Ughhh, that is certainly not the headline I wanted to write for this evening. Let’s just jump straight into the recap.
Kaz is back: No, Kazmir was not in top form, but it was still great to see #19 back on the mound for Rays. I thought Kaz threw the ball reasonably well, while struggling at times to locate his pitches. He seemed to rely mostly on his fastball, while mixing in some sliders and the occasional change. I look for Kazmir to begin using his slider more in subsequent starts as he becomes more comfortable on the mound. His delivery was very smooth and his fastball had good life on it. The Red Sox were just finding the holes at the right time this afternoon.
For this weekend at least, I think you simply have to give the Red Sox credit for doing a great job at the plate. They were patient in a lot of spots, fouled off tough pitches, and delivered in big situations. The Red Sox were simply the better team this weekend, and it never felt like the Rays had a real shot to win any in the three game set.
Longoria robbed: You can’t help but wonder if this game would have been different if David Ortiz would have been able to get in the lineup. If Ortiz was playing, putting Manny Ramirez in left, then Longoria’s line drive in 1st probably puts the Rays out to an early 2-0 lead. Instead, Jacoby Ellsbury makes an outstanding play and the Rays are unable to apply any early pressure on Boston. I thought Longoria put together some good at-bats in this series even if the results don’t show a great performance. I can’t wait to see him continue to develop over the course of the season.
Mr Riggans, what exactly do you do here? If Shawn Riggans does not improve his defense behind the plate then he is a liability, even as a part-time player, at this point. I have no idea what happened between Riggans being Defensive Catcher of the Year in the farm system, but he looked horrible out there today. Unfortunately, there aren’t many other options in the farm system until Buster Posey is ready for the big leagues. (On a side-note, it still seems unlikely that the Rays will draft Posey 1/1 but he is clearly in the discussion at this point. I will have more on him tomorrow in the Minor League Wrap.)
Pena still stuck in neutral: Despite his 6th inning home run, Carlos Pena continues to look lost at the plate. He was constantly late on pitches throughout the evening, and does not look comfortable at the plate. He continues to say he feels great at the plate, but you can’t help wondering if he is still being bothered by a nagging injury. Could a drop in the order be coming to allow Pena to relax more at the plate?
Blue Jays await: It goes without saying that the upcoming series against Toronto is going to be extremely important for this team. If the Rays can take 2-of-3 from the Jays that would salvage a 4-5 record on this road-trip against AL East opponents. The baseball season is full of up-and-downs, but avoiding prolonged losing streaks will go along ways toward this team finishing at .500 or above. Let’s hope the Rays can get a strong performance from Sonny on Tuesday night and start another winning streak of our own.
May 5th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
hey fellas,
finally home fromthe roadtrip to Mass… Shoulda stayed home and watched it on the couch… I did get to meet JP Howell and Scott Dohmann before the ballgame on Sunday, which was awesome. Both guys are very good with the fans and signed autographs for a good long time. other than that, It was utterly frustrating seeing our aces knocked around the yard… Gotta win on the road! Anyway, if someone told me we’d be the 3-3 vs the Sox after 2 series, I’d take it… Hopefully Sonnay can be the stopper and the offense will wake up again…
May 5th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Just a note, Jacques Jones has been released from Detroit. I know he hasn’t been doing great this year, but I think he is better than the player he was in Chicago. And seeing as how Gabe Gross isn’t exactly lighting up the stats line, would it be worth it to anybody to give Jones a shot here instead of Gross? I’m not totally displeased with Gross just yet, but I’m getting there. Also, Jones is a good friend with Cliff Floyd, and could be wanting to try to join the movement here in Tampa. What do you guys think?
May 5th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Jones is 33; far from washed up, but I would rather use the plethora of minors talent to bring in someone who can help the Rays for the next 2-3 years such as Ethier.
May 5th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
Ruggiano is tearing up AAA; bring him back up and dump the no hitting speedster.
May 5th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
Jacque Jones is never the answer. A new team figures this out every year.
May 6th, 2008 at 7:05 am
One thing the Rays’ management has been good at is having the courage of their convictions. They seem to think things through before doing them which makes for stability and a sense of direction.
Given all the roster turnover this year, that may seem a strange thing to say, but it seems to me that every move was either to fill an obvious hole (Haynes), provide greater depth (Johnson), create an obvious upgrade (Gross) or compensate for an injury (Niemann, Birkins). It was not being impatient with players underperforming expectations.
I doubt they will suddenly alter that course by jettisoning players after brief trials because they are disappointing in order to acquire similar players in the vain hope they will do better. There is little reason to consider Jones an upgrade over Gross. Gabe has not hit yet, but he is showing signs of improvement, and despite his awful start, his OBP while hitting .188 is actually about the same as Jones’s when Jacques hit .285.
One of the worst things a team can do is spin its wheels by a constant rotation of players. Occasionally you get lucky and acquire someone who gets hot, but probably more often you simply trade one cold streak for another and miss the hot streak of the player thrown away.
May 6th, 2008 at 9:45 am
It says on MLBtraderumors that the Rox are looking for starting pitching… Why do we ship them Hammel or Jackson for Ryan Spillborghs or Ian Stewart or find a package to aquire both… Stewart is a 3b-2b, but could be a quality UTIL player, Spillborghs is a good OF who is blocked by Hawpe and Holliday… Just throwing it out there…