A Look At The Future: Yesterday On The Farm

Durham 3, Indianapolis 2. Joel Guzman’s home run streak ended at 3 games. He went 1-4 with 2 strikeouts. Strikeouts were the theme of the game as 5 different Bulls struck out 2 times and the team fanned 13 times in total. Not to be completely outdone, Durham pitchers had 12 strikeouts of their own. J. P. Howell led the way with 8 strikeouts in 6.1 innings. He gave up 6 hits, 1 walk and 1 run. Howell was making his first start back at Durham after 2 appearances with the Devil Rays and showed once again the difference between pitching in AAA and the majors. Chad Orvella added 4 strikeouts in 2.1 innings. He now has 55 in 38.2 innings on the season.

Montgomery 4, Mobile 1. Justin Ruggiano was the “Player To Be Named Later” in the deal that sent Tobey Hall and Mark Hendrickson to the Dodgers for Dionar Navarro and Jae Seo. Ruggiano, a marginal prospect at best, was selected by the Dodgers in the 24th round of the 2004 draft out of Texas A. M.. At 24, he had a very productive 2005, which saw him hit .342 after a midseason promotion to AA, where he started the 2006 season. He was only hitting .260-9-45 in 89 games with the Jacksonville Sun when he was traded. Things have been better for Ruggiano in Montgomery. Last night he he hit his 3rd home run with the Biscuits. He is now hitting .298-3-9 in 17 games for Montgomery. Reid Brignac went 2-4 with 2 singles and 2 strikeouts. Evan Longoria was given the night off.

Modesto 3, Visalia 1. The Oaks were held hitless until a leadoff double by Fernando Perez in the 9th inning. Chris Nowak had the only other hit for Visalia when he doubled home Perez.

SW Michigan 5, Dayton 2. The “Big 3” pitchers for the D-Rays have recently looked like they were beginning to tire in the 2nd half of the season. Last night Wade Davis had a strong start, striking out 10 in 6 innings. He gave up 7 hits, 1 walk and 1 run. He now has 145 strikeouts on the season, which is 2nd in the Midwest League and 5th most in minor league baseball. Teammate Jacob McGee leads all minor league baseball with 157.

Lowell 4, Hudson Valley 3. Jeremy Hellickson continues to roll along. He struck out 8 in 5 innings with no walks. He allowed 4 hits and 2 runs, 1 on a solo home run. Hellickson’s ERA is now 2.25.

Princeton 4, Danville 3. Ryan Morse who was the Rays’ 14th round pick in 2005, improved to 4-3 with 6 shutout innings. He gave up only 2 hits and 2 walks. He struck out 6.

A Look At The Future: Yesterday On The Farm

Durham 5, Indianapolis 4. An up and down night for Jason Hammel. Hammel struck out 10 and walked none in 5.1 innings, but he gave up 8 hits and 3 runs (2 earned). Delmon Young picked up 3 hits and Joel Guzman and Wes Bankston added 2 hits and an RBI apiece. YOung has his average up to .339 while Guzman is up to .294 after a very slow start.

Mobile 13, Montgomery 2. Evan Longoria provided 3 of the Biscuits 6 hits and drove in a run. He is now hitting .364 since being promoted to AA. Reid Brignac went 0-4 with 3 strikeouts.

Visalia 9, Modesto 8, 10 innings. Catcher John Jaso went 1-6, but he made his 1 hit count, with a bases loaded single in the bottom of the tenth to win the game. Centerfielder Fernando Perez went 3-5 with 2 runs scored and an RBI. He also stole his 32nd base.

Dayton 14, SW Michigan 4. Rough night for top prospect Jacob McGee. He gave up 7 hits and 7 runs in just 3 innings of work. He struck out 4 and walked 3.

D-Rays @ Oakland Athletics Tidbits

• The A’s just took 2 of 3 from the Rangers to open up a 3.5 game lead in the AL West. Oakland had won 6 straight before losing the final game of the Rangers series 14-0.
• After winning 4 of 7 from the Tigers and the Red Sox, the Rays proceeded to remind us that they are still the Devil Rays and lost 3 straight to the Mariners. The Rays are now 22 games behind the Yankees and 4 games behind the 4th place O’s.
• Scott Kazmir will come off the DL tonight to face Dan Harren, who has won 3 straight starts. Kazmir already has the second most strikeouts in team history, 18 behind Victor Zambrano.
• Look out for the mighty Casey Fossum! Tomorrow night Fossum will face Joe Blanton, who has won 4 of last 5 starts. Fossum is 4-1 with a 3.51 ERA in last 8 starts. That has to be a typo. right?

Probable Pitchers
Friday, 10:05 et
Devil Rays Scott Kazmir, LHP (10-7, 3.36)
Oakland Dan Harren, RHP (9-9, 3.67)

Satuday, 9:05 et
Devil Rays Casey Fossum, LHP (6-4, 4.63)
Oakland Joe Blanton, RHP (12-9, 4.61)

Sunday, 4:05 et
Devil Rays Tim Corcoran, RHP (4-3, 4.14)
Oakland Estaban Loaiza, RHP (5-7, 6.41)

Guzman And Longoria Not Likely To Be Called Up To The Devil Rays This Season

As we get closer to September, speculation has started on how the Devil Rays’ front office will handle the September call-ups. In the past, the front office has been reluctant to bring up some of the better minor league prospects. The new front office has shown that they are not afraid to pull the trigger, having already called up B. J. Upton and Ben Zobrist who are both starting everyday on the left side of the infield. The question now is, who else will be called up, especially when rosters expand on September 1st. The most likely candidates are Delmon Young, Chad Orvella, Kevin Witt and Darnell McDonald. Another possibility is Juan Salas who has continued his dominant ways since being promoted to AAA.

There are two new prospects in the system that many fans would like to see playing in The Pit, but they may have to wait until next year for one of them and 2008 for the second. Joel Guzman, who was recently acquired form the Dodgers for Julio Lugo has homered in three straight games and already has some major league experience earlier this season with the Los Angeles. On the surface, he would seem an obvious choice for a September call-up. Guzman was converted to an outfielder by the Dodgers after coming up as a shortstop. With the future of the team’s outfield apparently set with Rocco Baldelli, Carl Crawford and Delmon Young (and Elijah Dukes still barely in the picture), Guzman’s future appears to be as a corner infielder. Now that B. J. Upton is the team’s third baseman, it looks like the only position available for Guzman is at first base. However, with Wes Bankston recently promoted to Durham and switched back to first base after a failed experiment at third base, Guzman has been playing everyday in left field. It is unlikely that the Devil Rays would want Guzman learning a new position in the major leagues. So when will Guzman begin working at first base? It is possible he is working there already before games, but he needs to get some games under his belt before he can bring his big bat to the bigs. Therefore it is unlikely that we will see Guzman in a Devil Rays uniform this season. He will most likely be given a shot at first base in Spring Training and then the team will have to decide if either he or Wes Bankston will be the Rays’ first baseman of 2007. If one is, the other will be back in Durham. If neither are, then the team will have an even tougher decision…Who goes and who stays?

The other new prospect is Evan Longoria. Longoria is clearly on the fast track to the major leagues, however, that track will not end at The Pit this season. Despite hitting 14 home runs in 43 games with a .343 batting average as a pro since being drafted number 3 overall in June, Gerry Hunsicker, Rays senior vice president of baseball operations, says that a September call-up is a “long shot”. In fact Hunsicker goes on to say that Longoria will probably start the 2007 season at AA Montgomery. However, if he continues to hit at the same pace he is hitting in AA now, he won’t be there long.

Top Pick Longoria Working Way Up. [Tampa Tribune]

A Look At The Future…Yesterday On The Farm

Charlotte 8, Durham 7. Joel Guzman is starting to warm up. Last night he homered in his third straight game, a solo shot in the second inning, and has his average up to .267 since being acquired from the Dodgers. Kevin Witt went 2-3 with a double and Shaun Riggans went 3-4 with 3 RBI. Wes Bankston added 2 hits and 2 RBI and now has his average up to .277 since being promoted to AAA. Doug Waechter got knocked around…again. He gave up 6 runs in 4.2 innings. Juan Salas took the loss after allowing a solo home run in the 8th inning.

Montgomery 7, Mobile 3. Evan Longoria went 2-4 and hit his 2nd home run for the Biscuits since being promoted. He is now hitting .310-2-8 in 7 games at AA. Reid Brignac also had 2 hits and an RBI and is now hitting .321. He also stole his first base since he arrived in Montgomery. Second baseman Elliot Johnson added his 15th home run of the season. Andy Sonnanstine got back on the winning track. He lost his last start after winning 9 straight. Last night he worked 6 innings of 1-run ball to pick up his 13th win.

The Frustration Continues

Seattle 2, D-Rays 0. We knew this was going to happen, but we might have been in denial. Since the Rays traded Mark Hendrickson, Tobey Hall, Joey Gathright, Aubrey Huff and Julio Lugo, we knew this team would struggle at times…Ok, ok…We knew this team would struggle a lot. However, what makes this difficult for us is that this team, that just got swept by the Mariners, is the same team that can split a 4-game series with the best team in baseball (Detroit) and win 2 of 3 against Boston. They are young and inexperienced (2nd youngest roster in the Majors), but the talent is there. Unfortunately, at this stage there is going to more frustrating games than games that remind us of the potential.

Last night James Shields pitched well enough to win, but received no offensive support. Shields went the distance striking out 6, allowing 5 hits, 1 walk and 2 runs. The Rays were down early, allowing a run after the first 3 batters. Shields then settled down to retire the next 8 batters before allowing a solo home run to Adrian Beltre to lead off the 4th inning. Shields then retired 14 of the final 16 batters he faced. Offensively, The D-Rays managed just 4 singles and nobody for the Rays reached third base. In the 7th and 8th the Rays were able to threaten. In each inning, Tampa had runners at 1st and 2nd with one out, but were unable to bring any runs home.

Just when we had left the last two series behind with a good feeling, along comes a team who had just been swept themselves and appeared to have just lost any hope to their season and the Rays get swept. The Rays were competitive in all 3 games, but this team needs to learn how to out themselves over the top. At least we get to look forward to having Scott Kazmir back on Friday night.

Speaking of competitive games in this series. We were unable to post about the middle game of this series and we would be remiss if we didn’t make a comment now about such a heart-breaking defeat. To recap: Ichiro lead off the bottom of the 10th inning in a 1-1 game with a double down the left field line. Joe Maddon then made his first mistake when he brought in Seth McClung. Maddon had to have expected that the Mariners were going to sacrifice Ichiro to third. And if he did expect that, he must have already known he was going to intentionally walk the next two batters (which he did). In that case, why not leave Shawn Camp in to pitch to the next three batters? Why bring in McClung at that point? After intentionally walking the next two batters, McClung had then thrown 8 straight pitches out of the strike zone. On top of that, McClung, a fastball pitcher, then had to face Richie Sexson, a fastball hitter. After the first pitch, a slider, was way out of the strike zone, everybody at the game…everybody listening to the game…everybody watching the game…knew the next pitch was going to be a fastball. More importantly, Sexson knew the next pitch was going to be a fastball. Next pitch? Fastball. Next pitch? Grand Slam. Next pitch? Game over. But that is not when the game was lost. We have not been very critical of Maddon this season. For the most part, we think he has called good games and has handled the players as well as can be expected, but Joe Maddon lost this game. He should not have brought in McClung when he did. His next mistake was the second intentional walk to Raul Ibanez. Why not pitch to Ibanez with the corners in and the middle infielders at double play depth. Why choose to face Sexson? That loss looked bad for McClung, but it was in no way his fault.

A Look At The Future…Yesterday On The Farm

Montgomery 15, Mobile 2. With the Durham Bulls having the night off, we will start in Montgomery…A career night for first baseman Gabriel Martinez. the 2001 27th round pick, went 4-6 with 2 home runs and 7 RBI, including a grand slam. He now has 9 home runs on the season and is hitting .270. Evan Longoria and Reid Brignac added 2 hits apiece, but the prospect that garnered the most attention was 2004 first round pick, Jeff Niemann. Niemann was making just his 10th start since returning from an injury that caused him to miss the first 3 months of this season and limited him to 8 starts in 2005. Earlier this season Niemann took a no-hitter into the 7th inning of a start. Last night he gave up his first hit with 2 outs in the 2nd, but that would be the only hit he would surrender in 6 shutout innings. He also showed excellent control with 1 walk and 8 strikeouts. He struck out 5 of the first 7 batters he faced. Up to this point, the biggest concerns with Niemann have been his endurance and his touch on the slider. He appears to have rediscovered the slider. Now it is just a matter of time until he gets his endurance back. When he does, expect to see him in a Devil Rays’ uniform…possibly as soon as opening day 2007.

Visalia 8, Stockton 6. John Jaso went 2-5 to raise his season average to .315, as the Oaks rallied from down 5-1. James Houser cruised through the first 3 innings before allowing 5 runs in the 4th and was pulled with 1 out in that inning.

Oneonta 10, Hudson Valley 7. 2004 6th round pick Ryan Royster went 2-5 with his 6th home run of the season. Royster, the left fielder, is now 3rd in the New York-Penn League in homers.

Kingsport 8, Princeton 7. Catcher Nevin Ashley, who was selected in the 6th round of this years draft went 3-4 with 2 RBI. He is now hitting .336-3-22 in 33 games and has the 3rd highest batting average in the Appalachian League.

A Look At The Future…Yesterday On The Farm

Charlotte 3, Durham 1. The Bulls split a double-header on Tuesday with a couple of familiar faces making returns to the field. Shortstop Luis Ordaz who was on the Rays opening day roster but was hurt in the first game and placed on the 60-day DL, began a rehab assignment with Durham. He batted leadoff and went 1-2. Even more surprising is the return of thirdbaseman Sean Burroughs. Burroughs, who was designated for assignment earlier this season by the Rays, was assigned to Durham and placed on the DL with a pinched nerve in his neck. He batted 8th and went 1-3. Another new face with the Bulls, Joel Guzman, hit his first home run in the D-Rays organization to account for the only run. Chris Seddon went the distance for the Bulls, giving up a game-winning 2-run walk-off home run with 1 out in the bottom of the 7th. He struck out 4.

Durham 13, Charlotte 2. Joel Guzman continued his best day yet since being acquired by the Rays, by hitting his 2nd home run of the day in the nightcap. Overall he went 3-4 with 3 runs scored. Delmon Young went 2-4 with a double an 3 RBI. Brian Stokes worked 5 innings of 2-hit ball, giving up 1 run and striking out 5 to pick up the win.

Mississippi 6, Montgomery 3. Evan Longoria went 1-3 with an RBI and Reid Brignac went 1-4 with a double. Mitch Talbot struck out 11 in 7 innings, giving up 5 hits, 1 walk and 3 runs.

Devil Rays Blogtopia

Every once in a while we like to check in on fellow bloggers and see what they have to say about the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and their players. Maybe we do it for a little extra bit of analysis…Maybe we do it for another point of view…Maybe we do it because we are masochistic and know that nobody ever has anything good to say about the Rays…or maybe, just maybe, we do it so that we realize that RI really isn’t that bad.

• For those of you that are not familiar with Paul Lukas, he has a Page 2 column at espn.com and he also runs his own blog, Uniwatch. In his own words Uniwatch is “The Obsessive Study of Athletics Aesthetics” and is a must read. Well in today’s post there was mention (as well as images) of how Pedro Martinez has extra fabric sewn into his sleeves so that they are baggier on his arms. Well, now it turns out that Carl Crawford does the same thing with his pant legs! C. C. may actually be the first baseball player to ever wear Bell-Bottoms. Not exactly the type of retro we like to see on a baseball field. (scroll to bottom of article for the discussion of Carl Crawford) [Uniwatch]
• The fellows over at Hardball Bloggers have named the best player in the history of every franchise. For the Devil Rays, they have named Carl Crawford as the greatest Devil Ray in the long storied history of the franchise. He must feel so honored. Personally, we would have gone with Mike Kelly. [Hardball Bloggers]
• Here is an interview with John Tamargo the manager for the Durham Delinquents Bulls. We expect that John will have to add another word to that title at the end of the season…Former. [Baseball Digest Daily]
• When the Devil Rays beat the Tigers last week, they helped lower the White Sox magic number to 64. This got us to thinking…what is the Rays’ magic number? With 51 games remaining and the Rays trailing the Yankees by 24 in the loss column, the Rays’ Magic Number to win the division is 76! Of course the Rays’ Tragic Number is a bit more realistic at 33 before being eliminated. [White Sox Magic Number Update]
• Once again the Rays’ single-A affiliate the Southwest Michigan Devil Rays are proving that they are leading the way in promotional giveaways. Two weeks ago, they gave away a 3-credit college course. [Deadspin]
• According to The Healthy Scratch we should just go home and stop paying attention to the Rays. We aren’t really sure what they are scratching, but lets hope its not contagious. [The Healthy Scratch]
• Finally some love for Delmon Young. [Just the Stats, Ma’am]
• Because we are tired of reading posts like this one. [The Daily Dizzle]
• If only Superman could pitch for the Rays. [YouTube]
• Poor Raymond…Couldn’t get any love from Angels pitcher Hector Carrasco. [YouTube]

The Hangover: Last Night In The AL East

Seattle 5, D-Rays 4. The Rays wasted a great performance by Carl Crawford and Tim Corcoran once again struggled in the first inning. C. C. had 4 hits on the night including his 12th triple and 34th stolen base. Corky surrendered a 2-run home run in the first inning to Adrian Beltre. Opponents are now hitting .375 off of Corky in the 1st inning with an ERA of 9.00 and has allowed 12 hits and 7 walks in those 8 innings. In every other inning as a starter, Corcoran has pitched 34.1 innings and allowed 39 hits and 17 walks, with an ERA of 3.14. Ben Zobrist had his best game yet as a Devil Ray going 2-5 with a double and an RBI. However, Zobrist also flied out with the bases loaded in the 9th inning to end the game.

We also feel like we would be doing an injustice if we failed to mention the performance of Travis Lee. As many of you know, we have been kinda hard on Mr. Lee this season. While most of it was deserved (he started the season 0-24 with runners in scoring position), he has picked up the pace a little in the second half of the season. He is hitting .247 with 5 home runs in 24 games since the break. However, what really caught our attention was his play in the 9th inning last night with the Rays down one run. Needing a run, Lee delivered a seeing-eye single through the right side of the infield. Greg Norton followed by flying out to deep center field. Knowing that there was now one out, and that he needed to get into scoring position, Lee made a very strong effort to tag up from first base going about half before retreating to first base. Then with the count 3-0 on Dioner Navarro, Lee, never the fleetest of runners, stole second to get into scoring position. It was only Lee’s 4th steal of the year. Unfortunately, Lee was never able to score as B. J. Upton was thrown out on a broken bat grounder to short (a play he likely beats out if the broken bat didn’t seem surprise Upton, causing him to hesitate briefly at the plate), and Zobrist flied out. Still, Lee’s play in the 9th inning was that of a veteran doing what he can to help his team win. We wonder how many of the younger players on the squad would have known to try and tag up from first in that situation. Or how many would have understood the importance of getting to second base, by any means necessary. That being said, we are sure that tonight, Lee will strike out with the tying runner in scoring position.

Toronto 8, Baltimore 1. Just when we thought there was no hope for the Blue Jays, along comes the Orioles.