Joe is back with his post-game thoughts….

Joe’s not much of a stats geek by any stretch, but they do reflect reality pretty well sometimes.

The Rays have now scored four runs or less in 12 of 17 games in May. They’re 5-7 when plating those four or less, which is darn good. But it’s maddening to watch and it’s not winning baseball.

Friday’s night’s 5-3 loss to the Braves accentuated the often razor-thin margin of error the Rays’ pitching staff gets to work with. A nothing special Braves two-out rally in the fifth off James Shields put Altanta up 4-2 and that was the ballgame. The Rays’ seven singles brought home all they could.

Everybody knows the long list of injuries sucking runs from the lineup. No need to rehash that, but it’s been painfully glaring over the last three games.

Joe even found himself longing for Kelly Shoppach’s hitting prowess while watching Jose Molina last night. That was just a fleeting longing, but what Molina’s doing at the plate is freakin’ ugly stuff. It really has Joe wondering whether Molina has enough juice in those old legs to to recover.

Yet another reason the Rays need Evan Longoria and Desmond Jennings back in a big way.

This post, which will appear before every game, will include starting lineups (when we learn them) and during the game will include a Game Graph that will constantly update the percent chance the Rays have of winning this particular game.

Game Graph…

Source: FanGraphs

Playing A Little Pepper…

It’s official, Alex Cobb will be the starter tomorrow night. Over/Under: 9.5 starts for Cobb with the Rays this season.

This will be interesting. If he does well, then sure, it will be over. But what if Cobb strugles? As we know, every game counts in the end and the Rays have other options, including a [Read More...]

Three years ago on Rays Index we witnessed Pat Burrell’s finest moment with the Rays.

Pat Burrell Caught With His Pants Down [Rays Index]

Clearwater brain injury attorney Matt Dolman of Dolman Law Group

Clearwater brain injury attorney Matt Dolman shares some of his in-depth knowledge of brain imaging studies in an excellent blog entry on MyTraumaticBrainInjury.com. Click here to learn about PET scans, SPECT scans, Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) and Susceptibility Weighted Imaging (SWI).

Joe loves to learn about this fascinating aspect of medicine, whether it’s car accident brain injuries or ones on the football field.

Dolman Law Group is a Pinellas County and Manatee County personal injury law firm that routinely handles claims and litigates cases involving closed head injuries as a result of an automobile accident. Dolman Law Group actively litigates auto accident and motorcycle accident related cases in Pinellas County, Hillsborough County, Sarasota County, Manatee County and Pasco County. From its Clearwater office, Dolman Law Group is easily accessible to injury victims in St. Petersburg, Tampa, Palm Harbor, Dunedin, Safety Harbor, New Port Richey, Pinellas Park, Largo and Kenneth City. Their satellite office in Bradenton is easily accessible to all consumers located in both Manatee and Sarasota County.

Jordi Scrubbings, our correspondent in charge of all things sensible, is back with an update on his trip abroad…

I’ve been in Afghanistan now for two months. Two weeks after I arrived, baseball season started. While it’s not incredibly difficult to stay in the know on what’s going on with my favorite team, it does feel a bit weird being so removed after being so close for so long.

Before I moved to Tampa in 2006, I had to follow baseball from afar in the desolate burg of Tallahassee, Florida. All I had was SportsCenter, ESPN.com, and satellite TV at the local sports bars. Here, I have but only one of these options. There is a pub of sorts, but they cater to the soccer fans (they call it “football”) and they don’t have the MLB Package. So all I can do is follow along on my favorite websites, and sometimes swing by ESPN.com.

All is not completely lost, however. We do have the Armed Forced Network’s sports channel and every so often that is put on in the office. I do sometimes see a highlight or two and I actually did watch a few innings of a Mets versus Marlins game a few weeks ago. Those new Marlins uniforms are going to take some getting used to.

As a contractor, I don’t have to wear military attire here in Afghanistan. Some might say that’s a detriment as I have to [Read More...]

Have more fun going to Rays games and save money.

Get your butt on the No Excuses Tour chauffeured luxury bus to Tropicana Field, courtesy of Paradise Worldwide Transportation and Lee Roy Selmon’s.

You get to ride in style — with beer and food in hand — and get dropped off right at the gate!!

Click on through to grab a seat, and get all the details at NoExcusesTour.com.

Don’t flush your gas and parking money down the toilet. More than 700 fans have enjoyed the Tour. Get on board!

Update: The luxury bus is staying for the postgame concerts on June 2 and June 17.

Last night was one of those games that we just never felt good about. But as usual, there were still some interesting highlights that you won’t see on SportsCenter…

Good moment for Rich Thompson who collected his first big league hit 8 years after his big league debut

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The GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe.

Red Sox 5, RAYS 3 (boxscore)

THE GOOD: No Panic. Matt Moore had a rough start, in which 5 of the first 8 batters he faced reached base, including a bases loaded walk. But rather than panic and implode, as many young pitchers will do, he settled down. He retired 15 of the last 17 batters he faced including the last 10 in a row. Of those final 17 batters, he struck out 5 and walked none…Rich Thompson. It was a long time coming. But 8 years after making his Major League debut, Thompson picked up his first big lead basehit, a nice slap single back up the middle. He then stole 2nd and 3rd.

THE BAD: The Bullpen. Well, you knew the relievers couldn’t dominate every night. But at 3-2, we felt the Rays still had a shot. Badenhop, Howell, and Davis giving up 2 runs looked like it took the wind out of the Rays’ sails, so to speak…Luke Scott. Wolverine had a rough night. Not only did he get plunked (allegedly) on purpose, he went 0-4, and was the final out in four different innings, including the 4th when he left the bases loaded, the 6th when he left runners on second and third, and the 8th when he left runners on second and third again. In all, he stranded 7 runners, 6 of whom were in scoring position.

THE TELLING: DH Hideki Matsui went 0-3 against Daisuke Matsuzaka in what was apparently a circus at triple-A Durham…The Rays now trail the Orioles by 1 game in the East. They do have a 3.5 game lead over the 3rd place team in the Wild Card standings (Yankees).

THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

• Be sure to click the <Read More…> below to get a good look at what an angry Luke Scott looks like.
• The Rays have decided on Saturday’s starting pitcher but are not ready to announce it. We would be shocked if it is not Alex Cobb, who also has the advantage of pitching on a normal amount of rest. [TampaBay.com]
• Will Rhymes wanted to [Read More...]

Joe is back with his post-game thoughts…

Sure, Joe knew when Dirtbag went down with his knee injury the Rays offense might take a step back or two. That’s understandable. But for the Rays to cower and run away when there are runners in scoring position as bad as they did tonight, well, there really is no excuse.

Good grief, just tonight alone Wolverine stranded six runners, and he’s supposed to be the Rays big RBI guy.

Rather than just losing Dirtbag, it’s a series of players the Rays have lost to injury that may be catching up to them. Desmond Jennings’ absence doesn’t help. Guess Rays fans are seeing all of these injuries starting to creep up.

Not an awful night for Matt Moore, but without some offense, unless Rays pitchers pretty much hold opponents scoreless, Joe guesses this is what fans may expect from the Derek Sheltons in the near future.

This post, which will appear before every game, will include starting lineups (when we learn them) and during the game will include a Game Graph that will constantly update the percent chance the Rays have of winning this particular game.

Game Graph…

Source: FanGraphs

Playing A Little Pepper…

Every player on the 40-man roster is either on the Rays’ active roster or on the DL, except for one, Reid Brignac. Meaning, with all the injuries, as the Rays have needed players, they have gone through everybody else, and even a couple of guys from outside the organization. And still Brignac is in triple-A. This can’t be a good sign, but how bad is it?

The Rays appear to be playing the “We don’t care if you are the last guy on Earth” card. And if that is the case, Brignac is in triple-A until he starts listening to the Rays and stops trying to hit home runs. Or until Will Rhymes goes on the DL…BRIGNAC IS DONE UNLESS HE CHANGES

Lineup (with Rich Thompson making his first career start after 11 years in triple-A)…

1. Ben Zobrist, RF
2. BJ Upton, CF
3. Luke Scott, DH [Read More...]