Down On The Farm: Chad Orvella And Tim Corcoran Called Up From Durham

Although no official announcement has been made by the Rays, Tim Corcoran and Chad Orvella were unavailable for last night’s game for the Durham Bulls as they have been promoted to the Rays to replace the demoted Ruddy Lugo and the suspended Juan Salas, as reported by the Durham Herald-Sun. The move is not a surprise as both pitchers have experience at the Major League level. Orvella had a 2.76 ERA with 21 strikeouts in 16.1 innings. After a slow start, he had been much stronger and nearly unhittable recently as he has only allowed 1 run and 3 hits in his last 14.1 innings. Corcoran had a 2.51 ERA in 14.1 innings with Durham.

Durham 7, Norfolk 4. With the Bulls short two reliever, JP Howell knew he had to work deep into the game and struck out 8 in 7 innings. He did give up 4 runs in the 6th inning, but did not walk a batter. Elliot Johnson was 2-4 with his 4th home run. Justin Ruggiano was 3-4 with a double.

Montgomery 2, Tennessee 1. Chris Seddon gave up only 1 run on 6 hits and no walks in 8 innings. He struck out 4. Reid Brignac was 1-4 with his 4th stolen base and Evan Longoria was 0-2 with a walk.

Dunedin 7, Vero Beach 3 (gm 1).

Vero Beach 7, Dunedin 4 (gm 2).

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

• Desmond Jennings of the Columbus Catfish was named the Devil Rays minor league player of the month. In 24 games he hit .320 with 2 home runs and 12 stolen bases, that included a 17-game hitting streak.

AL East Roundup: Yankees Spent $46 Million On Single-A Pitcher

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Boston Red Sox	20	10	–	7-3	W1	—
New York Yankees	14	16	6.0	6-4	L1	127
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	14	17	6.5	5-5	L1	126
Baltimore Orioles	14	18	7.0	3-7	L2	125
Toronto Blue Jays	13	18	7.5	2-8	L6	125

Mariners 3, Yankees 2. Instead of spending $28 million on a 45-year old starting pitcher, maybe the Yankees should find a new set up pitcher. Kyle Farnsworth, the man with a very fast, and very straight fastball has given up a run in 5 appearances this season. The latest was the tying run in the 8th with New York up 2-1. Mo Rivera than gave up a solo shot to Adrian Beltre in the 9th for the loss.

Indians 10, Orioles 1. The O’s are in prime form as they get ready to host the Devil Rays at Camden Yards on Tuesday. Steve Trachsel gave up only 1 run in 6 innings, and was pulled before the 7th inning. 4 relievers combined to give up 9 runs over the next three innings, in a very Tampa Bayian performance. Of course the difference is the Rays bullpen cost about $26 while the Orioles spent about $50 million on theirs.

NOTE FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

• The Yankees spent $46 million on Kei Igawa, and now he is the richest guy in single-A, as he was optioned to Tampa. This is the beauty of the Yankees. And by “beauty” we mean shitty. It is not that they can afford to pay Roger Clemens over $8,000 per pitch. No, the problem with baseball is that the Yankees can send a $46 million pitcher to the minors. How many other teams can afford to swallow high-priced mistakes.
• Of course the biggest question we have is, “Who were the Yankees bidding against?” The Astros are going nowhere and the Red Sox didn’t need him.
• This is why Yankees fans are crazy. They and their reporters suggest idiotic things LIKE THIS. Sure, let’s make Roger Clemens a reliever because Mo Rivera may be struggling. He hasn’t done it since college and I’m sure that is why the Yankees are paying him $28 million. Great idea. *banging head on desk*
• Joe Torre was suspended for last night’s game and Scott Proctor was suspended for 4 games following an incident in Sundays game with Seattle in which Proctor threw at a batter. Proctor is appealing his suspension.

The Hangover: Finally, A Reliever Loses His Job

A’s 5, Devil Rays 3.
After winning three of the previous four series, the Rays came back to earth a little by dropping the rubber match with the A’s. The good news is, that despite throwing both Casey Fossum and Edwin Jackson in the series, the Rays only allowed 12 runs in the three games combined. That marks the fewest number of runs allowed by the Rays in a 3-4 game series this year. In fact the on two different occasions the Rays have allowed 12 runs in a single game. In fact the bullpen was above par for the first time this season, with only 5 runs in 11.2 innings and have only allowed 2 runs in the last 9 innings of work.

The Rays have the day off today before beginning a a very important stretch of 6 games on the road and in the division. On Tuesday, the Rays will begin a 3 game set in Baltimore before heading to Toronto for 3 more. Both teams are reeling right now and if the Rays want to make a serious run at The Charlie Hough Line, they win games against the two teams that the Rays have a legitimate shot of finishing ahead of in the division. Three wins this week would be nice. Four would make us down right giddy.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• We have our first bit of roster shakeup this weekend as Ruddy Lugo has been optioned to AAA Durham. He had a 9.28 ERA in 11 appearances. The Rays have not yet announced who will replace Lugo in the lineup.
• BJ Upton is the first player since 1965 (Dick Allen) to lead a league in both hitting and strikeouts for more than one day.
• There are few players in baseball that can look an all-star one inning and a never-will-be the next as often or as extreme as Edwin Jackson. He is still young and already out of options, which forces the Rays to be patient. Joe Maddon states that he may allow JAckson to throw more pitches than his other young starters since Jackson appears to get better the deeper he works into a game.
• Joe Maddon stated that he hasn’t ruled out the possibility of using Al Reyes in three straight games.
• Scott Kazmir may be ready to start hitting his stride. After a couple of starts in which his fastball was topping out around 90, on Saturday it was back up into the mid-90s.
• Saturday’s 9th inning rally and extra-inning win marked the 3rd time this season the Rays have rallied to win when trailing in the 9th inning.
• The Rays will celebrate the opening of their new Venezuelan baseball academy today.

Down On The Farm: Evan Longoria Heats Up

Richmond 2, Durham 0. The Bulls only managed 3 hits, with Brent Butler collecting 2. Jason Hammel only gave up 2 hits in his 6 innings of work but allowed 2 runs, 1 on a ground out and the other on a sac fly. Both in the 1st inning.

Montgomery 9 Missisippi 6. Evan Longoria went 4-4 with his 6th home run of the year to raise his average to .333. Jason Pridie was 2-5 with his 5th stolen base and scored 2 runs. Reid Brignac went 2-5 to get his average back to .300. John Jaso hit his 2nd home run and had 4 RBI.

Columbus 5, Charleston 4. Lewis Rollins pitched 7 shutout innings to lower his ERA to 1.57. He struck out 4. Ryan Royster cooled off just a tad, going hitless in 2 ABs with 2 walks. He is now hitting .361.

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

• Wade Townsend has been shutdown and placed on the DL with a tired arm. Doesn’t sound serious, but we can understand the team taking every precaution with the former first-round pick.

AL East Roundup: Rocket’s Return

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Boston Red Sox	20	10	–	7-3	W1	—
New York Yankees	14	15	5.5	6-4	W2	128
Baltimore Orioles	14	17	6.5	3-7	L1	126
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	14	17	6.5	5-5	L1	126
Toronto Blue Jays	13	18	7.5	2-8	L6	125

Yankees 5, Mariners 0. We can understand if nobody noticed that the Yankees beat the Mariners for their second straight win. Apparently news came down that the Evil Empire added a couple of dollars to their payroll with the signing of some veteran pitcher. With the Red Sox off to a huge start, and Houston being Houston, there is no surprise in this move, so let’s move on.

Red Sox 4, Twins 3. JD Drew drove in 2 runs without hurting himself and Curt Shilling didn’t allow a run until the 7th inning.

Indians 9, Orioles 6. The Tribe scores 7 runs in the 4th and 5th innings and cruised behind CC Sabathia and his crooked cap.

Rangers 3, Blue Jays 2. Michael Young’s solo home run in the 8th put the Rangers on top and sent the Jays to their 6th straight loss.

NOTE FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

• George Steinbrenner‘s support for Joe Torre may have influenced Roger Clemen’s decision to join the Yankees.
• It will be interesting to see how all of Roger Clemen’s special privileges will go over with the rest of the Yankees veteran roster.
• JP Ricciardi revealed that the Jays lied about BJ Ryan’s injury in spring training, telling the media it was a bcak problem when in fact he had a sore elbow.
• With BJ Ryan on the DL, the Jays have been going to Jason Frasor in the 9th, but that could change as Frasor has struggled in the role and could be sent down to the minors.
• MLB has approached the Red sox and the Yankees as two potential teams that could play spring training games in China next season as well open the regular season in Japan.

Peaking Behind The Curtain Of The Great Oz

We have no idea what he have gotten ourselves into today. We have always enjoyed a bit of anonymity here at RI and on these here internets. But this morning, we stepped out a bit from behind the mask of “The Professor” and reveal that indeed most of the time that we are banging away on the keyboard, we in fact are not wearing pants. The fine folks over at My Baseball Bias, have started a weekly Radio show, “Beasts of the East – An AL EAST Radio Show“, and invited us to come on board and represent the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

The show is an hour long and will air every Saturday morning at 11:00 am over at BlogTalkRadio. If you are like us and not usually awake by 11:00 AM on a Saturday (stupid after-hours), the show will be archived and can be downloaded as a podcast. If you are up and care to join me in my typical Saturday morning hangover, the show does take call-ins and instant message questions/comments.

The first episode debuted this morning and you can listen to it above.

Beasts of the East – An AL EAST Radio Show – Debut Tomorrow Morning [MyBaseballBias] The Hits Keep Coming…[BlogTalkRadio]

The Hangover:Another 9th Inning Home Run Given Up By Brian Stokes

A’s 5, Devil Rays 2.
On April 22, the Rays took a 4-2 lead into the 9th inning against the Indians. On that night, Joe Maddon was forced to use Brian Stokes in the 9th inning, with Al Reyes unavailable after having worked the previous two nights. Stokes gave up 3 runs including a 3-run home run to Ryan Garko and the Rays lost the game 6-4. Fast forward 2 weeks and Maddon was once again without Reyes. With the score tied 2-2 in the 9th, Maddon once again turned to Stokes. Stokes once again gave up a 3-run home run. We guess that winning three straight games was just too much to ask for and let’s face it, it has been a while since the bullpen imploded at a very inopportune time. Most of the Rays losses recently have been of the 9-1 variety, but last night reminded us just how shallow the Rays bullpen is.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• BJ Upton has been moved into the #5 spot in the lineup.
  
• Greg Norton began his 2-week rehab stint at Montgomery last night. He was the Biscuits DH and went 1-3 with a double and 2 RBI.
• Joe Maddon is treating this entire season as extended spring training.

Three hours before Friday’s game, all 25 Devil Rays and the entire coaching staff were on the Tropicana Field turf for an extensive session of fundamental work. It sounds basic enough, but it’s a sight rarely seen once calendars turn past March. Pickoffs and pitchers’ fielding practice, cutoffs and relays – they’re drills usually confined to the monotonous days before games begin.

• The Rays bullpen is bad. Just plain bad.

AL East Roundup: Red Sox Threaten To Run Away With Division

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Boston Red Sox	19	9	–	7-3	W3	—
Baltimore Orioles	13	16	6.5	2-8	W1	128
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	13	16	6.5	5-5	L1	128
Toronto Blue Jays	13	16	6.5	4-6	L4	128
New York Yankees	12	15	6.5	4-6	L1	129

Mariners 15, Yankees 11. “Mariners flash May power” reads the headline. See what they did there? May Power. Don’t you just love how they tried to give the headline a real-word double meaning by tying the 15 runs in with the current holiday season. Meantime, Kei Igawa was staked to a 5-0 lead and by the time the 5th innings was over the Yankees were getting pummeled 14-8. We know a lot of Yankees fans are loathing the Igawa signing but seriously, what do you expect if the Yankees don’t give him any run support?

Red Sox 2, Twins 0. We have to reach deep into the recesses of our alcohol-ladened mind to try and remember David Ortiz as a Minnesota Twin. We are told it really did happen, and we can hardly blame the Twins fans if they don’t recognize the prodigal son when he returns every year. The “not-familiar” part is of course, every time he hits a home run as he did last night. His solo shot in the 6th was that Tim Wakefield would need and all of the sudden the Sox have a 6.5 game lead and we don’t see anybody in this division that will be able to catch them.

Orioles 3, Indians 2. The Orioles got 2 runs when they most desperately needed them. Having lost 8 of 9 and trailing 2-1 in the 8th, Nick Markakis got a sac fly to tie the game and then next time up in the 10th won the game with a walk-off single.

Rangers 7, Blue Jays 1. All of a sudden the Jays have lost 4 in a row.

NOTE FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

• Carl Pavano is paying a visit to Dr. James Andrews. Pitchers only go to Andrews for one reason. Surgery and usually of the season-ending kind, not that Yankees fans would mind that.
• When the Yankees landed Kei Igawa, The Yankees thought they got the consolation prize when they failed to land Daisuke Matsuzaka. Turns out he isn’t even the second best Japanese pitching import this year. In fact the Red Sox landed the top 2 with Hideki Okajima in the bullpen and Igawa looking an awful lot a reincarnation of Hideki Irabu.
• A statistical breakdown of the AL East. Like we need to be reminded how bad the Rays bullpen is *commence with banging of head on desk*
• Another AL East pitcher heads to the DL. This time it is the O’s Adam Loewen, who will miss two months with a stress fracture in his elbow. We are getting a little tired of the other teams hogging all the starting pitching injuries. Is there some way we can get Jae Seo or Casey Fossum some of what they are having?
• It doesn’t end there. The Sox placed Mike Timlin on the DL for the second time this season.

Down On The Farm: Wade Davis Tosses No-Hitter For Vero Beach

Durham 3, Norfolk 0. Every night the Durrham Bulls send out a starting pitcher that is a legitimate Major League prospect. It must be a fun thing to watch. Last night it was Andy Sonnanstine. And on this night he threw 8 shutout innings on 7 hits and 1 walk. He struck out 5. Sonnanstine now has a 2.13 ERA 6 starts (38 innings) with 42 strike outs.

Montgomery 7, Mississippi 4. Chris Mason was not as strong as his last three starts (1 er in 18 innings) but did pitch well enough for his 4th win. He gave up 3 runs in 5 innings with 6 strike outs. Reid Brignac was 1-3 with his 7th double and an RBI.

Vero Beach 4, Jupiter 0 (gm 2). Another top pitching prospect went to the mound for the Vero Beach Rays and when the game was over, Wade Davis left the mound with a 7 inning complete game no-hitter. Two hitters reached base (1 walk, 1 error) and Davis faced only 1 over the minimum. He struck out 6 and lowered his ERA to 1.73.

Jupiter 7, Vero Beach 4. In the first game of the double header, Paul Moviel gave up 5 runs in 3 innings.

Columbus 6, Charleston 5. Ryan Royster continues his torrid pace with a 3-4 night and his 4th home run. His average is now.363. He now has multi-hit games in 8 of the last 9. Joshua Butler gave up 1 unearned in 5 innings. He struck out 4.

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

• Evan Longoria got the night off for the first time this season.

The Hangover: One Game Closer To Charlie Hough

Devil Rays 6, Twinkies 4.
Let us paint you a picture. Rays up 5-1 in the 5th and the Twins have the bases loaded. No outs and due up are two of the best hitters in baseball including the AL batting leader. What is the BEST case scenario? 2 runs and a 5-3 lead? Worst case scenario? Flood gates open and the Rays are suddenly down 6-5? That would be the likely scenario for another incarnation of the Rays. But not for James Shields. Shields got Joe Mauer on strikes and Justin Morneau on the pitcher’s best friend…The GIDP. Inning over. No runs. Lead secure. And that folks is why James Shields is an ace. A stopper. A WINNER. Embrace it. Shields is not only the best pitcher on the rays staff. He is one of the best pitchers in baseball right now. He is 3-0 (should be 4-0). And is tied for the league lead with 45 Ks. Tell me how many pitchers in the AL you would take over shields right now. 2? 3? That’s it. And thanks to James the Greater the rays are now tied for second in the AL East and only 1 game behind The Charlie Hough Line (.500).

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• People are all in a tizzy with the Rays in second place. Calm down folks. The Rays are still below .500. Being in second is more an indictment against the rest of the AL East. Our goal right now is the Charlie Hough Line. Get to .500 and then we can discuss the Rays place in the standings.
• Akinori Iwamura talks about his rehab at the Rays minor league complex. He also says that he is still 2-3 weeks away from returning.
• BJ Upton is now leading the AL in hitting after going 2-3. He is now at .381.
• Jonny Gomes got his first start of the season in the field, with Delmon Young, getting his first non-start. Young did come in late in the game for defensive purposes.
• Joe Maddon hopes that winning two in a row will not lead to a lackadaisical attitude in the clubhouse before their series opener against the A’s. One thing we have learned in baseball is that momentum is only as good as tomorrow’s starting pitcher. Tonight? Casey Fossum. *blood pressure rising*
• Another night at the Trop and another runner trips over his own feet.
• The A’s come to the Trop for three games starting tonight. They are 13-14 and 2 games behind the Angels in the AL West after splitting a 2-game set with the Red Sox.
• The A’s will be without Mike Piazza, who went on the DL this week.
• The A’s have the lowest ERA in the AL (3.22), and tonight’s starter, Danny Haren, is the AL leader at 1.60.