As was widely expected, the Rays recalled Ben Zobrist to take the roster spot vacated when Justin Ruggiano was optioned back to Durham. (TBO.com)
The move is necessitated by Jason Bartlett’s child’s impending birth, which will send him away from the team for a few days. We’ve heard rumblings that Evan Longoria may see some time at short as well in the absence.
Rays Win Another Heartstopper 5 - 4
As I heard on MLB Home Plate, the Rays are on their way to winning their 9th consecutive home series! Wait, what? That is correct and NOT a misprint. Once again, Sonnanstine nursed the lead giving up just 3 earned runs, throwing 94 pitches and lasted 5 innings. J.P. Howell came in for 2 innings and held the two run lead. Dan Wheeler came in and the Cubs did not get anyone on base. Troy Percival came in and everyone’s heart stopped for the moment when he surrendered a home run from Soto. DeRosa then drew a walk and it was looking like ruh-roh time. Percival pulled it back together to strike out Fukudome and the Rays held on to win 5 to 4.
The Red Sox won their game against the Phillies 7 – 4 (J.D Drew is on fire lately) so the Rays are still 2 games behind the Red Sox. The Yankees won their game against the Giants and are now only 5.5 games behind the Red Sox and the Rays. It looks like June into July is going to be even tighter in the most contested division in all of baseball.
Thought you all would enjoy this very detailed breakdown on Kazmir…
I was reading this today in their hardcopy edition and found these numbers interesting:
Rays On The Road - By The numbers:
Home ERA: 2.81 1st in majors
Road ERA: 5.05, 25th in majors
Home W-L: 24-10, 3rd in majors
Road W-L: 14-18, 12th in majors
Home boys
For a number of Rays pitchers, the road has been rough
HOME ROAD
Pitcher Rec. ERA Rec. ERA
STARTERS
MattGarza 3-0 2.40 1-3 6.25
ScottKazmir 4-0 0.35 2-2 3.16
JamesShields 3-1 1.72 1-4 6.99
RELIEVERS
GrantBalfour 0-0 0.00 0-0 4.91
JasonHammel 1-0 3.38 2-2 5.93
TreverMiller 0-0 0.00 0-0 10.29
TroyPercival 1-0 1.26 0-0 6.43
AlReyes 1-1 1.08 0-1 7.36
DanWheeler 1-1 0.75 0-2 3.18
Joe Maddon got tossed by home plate umpire Daryl Cousins after going crazy on a call that Kid K clearly thought was a strike. This was a game that the Rays could have clearly won. Even going into the 9th, they were only behind 2 runs. Normally, when Kazmir has 10 strikeout games, the Rays can coast into the 9th. Was it the road trip finally getting to the Rays? Was it the “squeezing” of Kazmir?
Outs Per Swing has the graphic of the call up on the top of the page. If the Mlb computer projects the call as a strike and the umpire says differently…then maybe, just maybe that’s a case for instant replay. But the old saying of you shouldn’t have to have the game depend on official’s calls holds true here. Nobody really did well on the Rays offensively other then Crawford, Longoria and Aki.
Tampa is still 2 games behind Boston as they took care of business yesterday in Camden Yards.
It’s time for a good home stand after a 3 – 6 road trip. There are some good games coming up this weekend against the Fish and The Cubbies. Hopefully the Rays can get over the jet lag and kick things back into gear.
Around the division:
As previously stated, Boston won in Baltimore 6 – 3
The NY Yankees lost in Oakland 8 – 4
Toronto lost in Seattle 2 – 1.
Interesting note: The AL East is the tightest division is all of baseball. The Red Sox have the division lead, our Rays are 2 games behind, and the Yankees, Baltimore and Toronto are technically tied for 3rd at 7 games behind each.
Dontrelle Willis was optioned to Single-A Lakeland today. Remember when he won 22 games with a 2.63 ERA through 236.1 innings in 2005?
He’s been moving steadily away from such fine form over the subsequent seasons, but his 8 earned runs on three hits and 5 walks in 1 1/3 innings on Monday night were more than the what-in-tarnation-is-wrong Tigers could take.
His regression has been blamed on faulty mechanics, but with such abnormal mechanics to begin with, correcting them will undoubtedly prove tricky. I would not be surprised to see an attempt at completely overhauling his delivery as he tries to straighten things out.
Always liked the guy. Hope he gets it together.
The Rays are scrappy if anything. What did we learn? One: Coco Crisp is quicker and dodging then Shields is at hitting. Two: Johnny Gnomes loves a good fight and sticking up for teammates. Three: Carl Crawford does not like Coco Crisp. Four: Our Rays might have a 0 - 6 record at Fenway but everyone is Boston knows when the Rays are in town.The downside: The forthcoming suspensions could not have come at a worse time with Percival and now Pena on the DL.
For the future: Who will Boston try to throw at first, Gnomes or Crawford? If you were an oddsmaker, who Would you favor?
Question to all: If you had to pick a theme song for the Rays, what song would you pick?
Jeff Niemann, who had yet to make a start since being optioned to Durham on April 18, returned to the mound for the Durham Bulls on Friday night. Niemann was working on a pitch count, but seemed to pitch well in his brief appearance. Niemann worked 3.0 innings, allowing no runs and only 1 hit. He also struck out 4 and surrendered zero free passes.
Juan Salas did not perform as well in his AAA debut. After pitching a perfect 4th inning, Salas was rocked for 5 ER in the 5th inning and took the loss for Durham. He did post a 4:1 K/BB ratio in his two innings of work.
Justin Ruggiano was 2 for 4 and hit his 2nd home run of the season.
The Tigers suffered the same sweeping fate as the Rays over the weekend, getting brushed aside by a suprising Twins team. The Rays saw the same stinking feeling at the hands of the not-suprising-at-all Red Sox - a team that is quickly eliminating considerable amounts of hope in the AL East.
The dread Sox continued rolling on Monday, handing the Tigers their fourth loss in a row.
Tigers’ skipper and three time Manager of the Year winner, Jim Leyland’s ominous postgame quote:
“I’m not talking about that. There will be changes,” he said.
Soon thereafter, Jacque Jones was out of a job and the batting order went through a top-to-bottom shakeup.
Rays’ skip Joe Maddon, a five-time Coffee-Getter of the Year Award winner within the Angels organization, addressing getting swept:
“This is not devastating for this group,” Maddon said. “Sometimes people tend to get overwhelmingly negative, but we will rebound from this. When you play the Red Sox, things are going to happen in a negative way sometimes.”
(Warnings: The following is nothing new, and cell phones might cause brain tumors.)
It certainly would (still) be nice for Joe Maddon to remove the dandelion he has tucked behind each ear and walk, not skip, up to a press conference and spout some Leyland-esque horror. Coddling and babying ain’t doing the trick, there Joe Glow. And I can only assume that as sick as it makes me, the players can’t like being treated like a group of overly sensitive folks recovering from a divorce.
He seems to talk tough when the team is winning, and then revert to Happy Land when the team returns to its usual self. Perhaps he should switch this around.
Am I really still writing about this? I hope they don’t renew Maddon’s contract. Oh wait…
Jim Leyland quotes Maddon should steal:
“I don’t have starters or nonstarters. I have 25 players, and every one of them has to be ready to make some kind of contribution to a winning cause…”
“I’m going to treat them like men. But they have to accept the responsibility to act like a man. It’s that simple.”
“It’s not about showing somebody how hard you can throw, it’s about getting people out. You have to learn how to pitch.”
“If your style gets production, keep your style. If it doesn’t, you might want to change your style. … I want results. I don’t care how you do it.”
The Giants are putting Barry Zito and the $100 million they still owe him in the bullpen. Might this possibly be the worst contract ever signed in baseball history?
It’s so funny, because everyone OTHER than Brian Sabean realized this was a terrible deal when it was first signed. You ALMOST feel bad for the G-Men, since they are in dire straights anyways. At least now they’ll get someone out there every day that gives them a chance to win.
