I’ll get to B.J. Upton at the end of this, but there’s no way to overstate this: Matt Garza was a BEAST last night. If Rays pitchers keep dealing like that, missing Longoria and Crawford won’t be such a big deal after all.
The Garzinator: You’ve heard of no-hit stuff before? Well, Garza clearly had no-hit stuff last night. A mis-play by Justin Ruggiano (which, by the way, should’ve been an error) cost him the no-no in the 6th, but rather than implode because of his anger like the old Matt Garza would have, he buckled down and allowed just 1 more hit the rest of the way in throwing the 2-hit shutout.
He also walked just 2 and struck out 9 in the effort, throwing 119 pitches (78 strikes). It’s performances like this that are going to make guys like Rick Sutcliffe (of, “I still the Red Sox are going to win the division” fame) eat their words.
His performance was also EXACTLY what the bullpen needed. Joe Maddon used 8 different pitchers in Thursday’s game, so to say that the arms could’ve used a day off was an understatement. Juan Salas was available, but you know that Maddon would’ve preferred to avoid using anyone else down there.
This isn’t the first time Garza’s looked this dominant, either. At 24 years old, he’s got the potential to remain near the top of this rotation to years to come. And despite what people were saying about his inconsistency earlier in the year (more myth than truth, in my opinion), he has become perhaps the MOST consistently good starter of the past couple of months.
Road Warriors: Remember when people were saying the Rays couldn’t win on the road? They are now 6-2 on this tough Western Division road trip and guaranteed to finish it with a winning record. One more win either Saturday and Sunday ensures that this is quite possibly the best road trip in team history (not necessarily record-wise, but in terms of what it means to the franchise).
Lucky 13: 13 hits by the Rays’ offense is considered a “break-out” based on recent performance, and it was really a total team effort. Only Justin Ruggiano, who had just a single at-bat, failed to reach base.
Power Surge: The team hit 4 home runs yesterday – Willy Aybar, Carlos Pena, Eric Hinske, and Gabe Gross – and if the power is going to be turned on like that, the Rays are going to win lots of games. The recent emergence of Carlos Pena has been the biggest key to this offense; his batting average likely won’t get back up to last year’s levels before the season’s over (nor will his home run total), but everyone has seen just how important he’s been to this offense in recent weeks. Perhaps rumors of his demise were a bit premature, and more related to some underlying slump of physical problem that we weren’t aware of.
Whatever the case, he will be an incredibly important player come playoff time.
I’m Going to Be a Buzzkill: There’s only one thing I didn’t like about last night’s game – WAY too many taken third strikes. It’s becoming a running theme with this team; I’m not sure if they’ve been instructed by the coaching staff to take pitches that are close to the edges in hopes of getting a favorable call on those they don’t think they can hit, but it certainly seems like its a team-wide thing rather than restricted to individual players.
Now will you admit there’s a problem? There’s still plenty of B.J. Upton apologists out there who think that what Joe Maddon did last night by pulling Upton was wrong. That’s fine; you’re entitled to your opinion.
I’m going to keep this short and sweet, though: Upton has been told before – both in a big team meeting and individually when he was benched the first time – that maximum effort and running hard are what is expected of him. I don’t think any one of us will argue with that. Whether you agree or disagree with the theory behind it, there’s no argument that this is what B.J. Upton has been told and based on comments he made after the first benching, he understood this.
Maddon is Upton’s manager. Like an employee in any job, Upton should be expected to listen to what his manager wants, whether he agrees with it or not. And, like an employee in any job, if he’s going to be subordinate there should be consequences. In this case, it seems the consequences were the embarassment of being pulled from the field, sitting out agan Saturday, and any other punishment Maddon deems fit.
This is not a commentary on Upton’s ability or his attitude; it’s not a commentary on whether Maddon is right or wrong on the kind of effort he expects from everyone. It’s simply the way things are; if you disrespect your manager, you should expect to face consequences, plain and simple. Even the Upton apologists can’t argue with that (but I’m sure they’ll find a way to try).
If you care about my opinion on the matter – I completely support Maddon on this one. Even if it’s just “false hustle,” I’m a guy who believes in it. You never know when a shortstop might kick one or a first baseman might drop one, and you never want to be called out on a play you could clearly be safe on. Plus, I think it inspires ballplayers to take more ownership of their performance. Upton’s “loafing” (for lack of a better term) has certainly become an issue – whether big or small – for this team, or else Maddon would’ve done nothing about it.
I agree when the apologists say that Upton running hard on ground balls isn’t going to make him hit more home runs; it’s true, it won’t. But that shouldn’t matter. Upton has not been the same offensive player this year as he was last year, plain and simple. Whether he’s acting out of frustration we’ll never know, but Maddon was absolutely right for doing something about it last night.
Tags: Rangers
August 16th, 2008 at 11:14 am
I agree with you. So long as the issue is focused on specific infractions and does not generalize from them to statements about character or motive, I think the criticisms are just and proper. I also think Maddon intends to keep the team focused by letting it know that nobody is immune from the “Rays Way” of doing things, which means 9 innings of total effort and focus.
Incidentally, would you agree that so far Floyd is “showing up” (not disappearing) since the injuries and that Aybar is demonstrating he is a useful reserve? And I also wonder whether others who have criticized keeping Gross around recognize that, at least so far, he too has proven valuable as has Zobrist and even Hammel.
August 16th, 2008 at 11:57 am
After the game Upton said “I thought there were two outs.” Which, if true, doesn’t indicate a lack of hustle, but an egregious lack of focus. Either way, it’s not something to be tolerated. One thing that doesn’t take any talent is to figure out before you step into the box or take a lead off of a base how many outs there are. There are about fifty electronic monitors in the stadium displaying that information and an umpire right behind you keeping official count. We were expected to do this in little league and it should NEVER be an issue at this level of play. Aybar had a similar situation on the base paths. There has been speculation around the league that the banning of amphetamines might create a rise in mental mistakes. I don’t know what the real reason that B.J. can’t keep his head in the game is but it’s gotta get corrected, he’s too important to the team.
August 16th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
I have one thing to say, “Rays are 1 game under 500 on the road.”