in a little bit of a rut lately and we’re hoping that by sending him down and giving him a chance to pitch in Durham that he’ll start pitching a little bit more consistently.[TBO]

Recently? The guy has a 7.20 ERA. He has allowed 6,324 inherited runners to score. HE HAS STRUGGLED ALL FREACKIN’ SEASON. And he is 31, so he is not going to get much better.

Josh Paul activated from DL [Devil Rays]
Josh Paul as on the DL since May 20. Paul replaces Raul Casanova who was designated for assignment and removed from the 40-man roster. The team has 10 days to trade, release or ask waivers for Casanova. Most likely Casanova will not be traded and he will clear waivers and be optioned back to AAA Durham. Joe Maddon stated that Paul will see increased playing time with starting catcher Dioner Navarro continuing to struggle at the plate.

Rays manager Joe Maddon has noted time and again that he thought Paul was playing at a high level when he got injured, and he now plans to play him three to four times a week rather than the normal one or two times a week reserved for most backup catchers.

In additional catcher news, Shawn Riggans had surgery on his elbow. The surgery is likely to be season-ending.

Jacksonville 4, Montgomery 0. Derek Feldkamp dropped to 1-5 despite allowing only 3 hits and 1 walk in 6 innings. One fo the hits was a solo home run. The Biscuits managed only 4 hits, 2 by Fernando Perez. Jason Pridie had a triple, his 24th extra base hit of the season.

Vero Beach 2, St. Lucie 1 (gm. 1, 8 inn). Jeff Kamrath, making only his 5th start of the season, struck out 13 in 6.2 innings. He gave up 4 hits and walked 3 and allowed 1 run. Patrick Cottrell had a walk-off infield single in the bottom of the 8th.

Vero Beach 4, St. Lucie 2 (gm 2). Jino Gonzalez made his first start of the season and gave up just 1 run in 4 innings.

Columbus 5, Rome 4. Ryan Royster hit his 10th home run, a 2-run shot in the first and had a double to lead off the top of the 9th. Pinch-runner Desmond Jennings would come around to score on sac fly by Joey Callender. Josh Butler gave up 4 runs (3 earned) in 6.1 innings. In the first 6 innings, Butler was cruising, having only allowed 2 hits and 1 walk and 1 unearned run.

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

• The Princeton Rays will begin their season next Thursday. Not quite Cal Ripken, but the Rays have had a promotion or give-away, for every home game since 1991. This year’s games will include 5 bobblehead night for the “Legends of Princeton Baseball” series. Be sure to mark your calendars for Seth McClung bobblehead night.
• Former Biscuit Chris Seddon was claimed off of waivers by the Marlins after being designated for assignment.
• Columbus turned a triple play in the 8th inning. With runners on first and third, a ground ball was hit to second baseman Brett Grandstrand. Grandstrand stepped on second for the force, and threw home to get the runner trying to score. The original batter then tried to advance to second on the throw and was tagged out for your standard 4-2-4 triple play.

The Devil Rays single-A affiliate, the Vero Beach Devil Rays, will hold the promotion to end all promotions tonight when they host “Awful Night”.

Awful night will contain some of the most awful promotions, music, food, giveaways, and entertainment that you will ever see at a Minor League Baseball game.

The first 500 fans to the park will receive an autographed picture of Groundskeeper Jim. The night will consist of chances to win loads of specialty prizes in the awful raffle. You can visit the various awful display tables that feature awful food tasting, free face painting, caricatures, balloon animals, as well as free haircuts by Shawn the Barber. Fans can also meet and greet Dodgertown work horses Bob and Tom who will be signing autographs throughout the night. After the game, fans can stay for our Awful Fireworks Extravaganza that is sure to light up the sky!

If they really want to have an “Awful Night” there are a few things they should consider adding to the agenda:

• Making Vero Beach using the Tampa Bay Devil Rays middle relievers during the game.
• Make Vince Naimoli honorary team owner and Chuck LaMar the honorary team GM.
• Let BJ Upton play shortstop.
• Use Seth McClung as the starting pitcher.
• Let the Devil Rays heckler be the public address announcer during the game.
  

VB D-Rays To Host ‘Awful Night’ [MILB.com]]