Rays Index

Two Years Ago On Rays Index

Cork Gaines — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 20:00:41 +0000

Two years ago on Rays Index we wrote about the biggest home run in Rays history.

Dan Johnson, Yes, Dan Johnson May Have Saved The Rays’ Season [Rays Index]

Rays Index Appearance On ESPN 1040

admin — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 16:00:27 +0000

The Professor, Cork Gaines, will make an appearance on “The Fabulous Sports Babe Show” on ESPN 1040 AM at about 12:40 pm today.

You can listen via the station’s website.

[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Price Vs Sabathia, Minor League Playoffs And Garza’s BP Performance

Cork Gaines — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 11:22:00 +0000

Stephen Vogt (By Nick Martinez, Charlotte Stone Crabs)

click above image for boxscore

Image at right is of Stephen Vogt during game 2 of the FSL playoffs (photo by Nick Martinez, Charlotte Stone Crabs)

THE GOOD: BJ Upton. His 3-run home run that gave the Rays a 4-0 lead should have been good enough. It wasn’t.

THE BAD: Matt Garza. His offense staked him to a 4-0 lead in the 2nd inning. That should have been game over for a pitcher like Garza. But we don’t call him The Garza Complex for nothing. He immediately gave back 2 runs on an Adrian Beltre home run and then the next inning, the lead was gone after 2 solo home runs. And then, after the Rays took the lead back, 5-4, he gave up another solo home run. In all, he gave up 4 home runs, and 6 runs total. He struck out only 1 batter.

THE TELLING: Monday’s matchup at the Trop will feature David Price going against CC Sabathia in a battle of two Cy Young frontrunners.

WHERE THEY STAND: The Rays are 84-55, 2.5 games behind the Yankees in the East and 6.5 games ahead of the Red Sox in the Wild Card (7 in the loss column). After 139 games in 2008, the Rays were 85-54.

THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

Matt Garza on his home run derby performance (Video). [The Heater]
Jeremy Hellickson picked up his second minor league player-of-the-year award. This one from USA Today. [USA Today]
David Price and Rafael Soriano are #2 and #3 in the ESPN.com Cy Young predictor. [ESPN]
David Ortiz on where Carl Crawford will play next season:(...)
Read the rest of [THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Price Vs Sabathia, Minor League Playoffs And Garza’s BP Performance (160 words)

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Post tags: The Hangover

Postgame Shot Of Joe: Garza Channels Shields

Joe Rays Fan — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 04:23:33 +0000

Well, that was special, wasn’t it?

Matt Garza channels his inner James “No Game” Shields and starts coughing up bombs to the Red Sux, blowing a four-run lead.

Joe’s trying to put this in the past. Of course, Gazra is not perfect and if he is to have a mulligan, better now than next month. Had Garza pitched halfway decent, the Rays likely would have won. The inconsistent offense of the Rays actually had five runs, usually good enough for a win.

Again, Garza can’t be perfect, but damn. Now the Yankmees gained another game on the Rays.

Oh, well. Time to turn the page. Day off Thursday before heading to Toronto for the weekend.

One Year Ago On Rays Index

Cork Gaines — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 20:00:18 +0000

One year ago on Rays Index we wrote about an incident in which Fernando Rodney fired a baseball into the press box at The Trop.

Fernando Rodney Fires Ball At Reporters, Jim Leyland Figures They Wanted A Souvenir [Rays Index]

[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss David Price’s Big Fastball, His Early Struggles And The Loudmouth Pants

Cork Gaines — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:18:27 +0000

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

click above image for boxscore

THE GOOD: David Price. King David picked up his 17th win, a Rays record (ties the franchise record) and lowered his ERA to 2.87. With CC Sabathia getting pounded by the Orioles at home, Price might have just snuck back into the CY Young race. And he did it in dominating fashion, hitting 100 with one of his fastballs and averaging 97.3 for his 46 4-seemers. And knowing he had a dominant fastball, he didn’t mess around. Of his 95 pitches, 79 were fastballs…Power. This Rays offense can be downright pathetic when everybody goes cold at the same time. But they can also be world-beaters when the offense is clicking. Last night they clicked to the tune of 5 home runs. The biggest was Ben Zobrist’s 2-run blast in the 3rd that tied the game and seemed to help the Rays relax…Carl Crawford. For the 8th time this season (most in MLB) CC had 4 hits. And for the first time in his career, he had 3 doubles in 1 game.

THE BAD: Early Price. If David Price has a flaw, it is his first inning struggles where he has a 3.81 ERA (only the 7th inning is higher). He also has 19 walks in his 26 first-innings. And last night was no exception as both Red Sox runs came in the first (1 earned).

THE TELLING: Mike Ekstrom has been recalled from Durham…According to CoolStandings.com the Rays have a 97.8% chance of making the playoffs. The Red Sox are at 1.1%…If the Rays go just 12-12 in the final 24 games, they will finish 96-66. To tie, the White Sox would have to go 19-5…The Rays magic number to clinch the Wild Card is 18 with 24 to go.

WHERE THEY STAND: The Rays are 84-54, 1.5 games behind the Yankees (1 in the loss column) and 7 games ahead of the White Sox in the Wild Card. After 138 games in 2008, the Rays were 85-53.

THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

David Price on his 17th win (Video). [The Heater]
Jim Hickey on David Price: “He’s really, really good, but he can be really, really better. I’m not exaggerating.” Ed Price writes about how Price is just “scratching the surface.” [Fanhouse]
If you thought Joe Maddon was done with his wild roadtrip clothing ideas, you’d be wrong. Marc Topkin introduces the “Loudmouth Pants Rowland Roadtrip.” [The Heater]
Gordon Edes on the Red Sox: “Sox manager Terry Francona, ever the realist, symbolically pulled the plug on the 2010 season…” Francona will not pitch Clay Buccholz on 3 days rest as originally planned.[ESPN Boston]
Jeff Niemann will make his next start. Wait until you read how
(...)
Read the rest of [THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss David Price’s Big Fastball, His Early Struggles And The Loudmouth Pants (239 words)

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Post tags: The Hangover

Postgame Shot Of Joe: Clubbing The Red Sux

Joe Rays Fan — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 03:06:50 +0000

Joe will sleep quite soundly tonight.

Why? Well, nothing brings Joe more joy to see the Rays positively seal club the Red Sux.

How cool was it to see Carl Crawford belt three doubles in four innings?

Zorilla homers. Mullet-growing Dirtbag homers. Red Sux killer Dan Johnson homers. Bossman homers. Bartlett homers.

Loved it!

Also impressive that David Price was solid — albeit racking up a large pitch count early — in his first outing at Fenway Park, not a park normally friendly to southpaws.

Best part of the win was to see those miserable locals (more) irritated. Friggin’ Red Sux fans. They speak as if someone is constantly choking them and after tonight they have good reason to sound like they’re being gagged. Your season is over slugs. Oh-VAH!! (Rhymes with “No-MAH!”)

Have fun with your Bill Belicheat hoodies!

Hellickson Named Baseball America’s Minor League Player Of The Year

Cork Gaines — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 18:04:48 +0000

Baseball America today announced that Jeremy Hellickson has been named their minor league player of the year. Hellickson was 12-3 with an International League-leading 2.45 ERA in 25 starts. He struck out 123 and walked 35 in 117.2 innings.

He joins Rocco Baldelli (2002) and Delmon Young (2005) as the third Rays prospect to win the award. Hellickson is the fifth pitcher to win the award in the last 20 years. The other four were Rick Ankiel (1999), Jon Rauch (2000), Josh Beckett (2001) and Jeff Francis (2004).

[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Sonny’s Return, Aki’s Future And Another Bad Night For Niemann

Cork Gaines — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 11:36:06 +0000

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

click above image for boxscore

THE GOOD: Expanded Rosters. With the Rays trailing 12-2 in the 7th, the expanded roster gave Joe Maddon the opportunity to pull 6 starters and get them a little extra rest prior to the final two games of the series.

THE BAD: Jeff Niemann. For only the second time this season (ignoring his injury-shortened start), the Giraffe failed to work 5 innings, and both have come since his return from the DL. In his 3 starts since the DL-stint, he has given up 23 runs in 10 innings on 19 hits and 8 walks. When Niemann loses his mechanics, he loses them big time. One has to wonder if he needs to take a week or two off and just throw simulated games until he gets his groove back. Because this Niemann won’t be on the post-season roster.

THE TELLING: Andy Sonnanstine was added back to the roster after spending the past week on the Hudson Valley roster as part of the September roster expansion…The Rays magic number to clinch the Wild Card is 19 with 25 to play…If the Rays go just 12-13 in the final 25, the Red Sox would have to go 18-6 just to tie…David Price is 2-2 with a 3.81 ERA in 4 career starts against the Red Sox, but tonight will be his first career start in Fenway Park.

WHERE THEY STAND: The Rays are 83-54, 2.5 games behind the Yankees (2 in the lost column) and 6 games ahead of the White Sox in the Wild Card. After 137 games in 2008, the Rays were 84-53.

THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

Rocco Baldelli homered in his first at bat back with the Rays on Sunday. Here is video of him talking about the blast. [The Heater]
The 6 pinch-hitters used by Joe Maddon in the 7th inning tied a big league record. [St. Pete Times]
The Pirates have designated Aki Iwamura for assignment…We expect this means he will be back in Japan next season. [Twitter]
Evan Longoria’s web gem on Saturday gave him
(...)
Read the rest of [THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Sonny’s Return, Aki’s Future And Another Bad Night For Niemann (341 words)

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Post tags: The Hangover

The Professor Is A Pilgrim In An Unholy Land (Red Sox Nation)

admin — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 16:57:24 +0000

Earlier today The Professor, Cork Gaines, answered a few questions for NESN, the Red Sox television network. He discussed the Rays, Carl Crawford, attendance and the moment the Red Sox season ended. [NESN]