A Look At The Future: Yesterday On The Farm

Durham 8, Louisville 1. SP Jason Hammel had a strong outing to improve to 3-2. He went 6 innings, giving up 8 hits, 2 walks and 1 run. At the plate CF Darnell McDonald hit his 5th home run and had 2 RBI. B. J. Upton went 1-4 with an RBI and a walk. He also stole his league leading 15th base.

Montgomery 3, Huntsville 1. SP Tony Paguero threw 6 strong innings to improve to 4-2. He gave up 4 hits, no walks and 1 run. His ERA is now 1.83.

SW Michigan 6, Clinton 1. C Matt Spring went 2-3 with 1 RBI and a walk. No truth to the rumor that all Devil Ray minor league catchers have to have tiny bleach blonde goatees like Toby Hall. SP Michael Wlodarczyk (3-1), was the third D-Ray minor league pitcher to have a strong outing last night. He went 6.2 innings allowing 3 hits and 3 walks, while lowering his ERA to 1.07.

D-Rays @ Seattle Mariners Tidbits

• After pitching three straight games, Tyler Walker will not be available to pitch in tonight’s game according to manager Joe Maddon.
• The Rays have not won 2 straight since sweeping the lowly Kansas City Royals on April 16.
• Tampa’s bullpen has allowed the second highest batting average in the majors (.302). That is not good…but it is especially not good when the bullpen has pitched the most innings in the AL.
• On the flip side, the starting pitchers have an ERA of 3.05 in their last 11 games.
• Tonight’s starter Casey Fossum has 2.21 ERA at home (3 starts) and a 9.60 ERA on the road (3 starts).
• Fossum has hit more batters than anyone in baseball since the start of the 2004 season (34). Luckily for him, his pitches couldn’t possibly hurt anybody.
• Interestingly, LH batters are hitting .358 against Fossum while righties are .226 on the season.
• The Mariners are 13-20, last in the AL West.
• Seattle just lost 2 of 3 at home to the Cleveland Indians.
• Seattle pitchers are 4th in the AL with a 4.11 ERA.
• The M’s lead the AL in stolen bases (28).

Probable Pitchers
Monday, 10:05 et
Devil Rays Casey Fossum, LHP (1-1, 5.50)
Seattle Gil Meche, RHP (1-2, 4.73)

Tuesday, 10:05 et
Devil Rays Doug Waechter, RHP (0-1, 6.46)
Seattle Felix Hernandez, RHP (1-4, 5.40)

Wednesday, 4:35 et
Devil Rays Scott Kazmir, LHP (4-2, 3.43)
Seattle Jamie Moyer, LHP (1-2, 3.68)

D-Rays Take Two Of Three From Oakland.

Shhhhhh….let’s try not to get too excited, and don’t tell anyone, but the Ray’s bullpen is starting to look decent. We can’t help but notice that the strong outings by the bullpen over the last 4 days began the day after Dan Miceli went on the DL…So THAT is what a major league bullpen looks like…From the offensive bullpen to the offense…maybe it is a coincidence…maybe Jason Kendall is a terrible defensive catcher…maybe it is because of the return of Julio Lugo to the top of the order or maybe it is due to a more agressive approach by manager Joe Maddon, but the team is starting to be much more aggressive on the basepaths. The team had 5 stolen bases on Sunday, including 2 each from the team’s first two batters. Even Ty Wiggington got in on the fun with his 1st of the season…SP Mark Hendrickson had trouble with his control, but pitched well enough to pick up his 2nd win.

A Look At The Future: Yesterday On The Farm

Huntsville 4, Montgomery 1. We got nuthin’

Stockton 14, Visalia 4. We still got nuthin’…no…wait…yep…that’s what we thought…SS Reid Brignac committed 2 errors and now has 13 on the season.

SW Michigan 3, Beloit 1. nuthin’…squat.

Add those three stinkers to the fact the Durham Bulls game was rained out and the only good thing that happened on the farm yesterday was B. J. Upton did NOT commit an error. That’s what we like to call the poo-poo platter.

The Hangover: Yesterday In The AL East

Boston 10, Baltimore 3. Mr. Anna Benson surrendered a first inning grand slam to Jason Varitek, and the beantowners cruised to their 4th straight win to keep pace with the Spankees. Baltimore is now 6 back and have lost 8 of 10.

New York 8, Texas 5. Hideki Matsui was the DH so that he could maintain his consecutive games played streak. Some seem to think the streak should include his playing days in Japan. If those games are included his streak now stands at 2089 straight games or 41 games shy of Lou Gehrig’s former record. Matsui rewarded Joe Torre’s decision with a 3-run homer in a 5-run 4th inning that broke a 1-1 tie and gave Torre his 1,000 victory as Yankee manager.

Toronto 3, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim near Disney Land 1. Rookie Casey Janssen earned his first career victory with 7.1 innings of shut out baseball, allowing only 1 hit and 1 walk. Troy Glaus hit his 10th home run. Toronto stays within 2.5 games of Boston and New York.

A Look At The Future: Yesterday On The Farm

Indianapolis 8, Durham 2. B. J. Upton went 1-4 with a double and 3 strikeouts. Darnell McDonald went 1-4 with a double a run scored and an RBI. He also stole his 8th base. Elijah Dukes returned to the team after being away for “personal reasons”. He was used as a pinch hitter and went 0-1. SP Chris Seddon had a rough night giving up 8 runs in 4+ innings.

Montgomery 7, Mississippi 5. 2B Elliot Johnson hit his 7th home run and went 2-4 with 3 runs scored and 3 RBI. He now leads the league with a .345 average and is 3rd in home runs. Jason Pridie went 2-4 and stole his 6th base. Marcos Carvajal who came to the Rays in an early season trade with Seattle earned the win out of the bullpen striking out 4 in 2 innings of work.

Visalia 9, Stockton 1. SS Reid Brignac continues to swing a hot bat, as he went 2-5 to raise his average to .359. He is now 3rd in the league in hitting and 3rd in the league in home runs (6). Teammates Shaun Cumberland and Patrick Breen lead teh league with 7 home runs each. James Houser was strong, going 6 innings and giving up 2 hits 2 walks and 1 run to pick up his first win of the season.

SW Michigan 6, Beloit 5. OF James Hall went 4-5 with 2 RBI and a double.

The Hangover: Yesterday In The AL East

Oakland 2, D-Rays 1. Look, it’s not in our nature to be mysterious. But we can’t talk about it and we can’t talk about why.

Boston 9, Baltimore 3. The Sox have taken 5 straight from the O’s on the season, and 3 straight overall. ManRam, Manny Ramirez hit his 5th home run to support Tim Wakefield and his flutterball.

New York 6, Texas 1. The Bronx Roiders broke open a 1-1 game with 5 in the 6th to give Shawn Chacon his 4th victory of the year. Jason Giambi hit his 10th and Alex Rodriguez added his 6th home run.

Los Angeles 3, Toronto 0. Somebody finally found the Kryptonite for the Jay’s offense. Apparently it is in the right arm of Kelvim Escobar.

A Look At The Future: Yesterday On The Farm

Durham 6, Indianapolis 1. Big night for several Bulls. SS B. J. “don’t call me Melvin” Upton went 1-4 with his 3rd home run of of the year. CF Darnell McDonald went 3-4 with 2 doubles and is now hitting .342. On the mound SP Jamie Shields struck out 9 in 8 innings, giving up 7 hits, no walks and 1 run.

Mississippi 8, Montgomery 7, 13 innings. Jason Pridie went 1-5 with a run scored and is now hitting .224. 2B Elliot Johnson continues to swing a hot stick. Johnson went 2-5 with 2 runs scored, his 5th triple and 6th home run of the season. He is now hitting .339. C Chairon Isenia hit his 3rd home run.

Stockton 13, Visalia 9. Another big night for SS Reid Brignac. The Cajun God Of Baseball went 3-5 with a walk and his 5th and 6th home runs. He scored 3 times and drove in 3 and is now hitting .357. We are not sure how much longer the organization can wait to promote him to Montgomery. Despite an errorless game last night, he has struggled mightily with the glove, but he could still work on that at the AA level. We still believe that if Brignac ever develops as a fielder he will be the one that forces the organization to move Upton to another position. DH John Jaso went 3-5 and scored 3 runs, raising his average to .342.

SW Michigan 3, Beloit 1. Wade Davis struggled a bit with his control as he walked 6 and hit a batter in 5 innings, but he only surrendered 2 hits and 1 run. His ERA actually went UP to 0.85. A sure sign that Davis is on the team’s radar as a future member of the big league rotation is that he is on a very strict pitch count right now. We are to lazy to check, but we think Davis has only worked into the 6th inning once this season.

The Hangover: Last Night In The AL East

D-Rays 3, Oakland 1. The bullpen didn’t suck last night. We have to admit that when the A’s had 1st and 3rd with one out in the 8th and when Shawn Camp gave up the leadoff single in the 9th and Joe Maddon brought in Tyler Walker, our first reaction was, “here we go again.” Three batters later, Walker had his 2nd save and and Scott Kazmir had earned his 4th win. Kazmir (4-2) did not have his best stuff last night, but good pitchers find a way to win even when they don’t have their best stuff. Kazmir also managed to do what most other members of the rotation have failed to do this year. He protected an early lead. The Rays scored two in the first inning and that was all they needed as Kazmir scattered 9 hits and 2 walks over 5.2 innings. Julio Lugo batted leadoff and went 1-5 in his first action since opening day in Baltimore. Aubrey Huff in his first game back from the DL went 1-4 and scored a run.

Boston 6, Baltimore 3. Curt Schilling improved to 5-1 and Jonathan Paplebon earned his 12th save in 12 opportunities as the Red Sox keep pace with the Yankees. The Sox and the Spankees are beginning to a put a little distance between themselves and the rest of the division.

New York 8, Texas 7. The Bronx Roiders almost blew the game and an outstanding performance by Mike Mussina. Up 8-1 in the 8th, three Yankees relievers gave up 6 runs before Mariano Rivera finally stopped the bleeding. New York and Boston are tied atop the division, 2 games ahead of Toronto.

Toronto 13, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Near Disney World 3. The world is still round, Toronto is still scoring lots of runs and winning pitcher Gustavo Chacin still has no body hair…Seriously…none.

D-Rays @ Oakland A’s Tidbits

• Julio Lugo and Aubrey Huff return to the lineup tonight. Nick Green has been designated for assignment. Sean Burroughs has been optioned to AAA Durham so that he will have an opportunity to play everyday.
• Dan Miceli was placed on the 15-day DL. The official word is that he has shoulder “impingement”…We think he actually got whiplash from Johnny Damon’s grand slam. He is the 9th D-Ray to spend time on the DL this season. Chad Harville was called up to replace Miceli. He is the 35th different player Tampa has used and the 18th pitcher. Both lead the majors.
• The Rays have only won 4 of their past 16 games, and are batting .194 in their last 11 games.
• The Devil Rays are 6-30 in Oakland and have lost 11 straight. The 6-30 record is their worst at any AL park.
• Tampa faces 3 lefties on this 6-game road trip. The Rays are 0-6 against left-handed starters this season.
• The A’s have won 6 of 7 and are 15-13 overall and 1.5 games behind division leader Texas.
• Oakland has also struggled offensively. They have the fourth lowest runs scored in the AL (124) and they have the lowest batting average in the majors (.230).
• The A’s have 3 players on the DL, all pitchers (Estaban Loaiza, Rich Harden and Jay Witasik). Milton Bradley has missed the last 6 games.

Probable Pitchers
Friday, 10:05 et
Devil Rays Scott Kazmir, LHP (3-2, 3.72)
Oakland Joe Blanton, RHP (3-2, 6.14)

Saturday, 4:05 et
Devil Rays Seth McClung, RHP (1-4, 7.67)
Oakland Barry Zito, LHP (2-2, 4.63)

Sunday, 4:05 et
Devil Rays Mark Hendrickson, LHP (1-2, 2.66)
Oakland Brad Halsey, LHP (1-0, 2.50)