The Hangover: That’s Why We Call Him ‘James The Greater’

Devil Rays 5, Tigers 3.
James Shields proved last night that if he wants a W, he just going to have to go out and do it himself. Shields had not won since a May 3rd victory over the Twins. That’s a span of 4 starts including a start in which he threw 9 scoreless innings and another in which he left with a 3-1 lead after 7 innings. It didn’t look like it was going to happen last night after falling behind 3-0 in the first. Shields surrendered 5 hits in the first, and threw 23 pitches. Over the next 8 innings, he allowed only 2 hits and a walk and needed only 82 pitches. He retired 17 of the last 18 batters he faced. According to Baseball Prospectus Shields is now the 6th most valuable pitcher in baseball with a VORP of 24.6.

After taking 2 of 3 from the White Sox, the Devil Rays finally get the Royals after Kansas City was fodder for the rest of the AL East the first two weeks of the season. With the off-day today and a 4-game set, the Rays will be able to throw both Scott Kazmir and Shields in the series. This is a great opportunity to take a step forward and make a run towards the Charlie Hough Line. It is all about winning series and if the Rays want to be taken seriously they must win 3 of 4 against the hapless Royals at the Trop.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Shawn Riggans is going to catch Scott Kazmir on Friday night and is slowly becoming Kid K’s personal catcher. Joe Maddon likes to give his bench regular playing time, but Riggans is a bit of a liability against would be base stealers. If Riggans is going to play 1-2 times per week, it might as well be with a lefty on the mound that can keep runners close.
  
• Manny Stiles is back…go give him some love.
• Robinson Cano will be the starting second baseman for the AL All-Star team, but the starter should be BJ Upton.
• BJ Upton is currently 4th in voting, and Carl Crawford is 14th in the outfield.
• Carl Crawford has not stolen a base in 2 weeks.
• He is the Devil Rays ace and stopper and yes, he is nasty.

Down On The Farm: Heath Rollins Latest Prospect To Win Honor

Durham 11, Ottawa 3. Two hits and two wild pitches led to a run in the first inning, but Jeff Niemann settled down and did not allow a run over the next 4 frames. Still, while Niemann was good, he was not dominating. He failed to record a 1-2-3 inning and allowed 5 hits and 2 walks along with the 2 wild pitches in those 5 innings. Justin Ruggiano is starting to heat up at the plate. He hit his 3rd home run in the past 4 games and 4th in the past 7. He now has 7 on the year and is hitting .290. Joel Guzman added his 7th home run. He hit 15 last year between Las Vegas and Durham.

Huntsville 19, Montgomery 4. James Houser gave up 6 runs on 9 hits and was pulled after 3 innings. As a team the Biscuits gave up 21 hits. Evan Longoria may be breaking out of his recent slump as he homered for the second straight game. He went 2-4 and is now back over .300 (.304). Jason Pridie added his 3rd home run and Reid rignac went 1-4.

Vero Beach 6, St. Lucie 4. Garrett Groce was 2-6 with 2 doubles and is now 6-15 in 4 games since his return from the DL. Jake McGee gave up 7 hits and 2 runs over 5 innings. He did not walk a batter as he struck out 5.

Columbus 8, Charleston 7. Woods Fines got knocked around for 11 hits and 7 runs in 4 innings. Nevin Ashley hit his 4th home run.

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

• Heath Rollins was named the SAL pitcher-of-the-week. Rollins is the second member of the Columbus staff to win the award. Wade Townsend won the award in April.

The Hangover: We Smell A Devil Rays Battle Royal For Two Spots In The Rotation

Tigers 14, Devil Rays 2.

Starting pitching can carry a team — or weigh it down.

The Devil Rays are experiencing the latter, as three of the team’s five starting pitchers have been as inconsistent as their ERAs are high.

Those are the first two sentences from Bill Chastain’s write-up of last night’s game at devilrays.com. Let’s see how “inconsistent” they have been…

We have never liked the “quality start” stat in baseball (6 innings, allowing no more than 3 runs). Since when is 6 innings and 3 runs a “quality start”? In our eyes a quality start is 7 innings. A starting pitcher should at least be able to get the ball to the team’s set-up man. But for the sake of argument let’s see how many quality starts Edwin Jackson, Jae Seo and Casey Fossum have on the season.

Pitcher	GS	QS
Jae Seo	10	2
Casey Fossum	9	3
Edwin Jackson	9	2

Of the 7 “quality starts” that these pitchers have racked up, 4 of them have been of the 6-inning variety. Both of Jackson’s “quality starts” just barely qualified at 6 innings with 3 runs. On the season, these 3 pitchers have worked more than 6 innings a total of 5 times in 28 starts. For comparison (this really isn’t fair, but too bad) James Shields has worked into the 7th inning in every one of his 10 starts and has 7 quality starts all by himself.

So, we are a little confused. What exactly is “inconsistent” in their performance this season? Rather, these three pitchers have been amazingly consistent. Consistently bad. How many times has a game ended this season and Rays fans thought that one of these guys actually pitched well? Even a below-average pitcher should have a few of those by now. We can think of 1 for Seo and maybe 2 for Fossum. That is 3 solid outings in 28 starts. Josh Paul could do that. Hell, Joe Maddon could do that.

Never fear, change is on the horizon. Seo is now out of the rotation. And don’t buy into the statement that Joe Maddon made this week concerning Seo’s status.

He may go back and do his next start, but we’re not sure yet.

That is just Papa Joe not wanting to make an official statement yet. Seo is out. Fossum is next.

So who will the Rays bring up to replace Seo and Fossum? We could actually make a case for all 5 of the Durham starting pitchers.

1. Andy Sonnanstine. Last week we stated that Sonny was not likely to get the first call because he is not on the 40-man roster, but we have loosened on that position. It would not surprise us now if Seo is released. It might depend on whether the Rays think they can actually trade Seo and receive anything of value. Sonnanstine has been the most consistent of the 5, with only one bad outing all year. He has been a little more hittable his last two outings.
2. Jeff Niemann. Niemann has been consistently good this year, but he is yet to be great. He has not had that one start or stretch of starts that make you say “wow”. He consistently goes 5-6 innings and gives up 2-3 runs. He does have 57 strikeouts in 53.2 innings. This is the guy the Rays want in the rotation, but he may need another 5-10 starts at AAA.
3. Jason Hammel. Hammel has been named pitcher-of-the-week twice this season, but both of those came early in the season. He has been a bit more average for the last month until his last start when he threw a 5-hit shutout with no walks. Hammel also has major league experience and almost a complete year of AAA under his belt. That could give him the edge over the others.
4. Mitch Talbot. Want the hot-hand? Talbot is your guy. After struggling all season, he may have turned it around with only 6 hits and 1 run in his last 14 innings covering 2 starts. Still, the Rays will want to see a bit more consistency before Talbot gets a call.
5. JP Howell. Howell is the forgotten guy. Remember he pitched great in the spring and battled Jackson to the last week for the 5th spot. He also has the most major league experience in the group. He has been great his last 3 outings with 2 runs and 7 hits with 18 strike outs in 18 innings.

If the Rays are willing to make a roster move and drop somebody from the 40-man, Sonnanstine is the guy. He has earned it. If they decide to wait on a roster move hoping to make a trade involving Seo (or Cantu or Gomes) then the first call will probably be Hammel or Howell.

Anything would be an improvement of what the Rays throw out there 60% of the time.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• We have a lot of loyal readers around these parts, but Rob Neyer of ESPN.com is apparently not one of them.

In addition to [Edwin] Jackson‘s 7.12, the rotation also features Casey Fossum’s 7.15 and Jae Seo’s 8.10. And somehow nobody’s talking seriously about junking either of them.

Apparently Rob missed THIS post, or THIS one, and he definitely missed THIS one. In our defense. That last post? Jae Seo killed our cat the night before*

* might not be true.

• The Devil Rays have had discussions with the Mets concerning how they handled Jose Reyes and the recurring hamstring problems that plagued him early in his career. The Rays hope the same techniques can be used with Rocco Baldelli in an effort to reduce the problems he has encountered with his hamstrings. Mets personnel were able to alter the way that Reyes ran and he no longer has a recurring hamstring issues. Rocco is hoping to begin a rehab assignment, possibly in extended spring training with the next 10-14 days.
• Jane Heller of the New York Times is divorcing the New York Yankees and is having an affair with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Isn’t that kinda like divorcing Bill Gates to date the pool boy? I mean the pool boy may be more fun to watch, but you aren’t going nice places with him anytime soon.
• A judge has issued a 1-year restraining order against Elijah Dukes. Dukes must also undergo a psychological evaluation before he is allowed to see his children.

Down On The Farm: Another Pitcher-Of-The-Week Award For Durham

Ottawa 2, Durham 0. JP Howell fell to 3-5 after giving up 2 runs (1 earned) in 7 innings on 4 hits and 1 walk. Ben Zobrist’s bat is finally waking up. He had 2 hits in 4 at bats and has multi-hit games in 4 of the last 7 to raise his average to .246.

Montgomery 3, Huntsville 0. Chris Mason continues to dominate the AA Southern League. Last night he threw 7 shutout innings to lower his ERA to 2.39 and raise his record to 7-1. He allowed 5 hits and struck out 7 while walking none. Evan Longoria broke a 3-26 slump with 3 hits in 4 at bats and his 11th home run. He now has 40 RBI in 50 games this season. Reid Brignac was 0-3 with a walk.

St. Lucie 6, Vero Beach 5. Matt Walker gave up 3 runs in 5.2 innings. Rhyne Hughes has 3 hits and is now hitting .335.

Charleston 9, Columbus 1. Wade Townsend gave up 6 runs (5 earned) in 5 innings. He allowed 5 hits and 4 walks and struck out 4. His fell to 3-4 with a 3.48 ERA.

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

• For the 4th time this season already a Durham Bulls pitcher has been named IL pitcher-of-the-week. This time it is Mitch Talbot. Andy Sonnanstine and Jason Hammel (twice) have also won the award. Talbot entered the week with a 2-5 record and an 8.21 ERA. During the week he went 2-0 and pitched 14 innings with 6 hits and 5 walks. He allowed 1 run and struck out 10.
• Kevin Gengler of Tampa Bay’s Tomorrow has secured an interview with Lewis Heath Rollins (He goes by his middle name…Sorry Heath). We know we gave you these numbers yesterday, but it is worth repeating because we barely believe them ourselves…In his last 8 starts, Rollins has thrown 50 innings, with 24 hits, 10 walks and 49 strike outs. He has also only allowed 1 earned over that stretch for an ERA of 0.18.

St. Pete Times Reports The News, But They Don’t Want You To Read It

We know this is a little stale, but it irritates us to no end…

Last Wednesday night, issues of the St. Pete Times, which are normally found in and around Tropicana Field, were noticeably absent. What was so special about this particular issue? It was the issue that featured a cover story reporting that Devil Rays center fielder Elijah Dukes had threatened to kill his wife and kids and sent her a picture message of a handgun.

One fan contacted the Times to inquire as to why the issues were missing from the Trop. The response was not a surprising one.

Aaron – thanks for the heads up. We made the choice not to distribute at Tropicana Field yesterday. Naturally there is a fine line we have to walk at times and that seemed like the best choice. Things are back to normal today.

Well at least they were honest about it. But wait! The Times immediately retracted this statement and changed their story to indicate that withholding the papers was not intentional. Supposedly they only meant to make fewer papers to be available at the Trop. Even if this later excuse is to be believed (though it smells like a diaper filled with Indian food) neither decision should have been implemented. The Times has a duty to their readers to report the news in an unbiased fashion nor can they make decisions to report some of the news or to report the news only in some places.

We wish we could say that this move surprises us, but it doesn’t. In fact we warned you about scenarios much like this earlier in the season when we discussed our distaste for the sponsorship deal between the St. Pete Times and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. We understand that running a newspaper is a business and like other businesses the point is to make money, but a newspaper is not a business like any other business. There is a fine line between making decisions that are good for the business and making decisions that are ethical for a newspaper. In this case the Times ended up on the wrong side of the line.

Would the Times have withheld the papers if a member of the New York Yankees had pulled the same stunt? Better yet, would New York Newsday, a major sponsor of the Yankees, have withheld their papers if a similar story occurred with the Bronx Bombers? The answer in both instances is ‘no’. The papers were withheld because the story was a black eye for the Times business partner, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

We applaud the Times for having run the story in the first place. Certainly the paper held internal discussions about the pros and cons of damaging their bed mates. In the end they must have thought the national exposure that was due to follow the exclusive piece outweighed the small economic impact on their business relationship with the Rays.

We don’t know who made the decision to go silent at the Trop on Wednesday night. Whether the decision was made by the Times, was requested by the Devil Rays or a mutual decision by both parties doesn’t matter. The decision was made and it was wrong. The decision was made and this is why many people are losing faith in traditional media forms to provide unbiased coverage of the news.

[From the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics] Journalists should avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived, remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility, disclose unavoidable conflicts… deny favored treatment to advertisers and special interests and resist their pressure to influence news coverage.

It might be time for the editors of the St. Pete Times to go back to journalism school.

times employees get important updates? [Sticks of Fire]
Elijah Dukes covers missing Wednesday at the Trop [Creative Loafing]
Times reports news, but doesn’t deliver it [TampaBay.com]
The St. Pete Times And The Tampa Tribune Would Like Rays Fans To Drink Their Kool-Aid [Rays Index]

The Hangover: Edwin Jackson Reminded Why He Wears A Glove. We Are Reminded Why He Is In The Majors

Devil Rays 6, Tigers 5.
If someone would have approached us and said “would you sign for being tied with the Yankees after 49 games?” We would have been idiots to say ‘no’, yet somehow being tied with the Yankees and 13.5 games behind the Pink Hats is not so fulfilling right now. Still, considering the Rays only have 2 starting pitchers. Not at all terrible.

Last night Edwin Jackson once again teased us into thinking that the Rays may already have a 3rd pitcher at the major league level. There is no doubt that Jackson has an incredible arm and we have to keep reminding ourselves that he is still only 23. But we can’t ignore a 7.12 ERA and only 43 innings in 9 starts (4.2 innings per start). So he remains a bit of an enigma. A project that could be great once molded or he may never “get it”.

One only need to look at last night’s second inning to summarize Jackson’s entire career. The inning started with 3 straight singles to load the bases. Jackson then gave up a fourth straight hit, that drives in 2. On the play, an errant throw from Carl Crawford to home, somehow missed Jackson’s glove as he backed up the play, and struck him in the face. After that play, Jackson settled down and struck out the next three hitters, the last two on 6 pitches. So, in the span of one inning, Jackson struck out 3 batters, failed to catch a throw from Crawford and got struck in the cheek, allowed 4 hits and 2 runs. He looked great. He looked awful. He looked stupid. All in the span of one half inning. Folks…We introduce you to, Edwin Jackson.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Finally, the Rays may be ready to shake up the rotation, although nothing is official yet. Jae Seo was moved to the bullpen so that Edwin Jackson could pitch for the first time in 10 days last night. The Rays will not need a 5th starter until next Tuesday and the Joe Maddon made it clear that Seo is not guaranteed to make that start. Andy Sonnanstine will be on regular rest for that Tuesday game, although with a weeks notice, it shouldn’t be too difficult to shuffle the Durham rotation for Jeff Niemann to make the start.
• Well, we thought that Jorge Cantu would be the first player sent down when Akinori Iwamura was activated and that Jonny Gomes would be demoted upon Rocco Baldelli’s return. Looks like we got the order wrong as Gomes was sent down yesterday. Both players have struggled offensively, so Cantu’s defensive flexibility (and we use that term very loosely) gave him the edge over Gomes.
• Jorge Cantu made it clear that another demotion would lead to another trade demand.
• How does Jorge Cantu not make the list of least attractive baseball players?
• Stuart Sternberg made indicated that Elijah Dukes could still be released. That is about as likely to happen as the Rays winning the division this season. Read: Not very likely.
• Gary Sheffield has a close connection to Elijah Dukes that extends beyond Hillsborough High. Sheff believes he can help Dukes, but he is not reaching out to him at this time.
  
• Scott Kazmir moved from one side of the rubber to the other and results on Sunday were impressive. After throwing 15 of his first 30 pitches out of the strike zone, he settled down and 52 of the next 77 were strikes.
• The Devil Rays slip a spot in SI.com’s latest power rankings. They are now #25.
• Awww, how cute. A list of the “cutest” first names in baseball. Which one would make the best baby name? Here is your chance to vote for Ty Wigginton.
• Carl Crawford is 4 hits shy of tying Aubrey Huff for the most hits in team history (870).

Down On The Farm: Jason Hammel Makes Case For Rays Open Rotation Slot

Durham 8, Ottawa 0. Bulls pitchers run their scoreless streak to 19 consecutive innings. Yesterday, Jason Hammel pitched a complete game 5-hit shutout. He struck out 6 and walked none to lower his ERA to 2.85. Justin Ruggiano hit a home run for the second consecutive game and now has 6. Ben Zobrist added his second.

Huntsville 12, Montgomery 3. Chris Seddon allowed 5 runs in 5 innings giving up 8 hits and 4 walks. Seddon added 3 wild pitches as he struggled with his control. His ERA is now 4.98. Reid Brignac was 1-4 and Evan Longoria went 0-4 and is now hitting below .300 (.289). Jason Pridie went 3-4 and is hitting .302. He added his 12th stolen base.

Columbus 3, Savannah 2 (14 inn). Josh Butler gave up 2 runs on 7 hits and 1 walk in 7 innings. His ERA is now 2.41.

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

• When we saw that The Hardball Times had a post titled “Ten hitting prospects worth knowing about” we went eh and shrugged our shoulders. We assumed there would be a Devil Ray or two on there. Likely we would find the usual suspects like Evan Longoria and/or Reid Brignac. And quite frankly it just isn’t that exciting anymore. They are on all of these lists. But to our surprise neither made the list but another Rays prospect did…Desmond Jennings. Now they got our attention. We knew his bio and have seen the stats, but we really didn’t know much about him.

Jennings is positioned to lead the next generation of Rays outfield prospects. The former three-sport star is going to draw Carl Crawford comparisons, but he already is showing more patience at the plate than Crawford ever has by walking in 11% of his plate appearances. Jennings is a good contact hitter but is not just slapping the ball on the ground and using his speed to get on base; 16% of his batted balls are line drives and he already has a dozen extra-base hits. Jennings likes to run; he is 21-for-30 in stolen base attempts this year.

• Two consecutive seasons with the Durham Bulls’ pitching coach, Xavier Hernandez, has paid big dividends for Andy Sonnanstine.
• On Sunday, Mitch Talbot pitched 8 shutout innings with 2 hits and 2 walks. He struck out 5.
• On Sunday Columbus pitcher Lewis Rollins picked up his 6th straight win as he worked 6 innings and allowed only 1 hit, no walks and 1 unearned run. He struck out 5. The only run allowed came after the Catfish committed 3 errors in the 5thinning. In his last 8 starts, Rollins has thrown 50 innings, with 24 hits, 10 walks and 49 strike outs. He has also only allowed 1 earned over that stretch for a ridiculous ERA of 0.18. His ERA on the year is not quite as good at 1.04.

The Hangover: Edwin Jackson Unhittable When It Rains

Devil Rays @ White Sox, ppd.
Edwin Jackson was pushed back a few days in the rotation and given an extra bullpen session. The extra session was designed to work on a slight mechanical flaw in Jackson’s motion. After the long layoff Jackson had his best performance of the season. Turns out the mechanical flaw that was allowing so many runs was not enough rain on days that he starts. Who knew?

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• James Shields attributes much of his success this season to a new workout regimen he employed this off-season with his cousin Aaron Rowand of the Phillies.
• Tony Massarotti believes that Major League Baseball needs to take the same position as the NFL has recently and be tougher on players that break the law.
• Martin Fennelly of the Tampa Tribune believes that the Rays need to cut their losses and get rid of Elijah Dukes.

It was time for the Rays to slowly get away from Elijah Dukes even before the screaming revelations of marital bliss by way of alleged death threats…He is a bad scene waiting to happen…He is a runaway train in need of a switchyard…Get him out of here.

• One blogger thinks that Elijah Dukes fits right in with the world of professional athletes.
• Elijah Dukes is no saint and we are just as pissed off as anybody else…but to compare him to OJ Simpson? Now that is a bit of a stretch.

Down On The Farm:

Rochester 3, Durham 0. For once this season, Andy Sonnanstine was hittable. He allowed 8 hits and 3 runs (2 earned) in 6.1 innings. He struck out 5 and walked 1. The Bulls managed only 4 hits.This was the second straight game the Bulls were shutout.

Mississippi 3, Montgomery 0. Jonathon Barratt allowed 9 hits and 3 walks to go with 3 runs (1 earned) in 6 innings. His record drops to 0-3 despite a 2.84. Derek Feldkamp had his second strong outing since being moved to the bullpen, working 2 scoreless innings. Reid Brignac went 2-4 for his first multi-hit game in a long time. Evan Longoria was 1-4 with his 11th double.

Vero Beach 2, Tampa 1 (14 inn). Wade Davis struck out 8 in 6 innings. He allowed 1 run on 6 hits and 1 walk. Matthew Devins’ 3rd home run won it in the 14th.

Savannah 4, Columbus 3. Jeremy Hellickson was pulled after 4 innings, after allowing 4 runs on 7 hits and and a walk.

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

• We got nuthin’ today.

The Hangover: Elijah Dukes Gets Back To Business

White Sox 5, Devil Rays 4.
Was Elijah Dukes in the news for something earlier this week? We vaguely remember something. This is our attempt to get back to baseball…Remember Dukes’ first home run of the season on opening day in Yankee Stadium? It seemed like it was never more than 20 feet off the ground and it left the park so fast that the announcers didn’t even have a chance to use their home run call. It left the park so fast that it drilled a fan in the leg in the left field bleachers, presumably because he did not have a chance to get out of the way. Last night’s game-tying 3-run home run in the 7th (after Brendan Harris was intentionally hit by Mark Buerhle) was just the latest rocket home run by Dukes. He is starting to remind us of a fellow Tampa product, Gary Sheffield. Incredible bat speed and a line drive hitter that hits the ball so hard that a lot of those line drives will clear the outfield wall before they have a chance to come down. Last night’s home run was exactly the same as opening day, with maybe a little more lift. We were watching the White Sox broadcast and Hawk Harrelson announced “and we have a tie ballgame”. It seemed like he said it before Dukes even completed his swing. How scary must it be to play third base when Dukes is at the plate? We wouldn’t volunteer.

For those of you that want Dukes gone from the team…this is exactly why it won’t happen. He is a Devil Ray for at least the near future. He is too talented. And nobody is going to off the Devil Rays anything of value for him now. Tampa Bay is not a franchise that can afford to give up on cheap talent no matter what the baggage. The team will just have to ride out the storm and hope it passes.

Also keep in mind that this is the first incident that Dukes has had as a major leaguer. And what comes with that is national exposure and embarrassment. For the first time, Dukes has taken a hit in the media that may actually leave an impression on him. Let’s hope that the all the negative attention will set him straight, because like it or not, he’s going nowhere.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• I know we are preaching to the choir here…but how bad has Casey Fossum been? He is in the top 10 in the AL in run support per start and is the only one in the group with a losing record. Geez. How is the guys expected to win any games if the offense only averages 6 runs of offensive support per start.
• Shawn Riggans started the season in a funk and needed an attitude adjustment. He got one.
• Shawn Riggans could start tonight, but we expect that tomorrow’s day game after a night game, makes more sense.
• Edwin Jackson says we won’t see anything different tonight, despite an extra bullpen session this week. oh great, so we should expect 6 runs in 4 innings with about 63 walks.
• Elijah Dukes has done exactly the only thing he could do this week. He has kept his mouth shut and last night he hit the ball real hard.