Down On The Farm: Another Reason For Adults To Roll Their Eyes At The Ballpark

Durham 7, Norfolk 4. Jeff Niemann was flirting with disaster but surviving until the 6th inning when he was pulled with 1 out and the bases loaded and the Bulls up 5-1. Scott Dohmann allowed all 3 runners to score, on a ground out, an error and a wild pitch. Niemann gave up 4 hits and walked 5.Elliot Johnson and Wes Bankston each homered for Durham.

Mississippi 7, Montgomery 4. Derek Feldkamp gave up 6 runs (5 earned) in 4 innings. Reid Brignac was 0-3 with an RBI sac fly. Evan Longoria was 1-4.

Vero Beach 7, Jupiter 1. Jacob McGee struck out 7 in 6 scoreless innings to lower his ERA to 1.21. Rhyne Hughes was 3-4 with an RBI and is now hitting .349.

Columbus 4, Rome 1. Woods Fines worked into the 7th and only allowed 1 run on 4 hits and 3 walks.

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

• Another Rays minor leaguer has earned player-of-the-week honors. This time it is Wade Davis who is clearly a man among rookies, as he was named FSL pitcher-of-the-week. For the week he gave up 1 run in 14 innings with 17 Ks.
• Uh oh. Wool E. Bull either has new competition in Durham or a Girlfriend. The Bulls introduced a new “mascot”, the Blue Monster.

AL East Roundup: Manny Starting To Be Manny

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Boston Red Sox	17	9	–	6-4	W1	—
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	13	15	5.0	5-5	W2	131
Toronto Blue Jays	13	15	5.0	5-5	L3	131
New York Yankees	11	14	5.5	3-7	W2	132
Baltimore Orioles	12	16	6.0	1-9	L4	130

Yankees 4, Rangers 3. It is strange that the Yankees could have such a pivotal game so early in the season against the Rangers. Of course, it is easier when facing a rookie manager that intentionally walks Jason Giambi to face Hideki Matsui in the 8th inning. Huh? We know he is a rookie manager, but hasn’t he watched baseball in the last 3-4 years. Matsui does one thing very well. He drives in runs. He has a knack for it. The Great Mariano seems to be settling down also, which is not good for the rest of the AL East. He converted his second straight save, but we knew that was bound to happen.

Yankees 5, Rangers 2. The Yanks can make up a lot of ground if they were able to play double-headers against the Rangers every day. Mike Mussina only worked 5 innings, but he only gave up 1 run and the bullpen held on.

Red Sox 8, Mariners 7.Manny Ramirez is an idiot-savant. He knows one thing and he knows it real well. He hits. He hits baseballs. And he hits them very hard.Manny hit two home runs including the game-winner in the 8th. That should scare the Yankees more than anything. The Red Sox have a huge lead and Manny is just starting to be Manny.

Indians 6, Blue Jays 5. Remember in the off-season when the Jays spent a lot of money and all the pundits predicted they would contend with the Sox and the Yankees. Ha! They are still the Jays, and once again it proves that just because you write big checks does not mean you automatically win more games. Next time maybe invest in players that won’t break down three weeks in to the season.

NOTE FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

• The poor Evil Empire. This is what happens when your entire roster is made up of 37 year old players that make $16 million per season. They are old and they are fragile and they get cranky when if they don’t get their afternoon naps. The Yankees were forced to call up two more starting pitchers from the minors and when they make their first starts, New York will be the first team to ever use 10 different starting pitchers in the first 30 games of the season.
• Bob Ryan makes a case for the Red Sox going after Roger Clemens or another pitcher. We can’t see it this year unless somebody comes up lame. Right now Julian “i’m craaaazy” Tavarez is there 5th starter, but they won’t need him in the playoffs. The rest of the rotation looks to be fine.
• Of course bullpen help might be a different story. The Sox placed Mike Timlin on the DL.
• The lack of hitting may not be “driving O’s batty“, but their pitching should be driving them bat-shit crazy. The worst thing for us yesterday? The O’s didn’t play so we couldn’t write about them losing again.

James “The Greater” Quietly Surpasses Kazmir As Rays Ace

It is all about winning series. Tonight James Shields takes the mound in the rubber match against the Twins with a chance for the Rays 3rd series win in their last 4. And we are glad it is Shields toeing the rubber. We have said this before. James Shields is the Devil Rays’ best pitcher right now. Scott Kazmir has a chance to be great. A chance to be a perennial all-star and the talent to be a hall-of-famer. But right now, Kid K is inconsistent. There are still too many outings in which he has to be removed after 5 innings with 110 pitches. We just never know what to expect when Kazmir is pitching. On the other hand we have extreme confidence in Shields right now. We expect 7 innings and 2 runs from Shields. We expect 8 strike outs. And with this offense, that should be enough to win. On a good night Shields is capable of a 2-hit shutout. On a bad night, we will still get 6 innings and a chance to win the ballgame. We can’t say the same thing about Kazmir.

In today’s blog entry at ESPN.com, Buster Olney writes about Shields.

So Shields has made his own adjustments, and the Devil Rays’ right-hander — who starts today against the Twins — has become one of the most underrated pitchers in the majors, racking up 37 strikeouts in 36 innings this year, and a 3.75 ERA. He is learning to pick his spots with that changeup, which is among the best in the majors, seemingly diving into the ground as it nears the plate.

We couldn’t agree more. In the off-season we thought that Shields had proved he could be a serviceable major league starting pitcher. Maybe a good #4. We hoped that the rest of the staff could just hold the rotation together until Jeff Niemann and Mitch Talbot made the jump to the majors in mid-season. Niemann was supposed to be the #2 pitcher to compliment Kid K in the rotation. Little did we know we already had our #2, and right now Niemann is looking like a great option as a #3. And none of this takes into account the torrid starts at AAA of Jason Hammel and Andy Sonnanstine. Hammel has 39 strike outs in 32.3 innings with a 2.48 ERA. Sonnanstine has 37 Ks in 30 innings with a 2.70 ERA. By August, the Rays starting rotation should look like this:

1. Scott Kazmir
2. James Shields
3. Jeff Niemann
4. Jason Hammel/Andy Sonnanstine/Mitch Talbot
5. Edwin Jackson

As of this post, the Devil Rays still have the worst ERA in baseball and are one of only two teams with an ERA north of 5 (5.95). Jae Seo (8.19) and Casey Fossum (8.58) have the two worst ERAs in all baseball. That’s not a typo. The two worst starting pitchers in baseball both pitch for the Devil Rays and somehow the Rays are in third place. Fossum is the only pitcher in baseball without a fastball and Seo’s fastball is mid-80s with about as much movement as an elephant. Seo was a little better his last time out, but right now 6 innings and 2 runs is the best we can expect. Most nights are going to be closer to 4 innings and 5 runs. Same with Fossum. On his best nights, the Rays will have a chance, but that is only when he has perfect stuff. Most nights won’t be in the same zip code.

The questions then become: What can the Rays do with Seo and Fossum and to a lesser extent Jackson? Can any or all of the above be moved? Can they be serviceable in the bullpen? How much seasoning do the horses in AAA need? At what point does Andrew Friedman and Joe Maddon say “Let’s see what we got”? It is almost that time. We are trying to be patient, but we hang our head every time we see Seo and Fossum take the mound and then read the boxscore from Durham the next morning. And yes, the kids will take their lumps in the big leagues. That’s ok. But at least there is upside in their young arms. With Seo and Fossum, what you see is what you get.

In the meantime, James The Greater goes to the mound tonight with a chance to give the Rays a series win over the Twins, and we are excited. We wouldn’t want any other pitcher on the mound.

The Hangover: Handin’ Out Delmons And Chasing Charlie Hough

Devil Rays 4, Twins 3.
Delmon Young likes to throw things very hard and very far and very accurately. We call it Gettin’ A Delmon…Jason Kubel Got A Delmon…In the 4th inning, Kubel rambled a little too far towards second base on a line drive to Delmon Young in right center. Despite catching the ball while moving away from first base, Young turned and fired a pea to Carlos Pena at first to double-up Kubel and get the Rays out of the inning…Justin Morneau Got A Delmon…In the 6th inning, Morneau hit a rocket off the right field wall that would be a double on any other night. But on this night Delmon Young was roaming the FieldTurf II of the Trop. He played the ball off the wall, spun and fired a rocket to Brendan Harris at second base. Both Kubel and Morneau should just be grateful that Young wasn’t throwing a bat.

As for the rest of the game, the Rays once again were able to get to Twins closer Joe Nathan, scoring 2 in the 9th to tie the game. In 3 appearances this season against the Rays (3 innings) Nathan has given up 9 hits and 4 runs. In his other 10 appearances (10.1 innings) he has allowed only 10 hits and 1 run. In the bottom of the 10th inning (the Rays first extra inning affair of the year) Ben Zobrist fell rounding third base on Harris’ double, but made up for the gaffe beating the throw home on Dioner Navarro’s ground ball to short.

The Rays are now in sole possession of third place in the AL East, 5.5 games behind the Red Sox and only 1 game behind the Jays for 2nd place. Even more intriguing is that the Rays are only 4 games back in the wild card. But that is the last time we will mention that number until the Rays reach a more important milestone, .500. In our minds there are three numbers the Rays are chasing. 6.5 games is the Rays “mark” in the AL East. 4 games in the Rays mark in the wild card race, but neither of those numbers mean anything until the Rays reach “The Charlie Hough Line”. For his career Hough was 216-216. The knuckleballer was the epitome of a .500 pitcher. The Rays cannot think of any other teams until they first surpass Hough’s career winning percentage. So from now on we will only speak in terms of “Games behind Charlie Hough”. Right now the Rays are 1.5 games behind Charlie Hough.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• The Rays base stealing is greatly improved in the last 10 days. After only being successful on 14 of their first 27 attempts, the Rays have stolen 14 of their last 17.
• Josh Hamilton was named NL Rookie of the Month for April. During the month, Hamilton, who started the season as a reserve, hit .266 with 6 home runs, 16 RBI and a stolen base.
• Akinori Iwamura finished second in the AL Rookie of the Month voting to fellow Japanese rookie Hideki Okajima of the Red Sox.
• Greg Norton has been getting at bats in extended spring training, and will begin a rehab assignment in Montgomery on Friday, where he will get 27-30 at bats (6-7 games). Norton should be back with the Rays a week from Friday when the Rays begin a series in Toronto.
• Now that Benny Boo Boo is on the bench, he has more free time to visit local school children. The upsetting part is that apparently BenZo was accompanied by his wife and mlb.com could not provide us with any pictures. That’s ok, we still have Julianne’s MySpace page.
• FoxSports has their first power ranking of the season and the Rays come in at #22. Might be the highest we have ever seen the Devil Rays ranked in any power rankings. Of course they mention that Jeff Niemann is returning from Tommy John surgery. Must have him mixed up with Wade Townsend.

AL East Roundup: Somebody Had To Take Blame In South Bronx

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Boston Red Sox	17	9	–	6-4	W1	—
Toronto Blue Jays	13	14	4.5	5-5	L2	132
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	12	15	5.5	5-5	W1	131
Baltimore Orioles	12	16	6.0	1-9	L4	130
New York Yankees	10	14	6.0	2-8	W1	132

Red Sox 6, A’s 4. Josh Beckett has 6 starts. Josh Beckett has 6 wins. Roger who?

Tigers 3, Orioles 2. Gary Sheffield is warming up and we couldn’t think of a better team for it hapen against than the O’s. A few days after being benched because of a slow start, Sheff went 4-4 with his 3rd home run. Steve Trachsel gave a rare strong performance by a Baltimore pitcher as he lasted 7 innings. Somehow Trachsel pitched 7 innings and the game last less than 6 hours.

Indians 7, Blue Jays 6 (11 inn). Victor Zambrano made his first start of 2007 and the Mets fans are still angry. He gave up 2 runs on 4 hits and 3 walks in just 2.2 innings. Travis Hafner won the game in the 11th with an RBI double against a defensive shift.

NOTE FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

• Things aren’t going so well in the South Bronx. Two days after giving the GM and the Manager a show of support, the Yankees fired their strength coach. The coach had zero experience with professional baseball players before the season and many of the players had already complained publicly. The hamstring injury to Phillip Hughes while in the midst of throwing a no-hitter, was the final straw.
• Last season Roger Clemens signed with Houston on May 31. This year with all the pitching injuries on the Yankees roster, he may not be able to wait that long.
• JD Drew missed a game with “viral symptons“, also known as “just being JD Drew”.
• Adam Loewen is the latest AL East pitcher to feel pain in his arm. He is scheduled to see a doctor to determine the extent of the injury.

Down On The Farm: Rough Start/Strong Finish For JP Howell

Norfolk 4, Durham 1 (7 inn). JP Howell struck out 7 without a walk in 7 innings but 2 home runs in the first were all that Norfolk needed. Howell would settle down and retire 19 of the last 20 batters he faced before the game was called due to rain. Chris Richard was 3-3 with a double and the Bulls only RBI.

Mississippi 9, Montgomery 1. Chris Seddon gave up 6 runs (5 earned) in 4 innings. Reid Brignac and Evan Longoria each had 2 hits, while Longoria had the Biscuits lone RBI.

Columbus 9, Rome 8. We are a little worried. Wade Townsend, making just his 6th start of the season, was pulled after only 3 innings, despite only giving up 1 run. He did allow 2 hits and 2 walks and struck out 2. Ryan Royster was 2-5 with 2 RBI to raise his average to .345.

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

• Jason Hammel leads the IL with 39 strikeouts.
• Evan Longoria is 5th in the SL with 5 HR and Reid Brignac is second with 20 RBI.

The Hangover: A Comedy Of Errors

Twins 9, Devil Rays 1.
Sometimes it is so bad you can’t help but laugh at your own team’s ineptitude. None of the Twins first 5 runs scored on a hit (2 on errors, 2 on ground outs and 1 on a sac fly). You know it is bad when you expect a routine ground ball to be botched somehow. And we aren’t just talking about Upton’s bobbled grounders or Edwin Jackson’s attempt to throw out the beer man in the left field bleachers. There are also the mental mistakes such as Brendan Harris, on what should have been a routine double play ground ball, backing up on the play and allowing just enough time for the batter to beat out the throw to first. It was just one of those nights. All you could do was laugh.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• The Twins are what Joe Maddon hopes the Rays can become.
• BJ Upton‘s new found patience is paying off big dividends. He now has multiple hits in 4 straight games and is second in the AL in hitting.
• Jae Seo insists that he will be a different pitcher tonight. There is nothing on Seo’s Devil Rays resume that indicates that is possible. Right now, Seo is just keeping the second spot in the rotation warm for Jason Hammel.
• The Rays have been caught stealing 16 times, which is 7 more than the next team (LA Dodgers).
• In a recent survey, 65% of respondents do not want the Rays to change their colors, with slightly more than half of those saying that the team should also keep “Devil” as part of the team name. Personally we lean towards keeping the team name as is. The team is already referred to as “The Rays” about 90% of the time. As for the colors, we like the green although we are not fans of the green jersey. We are big fans of the grey jerseys with the green hats and undershirts and like the white jerseys. We have no opinion on changing the colors because we just aren’t sure what the new scheme would look like.

AL East Roundup: More Bad Luck For Evil Empire And It Is Not Going To Get Better Anytime Soon

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Boston Red Sox	16	9	–	6-4	L1	—
Toronto Blue Jays	13	13	3.5	5-5	L1	134
Baltimore Orioles	12	15	5.0	2-8	L3	132
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	11	15	5.5	5-5	L1	132
New York Yankees	10	14	5.5	2-8	W1	133

Yankees 10, Rangers 1. The Yankees just can’t catch a break this season. Phil Hughes, one of the top prospects in baseball making just his second start, was pitching a no-hitter through 6.1 innings but had to leave the game with a strained hamstring that will keep him out of action for 4-6 weeks. The Yankees 5-6-7 hitters, Hideki Matsui, Jorge Posada and Robinson Cano combined for 8 hits and 7 RBI.

A’s 5, Red Sox 4 (10 inn). The Sox led 4-0 after 3 innings, but the A’s rallied with 2 in the 9th to tie the game on a 2-run home run by Travis Buck off of Jonathon Papplebon, and won the game with an RBI double in the 10th by Dan Johnson.

Tigers 5, Orioles 4. Former Devil Ray Danys Baez gave up 2 runs in the 8th to break a 3-3 tie. Adam Loewen gave up 3 runs in 5 innings, and it has now been almost three weeks since an O’s pitcher worked at least 7 innings. Baltimore has lost 8 of 9.

Indians 12, Blue Jays 4. The Blue Jays are a .500 team and AJ Burnett is the epitome of a .500 pitcher. Burnett made his 6th start of the season and he gave up 7 runs in 5 innings. He now has 3 good starts on the season and has been shelled 3 times.

NOTE FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

• Things don’t get any easier for the Yankees. Starting May 15, after home-and-home series with the Mariners and the Rangers, the Yankees embark on a 22-game stretch that includes 7 games with the White Sox, 6 games with the Red Sox, 3 with the Angels and 3 with the Mets. Normally the Yankees would be happy with a .500 record over a stretch that difficult, but that might not cut it this season.
• Jonny Damon flew to Orlando to see a back specialist. He says he is feeling better and will likely avoid the DL. This reeks of being a problem all season and we bet Bernie Williams is kicking himself right now for being a stubborn ass in the spring.
• This is a new one…Josh Towers was pulled from the Jays rotation because the Jays don’t score enough when he is pitching. Is he bad luck? If the Nationals did that, nobody would be in their rotation.

Down On The Farm:

Norfolk 2, Durham 0. Jason Hammel continues his domination of IL batters. This time he struck out 10 in 6 innings with 0 walks, but it wasn’t enough as he gave up 2 runs on 7 hits. Wes Bankston had 3 of the Bulls 4 hits. He is hitting .301.

Jacksonville 8, Montgomery 4. Jeremy Flanagan made his first start of the season and gave up 4 runs in 3 innings. Gabriel Martinez was 2-3 with a double and an RBI. He is hitting .339.

Vero Beach 6, Brevard County 5. Matt Walker struck out 7 in 6 innings and only gave up 1 earned run to pick up his first win of the season. Patrick Cottrell hit his 4th home run and is now hitting .354 on the season.

Rome 2, Columbus 0, 13 inn. Lewis Rollins pitched 6 scoreless innings, and Ryan Reid struck out 5 in 3 innings of 1-hit shutout relief. Ryan Royster had 2 of the Catfish 4 hits and raised his average to .342.

Notes From Down On The Farm…

• They keep saying that Jake McGee and Wade Davis are on the “fast track” yet they are still A-ball. Both pitchers are working on adding a change up, which seems silly at Vero Beach, but is necessary at any higher levels.

The Hangover: All Hail The King, Al Reyes

Al Reyes is 5 years older and has 4 years more experience than any other member of the 2007 Tampa Bay Devil Rays. After a second Tommy John surgery and missing most of 2006, nobody knew what to expect from King Reyes in 2007. So far his performance has been better than even the most optimistic Rays homer could have expected. In 2007 the King already has more saves in April (9), than he had in his entire career entering 2007 (6).

Bill Chastain describes his calm demeanor on the mound. We are not sure he is calm, but we would say he is under control. In fact, as the season progresses we are starting to see more and more emotion from Reyes when he takes the mound. Nothing big…But you can see it in the intensity in his face and the subtle gestures after striking out a batter. He is pitching with the utmost confidence right now which is an absolute requirement to be an effective closer. Next time he takes the mound see how quickly he is ready to throw the next pitch after getting the ball back from the catcher. That is a sign a pitcher is pitching with confidence. Watch what happens when a batter calls time with Reyes on the mound. He leans back and looks away in subtle little sign of anger, but never steps off. He is ready to throw.

Even though he rarely tops 90 mph, the look on his face indicates that he knows nobody can touch him right now. Hopefully that is something that is not lost on the rest of the Devil Rays pitching staff. Life is easier for a pitcher if he throws in the upper 90s, but major league hitters can hit a good fastball if it is in a bad spot. Being a successful pitcher is about hitting spots and changing speeds. It is why a pitcher like Greg Maddux continues to win games even though he only throws in the mid-80s. He doesn’t have a nasty slider or a big 12-6 hook or a split-finger. He throws strikes, hits his spots and changes speeds. King Reyes knows this and it has been impressive.

• Al Reyes is one of the top 10 surprises of the first month in the AL.
• It is amazing to see how many people are jumping back on the BJ Upton bandwagon. Two months ago, all anybody read was that he would be lucky if he was ever a serviceable major leaguer and that it could only happen if he was in the outfield.
• As for BJ Upton himself. He is scared. Why? Because he never hits well early in the season. Wow. This is going to be fun to watch. Then try imagining Upton with 10-15 extra pounds next season.
• Joe Maddon does not see a need to change the team’s pre-game routine, despite a number of games recently in which the Rays fell behind early. Papa Joe blames it on youth and believes the players will grow out of it.
• An in depth look at the first month of the Devil Rays season. In summary, it is too early to condemn this team. Brendan Harris is the player named as “who’s hot” and Edwin Jackson is the player named as “who’s not”. They probably could have thrown 8 pitchers names in a hat and picked one and they wouldn’t have been wrong on the second one.