Royals 6, RAYS 1: So much for that post-game meeting
By Scott Caruso | July 27th, 2008 | Posted in Game Recap
By now you’ve probably read about that post-game meeting that Joe Maddon had with the boys after last night’s win where he ripped them for their lack of hustle lately.
Sure doesn’t look like it helped.
It was another listless, lethargic performance by the Rays who blew a golden opportunity to tie the game in the 6th inning and watched as Al Reyes put it out of reach in the 7th. In case you were curious, Reyes just isn’t that good.
Wasted: Carl Crawford delivers an RBI single to put the Rays on the board. Evan Longoria then doubles to put the tying run at second base with no one out. Pena coming up. So what happens? The Royals go to the bullpen, and the next three Rays go down as neither Crawford nor Longoria finds his way across home plate. Sound familiar? It should. This has been the story of the past month or so of Rays baseball. Pena may have delivered a pair of hits today, but he didn’t come up when he was needed most. And is it now strikingly obvious that Willy Aybar is NOT a #6 hitter? I can see it. You can see it. Do you think Joe can see it?
Not Entirely Sonny’s Fault: The line looks ugly (5 ER in 6.2 IP), but like I mentioned, Al Reyes didn’t do him any favors. You expect a guy who was considered the “best” reliever on the staff last season to be able to get one out without allow a run to score. Silly me. Why would I expect that?
Hustle and Bustle: There was a little bit of hustle on display as Carl Crawford made an absolutely beautiful diving catch towards the left field line. Vintage C.C. defense.
When was the last time Gabe Gross got a hit? May 13th or so?
Remember how I mentioned Willy Aybar a few paragraphs ago? OPS of .668 right now. And he’s hitting 6th. I can’t make this up.
Bossman: Now has 31 steals on the season. At least he’s trying to make up for his frustrating lack of power.
Is this… like watching a different team than the one we were watching about a month ago? Where’s the energy? Where’s the fire? Where’s the killer instinct? Not there right now. Let’s hope they pick it up in Toronto somewhere.
Tags: Royals
July 28th, 2008 at 10:28 am
Gabe Gross hits:
1 on July 19th
1 on July 6th
hitting .100 in July with a .211 OBP
this team seems like they shut the power off, I tihnk they had the wick turned up so high in June that they just emotionally ran out of gas right before the break, and have been slowly getting it back going again, painstakingly slow…
I agree with Ruggiano and Dan Johnson getting the call, I am high on both and have been driving that bandwagon for it seems like all year… The big red DH is just too slow onthe bases and too inconsistant when he is hitting- Ruggs is an upgrade over Jonny and thats a good start…