Good teams – playoff-caliber teams – win games like tonight’s game. Good teams – playoff-caliber teams – pick up their starting pitcher when he obviously doesn’t have his best stuff. Good teams – playoff-caliber teams – show up even when everyone is calling them losers.
So, there it is: I’m saying the Rays are a playoff-caliber team.
Kid Not-OK: Scott Kazmir just didn’t have it tonight. Sure, he twirled a couple of strikeouts and nearly danced his way through 5 innings of work, but 6 hits, 3 walks, and 110 pitches later, it was clear that tonight just wasn’t his night. That he only gave up 2 runs is a testament to his grit, but that he was out of there before completing 5 innings is a testament to everything wrong with Scott Kazmir. When he’s good – and he’s often good – he’s one of the elite pitchers in the league. When he’s bad, he hands out walks like they are coupons to Checkers. Tonight, plenty of Detroit hitters are getting 50 cents off of their hamburgers.
On the broadcast, Joe Magrane speculated that Kazmir wasn’t feeling well or that there was some other physical problem tonight. I think he was just off.
Don’t Let It Pass You By: When runs are scarce, you need to take them any way that you can. Tonight, the Rays took advantage of some wild Detroit arms and scored a pair of runs on errant pitches. And I’m okay with that. Zach Miner is a quality pitcher, so I think we knew it would be an uphill battle for a scuffling offense, and despite some good at bats, the Rays didn’t scratch across nearly as much against him as they could have. But, like I said, I’ll take runs any way that they want to give them right now.
The Real Bossman Returns: He may have only gone 1-for-4 tonight, but there were glimmers of the REAL B.J. Upton out there. He was aggressive; he was getting ahead of the ball rather than letting the ball get in on him. He looked very much like the B.J. Upton of last year. If he’s keeps on swinging like this, the rest of the league had better look out!
Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better: Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena continued their playful back-and-forth for the team lead in home runs, with Carlos crushing one to dead centerfield for his 19th before Evan hit a bomb of his own for #20 the next time up. Competition amongst teammates is good, yes?
Speaking of Pena: He may have struck out twice (once looking again… UGH!), but he’s another guy who looked like he was taking better swings at the plate. Let’s see how this plays out the rest of the weekend.
Don’t Write Off Cornelius: In case you missed it, Cliff Floyd was on base all three times he hit tonight. And you guys wanted the Rays to sit him. Tsk tsk.
Standings Check: Red Sox win in extras; Yankees lose to the greatest team on earth. Still up 4 in the loss column on Boston, and up 6 on the loss column to New York.
Glover Gone: In a move that brings sadness to none, Gary Glover rejected an assignment to Durham and is now a free agent.
