The Second Coming Of B. J. Upton

In the summer of 2004 B. J. Upton was called up to play for the Devil Rays as the 19 year old savior of a franchise. That summer, Upton appeared in 45 games, and showed flashes of brilliance. He batted .258-4-12, and stole 4 bases. He also showed that plenty of seasoning was still needed at the lower levels, especially with his glove. In 16 games at shortstop he made 7 errors. In another 13 games at third base he made 2 errors. He was back in the minors in 2005…and again at the beginning of 2006. He continued to hit the ball. He continued to steal bases and he continued to make errors. When Aubrey Huff was traded to Houston, a move to third base provided Upton with an opportunity to make a quick jump to the major leagues. The frustration was growing, both from the fans and from Upton himself. 3 weeks later, Upton has been recalled from Durham to replace the injured Ty Wiggington. This time, unless he falls flat on his face, he is here to stay. Upton will likely play third base for the last two months of the season. He may get an occasional appearance at shortstop. In the off-season, Upton will likely be given one last opportunity to fine-tune his shortstop play and given a chance to be the team’s shortstop in 2007. If that fails, Upton will in al likelihood be the starting thirdbaseman for the Devil Rays next season.

Complicating all of this is Ben Zobrist. With Julio Lugo on his was to LaLa Land to join former teammates Mark Hendrickson and Tobey Hall, Zobrist has been called up to play shortstop, 3 weeks after being acquired from the Astros for Aubrey Huff. In 18 games at Durham, BenZo batted .304-0-6 with 4 stolen bases and solid defensive play. Tonight’s game will be the major league debut for the 25 year old former 6th round pick. The biggest thing that BenZo will add is his ability to get on base. This season, between AA and AAA, he had a 65 to 55 walk to strikeout ratio. No word yet on tonight’s lineup, but eventually, Upton will be the team’s leadoff hitter and Zobrist will fit in nicely to the #2 spot, moving Carl Crawford down to a more natural #3 spot where he can be more productive driving in runs, as well as getting on base in front of the team’s power hitters. Zobrist will probably be given the last 2 months of the season to audition to be the Rays’ 2007 starting shotstop. Zobrist will have to impress. This job will not be handed to him on a silver platter. There are other shortstops in the system and there is the free agent market in the off-season. Andrew Friedman has stated that he wants the Rays to be strong up the middle. Center field is set with Rocco Baldelli and he has already addressed the catcher position with the acquisition of Dioner Navarro. He now needs to figure out who will be the key middle infielders. There are a lot of candidates. Zobrist is being give the first opportunity to grab the job.

The Hangover: Last Night In The AL East

D-Rays 7, Detroit 3. Some things change…Julio Lugo is out as the Rays shortstop…Kid K and Wiggy are on the DL…B. J. Upton, Ben Zobrist and J. P. Howell are on their way…All of those changes? Nothing compared to what happened last night at The Pit. It is not that strange for the Rays to have beaten the best team in baseball and the All-Star game starter. After all, bad teams win at least 60 games every year and good teams lose at least 60 every year. It was a little strange that the Rays seemed to handle the Tigers as easily as they did. But, what was very strange was how they managed to do it. The Rays beat the best team in baseball (a team the Rays were 27.5 games behind in the standings) behind the pitching of Casey Fossum and the hitting of Travis Lee. Casey Fossum and Travis Lee? Lee hit a 2-run home run in the 6th to put the game out of reach. Fossum struck out a season high 10 in 7 innings of work allowing 6 hits and no walks. And herein lies the problem with Fossum. He is just good enough, just often enough to give you a sense that he could be better than he is. Of course it doesn’t hurt that he is left-handed. In other words, he is the younger version of Jamie Moyer. Some numbers on Jamie Moyer. In 506 starts, he has managed to win only 211 games. For his career, it took Moyer more starts than any other pitcher in history to win 200 games. He has been All-Star one time and only 2 times has he finished in the top 5 in the Cy Young balloting. Yet somehow he has managed to put together a 21 year major league career.

But let’s be honest, last night’s game was merely a warm up for the main attraction. Tonight is the night that many fans have been waiting for. J. P. Howell will be on the mound going against one of the better young pitchers in the American League and the left side of the infield will have a decidedly new look with Ben Zobrist at shortstop and B. J. Upton at third base.

Boston 9, Cleveland 8. …and some things stay the same. A good home run hitter in the Majors might hit a home run every 15-20 at bats. A great home run hitter might hit one every 10-12 at bats. The number of home runs that are hit in pressure situations is probably less than that. Given those numbers, a home run hitter has approximately a 5% chance to hit a home run in a pressure situation. Not the best odds in the world. That being said, it is still not surprising that we immediately switch over to the Sox game when our budy calls up to tell us the Sox are in the bottom of the 9th and if one or two guys get on, Big Papi will have a chance to tie or win the game. What is amazing is that when Big Papi does come up with 2 on, we expect him to hit a home run and win the game. At that very moment all we could do is put our hands on our head and smile. Still, our reaction does not give it justice. Here is the reaction from a couple of Red Sox sites.

It’s official: David Ortiz is f–king ridiculous. [Surviving Grady]

Superman of baseball. [Boston Dirt Dogs]

Papi dwells in the ancient ethah before light and dark were separated. He’s the fucking big bang. [Soxaholix]

Seattle 10, Baltimore 5. Oh yeah. The Horioles lost. And Peter Angelos lost his mind. In the span of 24 hours, Angelos rejected a trade for Miguel Tejada from the Angels that would have given the Orioles a great young pitcher in Ervin Santana and and a top shortstop prospect, Erick Aybar. He then rejected an offer from the Astros for Tejada that would have given the O’s Roy Oswalt, Morgan Ensberg and Adam Everett. That’s right folks, he turned down a trade that would have given the O’s the only pitcher to win 20 games the last two years! We’re speechless.

A Look At The Future…Yesterday On The Farm

Rochester 10, Durham 6. It must have been a strange site last night in Durham when the fans arrived at the park. Before the game, B. J. Upton, who has spent most of the past three seasons wearing a Bulls uniform, was not at the ballpark, having been promoted to the Devil Rays (more on that later today). In addition, Ben Zobrist, who had replaced Upton as the Bulls shortstop was also called up to the Tampa Bay roster. Darnell McDonald, who replaced Upton at the top of the lineup went 2-5 with a double and 2 runs scored. He also stole his 23rd base and is now hitting .311. Kevin Witt hit another home run, his 31st, as he went 3-5 with 3 RBI.

Birmingham 4, Montgomery 1. Speaking of promotions, Jim Magrane, who has been outstanding for the Biscuits was promoted to AAA Durham to replace J. P. Howell, who was promoted to Tampa. Our heads are starting to spin.

Visalia 4, San Jose 2. Evan Longoria had his second straight 0-5 night, as his average falls to .327. Reid Brignac went 2-4 with his 12 stolen base and is now hitting .322.

Fort Wayne 11, SW Michigan 4. Rough night for Wade Davis who gave up 6 runs (4 earned) in 4 innings. He allowed 9 hits and 2 walks and only struck out 2.

Staten Island 11, Hudson Valley 7. Josh Hamilton missed his second straight game after being pulled for a pinch hitter on the 29th. No word yet on why he has been missing from the lineup.