RAYS 2, Angels 0: Scintillating, fantastic, wonderful, amazing
By Scott Caruso | May 10th, 2008 | Posted in Game Recap
Hip, hip… hoo-RAYS!
James the Nearly-Perfect: A few weeks ago, I called Andy Sonnanstine’s shutout of the White Sox perhaps the greatest single pitching performance in Rays history. Well, James Shields just one-upped him last night. That wasn’t “perhaps” the greatest single pitching performance in Rays history, it WAS the greatest single pitching performance in Rays history. The only way the Angels were going to win this game was to take it so far into extra innings that Shields was forced out and someone from the bullpen came in. Shieldsy wasn’t giving this one up.
He faced just one batter over the minimum and struck out 8 Angels to earn his 4th win of the season. He’s beginning to make his case loud and clear for pitching in the All-Star Game and, although it’s early, is also trying to make his case as the best pitcher in the division. With each solid outing, his argument becomes more believable.
Most impressive, to me, was how he was able to completely tune out last weekend’s destruction at the hands of the Red Sox. He was annhilated in every sense of the word in Boston, and he could’ve easily come out and been doubting his own abilities today and thrown up another stinker. Well, this was certainly anything but a stinker, and it’s further proof why - top to bottom - we are very close to having the best starting staff in the division, if not the league.
Evan Almighty: Answering questions about whether or not he could get himself back on track, a giant weight was lifted off of Evan Longoria’s shoulders with one swing of the bat. It’s really been a struggle for him of late, but you have to think this one swing of the bat takes a lot of pressure off and can help him get back to grinding away and having good at bats. He continues to find ways on base, as he drew another walk, and didn’t strike out this time, another one of the big concerns about him. That he’s maintaining a .337 OBP despite a .229 batting average is very impressive and is reason to believe that things are going to turn around here shortly.
Bye, Bye Haynes: In an odd twist of fate, Nathan Haynes was designated for assignment immediately after the game. Why’s it odd? Because it was the Angels who DFA’d Haynes earlier this year to allow the Rays to pick him up. Cornelius Clifford Floyd returns to the bench tonight, but is not expected to start because lefty Joe Saunders is going for the Angels.
I will be very interested to see what Papa Joe does with the lineup now that Floyd’s back. Obviously, Clifford is the regular DH against right-handed pitching. Eric Hinske has been mashing, so you can’t take his bat out of the lineup yet, but Gabe Gross is the superior defensive player to Hinske. I suppose that, for now, Hinske will start in right against right-handed pitchers and Gross will be his late-inning replacement. This fully demotes Jonny Gomes to duty against left-handed pitching only, which is probably what he is best-suited for anyways. Against lefties, I’d assume Joe will probably go with Hinske as well in right field. Gross is less successful against them than Hinske.
Speaking of Gabriel Gross… he had another nice night at the plate, delivering a double and a walk to get on base twice. Very quietly, his average is back up to .200 and he’s starting to show some of the ability that made him a good pick-up for the Rays. His time starting, though, is probably up except against pitchers that Hinske struggles with or as a late defensive replacement.
Oh my God, Aki makes me so mad: Okay, his inability to do ANYTHING positive with runners in scoring position is really starting to get old. It’s borderline laughable at this point and really makes me question if Willy Aybar shouldn’t be considered for a chance to play second base every day when he’s ready to come back. I love Aki’s glove, but his bat is a killer.
So last season, Aki had just a .508 OPS with runners in scoring position (in 104 plate appearances, a large enough sample size IMO). Many of us wrote it off as just unlucky. And despite the fact that he leads off every game with a fly-ball out, he only managed to hit 5 sacrifice flies in 20 attempts with runners on third and less than 2 outs. For a guy who hits so many fly balls in other situations, it’s very frustrating to see his approach change so much in THESE situations that he can’t hit the ball out of the infield. It’s downright pathetic.
This year, his OPS in 20 plate apperances with RISP is .419. Yup, he’s actually regressed so far.
For comparison’s sake, overall on the season, Aki has an abysmal OPS of .602 while Aybar went on the DL with a respectable .870. With RISP, Aybar was just 1-for-7 with 2 walks, which is still a slight improvement over Aki (which simply underscores how bad Aki has been).
I’m just saying that I would think long and hard about giving Aybar a shot at playing second base every day - if he’s defensively capable - unless Aki’s bat starts to come around here.
May 10th, 2008 at 9:50 am
“We’ve seen some games here and there,” said Angels Manager Mike Scioscia, whose team was one-hit for the first time in two seasons. “But that one, certainly, would stick out as one of the best.”
May 10th, 2008 at 10:10 am
Scotty-
Big balling today huh? I actually agree on Aybar and Iwamura… Now I’m not saying Aki should get the pine all the time, his defense is gold glove caliber at 2b, but maybe 2 days a week Aybar should get a look. I also think Aybar would do well in the 1-hole, he has the ability to draw a walk and his k-rate is about half of Aki’s. Nights that Aki starts, he should be flip flopped with Bartlett.
Aybar had done nothing to the point of his injury to lose tons of PT, and I still believe he is a good addition and should regularly be seen playing 2b, SS, and 3b to give those guys a break here and there… You and I are on the same page I think there Scott…
Shields was just fantastic, I feel like I jinxed him with my presence so far this year, I was at Feway last Saturday night and at opening day in Baltimore, and neiher time has been off the hook, however it has also bee cold and rainy those times too…
Hopefully can win the series tonight with our other ace Kid K on the hill… Lets go Rays!!!!
May 10th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Dont over react, loved the post until the aybar comment. If you look at any analysis of the rays one of the big reasons the rays are where they are is because of their DEFENSE. The pitcing is as good as it is because of the defense, look at yesterdays game for example. With out Crawfords catch we might not be saying best pitching peformance in Rays history, which it was. But pitching and defense are out their together so they explain the same thing. Aki has bee essential to our winning up to this point. I am not opposed of taking him out of the lead off spot but thats a whole other discussion
May 10th, 2008 at 10:37 am
In China there is one state-run English speaking channel that is also probably the only channel you get in hell. Along with endless Asian political coverage dispensed by monotone Brits ad naseaum (this “ad naseaum” should be read with a tinge of rising hostility),they will occasionally throw you a sports update that seldom strays from God-forsaken soccer. And when it does you’ll get field hockey or badmitten or something out of the PE genre. Well tonight for some reason, they did a full recap of the James Shields start. I had previously, a long time ago, seen a Dodger’s game recap on it. That’s the only other baseball I’ve seen on it. Crazy!
So maybe those road trips to Orlando are actually helping the franchise expand eastward? Ol’ Stu should be pleased.
May 10th, 2008 at 10:48 am
First and foremost, GOD DAMN!!! What a performance by Shieldsy. That was a thing of beauty.
Next up, I’ve gotta agree with Brian’s post.
While I know it’s been very frustrating watching Aki bat right now, his defense has been perfect so far this season and is reason enough to keep him in the line-up. Remember, defense including solid middle infielders are key to this team winning!
It’s like Pena. Give them some time. Either move Aki down in the order (which I am not opposed to) or let him work things out on his own. I think he’ll come around.
As for Aybar, I like the notion of him getting playing time as a reserve for the infielders. He could get significant playing time subbing out everyone.
May 10th, 2008 at 11:10 am
You reach a point of diminishing returns though, where no matter how good one’s defense is, if his offense isn’t up to par, you’re still losing out in the long-run. It’s hard to quantify how many runs a defender “saves” with good defense, but it’s easy to see how many he costs you with bad offense. Right now, Aki is bad.
May 10th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Right now, Aki is bad. I agree Scott, but how about Pena or Bartlett? Or even Gross? What do we do with them?? All of them are hitting far below average.
I just don’t see the need to specifically target/panic on Aki right now.
While his average and OBP are pathetic and he seems to be hitting terrible in key situations lately, he does still have; 32 hits in 34 games, 19 runs scored, 11 RBIs, 2 HR, 15 BB and 2 SB..
So as bad as he’s been, he’s still contributing on offense and his defense has been exceptional in shoring up our middle infield (especially coming from a guy who used to play 3B!!)
Judging by the team’s recent success, I would just let things play out right now rather than juggle line-ups or panic on particular players who are underperforming. But that’s just my opinion!!
May 10th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
It may be frustrating, but leave Iwamura alone. He is better than this offensively. As for Aybar, I think he will get playing time, but the consensus I have seen is that he is not outstanding defensively although not a butcher either. While we may not be able to quantify the role of defense the way we can offense, I don’t think anyone doubts it has been crucial to our success and Iwamura is a part of that.
Although not anything more than a solid professional double play, the 5-4-3 DP was simply beautiful. The three men worked like one unit, a silky smooth body in motion, especially the throw to Aki and his pivot and throw. Not a great play, I know, but heart-stopping beautiful to watch.
Incidentally, as for Gross, I imagine his time will be severely reduced, but even while not hitting he has served. Last night, he did walk and his double was served perfectly to the opposite field at the end of a long at bat. In fact, while I may be exaggerating since I did not count pitches at the time, it seemed to me he never saw fewer than 6 or 7 pitches in each AB, working the count full even after 0-2 starts and fouling off numerous pitches. In fact, he has 7 walks with TB in 35 ABs so his OBP is .326 despite a .200 BA. In Milwaukee he did even better with 10 walks in 43 ABs for a .352 OBP on top of a .209 BA. He has been a solid pickup who should continue to contribute as a reserve.