Rays Index

Tampa Bay Rays Dress Up As Nerds For Charity

Cork Gaines — Thu, 24 May 2012 23:02:36 +0000

The Joe Maddon themed road trips are back and this one is for a good cause, with Maddon going with a “Nerd” theme in honor of Ken Rosenthal who wears a bow tie for his national TV appearances to support various charities. The Rays will donate $3,000 ($100 per bow tie) to various charities.

Here are the individual players. There is a group picture below which can be enlarged…

Dancing Peralta

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Here is the group as a whole (click on image for a larger version)…

The Rays Will Help Decide The Nationals’ New TV Rights Fee Which Could Mean Millions For The Rays

Cork Gaines — Thu, 24 May 2012 18:44:14 +0000

The Washington Nationals are currently negotiating new annual cable TV fees with MASN, which is owned by Peter Angelos, the owner of the Baltimore Orioles.

Their current deal (part of the package that allowed the Montreal Expos to relocate within the O’s territorial rights) gives the Nationals $29 million per year. However, language in the deal allowed the Nationals to “reset” the fee based on new deals in similar markets.

And in recent years, those deals have been huge. According to Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post, the Nationals now want $110 million. MASN disagrees.

Here’s where the Tampa Bay Rays come in.

The two sides have argued their cases to an MLB committee consisting of representatives from the Pirates, the Mets, and yes, the Rays. And their recommendation will likely determine if the Nationals are making “$60 million or $100 million or likely a number in between,” beginning next season.

What’s the right price? Recent average annual rights fees for regional sports networks have ranged from more than $60 million for the Houston Astros and $75 million for the Texas Rangers — in metro areas usually used as rough comparables to the Washington area — to $150 million for the Angels. The Astros and Rangers fees skew high because they are based on multi-decade deals that grow over time — an argument that favors MASN. Conversely, every new RSN deal blows away the previous one. The Astros and Rangers comparables are already, to a degree, obsolete.

The Rays current deal pays them approximately $20 million per season and is set to expire in 2016. And whatever the Nationals make in 2013 for their television rights will likely impact what the Rays make when their current deal expires or is renegotiated.

And while the Tampa-St. Pete market is about (...)
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One Year Ago On Rays Index

Cork Gaines — Thu, 24 May 2012 18:00:33 +0000

One year ago on Rays Index we noticed JP Howell had a special message for an opposing batter.

Was JP Howell Adjusting, Or Did He Have A Suggestive Message For Alex Avila? [Rays Index]

The Rays As Comic Book Superheros

Cork Gaines — Thu, 24 May 2012 17:07:51 +0000

Yesterday’s lineup was posted outside the Rays’ clubhouse as usual. Only this time, the names had an additional detail (via @SunSportsRays)…

Tampa To The Trop Only $9.95 Roundtrip

Cork Gaines — Thu, 24 May 2012 16:52:41 +0000

Update: The luxury bus is staying for postgame concerts on June 2 and June 17.

The sizzling Rays are back home. So it’s time to have more fun going to Rays games and save money.

Get your butt on the No Excuses Tour chauffeured luxury bus to Tropicana Field, courtesy of Paradise Worldwide Transportation and Lee Roy Selmon’s.

You get to ride in style — with beer and food in hand — and get dropped off right at the gate!!

Click on through to grab a seat, and get all the details at NoExcusesTour.com.

Don’t flush your gas and parking money down the toilet. More than 750 fans have enjoyed the Tour. Get on board!

Yesterday’s Game Included A Strange Bullpen Scene And An Unfortunate Fist-Bump

Cork Gaines — Thu, 24 May 2012 14:00:20 +0000

Here are the highlights you won’t see on SportsCenter (via Sun Sports and Rogers SportsNet)…

Stuart Sternberg was in the house

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Stuart Sternberg Delivers The Latest Great Videobomb

Cork Gaines — Thu, 24 May 2012 13:00:22 +0000

A few days ago, it was Fernando Rodney (unintentionally) videobombing Desmond Jennings. This time it was Stuart Sternberg during the pregame show. And the victim was Laura Mckeeman…

[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Running Skills, Joe’s Magic Button, And Super Sammy

Cork Gaines — Thu, 24 May 2012 12:30:06 +0000

The GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe.

RAYS 5, Blue Jays 4 (boxscore)

THE GOOD: James Shields. James the Greater deserved a better fate. He worked 7.1 innings, striking out 10 and walking just 1 batter. And he had his plus-plus-changeup also. He only threw it 37 times, but the Blue Jays swung-and-missed a whopping 14 times on that pitch alone…Rich Thompson. When you spend more than a decade in the minor leagues, you learn a thing or two about fundamentals and playing the game the right way. So when Thompson was on first base in the 11 inning, and BJ Upton drove a ball into the left field corner (a ball that would have resulted in second and third for most base runners), Thompson scored easily as a result of his blazing speed and absolutely textbook baserunning around each bag. It was a thing of beauty…BJ Upton. And just like that, Bossman is again swinging the bat with confidence. Let’s enjoy the ride while it lasts…Bullpen. Fernando Rodney and Jake McGee combined for 3 shutout innings to keep the Rays in the game, striking out 3…Joe Magic Rides Again. Drew Sutton, who was playing in triple-A for the Braves a week ago, hit cleanup for the Rays. Cleanup! And all he did was pick up 2 hits including a 2-run double in the first inning to give the Rays an early lead.

THE BAD: Missed Opportunities. The Rays were lucky they won this game in extra innings after blowing the lead in the 8th inning and leaving 7 baserunners on base in innings 7-10.

THE TELLING: The Rays are 1 game behind the Orioles, and 3 games ahead of the Blue Jays…Carlos Pena batted leadoff for the second straight game.

THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

BJ Upton’s epic game-winning celebration as well as a video of a funny exchange between BA and Staatsy is below.
Sam Fuld now thinks he can be back in June. [TBO.com]
Reid Brignac is not (...)
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Post tags: The Hangover

Postgame Shot Of Joe: Thompson Takes One For The Team

Joe Rays Fan — Wed, 23 May 2012 21:59:24 +0000

Joe is back with his post-game thoughts….

How about career minor-leaguer Rich Thompson going old school Don Baylor or Craig Biggio and getting plunked with two strikes to open the 11th inning, and then coming home with the winning run on B.J. Upton’s double.

Joe’s offering a standing ovation.

Thompson has one career hit at 33 years old, but what he displayed out there was beautiful veteran baseball. Clearly he had little interest in getting out of the way of that Darren Oliver breaking ball.

Bossman’s rip brought him up to .300 for the season (we’ll miss you next year, B.J.) and the Rays come out with the series win.

But this was another ugly one, with the Rays seemingly leaving runners on base in every inning and Elliot Johnson costing them with a misplayed ball.

James Sheilds pounded the strike zone mercilessly for 10 Ks, so one can hope he’s back to elite form.

The Rays are now a stunning 11-3 in one-run games this season. Those are some championship numbers.

Tailgating With The Rays: Who Are These Guys?

Cork Gaines — Wed, 23 May 2012 15:47:55 +0000

This post, which will appear before every game, will include starting lineups (when we learn them) and during the game will include a Game Graph that will constantly update the percent chance the Rays have of winning this particular game.

Game Graph…

[Will be up at game time]

Playing A Little Pepper…

Holy band-aid lineup Batman!

Carlos Pena is batting lead-off (see lineup below). Drew Sutton, who was playing for the Braves triple-A club a week ago is batting cleanup. The starting left fielder hadn’t played in the big leagues for 8 years prior to last week. Of the 9 hitters, 4 weren’t on the opening day lineup, and that doesn’t include BJ Upton who was on the DL to start the season….AND WE STILL WON’T BE SHOCKED IF THEY WIN

Lineup… (...)
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