47 replies to this topic

[drtooth]

Rays have called up Brad Hawpe and sent down Andy Sonnanstine to Class A (their season ends Sept 5). JP Howell was moved to the 60 day DL.

Rays already getting their recent additions into the line up as Desmond Jennings is in RF, Dioner Navarro is catching and Hawpe is the DH tonight.

Edited by drtooth, 01 October 2010 - 04:58 AM.

[drtooth]

Rays rally to top Jays 2-1.

Sean Rodriguez (3 hits) tied the game with a 5th inning HR. Evan Longoria's single in the 8th put Tampa ahead. David Price goes 16-6 with 8 strong innings (4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 7 K). Rafael Soriano finishes the game for his 40th save.

[drtooth]

Rays score 2 in the 3rd and 2 in the 4th to top the O's 4-1.

Matt Garza goes to 14-7 with the win (5.2 IP, 5 H , 1 R, 3 BB, 3 K). Rafael Soriano finishes it off for his 41st save. Carl Crawford goes 3 for 5 with a triple and 1 RBI. Tampa also gets RBI from Evan Longoria, Reid Brignac and Ben Zobrist.

[drtooth]

O's top Rays 8-4.

Rough outing for James Shields (13-12)--4.1 IP, 8 H, 6 R. Rays get HR's from John Jaso, Matt Joyce and Brad Hawpe to pace the offense

[drtooth]

Rays lose 2 of 3 to Orioles 8-7.

Dan Wheeler (2-2) and Chad Qualls combined to give 4 runs in the 6th while retiring one batter. TB gets HR's from Ben Zobrist, Evan Longoria, BJ Upton and Rocco Baldelli (as a PH in his 1st AB this year).

[drtooth]

Rays score 6 in the 1st, but lose the entire lead as th3 game is tied on a Jose Bautista HR off Joaquin Benoit. Then Yunel Escobar's throwing error on a potential DP ball give TB the win, 9-8.

BJ Upton lead off the game with a HR. Ben Zobrist also homered and drove in 2. Evan Longoria and Rocco Baldelli each drove in 2 runs. Benoit gets the win and Soriano earns his 42nd save.

Edited by drtooth, 11 September 2010 - 06:17 AM.

[drtooth]

Tampa routs Toronto 13-1.

Brad Hawpe's 4th inning GS is part of a 6 run 4th by TB. Kelly Shoppach also has 2-run HR. Carl Crawford and Ben Zobrist each drive in 2. Wade Davis (12-9) gets the win with 7 innings of 1 run, 7 hit pitching.

[drtooth]

Rafael Soriano allows a 2-run 9th inning HR to Adam Lind to give Toronto a 5-4e win. Ben Zobrist drives in 2 runs and BJ Upton drives in the other.

[drtooth]

Rays vault into 1st with a 1-0 11 inning win over NY.

Reid Brignac homered in the 11th for a walk-off victory. CC Sababthia and David Price each other with 8 scoreless innings. Grant Balfour gets the win.

[drtooth]

Rays fall to Yankees 8-7 in 10.

Dan Wheeler (2-4) gives up a solo HR to Jorge Posada for the loss. Tampa scored all of their runs in the 5th, with a solo HR from Carlos Pena and a 3-run PH HR by Will Aybar.

[drtooth]

Rays take over 1st place 4-3.

Dan Johnson's 2 2-run HR's off Phil Hughes to account for all the Tampa scoring. Chad Qualls (2-4) gets the win with Rafael Soriano finishes it off for his 43rd save.

[drtooth]

Angels top Rays 4-3.

Brandon Wood's solo HR off Dan Wheeler (2-4) in the top of the 9th was the difference. Dan Johnson hit a solo HR in the 3rd and Carl Crawford tied the game in the 8th with a 2-run triple.

[drtooth]

Rays win win in 10 over Halos.

Jason Bartlett scored the game winner on a Brandon Wood throwing error in the 10th. Reid Brignac's 2-run HR in the 5th put TB up 2-0. Juan Rivera put LAA ahead on a 3-run HR off David Price in the 7th. Carlos Pena singled home PR Desmond Jennings in the bottom of the 9th to tie the game. Rafael Soriano gets the win t raise his record to 3-2.

[drtooth]

Tampa falls to LA 6-3.

Another tough outing from Jeff Niemann (4.1 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 3 BB, 5 K, 2 HR) as he falls to 10-7. Since returning from the DL, Niemann has been dismal--19.1 IP, 27 H, 31 ER, 15 BB, 19 K. Kelly Shoppach homered. Ben Zobrist and Evan Longoria drove in the other Rays' runs.

[drtooth]

Maddon screw leads to Rays loss

Joe Maddon had the right idea.

He just had the wrong reliever.

Maddon planned to bring lefty Randy Choate into a key sixth-inning situation Monday, but as the result of a "miscommunication" he took full blame for, instead was surprised to be handing the ball to righty Grant Balfour.

And then he was watching in dismay as Balfour allowed a three-run homer to Curtis Granderson that proved the difference in the 8-6 loss to the Yankees.

"I went out there and I was on the mound, and all of a sudden I'm giving the ball to the pitcher and it didn't look like Randy Choate," Maddon said. "I'd already gone through some scenarios, so it was my fault, totally my fault. Big F-A-U-L-T. My fault. I screwed up."

The costly mixup with pitching coach Jim Hickey apparently occurred earlier in the inning as Matt Garza, in a third straight poor start that has to be raising concerns, negated the Rays' rally to wipe out the Yankees' 4-0 lead and gave it right back by allowing three straight hits.

"I had talked to Hick about getting up Choate earlier, but it was my fault," Maddon said. "I really miscommunicated with him."

Evan Longoria drove in 2 runs. Carl Crawford, Dan Johnson, BJ Upton and Jason Bartlett each drove in 1 run.

[drtooth]

Rays fall again to Yanks 8-3.

James Shields (13-13) gives up 5 in the 1st and TB never recovers. Evan Longoria, Carl Crawford and Matt Joyce (solo HR) drive in the Rays runs.
Sternberg--Payroll to go down

No matter how far the Rays get this season, and no matter how many revenue-generating postseason games they host, that won't change principal owner Stuart Sternberg's plans to reduce the payroll - potentially significantly - from this year's record in excess of $70-million.

"No question. Nothing can change that,'' Sternberg said before Tuesday's game. "Unfotunately there's nothing that can happen between now and April that can change that unless Joe Maddon hits the lottery and wants to donate it, or I hit the lottery.''

Sternberg wouldn't say how low the payroll may go, though he said in spring training it wouldn't reach even the $60-million range. "I don't have a plan in mind what the lower (end) is,'' he said. "I just know it's going down.''

Sternberg also said:

* The Rays "can't come close" to turning a profit this year.

* He is "not optimistic" season tickets will rise much for 2011 based on this year's success.

* Having a large lead over the Red Sox for the wild card is the most surprising part of this season for him.

[Al Zarilla]

* Having a large lead over the Red Sox for the wild card is the most surprising part of this season for him.

Not to shoot the messenger, but he is apparently unaware of the injury situation in Boston this year and wouldn't losing all those key players be catastrophic to any team?

[drtooth]

Rays take game 3 from Yanks 7-3.

Jeremy Hellickson gets the win (4-0) after a lengthy rain delay. Tampa gets HR's from Dan Johnson, Carl Crawford (2 RBI) and Evan Longoria (2 RBI). Ben Zobrist and Reid Brignac drove in a run apiece.

[drtooth]

Tampa storms back against Sabathia for a 10-3 win.

Rays scores 7 in the 6th and 2 in the 7th to turn a 3-1 deficit into a rout and split the 4 game series. BJ Upton and Carl Crawford each drove in 2 runs runs in the 6th. David Price gets the win to go to 18-6.

[drtooth]

Rays take over 1st--5-3 over M's with no Longoria.

Willy Aybar drove in 2 and Ben Zobrist and Kelly Shoppach drove in1 runs apiece. Jeff Niemann (11-7) gets his first win since Aug 3. Rafael Soriano earns his 44th save4. Evan Longoria will miss this series with a strained quad.

[drtooth]

Rays lead now 1.5 games. 9-1 over M's

Matt Joyce's 2-run HR was part of a 4 run 1st. BJ Upton also homered and drove in 2. Tampa also gets single RBI from Ben Zobrist, Carl Crawford, Dan Johnson, Brad Hawpe and Reid Brignac. Matt Garza gets the win to go to 15-9.

[drtooth]

Rays lose to M's 6-2.

James Shields struggles and falls to 13-14 ( 6 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 6 K). BJ Upton and Desmond Jennings drive in the Tampa runs.

[drtooth]

Rays fail to clinch playoff spot, 4-0 to O's.

Tampa manages only 3 hits. Wade Davis falls to 12-10 with the loss. Only 12,446 came out to see a possible clincher. Not the way to convince Sternberg to commit money to this team. Pathetic.

[Spacemans Bong]

Rays fail to clinch playoff spot, 4-0 to O's.

Tampa manages only 3 hits. Wade Davis falls to 12-10 with the loss. Only 12,446 came out to see a possible clincher. Not the way to convince Sternberg to commit money to this team. Pathetic.

Check out DRays Bay for the striking inferiority complex Tampa fans have. Apparently Price is now an entitled athlete for saying 12K to a major league playoff clincher is embarrassing and Tampa people, like Cartman the Vietnamese hooker, can do anything they want.

Hey dudes, if you don't have much of a white collar economy, you don't really feel like going, and the stadium's in the middle of nowhere...then you shouldn't really have a major league franchise. Anybody doubt that Sternberg could get more than 12K in Jersey for a game?

Edited by Spacemans Bong, 28 September 2010 - 06:24 AM.

[drtooth]

Check out DRays Bay for the striking inferiority complex Tampa fans have. Apparently Price is now an entitled athlete for saying 12K to a major league playoff clincher is embarrassing and Tampa people, like Cartman the Vietnamese hooker, can do anything they want.

Hey dudes, if you don't have much of a white collar economy, you don't really feel like going, and the stadium's in the middle of nowhere...then you shouldn't really have a major league franchise. Anybody doubt that Sternberg could get more than 12K in Jersey for a game?

Stopped reading his stuff a few years ago. He was insufferable when they were bad and I can see he hasn't gotten better.

[drtooth]

Price apologizes for twitter rant

Rays LHP David Price - who starts tonight, and thus will be introduced pre-game - apologized for his attendance Tweet with this one late Monday:

If I offended anyone I apologize I did not think it was gonna turn into this...

This was his original Tweet after Monday's game:

Had a chance to clinch a post season spot tonight with about 10,000 fans in the stands....embarrassing

Longoria wasn't exactly thrilled either.

* “I don’t think there’ any more time for rationalizations. We figured if we have a chance at the beginning of September then maybe the fans will come and now it’s the end of September and its almost October and were still kind o flooking up in the seats going where is everybody?''

* “Obviously we want to bring a championship to Tampa. And we’d like more than 12,000 to 15,000 to know about it.’’’

* “For us to play 155 games and go a full season of playing really good baseball, it’s kind of like, what else do we have to do to draw fans into this place. It’s actually embarrassing for us.’’

* “We’ve been playing great baseball all year and since I’ve been here in ‘06 fans have wanted a good baseball team. They’ve wanted to watch a contender. And for us to play good baseball for three years now and for us to be in a spot to clinch again and go to the playoffs, we’re all confused as to why there’s only 15,000 to 20,000 in the building.’’

[Adirondack jack]

Price apologizes for twitter rant

Kind of a half-hearted apology seeing as Price didn't actually say he was wrong, instead he went with the old sorry if it offended anyone line. Will say though that I love the candor and think Longoria and Price were not wrong in the assessment just not politically correct.

One thing that isn't entirely fair, in my estimation, is that Tampa/St. Pete receive quite a bit of media and industry scorn, but they aren't the only city not really supporting their winning club. According to espn Texas, Cincy, San Diego and Atlanta aren't doing all that much better.

The Rangers are ranked 16th in MLB with a 62.1% capacity season-to-date. Next at 17th is San Diego with 61.7% of their seats being filled so far. 18th in MLB is Cincy filling their seats at 60.3%. Atlanta is next in line at 59.9% ranking them 19th. Skipping a few slots and % of seats filled brings you to the Rays--they're ranked 24th filling up 52.3%. Just looking at the raw numbers of seats sold Tampa nearly outsold the Reds--there's roughly a 2,500 person difference in average fanny's per home game between the Rays and Reds, (but not sure how often this chart is updated and I didn't count the number of games each have left).

Any story about Tampa not filling seats this year during a pennant race should also include these other cities. The Rays get the help of the Sox and Yanks coming to town, but these other organizations have their rivalries that must help (maybe some more than others) and also have new parks while the Rays pretty clearly have the worst park in the bigs now that Dome is gone in Minny. Bud, the other decision-makers, and the TB ownership have no one to blame but themselves for this mess.

[drtooth]

Rays clinch a playoff spot with a 5-0 win over O's.

David Price (19-6) throws 8 shutout innings as Tampa gets HR's from Carlos Pena and carl Crawford along with RBI from Ben Zobrist, Dan Johnson and BJ Upton.

[drtooth]

Rays giving away 20,000 tickets to today's game

[drtooth]

Tampa falls to O's 2-0.

Rays manage only 3 hits in the loss. Jeff Niemann (1--8) has one of his strongest post-DL outings (7 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1BB, 3 K).

[P'tucket, rhymes with...]

Tampa falls to O's 2-0.

Rays manage only 3 hits in the loss. Jeff Niemann (1--8) has one of his strongest post-DL outings (7 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1BB, 3 K).

Tomorrow's headline: "20,000 Rays fans get what they paid for." After spending most of the year thinking that three of the best teams in baseball were playing in the AL East, it's ironic than none can be convinced to close the deal and actually win the division.

[SemperFidelisSox]

Rafael Soriano has hired Boras as his agent.

[drtooth]

Yanks. Rays tied for 1st. Tampa falls to KC 3-2.

Matt Garza pitches well (7 IP, 5 H, 3 R,1 BB, 6 K), but falls to 15-10. Carl Crawford's solo HR and Reid Brignac's SF accounted for Tampa's runs.

[drtooth]

Rays falter again to KC 7-0.

Tampa manages just 2 hits against Bruce Chen while James Shields (13-15) gets hit hard--5+ IP, 12 H, 7 R, 6 ER. Not the way you want to be playing heading into the playoffs.

[jon abbey]

David Price is scheduled for two innings of relief on Saturday, which is on 3 days rest after his last start and will give him 3 days rest for his ALDS start on Wed. That seems insanely misguided to me as opposed to just giving him seven days off between starts, but I guess we'll see next week.

[luckysox]

I don't hold out much hope for a team that is blanked by Bruce Chen to do much in the playofss, especially when their veteran pitchers are also crapping the bed.
That said, none of the other AL playoff teams looks very good right now, either.

Edited by luckysox, 02 October 2010 - 05:52 AM.

[drtooth]

Rays blank KC 4-0.

Tampa uses 8 pitchers to shutout the Royals. Matt Joyce drive in 2 while Carl Crawford (solo HR) BJ Upton have the other RBI. Evan Longoria will not play again until the start of the start of the ALDS

[drtooth]

Rays capture AL East with a 3-2 12 inning win over Royals.

Carlos Pena doubled in the tying runs in the 9th and then Tampa scored the go ahead run on a Wilson Betemit. Jeff Niemann gets the win in relief and Rafael Soriano closes out the regular season with his 45th save.

[underhandtofirst]

MLB is really are trying to kill baseball in TB. Two afternoon games vs Texas then a 5pm game on Saturday? The Rays fans arent Red Sox fans (pre 2010) where people would watch at any time. I realize that NY is a better draw, but the Rays really got screwed.

[Al Zarilla]

MLB is really are trying to kill baseball in TB. Two afternoon games vs Texas then a 5pm game on Saturday? The Rays fans arent Red Sox fans (pre 2010) where people would watch at any time. I realize that NY is a better draw, but the Rays really got screwed.

God helps those who help themselves, in this case the scheduling gods. They don't support the Rays with attendance down there, screw'em, I guess is the philosophy. It's really all about the money though, like you say, and who is really going to watch TB - Tex? The Trop is an eyesore even on TV, especially in HD. Meanwhile, the Giants get prime time for both games in San Francisco.

[drtooth]

Catwalk rules changed for post-season

The Rays just sent out a release detailing the following changes to the catwalk ground rules, effective immediately:

ST. PETERSBURG, FL---Major League Baseball today approved a change in the ground rules for Tropicana Field. The change affects any ball striking the upper two catwalks over fair territory. The new rule will go into effect immediately.
The change (in bold)
• Batted ball strikes catwalk, light or suspended object over fair territory:
o Batted ball that strikes either of the lower two catwalks (known as the “C-ring” and the “D-ring”), including any lights or suspended objects attached to either of those rings and including the masts that support each of those catwalks as well as any angled support rods that connect the “C-ring” to the masts that support the “D-ring,” in fair territory: Home Run.
o Batted ball that strikes either of the upper catwalks (known as the “A-ring” and the “B-ring”), including any lights or suspended objects attached to either of those rings and including the masts that support each of those catwalks as well as any angled support rods that connect the “B-ring” to the masts that support the “C-ring,” in fair territory: DEAD BALL and the pitch does not count. Any declaration of an Infield Fly after the hit shall be nullified

The previous rule read:
• Batted ball strikes catwalk, light or suspended object over fair territory:
o Batted ball that strikes either of the lower two catwalks, lights or suspended objects in fair territory: Home Run.
o Batted ball that is not judged a home run and remains on a catwalk, light or suspended object: Two Bases.
o Batted ball that is not judged a home run and strikes a catwalk, light or suspended object in fair territory shall be judged fair or foul in relation to where it strikes the ground or is touched by a fielder. If caught by fielder, batter is out and runners advance at own risk.
.....
The basic point of the change is that any ball that hits the A or B ring (the two highest ones) or anything attached to it, is now a dead ball. Previously it was ruled fair or foul pending where it came down, and thus was in play.

So basically, if it hits the A and B catwalks, the pitch doesn't count. Strange time for that kind of change in the ground rules.

[cromulence]

Dioner Navarro left the team after being told he didn't make the ALDS roster.

What a tool. That'll really help your stock when looking for a new team.

[JohntheBaptist]

Dioner Navarro left the team after being told he didn't make the ALDS roster.

What a tool. That'll really help your stock when looking for a new team.

Yeah, and if Jaso gets hurt that kind of screws them, although there's probably not a lot of difference between he and the AAA'er taking his place at this point anyway. Still, he knows those pitchers. What an asshole.

Why was Aybar left off in favor of Baldelli though? Baldelli was in the front office to start the year, had 25 PAs. I know Aybar had a bad year, but he's still got pop and can switch hit. That seemed odd to me.

[luckysox]

And now Baldelli is toast, taken off the roster (link) for "medical reasons" and replaced by Aybar. He went 0-3 with 2 ugly k's yesterday. They're calling it left leg fatigue. Sucks for him. I thought Aybar was by far the better choice anyway - one of several odd moves by Maddon for this series.

[terrynever]

And now Baldelli is toast, taken off the roster (link) for "medical reasons" and replaced by Aybar. He went 0-3 with 2 ugly k's yesterday. They're calling it left leg fatigue. Sucks for him. I thought Aybar was by far the better choice anyway - one of several odd moves by Maddon for this series.

Agree totally. He also benched Pena for Game 2, which makes a lot of sense.

[drtooth]

Now that the season is over, let the dismantling begin. I will break it down further once the playoffs are over with the off-season thread.

Edited by drtooth, 13 October 2010 - 07:48 AM.

[nycdoc999]

Now that the season is over, let the dismantling begin. I will break it down further once the playoffs are over with the off-season thread.

This is unfortunate. Too bad (for baseball) they can't get a new park in a part of town that people can actually get to - it's obviously good news for the Yankees and Red Sox.

[JMDurron]

This is unfortunate. Too bad (for baseball) they can't get a new park in a part of town that people can actually get to - it's obviously good news for the Yankees and Red Sox.

Not to mention the Blue Jays, who could be the 3rd AL East contender if they stay healthy next season, and improve on their 8-10 record vs TB in 2010.