May 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 GOOD: Left-Handed Lineup. The Rays were 55-54 against lefties in 2008 and 2009 combined. And they started this season 1-3 against southpaws. Since then the Rays are 5-1 in their last 6 games versus a left-handed starter…Big Innings. The Rays continue to score their runs in bunches, with two more big innings (3+ runs) last night…Dioner Navarro. The Fat Catcher gets a lot of grief, but it is only fair to point out that his hustling double led to the first run when Gabe Kapler singled him home. For all his faults, Navi has always been a very smart baserunner. Last season, Navi stole 5 bases. All 5 came with 2 outs as Navi put himself into scoring position…Matt Garza. Gonzo worked 8 innings for the 4th time this season. The 2 runs given up on the home run in the 4th inning marked just the second time this season Garza gave up more than 1 run. He finished with 5 Ks and 1 walk. He is now 5-1 with a 2.09 ERA…Grant Balfour. He may not throw 96 anymore, but he has better control this season. He walked one batter last night. That was just his second walk this season to go with 13 strikeouts. And the walk ended a stretch of 31 straight batters faced without a walk.
THE BAD: Rough Schedule For ‘Los. Carlos Pena went 0-5 with 2 Ks and is now hitting .200 on the season with 29 strikeouts in 26 games. He is hitless in the last 5 games and is 0 for his last 22 with 11 strikeouts. And with all the lefties on this roadtrip, there is little hope for Pena to break out of his funk anytime soon.
THE TELLING: John Jaso will start today against a lefty.
WHERE THEY STAND: The Rays are 20-7, one game ahead of the Yankees and 4 games ahead of the Blue Jays and Tigers in the Wild Card race. After 27 games in 2008, the Rays were 15-12.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- The Rays released Virgil Vasquez, who was acquired prior to the season from the Pirates. He recently broke both of his wrists in a scooter accident.
- Joe Maddon now admits JP Howell might not be back until June. Also, since the start of the 2007 season, Carlos Pena has the fourth most walks in baseball. [St. Pete Times]
- Joe Maddon says he will continue to get John Jaso playing time, even if that means starts versus lefties. [Tampa Tribune]
- Carlos Pena says there have been no negotiations for a new contract but that he “would love to play here forever.” [St. Pete Times]
- Milton Bradley left the team and threatened to quit during the 6th of the first game of this series. Now he says he needs help for “emotional stress.” [ESPN]
- Rob Neyer says the Mariners “probably should release Milton Bradley“…Think Andrew Friedman still wants to go down that road? [ESPN]
- Brett Gardner is off to a hot start for the Yankees. Josh Levitt calls Gardner a younger and cheaper version of Carl Crawford and now wonders if the Yankees need Crawford next year. [The Hardball Times]
- “The Rays’ run differential is plus-70. For a bit of perspective, only three AL teams had a greater run differential than that for the entire 2009 season.” [Fanhouse]
- Desmond Jennings talks about the pressures of being a top prospect. [Burlington Times-News]
- Evan Longoria is Steve Gardner’s early-season pick for AL MVP and he picked Wade Davis and Matt Garza second in the Rookie of the Year and Cy Young respectively. [USA Today]
- Jeff Niemann spends a minute with Roger Mooney (video). [Tampa Tribune]
- Gary Shelton writes about the arrival of the next generation of sports stars in the Bay Area. [St. Pete Times]
DOWN ON THE FARM…
- Check out “The Rundown” from Rays Prospects for boxscores and more detailed recaps. [Rays Prospects]
- DURHAM: (no game scheduled)
- MONTGOMERY: Jake McGee made his first start since suffering a sore knee. He only allowed 1 run, but was pulled after 2.1 innings with 61 pitches. He struck out 4 and walked 1…Alex Cobb made his 2010 debut in relief of McGee, pitching 2.1 scoreless innings. He struck out 4 and walked 2.
- CHARLOTTE: Matt Moore struck out 9 in 5 innings, but allowed 4 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks. He has now allowed 18 runs in 26.1 innings this season…Tim Beckham missed his 3rd straight game due to a medical issue in his family.
- BOWLING GREEN: Alex Colome pitched 6 shutout innings despite 6 walks. He struck out 3. He had walked only 5 batters in 27.2 innings prior to this start.
Apr 27
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: Offense? The Rays are only 7th in the AL in hitting (.259), 5th in OBP (.342) and 6th in slugging (.431), but they lead the AL in runs scored (113). Why the disparity? The Rays are hitting when it matters most. in 216 plate appearances with runners in scoring position, the Rays are hitting .318 (1st in the AL), have a .413 OBP (1st in the AL) and have a league-best OPS of .964, which is 150 points higher than the next best team (Boston)…Starting Pitching. The Rays starting pitchers have the second best ERA in the AL (2.81) and they lead the AL with 6.4 innings per start.
THE BAD: Relief Pitching. One reason the Rays starters work so deep into games is to hide a weak bullpen. So far this season, the Rays relievers are 9th in the AL with a 4.13 ERA even though they have the 3rd best batting average against (.227)…Basestealing. The mathematical cutoff for success stealing is 75%. Less than that and the team might be losing runs (although it can be argued that the affect of stolen bases goes beyond the success rate). The Rays are tied with the White Sox for the AL lead with 21 stolen bases, but they have also been thrown a league leading 10 times leading to the 4th worst success rate in the AL (68%).
THE TELLING: The Rays now begin a stretch of 7 straight series (20 games) against non-AL East opponents.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Andrew Friedman made an appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show.” The only telling statement is when Friedman refers to a sold out Trop as “like a 10th man,” which may or may not have been a Freudian slap to the face of Pat Burrell. Here is the link to the audio if you are so inclined. [Audio]
- Steve Slowinski attempts to quantify the difference between John Jaso and Dioner Navarro and whether the Rays should stick with Jaso once Kelly Shoppach returns. [DRays Bay]
- Aneury Rodriguez was named the IL pitcher of the week, one week after Jeremy Hellickson won the same award. [Rays Prospects]
- Joe Henderson takes a matter-of-fact look at the Rays attendance woes. [Tampa Tribune]
- John Romano writes about the path Leslie Anderson took from Cuba to the Rays and how he is adjusting with his new club. [St. Pete Times]
- Rays Prospects informs us that Wade Townsend has signed with an independent team. [Twitter]
- An Astros short-season team will be giving away Ben Zobrist bobbleheads. There will only be 1,200 of them so you can expect them to not be cheap on eBay. [Rays Rev]
- Virgil Vasquez actually has two broken wrists, suffered in a car accident. [St. Pete Times]
- Angela Jacobs has some quotes from John Jaso on his early success with the Rays. [10Connects.com]
- Rays now sit atop ESPN.com’s power rankings. [ESPN]
DOWN ON THE FARM…
- Check out “The Rundown” from Rays Prospects for boxscores and more detailed recaps. [Rays Prospects]
- DURHAM: Heath Rollins made his first start in place of the injured Virgil Vasquez. He allowed 4 runs in 4 innings…Fernando Perez was 1-5 with 3 strikeouts…Dan Johnson hit his league leading 8th home run…Hank Blalock started at third base and collected 2 more hits. He is now hitting .396 with a .455 OBP. Of his 19 hits, only 2 are for extra-bases.
- MONTGOMERY: Darin Downs pitched 5.2 shutout innings but was pulled after being hit in the leg by a comebacker…Nevin Ashley was 0-4.
- CHARLOTTE: Nick Barnese gave up 3 runs in 6 innings on 3 hits and a walk. He struck out 5…Isaias Velasquez went 4-5 with 3 stolen bases. He is now second in the FSL with 8 steals…Tim Beckham went 0-3 with 2 walks. He is just 4-39 (.103) to start the year…Matt Sweeney was 2-4.
- BOWLING GREEN: (no game scheduled)
Apr 26
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: David Price. Anybody still think King David should be in the bullpen? His first career complete game and his first career shutout. And he got better as the game moved along. In the final 4 innings, Price threw only 35 pitches. He struck out 9 and walked just 1…BJ Upton. Even though it was a pitch in on his hands, Upton pushed a double down the rightfield line to help start the rally in the 5th. Eventually Bossman’s efforts to go opposite-field will lead to even more pitchers trying to pitch him inside. And when that happens, the home runs will really start flying as Upton unleashes one of the fastest bats in baseball…Patience. The 8 hits were good, but the 8 walks were even better. Just one reason the Rays have scored 12 more runs than any other team in the AL…Evan Longoria, had 2 hits in each game of the series, going 2-4 yesterday. He is hitting .324 early on. But his biggest contribution came in the 8th inning with the Rays nursing a 2-0 lead. With a runner on first, Dirtbag dove to his left turning John McDonald’s sure hit into a double-play.
THE BAD: Slow Start. The Rays were thrown out trying to steal 4 times in the first 4 innings including Carl Crawford twice. Jose Molina was the first catcher to throw out 4 in one game since 2002 and it was just the 3rd time Crawford has been thrown out twice in one game. There were only 4 other attempted steals against Molina prior to yesterday’s game and he had thrown out 3.
THE TELLING: Dioner Navarro was scratched from the lineup with a sore leg…The Rays drew 23,250 for yesterday’s game and just a hair over 23,000 per game for the weekend series…We did a very quick survey of the 2008 season and it appears that the Rays 14-5 mark equals the Rays best 19 game stretch that season…The Rays scored 4 runs in the 8th inning. That is the 15th time in the last 12 games they have scored at least 3 runs in one inning after doing that just 2 times in the first 7 games.
WHERE THEY STAND: The Rays are 14-5 and have the best record in baseball, 1.5 games ahead of the Yankees and 4 games ahead of the Blue Jays in the Wild Card race. After 19 games in 2008, the Rays were 8-11.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- In case you missed it yesterday, we welcomed a new weekend contributor to Rays Index. [Rays Index]
- Today’s Durham Bulls game will be aired on the MLB Network live at 11:00 AM (thanks Chris).
- Virgil Vasquez, the pitcher obtained from the Pirates just before the start of the season broke his wrist in a car accident. [Biscuit Crumbs]
- Joe Dillon’s home run yesterday hit the Bull at DBAP and won himself and an entire section of fans a free steak. [Twitter]
- Andy Hutchins says the Rays may be the best team in baseball right now. [The Sporting Blog]
DOWN ON THE FARM…
- Check out “The Rundown” from Rays Prospects for boxscores and more detailed recaps. [Rays Prospects]
- DURHAM: At 14-4, the Bulls actually have a better record than the Rays…Aneury Rodriguez gave up a leadoff double, but then settled down to retire 17 of the next 18 batters and did not allow another hit in 7 innings of work. He struck out 4 and walked 2. In 2 triple-A starts, Rodriguez has yet to allow a run and has given up just 5 hits in 14 innings with 10 Ks and 3 walks…Justin Ruggiano (4), Joe Dillon (2), Alvin Colina (2) and Chris Richard (2) homered for the Bulls…Fernando Perez was 2-5…Hank Blalock did not play.
- MONTGOMERY: Alex Torres pitched 6 shutout innings with 7 strikeouts in the first game of the double-header…Matt Fields went 0-7 with 3 strikeouts in the two games.
- CHARLOTTE: Matt Moore struck out 8 and walked 4 in 5 innings. He allowed 1 run…Matt Sweeney was 0-4 with 2 strikeouts.
- BOWLING GREEN: Jason McEachern pitched 6 shutout innings in game 1 and Shane Dyer pitched a 7-inning shutout in the nightcap.
Apr 02
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: Mike Ekstrom. Ekstrom made one final case for the final bullpen spot by working 3 scoreless innings allowing just 1 hit and striking out 2…Evan Longoria. Dirtbag is peaking at the right time, hitting his 5th home run.
THE BAD: Pat Burrell. The Bat started in the outfield for the 11th (!) time this spring. Burrell says that last year he had trouble acclimating to the role of DH and all the down time. Isn’t that exactly what spring training should be for? Or have the Rays been showcasing Burrell to NL teams? Or maybe Joe Maddon thinks playing the outfield will help Burrell feel more comfortable at the plate and jumpstart his offense? We are just scared that this is more than “let’s give Burrell a few spring starts to appease him.
THE TELLING: With only 2 exhibition games remaining before the regular season starts, Joe Maddon had Ben Zobrist batting third, followed by Evan Longoria in the cleanup spot, Carlos Pena fifth and BJ Upton sixth. Look for this to be the opening day batting order…Matt Joyce was officially placed on the DL…The Rays finished with the best record in the Grapefruit League. In the last 13 years, the winner of the Grapefruit League finished the regular season with a median of 92 wins and an average of 88 wins.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says the Rays may be discussing a trade with the Pirates for pitcher Virgil Vasquez. [Twitter]
- Elliot Johnson has been removed from the 40-man roster and placed on waivers. No surprise here as he was out of minor league options. [The Heater]
- Joe Maddon on Pat Burrell as an outfielder: “…he is mechanically a good outfielder. He just lacks overall foot speed. But he does a lot of other things well as an outfielder. So he has opened my eyes a bit with that.” [Tampa Tribune]
- Now the mayors of Tampa, St. Pete and Clearwater are getting together to film a commercial to beg people to go to Rays games. [Tampa Tribune]
- Five MLB.com “pundits” and not one picks the Rays to make the playoffs. But Peter Gammons does pick BJ Upton to win the AL MVP award and Sean Rodriguez to win Rookie of the Year (see comments). [MLB]
- Desmond Jennings will miss the start of the season. Jennings says he is “just not trying to rush it,” but that he is “feeling good.” [Biscuit Crumbs]
- The Rays top Jon Heyman’s list of teams that “could surprise” this season. Could surprise? Most people consider the Rays one of the top 4 or 5 teams in baseball. What exactly would be surprising? [SI.com]
- The Rays are the top ranked organization in Baseball America’s list of talent rankings. [Rays Prospects]
- Fangraphs also takes a look at the talent in the Rays organization. [Fangraphs]
- RZ of DRaysBay compares Joaquin Benoit and Mike Ekstrom. [DRays Bay]
- A Rays preview from Tom Korun featuring many Fennelyisms (one sentence paragraphs) (thanks Thad). [ABC Action News]
- Hitting the Cutoff Man previews the Rays. [Hitting the Cutoff Man]
- Will Kline will pitch in extended spring training to start the season. Kline, a 2nd round pick in 2007 hasn’t pitched the past 2 seasons. [Biscuit Crumbs]
