Rays Index

Postgame Shot Of Joe: Beautiful Win

Joe Rays Fan — Sat, 18 May 2013 23:51:55 +0000

Joe is back with his postgame thoughts…

What a beautiful comeback by the Rays for a critical win!

Man, Joe was getting ready to rag on the Rays pitching for being subpar… again. Joe was getting ready to rag on Jose Molina for being a lummox on the basepaths and being so friggin’ overweight he pulls a hamstring on a double that most nursing home residents would be able to stretch into a triple with their walkers. Joe was getting ready to rag on Yunel Escobar for being a waste. Joe was getting ready to drown his sorrows over what appeared to be an ankle injury by Matt Joyce in making an out.

But no! Six runs in the ninth — SIX!! — and the Rays reversed an ugly, depressing loss into a win.

Sadly, with the pitching being an obstacle this year for the first time in years, this is the kind of game the Rays are going to have to win. They are going to have to have strong offensive outputs to overcome the bad pitching.

Thankfully, Merlot Joe decided to leave Jake McGee in the pen, instead letting Josh Lueke close out a beautiful ninth-inning rally for a memorable win.

Postgame Shot Of Joe: “One Pitch” Worked For Rays

Joe Rays Fan — Sat, 18 May 2013 11:07:39 +0000

Joe is back with his postgame thoughts….

Fernando Rodney moaned about “one pitch” costing the Rays and him in the Sox debacle on Thursday night. So it was fitting that one pitch really turned the Rays to wacky 12-10 win in Baltimore on Friday.

In the third inning, Kelly Johnson looked at an absolutely sure strike-3 with two outs, but the home plate umpire choked in the Rays’ favor and Johnson drilled the next Jason Hammell pitch for a three-run homer.

What a beautiful thing.

Joe felt like a couple of early-season wrongs were righted there by the baseball gods.

So when is the Derek Shelton statue going to be erected?

The Rays went 17-for-39 at the plate Friday, plus five walks, and they’re actually a well-above average hitting team at this point. It’s no typo that the Rays are 11th in batting average, fourth in OBP, and eighth in runs scored in MLB.

Luke Scott continues to look like a polished hitter — though not on the bases — and even Yunel Escobar has climbed out of Karlos Pena territory.

The Rays don’t look like the Rays. Joe can’t figure out if that’s a good thing or not.

This Wil Myers Quote Suggests It Is Going To Be A While Before We See Him In The Majors

Cork Gaines — Fri, 17 May 2013 21:27:13 +0000

Playing A Little Pepper…

The Rays will face former Rays pitcher, Jason Hammel. Speaking of former Rays pitchers, the Cubs will pay Edwin Jackson $19 million this year ($11M salary, $8M signing bonus). The entire Rays rotation makes $15.4 million…The Rays already have two losses this season in which they led in the 9th inning. That equals the entire total for the 2012 season…The Rays didn’t land in Baltimore until 3:00 AM…David Price’s stint on the DL is just the 13th for a Rays starting pitcher since 2008. Only the Marlins (10) and Tigers (12) have fewer…Tomorrow’s game is on Fox. Brian Anderson will call the game with Dick Stockton…Joe Maddon has already used 38 different batting orders in 40 games.

Game Graph…

[Will be up at game time]

Source: FanGraphs

Lineup…

Flash Jennings, CF
Matt Joyce, RF
Ben Zobrist, 2B
Evan Longoria, 3B
James Loney, 1B
Luke Scott, DH
Kelly Johnson, LF
Jose Lobaton, C
Yunel Escobar, SS
Jeremy Hellickson, SP

This Wil Myers Quote Suggests It Is Going To Be A While Before We See Him In The Majors

Cork Gaines — Fri, 17 May 2013 20:47:18 +0000

Is Wil Myers’ still in the minors just to delay his arbitration eligibility? Maybe not. It might also have to do with his high strikeout totals and his complete disregard for the way the Rays want their players to approach hitting.

In a recent column for NewsObserver.com (via WatchingDurhamBullsBaseball), Myers explained that he strikes out a lot because he “is not a good two-strike hitter at all.” In Myers’ mind, his job as a run producer is to drive the ball and he refuses to shorten his swing with two strikes.

“I’m not looking to ‘choke and poke’ up there with two strikes. I’m looking for a ball to drive still. You always hear ‘choke and poke’ with two strikes, but as a middle of the order guy, one of the guys that drives in runs, you’re not really looking to just slap the ball around, just put it in play…If I have a runner on base with two strikes, I’m looking to drive the ball, even with two strikes. I’m looking to put the ball in play hard somewhere to drive the run in.”

The result is Myers has struck out in 29.6% of his plate appearances this season, the highest rate of his career, and not a good sign for his future in the big leagues. Joe Maddon just said yesterday on the MLB Network that he wants his young hitters to balance their strikeouts and walks. Myers has struck out 50 times and walked just 21 times.

But as a run producer, is Myers held to a different standard? Not according to his own manager. When told of Myers’ comments, Charlie Montoyo was described as having the “expression of a frustrated father”…

“We teach the same thing everybody else teaches…We stress it all the way from rookie ball to the big leagues: You have to shorten your swing with two strikes, try to put the ball in play. You would think it makes sense, man, I don’t want to be striking out, there’s no chance for anything. No error, no infield hit or nothing. I wouldn’t say nobody cares (about striking out). Nobody likes striking out, for sure. It’s just the approach: some people are just taking the same hack day in and day out with one strike or two strikes…You have to keep preaching it. You have to say it a thousand times, maybe a thousand and one times until they start listening. Just because a guy doesn’t do it, that doesn’t mean you’re just going to say, never mind. You’ve got to keep saying it, keep working on it.”

So what now? This is an easy fix, but one that will only work if Myers is willing to change. But if he continues to be stubborn, he might be in Durham a lot longer than many of us imagined.

When The Rays Take The Field Tonight, Let’s Hope They’re Not Wearing The Grey Jerseys

Cork Gaines — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:16:18 +0000

One mark of the Rays’ success in recent years is how well they have played on the road, with a winning record away from the Trop each of the last three seasons. But this year the Rays are an uncharacteristic 6-12 in their first 18 road games.

But if we look a little closer, there appears to be an odd pattern. The Rays actually have a winning record in their dark blue alternate road jersey (6-5) and are winless in seven games wearing their standard grey jersey (0-7). Here is the full breakdown by jersey color (graphics via UniformDatabases.com)…

[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Blowing Saves, A Touching Reunion, And A Briggy Reunion?

Cork Gaines — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:13:36 +0000

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

Red Sox 4, RAYS 3 (boxscore)

THE GOOD: Alex Cobb. After his bizarre last start in which he struck out everybody but pitch-counted himself out of the game, Cobb was back to being Cobb, working into the 7th inning, striking out 6, walking just 2 and allowing only 1 run. We used to call James Shields, “James the Greater.” Maybe we should call Cobb “James the Lesser”…Joel Peralta. Where would the bullpen be without Peralta this season? He’ll have the occasional hiccup. But in some ways he is the reliever version of Alex Cobb. He just comes in, does his job, and gets out of the way. The Rays are going to win a lot more games than they’ll lose when Cobb and Peralta pitch in the same game…Luke Scott. Scott batted second for the first time in his career (something we explained before the game in the Tailgating post). And it worked, with Scott picking up 3 hits and a walk.

THE BAD: Fernando Rodney. After looking like he had found his Mojo, Rodney blew another save, his third of the season. He blew just 2 saves all last season. And this time it was the walks. Rodney walked three batters and then gave up a 3-run double (with some help from Matt Joyce’s bad angle in left field). There were some complaints that Will Middlebrooks should have never had a chance to hit the double when Rodney’s 0-2 pitch appeared to be strike three. But a look at the Pitchf/x data below shows that the third pitch was a ball. And after Joe Maddon left Rodney in after blowing the save, Rodney walked another batter (once the closer has blown the save, just get him out. The balloon is deflated). That gives Rodney 15 walks on the season. He walked 15 batters in 2012…Matt Joyce. There is no way the Sox should have scored 3 runs on that double. Joyce either got a bad jump or took a horrible angle. Either way, that can’t happen…James Loney. Loney got the start against the lefty mostly because of his glove. But he hurt the Rays at the plate last night, going 0-4 and leaving 7 runners on base, including the bases loaded in the first.

THE TELLING: Reid Brignac has been designated for assignment by the Rockies. With Hak-Ju Lee out for the season, a reunion with the Rays could happen to add triple-A depth…The Rays are now just 1-5 against the Red Sox this season…The rays are 20-20 and remain 4.5 games behind the Yankees.

THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

Here is the video of last night’s touching first pitch. These are always touching. But as a guy that grew up as a military brat and that has many military people in the family, I have no idea how these dads can wait one second longer than they have to in order to see their families. [MLB.com]
Felix Doubront threw a pitch to Luke Scott that might have ended up in the first base dugout. It was that bad. [BI Sports]
But was it worse than Ian Kinsler’s slide in Texas? [BI Sports]
David Price’s allergy problems are being blamed on The Trop’s new washing machines. [TBO.com]
Alex Torres has discovered control and now looks like he is closer to being called up permanently. [TampaBay.com]
“The Art of Pitch Framing” spends a lot of time discussing the value of Jose Molina. One measure says Molina is worth 61 more runs per season than the worst defensive catcher (thanks, Joe). [Grantland]
Hey, it’s a baseball mock draft! Let’s all throw arrows at a board and guess whom the Rays will take with their two first round picks. [ESPN]

DOWN ON THE FARM…

Rochester 6, DURHAM 5. Chris Archer gave up 4 runs in 5 innings on 6 hits and 4 walks…Leslie Anderson was 2-3 with a walk…Wil Myers was 0-4 with a walk and a strikeout. His 50 strikeouts are second in the IL.

MONTGOMERY 1, Birmingham 0. Victor Mateo pitched 7 shutout innings with 7 Ks and just 1 walk.

CHARLOTTE 12, Daytona 7. Alejandro Segovia hit his 7th home run. Hector Guevara added his 5th.

BOWLING GREEN 7, Fort Wayne 6.

A Feel-Good Reunion, Cobb And Maddon Yelling, An Idiot Red Sox Fan, And Other Images From Last Night’s Game

Cork Gaines — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:30:40 +0000

We’ve got the highlights you won’t see on SportsCenter…

James Loney did a spot on the MLB Network wearing a 'Just Win Baby' t-shirt

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Postgame Shot Of Joe: Bats Collapsed As Much As Rodney

Joe Rays Fan — Fri, 17 May 2013 11:26:44 +0000

Joe is back with his postgame thoughts….

The agony of this latest Fernando Rodney choke job really shouldn’t be overblown beyond pounding your head against the wall because the guy couldn’t throw strikes.

It happens. Rarely this painfully, with a three-run ninth, but it happens. Crooked Cap’s immortality only lasted one season, which we knew would be the case.

For Joe, the Rays continued low-performing bats in the clutch are what led to Rodney even being called up in this 4-3, series-losing loss to the Red Sox.

How many chances squandered?

Yeah, the Rays broke their ugly hitless-with-runners-in-scoring-position streak. And Luke Scott had a special night, but the middle of the order left a stunning 22 runners on base.

That just can’t happen — ever!

Matt Moore And Fernando Rodney Took The Camo-Themed Road Trip Seriously

Cork Gaines — Fri, 17 May 2013 03:43:19 +0000

The Rays’ latest themed road trip is “camo” for their trip to Baltimore. And based on the picture tweeted out by Dave Haller of the Tampa Bay Rays, Matt Moore wins the day.

Moore (on the left) posed with Alex Cobb, Jeremy Hellickson, and Cesar Ramos. Somewhere, Luke Scott is pissed that he didn’t go this far…

Meanwhile, here is Fernando Rodney. Wow, just wow…

Tailgating With The Rays: Talking Luke Scott Versus A Lefty In Game 40

Cork Gaines — Thu, 16 May 2013 21:04:29 +0000

Playing A Little Pepper…

Luke Scott hitting second against a lefty? Luke Scott is hitting second against a lefty. Scott has faced Felix Doubront just seven times. And in those plate appearances he has been on base 3 times and hit 2 home runs. But maybe more importantly, Scott has struck out just once and in another at bat he hit a line drive to first base. In other words, Scott sees Doubront’s pitches well. Doubront also has fairly even splits against righties and lefties in his career. In addition, James Loney is back in the lineup again. Not only do Doubront’s splits factor here, but it seems pretty clear that Loney is now officially playing everyday. He might get an occasional day off against a tough lefty. But he’s going to start against most. And that means soon his batting average is going to come back to earth. And yes, Loney has hit lefties well so far, but there is no reason to think that will continue…Evan Longoria is second in the AL among position players with a 2.2 WAR.

Game Graph…

[Will be up at game time]

Source: FanGraphs

Lineup…

Flash Jennings, CF
Luke Scott, DH
Ben Zobrist, RF
Evan Longoria, 3B
Yunel Escobar, SS
James Loney, 1B
Sean Rodriguez, LF
Jose Lobaton, C
Ryan Roberts, 2B
Alex Cobb, SP