Game 160 - Open Thread - Last stop: Toronto
By Scott Caruso | September 28th, 2007 | Posted in General
The Rays head to Toronto to play three meaningless games against the Blue Jays to wrap up the season.
What to watch for: Andy Sonnanstine would love to close the season on a high-note; even if he throws a no-hitter tonight, his final numbers won’t look great, but he has had a number of quality outings that he can look back on. It would be great if he could close with a good one.
Scouting Report on todays starters from MLB.com
Andy Sonnanstine - Sonnanstine faltered a bit during his most recent outing and the Red Sox attacked the weakness, scoring five times on the rookie during his 5 1/3 innings of work. Sonnanstine lacked his usual control on the mound but managed to escape a loss thanks to a three-run homer in the seventh that put the Rays ahead for the first time.
Dustin McGowan - McGowan struggled mightily with his command on Sunday, when he issued a career-high six walks in a loss to the Yankees. The right-hander allowed six runs on six hits with five strikeouts over 4 1/3 innings -ñhis shortest outing since June 19. The six runs McGowan surrendered were the most heí yielded since spotting six to the Red Sox on July 14. McGowaní fastball was inconsistent and he wasní able to rely on either his curveball or slider. In his career against the Rays, the right-hander is 1-0 with a 3.32 ERA in four appearances.
Check out the Rays’ career numbers against Dustin McGowan.
View the game preview from Baseball Reference
Be sure to join us in the chat room for some good Rays talk during the game!!!
September 28th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
D-Rays are a lock for the #1 pick in next year’s draft. Who would you guys take? Alvarez? Smoak? Tim Beckam, the high school SS? Or the top ranked pitcher?
September 28th, 2007 at 6:22 pm
Don’t know anything about those guys, but can’t we win out and tie Baltimore, KC, or something like that?
September 28th, 2007 at 6:56 pm
I always vote pitching, because you can ALWAYS trade good young pitching for a bat. It doesn’t work the other way around.
September 28th, 2007 at 7:03 pm
Scott-we would not have gotten Longoria from another team for a pitching prospect; there are some position prospects that are pretty mucch untouchable unless you want to deal real star potential folks. Sometimes you need to take a position player if the right guy (read Longoria, for example) comes along.
September 28th, 2007 at 7:39 pm
Ok, after two innings, here is one of Maddon’s frustrations: working the pitch count as a batter.
Aki - 2 pitches
Velandia - 1 pitch
Pena - 2 pitches
Norton - 4 pitches
Young - 3 pitches
Casanova - 1 pitch
Guzman - 5 pitches
Ruggiano - 1 pitch
The Toronto pitcher gets through two innings with only 18 pitches. He will be able to pitch 11 innings at this rate.
This is a lack of plate discipline. Batters are not helping those behind them and they are not seeing what a pitcher will use later to get them out on the second and third at bats.
September 28th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
oh, yeh, and why is Norton batting clean up? Someone on crack here?
September 28th, 2007 at 8:41 pm
I disagree, Bill. What if the offer was pre-injury Liriano-for-Longoria? Or Phil Hughes-for-Longoria? Or Scott Kazmir-for-Longoria? I bet any one of those trades would’ve been made.
If someone is willing to offer a stud pitcher for Longoria, I’m definitely listening.
September 28th, 2007 at 10:33 pm
Scott, these are trades that are not made in baseball. Name me three trades of stud starting pitchers for a potential star position player? The position stars do not generally move until they are eligible to move as high priced free agents…exactly the commodity that the Rays cannot afford. So the Rays cannot never ever afford the Prince Fielders, the Alex Rodriguezs, the Joe Mauers unless we periodically draft them.
September 29th, 2007 at 9:43 am
NMRAYS -
If the Rays are tied with KC or Baltimore, they still get the 1st pick because they had the worse record last year (new draft rules).
Bill is right, only way to get good young pitching is to trade a veteran pitcher (see: Zambrano for Kaz) or to draft one. The only exception I can think of is the Red Sox getting a 25-year old Josh Beckett in exchange for the #1 SS prospect in the game ((Ramirez). That trade really worked out well for both teams.
September 29th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
I was talking about how to get a stud position player. If you do not draft them, you will not get them unless you get really lucky in the draft. Once in a while picking a Longoria makes good sense.