What Would Lou Do?

Many people are wondering if the history of friction between the Devil Rays and the Red Sox will boil over when the teams meet for the first time tonight to begin a 3-game series in Boston. Even the umpiring crew for the series has been put on high alert by the league office. The latest incident was the well-publicized sucker-punch thrown by the always hot-headed Julian Tavarez at Joey Gathright. One of the problems with the DH in the American League is that pitchers never have to walk up to the plate and face potential retaliation. So we ask…What Would Lou Do? The Sox leadoff hitter would go down, and he would go down hard. The only deterrent for pitchers in the AL is the fear of their own teammates that don’t want to be the object of retaliation. For those of us that know of Julian Tavarez’s history, we can say one thing, the guy is straight up crazy. I mean cuckoo nest crazy. Personally, we will be disappointed if the leadoff hitter isn’t at least brushed back, but we recognize this is no longer Lou’s team. How will Joe Maddon handle the situation?

Umps on alert for friction [St. Pete Times]Boston’s Tavarez Punches D-Rays’ Gathright [ABC News]Julian Tavarez Is Crazy, Man, Crazy [Deadspin.com]

Orvella Recalled From Durham

Chad Orvella is back with the big league club to replace the spot opened up by the demotion of Jason Hammel. This move gives the Rays 8 pitchers in the bullpen for the upcoming series against the Red Sox, but leaves them with only 4 starting pitchers. The team will not need a fifth starter until Saturday in Texas. The team will then need to decide if Orvella, who was expected to make the club out of spring training, will be sent back to Durham, or if his spot in the pen is permanent. Dan Miceli has converted 3 of 4 save opportunities, but his ERA is north of 9 (9.53). We would not be surprised if Orvella is here to stay and receives the occasional save opportunity.
Bulls get ugly loss on soggy day [The Herald-Sun]

I Need More Cowbell!

In a move that could become quite popular, Devil Rays management has started playing the extremely popular “More Cowbell” skit from Saturday Night Live. The team hopes that the video can encite the crowd, much the same way that the Rally Monkey has done for the Los Angeles Angels. While the video is funny, we are not sure if it will work to drive the crowd into a frenzy. For one thing, it will be more successful with a successful team and larger crowds. Of course its the pitching staff that really needs more cowbell. Just remember, the Yankees and Red Sox put their pants on just like the Devil Rays, one leg at a time, of course after they have their pants on, they win championships.

More Cowbell [funnyhub.com]

Ignorance Is Bliss

The Devil Rays just completed a 3-game sweep of the Royals and are off to the second best start in team history at 7-6. So far the team has played nine games against the Orioles and the Royals, two teams that were expected to be among the worst in baseball. In the next 22 games, we will get a better idea of how good this team is and how good they can be. Quite frankly if the the team doesn’t start pitching better, this could get ugly. Don Mossi ugly. This upcoming stretch includes Boston (6 games), New York (5), Texas (5), Oakland (3) and Seattle (3). In addition, 15 of these games (including the first 9) will be on the road.

2006 Devil Rays Schedule [devilrays.com]

Lugo Still Over Week Away From Returning

The Devil Rays announced today that Julio Lugo is scheduled to return to the lineup on April 25 in New York against the Yankees. No doubt Lugo is looking forward to improving on his 2.000 batting average.

Julio Lugo On 15-Day DL With A Sore Brain [Rays Index]

The Good, The Bad And The Oh, So Ugly

The Good
Despite the Curse of LaMar-Naimoli, that has landed several starters on the DL, the offense has been good. Not great, but good. With all the injuries, and B.J. Upton and Delmon Young waiting for their turn down at Durham, this team is showing that it has the potential to be a very good offensive team. The team is only 9th in the AL with a .262 team batting average, but as a whole the team is showing more patience at the plate and lead the league with 60 walks and are 6th with a .355 OBP. More surprising, the team is second in the AL with 19 home runs, trailing only the Detroit Tigers who have forgotten that they are not supposed to be very good. But most importantly, the offense has scored the second most runs in the AL, behind only the New York Yankees that have a lineup that includes 8 All-Stars. The offense has been paced by Jonny Gomes (.300-5-14) and the surprising Ty Wiggington (.293-5-13).

The Bad
The Curse of Lamar-Naimoli, and early season injuries to four starters, a starting pitcher and a member of the bullpen…The Devil Rays, who were third in the majors last season with 151 stolen bases, have been much more selective this season, with only 5 stolen bases in the first 13 games. The increased patience on the basepaths is coming at a cost as the team has been caught stealing 7 times for a 42% success rate. Last season, the team was successful on 75% of their attempts…outside of Mark Hendrickson’s complete game shutout and Scott Kazmir’s near complete game, the pitching staff has been awful, but we expected that. The team is next to last in ERA giving up almost 6 runs per game (5.84). While the team only has one blown save, they have held a lead in 4 of their 6 losses, and as a team they have given up the most hits in the AL and 4th most walks, while they are last in strikeouts.

The Ugly
Don Mossi

Hammel Sent Back To Durham, Hendrickson To Miss One More Start

Jason Hammel was sent back down to AAA Durham after the D-Rays victory over the Royals on Sunday. Hammel looked impressive at times but made a few too many mistakes in his first two major league starts. Mark Hendrickson was scheduled to pitch during an extended spring training game on Monday, but that was postponed and he will only conduct long-toss exercises. This means that Hendrickson will not be ready to pitch next Saturday in Texas against the Rangers. The team has not announced who will replace Hammel in the rotation. The most likely candidate is Edwin Jackson. Jackson, who was impressive at times during spring training, is likely to pitch tonight for Durham. That would put him on schedule to pitch next Saturday with a normal four days rest. In two starts in Durham, Jackson has thrown 10 innings, giving up 7 hits, 6 walks, 3 earned runs, to the tune of a 2.70 era, while striking out 8. The D-Rays could also go with either Jamie Shields or Chris Seddon, both of whom have been impressive in their first two starts this season. Shields has pitched 11 innings giving up 14 hits, with no walks and 13 strikeouts and a 0.82 era. Seddon has pitched 11 innings giving up 7 hits, four walks and striking out 8 with a 0.82 era. Both pitchers are scheduled to pitch for Durham later this week and would not be ready for Saturday’s start in Texas unless the team decided to skip their normal turn in the rotation.

I Said *CRACK* DON’T Call Me Melvin!

Some neat things are happening down on the farm. Again, we will summarize everything next week, but a quick note that can’t wait…Last night, trailing 4-1 in the 9th, the Durham Bulls drew 3 straight walks to load the bases. Melvin Emanuel Upton (also known as B.J.) hit the first pitch he saw over the left field fence for a walk-off grand slam, and a 5-4 victory over the Toledo Mud Hens. It was his first home run of the season as Upton has struggled at the plate (.229-1-7-8).

Upton hits walk-off slam in home opener [durhambulls.com]

Quick Note From Down On The Farm

Starting next week we plan to start a weekly post covering the D-Rays minor league system. However, Wednesday night’s Visalia Oaks game could not wait until next week to be mentioned. The team tied a California League record by hitting 8 home runs in a 17-15 victory over the Bakersfield Blaze. More importantly, one of the Ray’s top prospects, SS Reid Brignac hit 3 home runs and had 8 RBI. He is now hitting .429 on the season. Can anyone say B.J. Upton, thirdbaseman?

Oaks Tie Cal League Record with 8 HR [oaksbaseball.com]

Burroughs?…Burroughs?…Burroughs?

As of this morning, the Rays still had not replaced the injured Aubrey Huff. It looks like that replacement will come in the form of Sean Burroughs. Burroughs began the season on the DL, but could be activated as soon as today. Judging by Dewon Brazelton’s history in a Rays uniform and his recent start in San Diego, all Burroughs has to do is not kill someone and this trade will be a success for the Rays.

Notes: Burroughs likely to get call [devilrays.com]