RAYS 11, Mariners 3: Rocco returns to reach team milestone
By Scott Caruso | August 11th, 2008 | Posted in Game Recap
What we’ve all known for months finally became a fact yesterday – this is the greatest season in the history of Rays baseball. Even if the Rays were to lose every game from here on out, they would have the franchise record for wins in a season. And it’s only August 11. Isn’t that crazy? It was also a bittersweet day for the team, as Rocco Baldelli found his way back onto the field for the first time all season, but at the expense of Carl Crawford, who may be done for the season.
Rocco’s Modern Life: Not a bad return for Rocco, going 1-for-4 with what – at the time – looked like a big RBI single. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t that big of a run, but he came through when the team needed him at the time. A pair of weak ground outs and a strkeout made up his other at bats, but I was most impressed with his discipline at the plate. He showed very good patience up there and waited for hitter’s pitches. That could be a good sign of things to come.
Am I the only one who held his breath when he made that sprawling catch in the 5th inning? I was just waiting for him to come up limping on that one. Thank goodness he was fine.
Big Willy Style: Willy Aybar did his part to make me look like an idiot for calling for him to be cut, hitting a pair of home runs and knocking in a total of 4 RBI. Nobody is going to start saying “Evan Who?” but it’s the kind of offensive performance that could really jumpstart him for these final 7 weeks.
Was That An Eric Hinske Sighting? A 3-for-5 day from Eric Hinske showed us glimpses of the guy who was helping to carrying this offense early in the season. With Carl Crawford out for an indefinite amount of time, Hinske becomes an even more integral cog in the machine.
People Who Say That B.J. Upton Doesn’t Get Lazy Sometimes… obviously didn’t watch his at bat in the top of the 9th inning last night. That was the biggest throw-away at-bat you’ll ever see. He went up there just “running out the clock” so to speak.
Don’t get me wrong – B.J. is immensely talented and there are few players who have the raw skills that he does – but people who try to say that he’s always giving 100% out there are simply lying to themselves. I’ll still take 70% of B.J. over 100% of a lot of other players, though.
Ed-WIN: This was prototypical Edwin Jackson 2008 last night. He scattered 7 hits over 7 innings, and when he left the game, he had somehow allowed just 1 run despite not having his best stuff. Think that maybe he’s learned how to pitch a little bit?
Not Too Concerned: Jason Hammel giving up 2 runs in the 9th inning doesn’t bother me too much; in that situation, you’re just trying to throw strikes and avoid walks. Hammel did that and gave up a couple of flares and ground balls – what more do you want from the guy?
A Little Help From Our Division-Leading Friends: The White Sox and Angels beat the Red Sox and Yankees respectively yesterday, so the Rays now hold a 4 1/2 and 8 1/2 game lead on ESPN’s darlings. Yet, for some reason, the Rays are still only considered to have a 56.4 percent chance of winning the division by CoolStandings. They do, however, have a better than 80 percent chance of reaching the playoffs.
Tags: Mariners
August 11th, 2008 at 11:28 am
I don’t think Aybar made you look like an idiot, but I do think you were wrong, and thought so at the time. Aybar is a young, talented player who generally makes contact, has good plate discipline, some pop in his bat and can play 3 infield positions adequately, and apparently SS as well in a pinch. He may even be able to play the OF corners. As a reserve, he is excellent, among the best in the majors and if needed to play regularly for a while, will probably not hurt you.
The fact that after an excellent start to the season his BA declined in no way should affect our evaluation of him, and while that hardly makes you an idiot, it does seem to have led you into the common error of reacting to small samples. Despite his low numbers this year, his career line is .268/.356/.403 and as late as June 11 this year he was hitting .278/.350/.500 and 3 days later still was at .279/.353/.475. Since then, his numbers have declined, and since he still has only 511 scattered major league at bats it is too early to assert confidently that he is a good player. Nonetheless, he certainly has projectability and should not be dismissed because of 2 months of sub-par hitting. There is no way the Rays would give him up which is exactly what would definitely happen were he to be waived or DFAed.
I also disagree with your assessment of Upton. He struck out swinging in his last AB, and there is no way you can tell that he was giving the AB away, not even if you were in the stands close up, let alone at this distance on TV. He is prone to Ks and sometimes looks bad doing so because he is so selective and still gets fooled sometimes. Upton has always been a hard working, dedicated player. He was consistently lauded for his commitment coming up through the minors, and only the unfortunate and totally misread connections to Young and Dukes tarnished his reputation-again totally unfairly and in fact perversely the opposite of the truth.
It is interesting that there were some comments, thankfully relatively scarce and mild, about him almost losing a run scored by loping home on Crawford’s hit when Carl almost got thrown out stretching. But aside from the fact that nearly everyone lets up when it is clear there is no play, I saw little similar comment when Jeter actually did lose a run doing the same thing. It may not excuse failure to go all out 100% of the time (although such slogans are really childishly naive), but it is evidence that such practice is common and in my experience always has been. Typically, a few are targeted for doing it while the vast majority seem immune from criticism. It is silly.
I am not lying to myself. I am simply refusing to prove a point that I have determined in advance by misinterpreting what I see to fit the argument. I can pick any ballplayer in the majors and demonstrate he is lazy by adducing such individual incidents as you have. I object to it so strenuously because the facts get forgotten over time but traces of the aroma of maligned reputation sticks forever and tar the player, becoming the non-fact fact. Leave Upton alone! Don’t add to the slander.
August 11th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Upton’s body language is like Fred McGriff. Nobody got on Fred because he produced. Same for Bossman Jr.; if he hits and fields, no problem. But with his average dipping and the occasional miscue in the field, he is going to take more heat than a hustling character. Not saying it is fair, but it is true.
Some irony if Rocco is in the OF for the first ever playoff games and CC is sitting. But I suspect CC will do everything he can to get himself back (and maybe his legs get better as a side-effect).
Hard to imagine that in spring 2007 the D-rays had a surplus of outfielders — Delmon, CC, Dukes, Baldelli — with Upton looking for a place to play, and now its down to BJ and whatever they can coax out of Rocco’s body.