Jun 11
Al Reyes, Andy Sonnanstine, BJ Upton, Buster Olney, Carl Crawford, Chad Orvella, David Price, Elijah Dukes, Greg Maddux, James Shields, Josh Wilson, Rocco Baldelli, Tim Corcoran, Ty Wigginton Cork Gaines
Devil Rays 9, Marlins 4. It is all about winning series. Find a way to win 2 of 3 every time out. The win yesterday gave the Rays their second straight series win and both were highly improbable. After losing the opening game of each series with bullpen melt-downs of historic proportions, the Rays bounced back to win the final two games of both match-ups (Did you realize that the Rays are two nuclear melt-downs away from an 8-game winning streak?).
Yesterday it was Andy Sonnanstine to the rescue with his first major league win. Sonny will never be an ace and some nights he will get knocked around pretty good, but he is very capable of performances like Sunday. We just need to wait and see how often we see a performance like Sunday’s. If that turns out to be the rule more than the exception, Sonny will be a legitimate #3 or #4 starter in the Rays rotation for years to come. Still, at this point, just the fact that he is capable of a start like this is an indication that he is a far better option than Jae Seo or Casey Fossum ever were.
Before Sonnanstine was promoted, we heard that it was difficult to compare Sonnanstine to any major leaguers because of the accuracy and the movement of the pitches and the different arm angles. The most common name we head was a poor-man’s Greg Maddux. After his first start, we thought Paul Byrd was a more accurate representation. That is to say that he is a crafty right hander. Rare indeed. But Sonny throws much harder than Byrd, who rarely breaks 85 nowadays. So is there another player we can come up with? Well, we were watching the Marlins broadcast of yesterday’s game and the announcers tossed out a third name which we had not thought of before. Orlando Hernandez…We like it. El Duque is the only other pitcher that we have ever seen that uses as many different arm angles. Also, it seems as if El Duque has never thrown a straight pitch in his life. So, if Hernandez is 58 years old as rumored, is Andy Sonnanstine the second coming? Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez…Andy “The Duke” Sonnastine? Only time will tell, but we must admit The Duke is fun to watch pitch.
DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…
- Andy Sonnanstine set a Devil Rays team record with 7 straight strike outs on Sunday.
- The Devil Rays had no choice but to shake up the bullpen, if for anything just to send a message to the rest of the team. On Sunday Chad Orvella and Tim Corcoran were optioned back to Durham.
- Buster Olney gives us a Q&A with James Shields. The interview is hidden behind the walls of ESPN’s “Insider”.
- Rocco Baldelli participated in an extended spring training game on Saturday. He is likely to play in four more before the team decides whether to activate Baldelli or send him on a rehab assignment.
- OK, maybe not the best reliever, but is Josh Wilson the second best?
- Maybe not, but we do like THIS SUGGESTION of making the rest of the staff watch the video of Josh Wilson’s performance. Maybe Joe Maddon could lock them in a room with the one inning on loop.
- Al Reyes and James Shields have much better chances to make the All-Star roster as pitchers than BJ Upton or Carl Crawford do as position players.
- Josh Vitters is NOT as good as Alex Rodriguez was in high school. So to compare the choice of David Price over Vitters as the same decision the Mariners made when they picked A-Rod over Darren Dreifort is ridiculous.
- According to Scott Kendrick the Devil Rays made a mistake by drafting the college pitcher over the high school hitter. He notes that the best #1 overall picks have been high school position players, pointing out the lack of a success among pitchers selected at the top of the draft. So, according to Kendrick, college pitchers should NEVER be drafted or David Price had a better chance of a solid major league career if he was drafted #2 or even in the 36th round. Neither makes sense. Mr. Kendrick…what we have here is what smart people call a “very small sample size”. Some pitchers succeed. A lot don’t. Whether or not a pitcher is going to be great has nothing to do with where he is drafted. It depends on the player and the team that drafts him. Maybe the position player is “safer” but hitters don’t win championships. Pitchers do.
- Based on the Rays drafting history only 2 or 3 of the 50 players selected will ever appear in a major league game.
- The Washington Nationals are reportedly pursuing Elijah Dukes.
- MLB Trade Rumors indicates that the Twins may be interested in acquiring Ty Wigginton. With the emergence of both BJ Upton, and Carlos Pena, this move makes sense.
- Off day today with an intriguing match-up tomorrow as the Padres come to town and will send out Greg Maddux against Scott Kazmir.
May 23
Mariners 5, Devil Rays 2.
You can often tell in the first inning if Scott Kazmir is going to have a good night or not. Last night, Kid K did not allow a run until the 5th inning but we knew the Rays were going to have a difficult time winning this game. It took Kazmir 20 pitches to get through the first inning. Every pitch out of the strike zone…every foul ball…and we cringed and hung our heads. We lied to ourselves and said it would be fine. He just needed to settle down and motor through the second inning in about 10 pitches. 18 pitches later, and now Kazmir has 38 pitches in only two innings. At this rate, even if Kazmir doesn’t allow a run, he is going to be out of the game by the sixth inning. Four innings from the Devil Rays bullpen is a lot to ask for even if the Rays were still up 2-0. Rather, Kazmir did finally allow two runs and the bullpen was forced to maintain a tie game over four innings. Never gonna happen. The Rays were leading 2-0 but the game was over after the second inning.
DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…
- Part of this week’s shift in the rotation was to allow Edwin Jackson an extra bullpen session before his next start. Apparently, Jackson has what he is calling a flaw in his mechanics.
It’s just a slight mechanical problem I was having over-rotating…It’s not something big. It’s something small that I was doing earlier that somehow I got away from and didn’t feel.
Something small? We think that the mechanical flaw is about as small as Jackson’s ERA of 7.78.
- Akinori Iwamura played three innings in an extended spring training game on Tuesday. Joe Maddon now thinks that Muu-Rah could rejoin the team as early as next week. Iwamura would likely begin a rehab assignment this weekend.
- Ty Wigginton is the team’s backup catcher as the Rays continue to await Shawn Riggans’ return from the minor league disabled list, so they can add Josh Paul to the major league disabled list.
Apr 30
Akinori Iwamura, BJ Upton, Buster Olney, Carlos Pena, Casey Fossum, Greg Norton, James Shields, Joe Maddon, Josh Hancock, Scott Kazmir, Ty Wigginton Cork Gaines
You may have noticed a slight change in format. We run three daily features around these parts. Of course, by daily, we mean if we don’t drink too much the night before and are able to get our buts out of bed in a reasonable manner. Well, we are going to mix things up a little. On days that we run “The AL East Roundup” and/or “Down on the Farm”, those will be posted before “The Hangover” which we should be able to get up all weekdays and most weekends.
Devil Rays 5, A’s 3.
We promise that next time we take off for on a drunken weekend binge, we will leave you with something better to look at on the front page than Mel Allen’s mug…One trait of young teams is extreme ups and downs and this is not lost on the 2007 Tampa Bay Devil Rays. After taking 2 straight from the Yankees in impressive fashion, they followed it up by looking like a AAA team in 2 losses to the Angels. Somehow they bounced back to take 2 of 3 from the A’s. Scott Kazmir got off to a shaky start by giving up 2 solo home runs in the first. He settled down and did what he had to do. He kept an ugly loss (on Saturday) from turning into a losing streak, handing the ball to the bullpen in the 8th inning with a lead. Rocco Baldelli, who was a game-time decision as to whether or not he could return to the lineup, made the start and provided a no-doubt home run in 5th inning. BJ Upton was moved up from his normal 9-spot in the lineup, to the 6-hole and made Papa Joe Maddon look like a genius by driving in 3 with his 5th home run of the year. Elijah Dukes hit his first home run since the first 2 games of the season against the Yankees.
- Josh Hancock, who died in a car accident, was a friend of Casey Fossum.
- Rocco Baldelli started at DH, but is still not 100%.
- Jorge Cantu received his first career start as a first baseman. He went 0-4.
- Yesterday Shawn Camp relieved Scott Kazmir in the 8th inning. He struggled and Brian Stokes had to come in for the final two outs of the frame. With Camp’s recent success and a couple of shaky outings by Stokes, Joe Maddon will be day-to-day with Camps and Stokes on who gets the ball in the 7th and who gets it in the 8th.
- Buster Olney lists James Shields as one of his “payers on the rise”, citing an already impressive change-up that keeps getting better.
- Carlos Pena has been a pleasant surprise for the Rays early in the season. There is no word yet what the Rays will do when Greg Norton is ready to return to the team. Norton is expected to begin a rehab assignment in the next few days. Pena only made the opening day roster after Norton was injured in the last week of spring training. The likely scenario would be one in which the Rays send Cantu back to Durham, keeping Pena and Norton. Then the team would be able to wait until Akinori Iwamura returns before making a decision on Pena.
- Joe Maddon is worried about how often the Rays fall behind early in a game. A team can have all the talent in the world, but it does no good if they do not show up to the park mentally prepared to play everyday.
- RealGM Baseball is taking a look at all 30 GMs in baseball. In their review of Andrew Friedman, they call the hiring of Joe Maddon, his “signature move”. Signing Akinori Iwamura, and not trading BJ Upton must have been a close second and third.
- James Shields is the Rays most consistent pitcher right now, but he does have a penchant for giving up home runs.
- Here is a very detailed account of Ty Wigginton delivering his second child in the closet of their home. All we can say is “wow”.
- A look back at the Devil Rays 1997 expansion draft.
Apr 26
Angels 9, Devil Rays 1.
Don’t blame us. We said we wouldn’t be surprised if the Rays lost 10-1….We are never apologists for starting pitchers. We hate it when somebody says a pitcher threw a great game but just “made a couple of mistakes.” It is the biggest gop-out in baseball. Winning pitchers don’t make mistakes when the game is on the line. That being said, last night was the second time in the past week that a Devil Rays pitcher deserved a better fate. Edwin Jackson didn’t have his best stuff, but he battled all night and was betrayed by sloppy defense. He did give up 8 hits in 6+ innings, but he only gave up 1 walk. The Rays committed three errors, including BJ Upton’s 6th. With 2 outs in the 5th inning, two runners on in a scoreless game, Upton made a great stop of a groundball up the middle but threw wide to first. By the time the inning was over, the Rays had committed 2 errors and were down 3-0 and the game was over.
Apr 24
Jorge Cantu is back. Akinori Iwamura was placed on the DL today with a strained oblique muscle and Cantu was recalled from Durham to take his place.
Honestly we are a bit surprised that Cantu was the choice, although there really isn’t a lot of offensive talent at Durham right now. Cantu’s demotion at the end of spring training was not received very well by the second baseman and he subsequently demanded a trade. It is not clear if the Rays have entered into anything other than preliminary discussions with other teams about moving Cantu. There just does not seem to be much of a market for a second baseman with limited defensive abilities and a bat in decline.
Iwamura to the DL is a big blow to the this team. He was the one player on the team that would actually work a pitcher. He is 4th in the AL in walks on a team that has always struggled with getting on base. And is it us or is the oblique muscle a recent discovery to science? Up to 5 years ago, we never heard of a player missing time with an injured oblique. Now it happens all the time. Apparently the injury occurred earlier in the week. The big worry is how serious the injury is. Obliques can be a finicky muscle and if not careful, this could turn into a season-long nagging injury.
As for the Rays lineup, look for Cantu to receive at bats, but not regular playing time. BJ Upton is still the second baseman. Ty Wigginton will likely slide over to third base with Brendan Harris also receiving some starts. On days that Wiggy is at third, Carlos Pena will start at first base. Cantu is most likely to receive one or two starts a week at DH.
Apr 24
Devil Rays 10, Yankees 8.
We love winnin’…it’s like better than losin’. The 2007 incarnation of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays are going to be the death of us. The Rays beat the Yankees and in the process were involved in their 612th straight game decided by 2 runs or less. As usual, the offense was great with 6 different Devil Rays collecting at least 2 hits. And as usual, the pitching was shaky. Casey Fossum got the win despite giving up 6 runs in 5.2 innings. Brian Stokes was the lone pitching bright spot as he jumped right back on the horse after blowing the save opportunity on Sunday. After Juan Salas walked the only two batters he faced in the 8th, Stokes came on and retired the side. Al Reyes close out the win despite giving up A-Rod’s second home run of the game. We love the wins…but we are already cringing in anticipation of the next debilitating loss.
- These Rays DO come with a warning. Do not root for them if you are pregnant or have a pre-existing heart condition.
- First it was BJ Upton imitating Chone Figgans. Now Chone Figgans is worried about imitating BJ Upton. That’s not good. Figgans is returning from fractured bones in the fingers of his throwing hand and will begin a rehab assignment this week. His biggest concern will be the accuracy of his throws.
- Poor Yankees fans…not such big fans of the cowbells.
- Joe Maddon hesitates to use Al Reyes in back-to-back games. There was no way Papa Joe was going to use Reyes in 3 straight on Sunday.
- Ty Wigginton’s hot starts as a member of the Devil Rays is not a coincidence. It is due to a different approach he has learned to take in spring training and early in the season in which he will force himself to take more pitches than usual.
- You will never see any Fantasy baseball analysis on this site. There are a million other places you can get that, and we don’t read any of it. However, Roto Authority has a nice analysis of James Shields. They like him so much they actually analyze Shields two times. The consensus is that Shields has added a few inches to his fastball and his changeup is now even more devastating, with a 38% swing-and-miss rate.
Apr 17
Orioles 9, Devil Rays 7. We don’t want to talk about it. OK, we will say this. We better get used to it. This is a team that will look like a playoff contender on some nights and the Bad News Bears on others. During last season’s post-all-star break swoon, the Rays lost a lot of games before the lineups were exchanged at home plate. Final scores such as 9-1 were not uncommon. There is something imminently unpainful about those types of losses. When you see the punch coming, you can brace for it. After a weekend in which the Rays beat Johan Santana and got to Joe Nathan in the 9th of another game, and with the Orioles coming to the Trop where the Rays should be a favorite, we never saw this type of loss coming. Fool us once…
- The only moment worth watching in last night’s game was a play in which Aubrey Huff committed two errors and the Orioles committed three total, leading to a run. It made us giggle.
- Delmon Young had his 12-game hitting streak snapped. The team record is 18-games, by Quinten McCracken in 1998.
- The Rays streak of 12 consecutive games with a home run was snapped last night, although Ty Wigginton came within inches of extending the streak.
- We will know early on tonight if Casey Fossum will pitch a good game. In his first start of the season he gave up 4 flyball outs and 3 ground ball outs and was pulled in the 4th inning. In his last start he recorded 13 groundball outs and only 6 flyball outs and worked 7 innings. The difference is effectiveness of Fossum’s sinker. If his sinker is on and he is inducing groundballs, he has a chance to be effective.
- Devil Rays haven’t moved in the latest ESPN power rankings. Obviously these rankings came out before last night’s debacle.
