Down On The Farm: Not Surprising That Fernando Perez Is An Ivy-Leaguer

Durham 9, Columbus 8. After three straight strong starts, Jason Hammel was knocked around last night. He gave up 6 hits and 5 walks in 4 innings that led to 5 runs. Tim Corcoran pitched 3 scoreless innings as the Bulls rallied. Joel Guzman went 2-5 with his first home run and Shawn Riggans added his second. Jorge Cantu went 3-4 with a walk and Elliot Johnson added two doubles.

Birmingham 3, Montgomery 2. Fernando Perez went 2-4 with 4 stolen bases. Mike Prochaska gave up only 1 hit in 5 scoreless innings.

Vero Beach 7, Jupiter 6. Greg Dupas without giving up a hit, but the Rays rallied in the bottom of the 9managed to blow a 2-run lead in the 9thth with walk-off RBI single by Erold Andrus.

Augusta 9, Columbus 0.

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM….

• Last year’s high-A club, the Visalia Oaks, had quite a collection of talented hitters. Do you know who was named the team MVP? The California League MVP, Reid Brignac? Nope. #3 overall pick Evan Longoria who tore up the 3 levels last year? Nope. Catcher John Jaso (.308-10-55)? Nope. Patrick Breen (.282-21-63)? Nope. Try Fernando Perez. Perez had one heck of a season, that was a bit overshadowed by some of the bigger names on the team. He hit .307 with 33 steals and a minor league-leading 123 runs scored. He also had a very solid .398 OBP…With all the outfielders at the major league level and the top prospects at other positions, Perez has been kind of lost in the shuffle. But after, reading his “Player Journal” this week at MILB.com it is hard not to root for this kid. We have been around the game long enough to get a sense of when a player “gets it” and when they don’t. Fernando Perez “gets it” as well as any minor leaguer we have ever heard.
• Evan Longoria is the only player to have played every game for the Biscuits. Yet somehow the Dirtbag is still a wimp. OK, must be a joke.
• Jason Pridie had been strictly a center fielder before this season. Last night he started in right for the first time, and he started in left earlier this season.
• Poor Brooks Badeaux. It’s not good when you are still in AA and a former coach says that you will be a good coach if you stay in the game. You don’t mind it after 10 years in the majors, but not so much when you are still in AA.

AL East Roundup: There Is A Chink In The Armor Of The Great Mariano

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Boston Red Sox	10	5	–	8-2	W3	—
Baltimore Orioles	9	7	1.5	7-3	W2	146
New York Yankees	8	7	2.0	6-4	L1	146
Toronto Blue Jays	8	8	2.5	4-6	L3	145
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	6	10	4.5	4-6	L2	143

Red Sox 7, Yankees 6. This was as bad a loss for the Yankees as one can imagine this early in the season. With Andy Pettite on the mound and two rookies to follow in the next two games, this was the Yankees best chance for a win and they let it slip away. With the Red Sox wearing their Christmas uniforms in honor of the Celtic’s Red Auerbach, scored 5 in the 8th to overcome a 6-2 deficit. Two of the runs came off of Mo Rivera who has now blown two consecutive saves for only the seventh time in his career. But the worst part for the Yankees had to have been the performance by Alex Rodriguez. A lot of Yankees fans today will tell you that this game summed up A-Rod’s stint as a Yankee perfectly. With two home runs early off of Curt Schilling, Rodriguez lined out softly to the second baseman in the 9th inning when it “really mattered”. Also questionable was Joe Torre’s decision to go with Jose Vizcaino in the 8th with a 4-run lead rather than his usual set-up man Kyle Farnsworth.

Orioles 5, Blue Jays 4. Don’t the O’s know they are not supposed to be winning? Baltimore overcame a 4-2 deficit with 2 runs in the 8th and 1 in the 9th, on a walk-off single by Nick Markakis, his third hit of the game. The O’s are now 2 games over .500 for the first time in 87 years, while the Jays are in full survival mode while BJ Ryan is on the DL. Baltimore has now won 6 of 7.

NOTE FROM AROUND THE AL EAST...

• The Red Sox Times breaks down Curt Schilling’s blog entry following his first start against the Yankees last night.
• Apparently Jonny Damon has a hamstring.
• Joe Torre promised not to use Mo Rivera in the 8th inning this season. Well, that lasted a whole 3 weeks. So, is this the end of the Great Mariano?
• Mariano Rivera may well be the greatest relief pitcher in the history of baseball and has sustained his greatness over 10 years, a t time when relief pitchers rarely have more than one or two dominant seasons.
• BJ Ryan, on the DL with elbow pain, will miss 4-6 weeks.
• Hideki Matsui went 1-3 in his first single-A rehab start with the Tampa Yankees.
• This just in…Red Sox fans are not so classy.
• Jay Payton was activated for the first time this season for Baltimore.

The Hangover: Edwin Jackson Not Strong In Loss

Indians 4, Devil Rays 3.
The headline reads “Jackson strong in loss”. What? When a starting pitcher walks 5 batters, that is not a strong performance. Yes, we know that 2 of those walks were intentional, but 3 walks in 6 innings is still not “strong”. When a pitcher has to be removed after the 6th inning with 108 pitches, that is not “strong”. When a pitcher leaves the game with his team losing 3-2, that is not “strong”. 6 innings, 5 hits, 5 walks, 3 runs and a home run is not the definition of a quality start. We hope Mr. Jackson would agree with us.

• Despite giving up a double and a walk to start the 9th, Juan Salas appears to have done enough recently to become the second set-up man in the bullpen.
• The Rays are still atrocious on the base paths, as they were caught stealing twice.
• Nothing like the facing the Devil Rays pitching staff to cure your hitting woes. The latest to get healthy against the Rays, appears to be Travis Hafner. Hafner’s home run in the third was the first given up by Edwin Jackson in 36.1 innings, dating back to last season.
• BJ Upton’s solo home run broke an 0-7 skid.
• Joe Maddon promises to find more ways to get Jonny Gomes into the lineup. In the first 16 games, Gomes has only started three games.
• Brendan Harris has now started five straight games.
• Manny Stiles gets the skinny on Joe Maddon during Stiles first trip to the Trop. What exactly does Maddon do on his days off?
• The Rays are proving that winning is about pitching. They can score all the runs in the world, and it won’t mean diddly if they don’t pitch better. As a team they have scored the second most runs in baseball, yet they are in last place.

The Hangover: A Day Off To Clear Our Heads

• We predicted a few days ago that Brendan Harris would start digging into Ben Zobrist’s playing time. That is starting to look like a reality.
• The question is whether the Brendan Harris we are seeing is the real Brendan Harris, or if we will soon see the player that was designated for assignment by the Reds.
• Where would the Rays be right now without the consistent dominance of Al Reyes?
• Buster Olney reports that there is nothing wrong with Brad Lidge’s arm or mechanics. His only problem right now is confidence. That could make acquiring him much more difficult.
• The White Sox are in the market for an outfielder….hmmmmm? Paging Mr. Williams.
• Season-ticket holder Dick Vitale is going to the mattresses with a local landlord over the closing of his favorite restaurant.
• An interview with Rays skipper Joe Maddon. The usual party-line commentary.

AL East Roundup: Apparently The Blue Jays Had An Aura

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Boston Red Sox	8	5	–	6-4	W1	—
Toronto Blue Jays	8	6	0.5	6-4	L1	149
New York Yankees	7	6	1.0	6-4	W2	149
Baltimore Orioles	8	7	1.0	7-3	W1	148
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	6	9	3.0	4-6	L1	146

Yankees 7, Indians 2. Kei Igawa picked up his first win and Yankees fans let out a collective sigh of relief. Alex Rodriguez hit his 9th home run becoming the 4th fastest to hit 9 home runs (13 games). We think we actually saw him snickering as he rounded the bases.

Red Sox 4, Blue Jays 1. The Sox hit three solo home runs, including David Ortiz’s 5th of the season. Tim Wakefield, who currently has the third longest tenure with one team (behind John Smoltz and Trevor Hoffman), pitched 7 innings and only gave up 4 hits.

NOTE FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

• Looks like we are back to turning our monitor upside-down for a while to see the Rays in first place.
• Chase Wright has “earned” a second start against the Red Sox and Diasuke Matsuzaka on national television Sunday Night.
• The Orioles activated Corey Patterson from bereavement leave.
• John Lester, recovering from cancer, will have at least one start in AAA before returning to the Red Sox.
• The Blue Jays had an Aura? Maybe back in 1993.

Down On The Farm: Josh Butler Continues To Impress

Durham 5, Columbus 4. Raul Cassanova tied the game in the 9th with a lead-off home run, and Chris Richard gave the Bulls the lead with an RBI single. Andy Sonnanstine struggled through 4 innings, giving up 5 hits, 2 walks and 3 runs, although only 1 was earned. Jeff Ridgway picked up his first save with a scoreless 9th.

Montgomery 6, Birmingham 4. Reid Brignac and Brooks Badeaux each had 2-out RBI singles for the Biscuits in the 9th inning, to break a 4-4 tie. Evan Longoria was 1-5 with a 2-run double. James Houser gave up 2 runs in 6 innings.

Vero Beach 6, Daytona 4. Wade Davis had to be pulled with one out in the 5th after giving 4 runs. He struck out 6. Greg Dupas picked up his second save with two perfect frames with 3 strike outs. First baseman Rhyne Hughes was 3-4 with a double and a RBI.

Augusta 1, Columbus 0. Neal Frontz gave up a two-out RBI single in the top of the 9th inning. The Rays 2nd round pick in last years draft, Josh Butler, pitched his second straight dominate game. He threw 6 shutout innings, with 3 hits, no walks and 4 strike outs. He has now thrown 14 consecutive scoreless innings and has not given up a run since the second inning of his first start.

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

• Josh Butler still only has 5 career professional starts, but considering he was drafted out of college and is 22 years old, he is not likely to be in Columbus for very long.
• Both the Montgomery Biscuits and the Columbus Catfish were recipients of the first annual CNBC Minor League Logo Awards.
• Jason Pridie a natural center fielder, played center for the first time last night and lead off. He answered with only his 2nd and 3rd extra-base hits of the season.

The Hangover: Scott Kazmir Has A Lot To Learn

Orioles 6, Devil Rays 4.
He is only 23…he is only 23…he is only 23…102 pitches in 4 innings. 6 hits, 4 walks. Scott Kazmir actually threw 60 strikes, which is not terrible, so it is not just his lack of control. He just throws too many pitches. Some how he needs to learn to hit the bats more often. Wednesday’s loss starts and stops with Kid K, but there were plenty of other problems in between. Ben Zobrist, who was only starting because Aki Iwamura was sick with the flu, committed another error, because he was lazy on a routine ground ball. Instead of getting in front of it, he tried to back hand the grounder…Josh Paul became just the latest Devil Ray that failed to get a bunt a down. And once again Joe Maddon will stick with the call even with two strikes, as if he may be sending a message to the players “I will not let you swing away if you can’t lat down a simple sacrifice.” …And finally Elijah Dukes played a flyball to center into a game of twister and eventually a double…But ultimately, none of that matters if Kazmir can keep his pitch totals down and work deeper into games. He just needs to trust his stuff. You could see it on radar gun where his fastball was rarely touching 90 and never higher than 91. That is a classic sign of a pitcher that is aiming and not throwing. He was slowing everything down, hoping to find the strikezone. When a pitcher does that he loses his mechanics. He is only 23…he is only 23…he is only 23.

• Akinori Iwamura was out of the lineup with flu-like symptoms which are apparently running through the clubhouse.
• Scott Kazmir was not one of those affected despite his performance.
• The Orioles spent a lot of money on their bullpen this off-season and as soon as Scott Kazmir was pulled from the game, everybody knew the game was over. The O’s pen is just better than the Rays right now.
• Elijah Dukes is trying to bust out of his slump and he is smart enough o know that it was not the 2-3 performance yesterday but rather the walk in the 6th inning that could have done it.
• Joe Maddon needs more help at the back end of the bullpen (duh). Brian Stokes is on pace for 93 appearances.
• Uh oh. Jenn Sterger is not happy with people knocking the Devil Rays. And if Jenn is not happy, nobody is happy. Then again, we have no doubt that there are plenty of people (us included) that would be more than happy to cheer her up.
• The Colorado Rockies have asked the Devil Rays about Jorge Cantu.
• It is time to start stuffing those virtual all-star ballot boxes with the names Aki Iwamura, Delmon Young and Carl Crawford.

Down On The Farm: Jake McGee Is A Man Among Boys

Columbus 5, Durham 2. We admit we took a double-take when we saw the Bulls were playing Columbus. We momentarily forgot about the Columbus Clippers the former AAA affiliate of the Yankees. They are now the AAA affiliate of the Washington Nationals and not the low-A affiliate of the Devil Rays…the Columbus Catfish. Jeff Niemann was not his usual dominating self. He worked 5 innings and gave up 4 hits and 2 walks that led to 3 runs. He struck out 4. His ERA is now 3.00 on the season. No Bulls had more than one hit and Justin Ruggiano had the only extra-base hit, a double.

Birmingham 10, Montgomery 1. Derek Feldkamp’s line looked an awful lot like Niemann’s. 5 innings, 5 hits, 3 walks, 3 runs. But the bullpen had a meltdown and gave up 7 runs over the last 3 innings. Reid Brignac returned to action after missing two games and went 1-4. Evan Longoria was 0-2 with 2 walks.

Daytona 5, Vero Beach 4. Jake McGee posted his best start of the young season. In 5.2 scoreless innings he struck out 9 and gave up only 2 hits and 1 walk. On the season he has 19 strikeouts in 14.2 innings and a 0.61 ERA. The left hander will not be in Vero Beach all season. He probably shouldn’t be there now.

Columbus 5, Augusta 1. Another lefty, Ryan Morse, is making the Devil Rays look like geniuses for selecting him in the 13th round of the 2005 draft. Last night he worked 6 innings and gave up only his 2 earned run in three starts. On the season he has given up only 11 hits and 2 walks in 18 innings. In 16 career starts, over three levels, he is 8-5 with a 2.44 ERA.

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

• Reid Brignac missed the last two games with a tweaked hamstring. We had previously reported that he was pulled from Saturday’s game because he fouled a ball off his foot.
• The Catfish victory over Augusta ended the GreenJacket’s 12-game winning streak, and gave them their first loss. Green Jackets? What is their mascot? A Tiger or a 2-iron?

AL East Roundup: Chase Wright Should Have Tanked His Major League Debut

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Toronto Blue Jays	8	5	–	7-3	W2	—
Boston Red Sox	7	5	0.5	6-4	L1	150
Baltimore Orioles	7	7	1.5	6-4	L1	148
New York Yankees	6	6	1.5	5-5	W1	149
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	6	8	2.5	4-6	W1	147

Blue Jays 2, Red Sox 1. The Jays entered this game, with half their roster on the DL, a half-game behind the Sox and Diasuke Matsuzaka on the mound. No worries. Gustavo Chacin became just the latest pitcher to say “Sashimi!” as he shut down the Pink Hats for 6.2 innings. Jason Frasor came on in the 9th to close it out in the stead of BJ Ryan. Matsuzaka struck out 10 in 6 innings, but two runs on two hits and three walks in the 4th inning was enough for the Jays.

Yankees 10, Indians 3. The Yankees sent to the mound Chase Wright, who was only making his third career start above A-ball. He worked 5 innings and gave up only 3 runs. This is terrible news for the Yankees. At this point the Evil Empire needs a starter for Sunday night’s nationally televised game against the Red Sox in which Daisuke Matsuzaka will be going to the mound for the Sox. It will be Dice-K’s first appearance on national TV and his first shot at the Yankees. Currently Chien-Ming Wang is on the DL for the Yankees but he has pitched in extended spring training games and been effective. If Chase Wright had struggled last night, the Yankees likely would have called up Wang to pitch on Sunday. Since Wright was good in his first major league start, now it looks like his second will be on Sunday night, on national TV facing Dice-K. Good luck with that one.

NOTES FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

• Jeff Karstens is likely to pitch against the Red Sox on Saturday for the Yankees, while Chien-Ming Wang should return from the DL to face the Rays on Tuesday.
• With all the injuries that the Jays have suffered recently, it is only appropriate that they had “Organ donor awareness” night last night. Of course with the Red Sox in town they could have called it “Help JD Drew” night.
• Wow! All of the sudden they love Alex Rodriguez in the Bronx. He is going to be laughing when he opts out of his contract. So will we.
• Nothing like brainwashing your child into rooting for the Red Sox. It is only fitting that one of the Kings of Unintentional Comedy, Ben Affleck is starring in this little diddy.

The Hangover: The New And Improved Casey Fossum?

Devil Rays 6, Orioles 4. We said going into this series that the Rays needed to win two out of three. Anything less and they would be digging themselves a hole that would be difficult to get out of, both in terms of standings and psychologically. After Monday night’s debacle (which still gives us the shakes) up steps Casey Fossum. Casey Fossum? Fossum had his second straight strong performance and did exactly what the team needed. He kept the O’s in check and got to Brian Stokes with a comfortable lead. Stokes did surrender a 3-run home run to the first batter he faced, but settled down to get out of the 8th and Al Reyes is looking like one of the best closers in baseball right now. He is now 5-5 on save opportunities and in those 5 appearances he has thrown 5 innings and given up 1 hit and 1 walk and struck out 7.

• Has anybody noticed that Brendan Harris has started three straight games (Two at shortstop)? He went 2-4 last night batting in the 2-hole and is hitting .444 in limited action. At this point Harris is not far from being the Rays starting shortstop.
• Right now, Akinori Iwamura is the Rays MVP and people are starting to notice. Many thought Daiusuke Matsuzaka would run away with the Rookie-of-the-Year, or maybe it would be the Rays other big rookie Delmon Young. If the vote was today, Aki should win.
• The second installment of Aki’s diary. Hard not to like this guy.
• Another person that is incapable of creating an original thought. We present you The Flock Blog.

Tropicana Field. The ugliest field in the majors

We will go ahead and lay odds at 250:1 that this writer has never even been to the Trop. And even on the off-chance that he has, we guarantee they have not been to every stadium in baseball. If they had, they would surely know that the Trop (especially after the last 2 years worth of renovations) is leaps and bounds better than the Metrodome, Shea Stadium, RFK and Dolphin Stadium.

• A professor at Detroit-Mercy graded every major league team on their game promotions. While two teams received A+ grades, the Devil Rays were one of only three teams to receive an A.
• Devil Rays are a fish and mammals have hair…so what exactly is Raymond? Yeah, we don’t know either.