The Hangover: Shawn Bleepin’ Camp

Indians 2, Devil Rays 1.
The entire evening you could sense the impending doom. It didn’t come in the first 6 innings as Edwin Jackson pitched his way around trouble with his third straight decent outing. We were sure it would come in the 7th inning when Jay Witasick walked two batters but Casey Fossum was able to kill the rally by getting Travis Hafner to ground out to end the inning. We thought it might come in the 8th inning, when Gary Glover gave up a single after striking out the first two batters. But Glover got out of the inning by getting Josh Barfield to pop up to Ty Wigginton.

But that was when the axe fell. We thought about who was left in the bullpen. Joe Maddon had already used three relievers. That meant that only three relievers were left in the ‘pen. With the Rays on the road, Al Reyes needed to be saved in case the Rays were to take the lead and a save opportunity arose. Maddon could have gone to Jason Hammel, but he faced 7 batters the night before and is not yet used to pitching on consecutive days. In addition, Maddon needed to keep Hammel in the back pocket in case the game went extra innings.

This is why we hate the definition of a “quality start”. Six innings from your starting pitcher is NOT a quality start. A quality start should be a minimum of 7+1+1, meaning the team gets 7 innings from the starter and then he hands the ball to the set up man for 1 and then to the closer for 1. With Jackson only going 6 innings, it forces the manager to use the entire bullpen to get through the game. In this case, if Maddon was going to pull Glover after one inning, that left one relief pitcher to come out for the ninth inning. Shawn Bleepin’ Camp. As soon as we saw Camp come into the game, our heads dropped and we heard millions hundreds of Rays fans everywhere scream out in pain. The game was over, the players just didn’t know it yet.

Shawn Bleepin’ Camp. He makes us want to hurt baby stuffed animals.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Last night? We started with a little A, mixing in the occasional C and D, mostly when the Rays were hitting. When Joe Maddon brought in Shawn Camp we moved into full-fledged B with lots of C and D. When the home run was hit, we fell deep into E.
• Why is all of the Devil Rays’ media obsessed with the idea that A Devil Ray could still be elected to start the All-Star game? On Friday afternoon, AL All-Star manager Jim Leyland called Joe Maddon to seek his opinion on which Devil Ray was most deserving of being an all-star. Leyland was scheduled to call ever manager for a team that did not have an elected representative. That’s nice, but then Carter Gaddis throws in this rediculous line…

But, Maddon said, Leyland hadn’t learned the elected players’ names by the time the two spoke Friday afternoon. So the phone call didn’t necessarily mean the Rays had no players elected.

1. Technically true.
2. NO DEVIL RAYS ARE GOING TO GET ELECTED TO START THE ALL-STAR GAME…
3. If Carter Gaddis thinks that a player that got 450,000 votes in the first 62 days of voting, might somehow get 800,000 in the last 3 days of voting, then Carter Gaddis is an idiot.

• In the Rays last 540 games, Rocco Baldelli has played in 263 and missed 277.
• The Devil Rays had an awful second half in 2006. The Rays second half schedule could mean we are in for a repeat. And if the Rays trade Al Reyes...I just threw up in my mouth a little. If we have to reintroduce the “The David Price Sweepstakes” we will hurt a stuffed animal named Shawn Camp.

Down On The Farm: It’s Been A Disappointing Season For Reid Brignac And Elliot Johnson

Durham 6, Rochester 4. Jeff Niemann picked up his 5th win in his last 5 starts by striking out 7 in 6 innings. He was touched for 3 runs, but only 1 earned on 7 hits and 4 walks. On the year, Niemann is 9-4 with a 3.52 ERA and 92 strike outs in 94.2 innings. Niemann has been consistently “good” this year, but he has not demonstrated consistent “greatness” that we keep waiting for…Justin Ruggiano added 3 more hits and an RBI. He is now hitting .297. He also stole his 14th and 15th bases of the season. Chad Orvella retired the last 4 batters of the game for his 10th save.

Montgomery 8, Mississippi 2. James Houser improved to 4-1 allowing only 2 hits and no walks in 8 innings. He struck out 5 and allowed 2 runs (1 earned). In the first inning, the leadoff hitter singled and stole second. He then scored following a sac bunt and a ground out. After the single, Houser then retired the next 22 batters he faced, before a triple with one out in the 8th. That runner scored when he tried to stretch his triple into a home run but catcher John Jaso couldn’t handle the relay from Reid Brignac and Jaso was charged with an error. Jaso did go 2-5 and hit his 7th home run. He is hitting .330. Reid Brignac was 1-5 and stole his 10th base. Evan Longoria went 2-5 with 2 strike outs.

Tampa 2, Vero Beach 1. Mike Wlodaczyk struck out 8 in 6.2 innings, but took the loss after allowing 2 runs on 5 hits and 3 walks. Rhyne Hughes picked up the Rays only RBI with a single following Sergio Pedroza’s lead-off triple in the 7th.

Columbus 4, Rome 2. After 3 straight losses, Heath Rollins is back to his winning ways with his second straight W raising his record to 8-3. He struck out 6 in 7 innings and allowed 2 runs on 7hits and 1 walk. Ryan Royster was 2-4 with his 14th home run, a 3-run shot in the 8th that turned a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 Catfish lead.

Hudson Valley 3, Brooklyn 2 (gm 1).

Brooklyn 5, Hudson Valley 0 (gm 2).

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

• The Devil Rays placed two members on the Baseball Prospectus’ “The All-Disappointment Team“.

Second Base: Elliot Johnson, Devil Rays. Last year at Double-A Montgomery, Johnson did a little bit of everything, reaching double-digits in all three extra-base categories and swiping 20 bases. With 10 doubles, four triples and seven home runs at Triple-A Durham, Johnson has a good shot at repeating the feat this year, but a profound lack of singles has him hitting just .204/.277/.347.

Shortstop: Reid Brignac, Devil Rays. After winning California League MVP honors last year, Brignac looked like a sure-fire elite prospect with a .302/.340/.500 mark for Double-A Montgomery in April, but following a homerless May and a .229 June, his total line sits at a well-below-expectations mark of .246/.298/.399. [Professor’s note: Brignac has also committed a kazillion errors]

• The Princeton Rays were rained out with the Rays leading 4-1 in the 5th inning.

[THE HANGOVER] Strikeouts Are Fascist, Groundballs Are More Democratic

White Sox 5, Devil Rays 1.

The Professor visits Scott Kazmir at home…

The Professor: Hey Scott, how’s it going?
Kid K: Well, this morning I woke up and the sun was shining and my dog, Homer Philippoussis Odyssey Shawn Camp the Third, had already retrieved all 13 of my newspapers. And then I went to the park with Homer Philippoussis Odyssey the Third and we tossed a tennis ball around. Then I cooked some grits. And mind you, I am from Texas and no self-respecting Texan eats instant grits. No, I cook my grits nice and slow. Sure the instant grits are often just as good, but man, there is nothing like cooking…
The Professor: (interrupting Scott) So it’s going well?
Kid K: That’s what I was saying
The Professor: (noticing a half-eaten bowl of grits on table) ok? so if your grits are so good, then how come you didn’t finish your bowl this morning?
Kid K: Well…first of all, when I am eating my grits on days that I am scheduled to pitch, I like to take really small bites. Sometimes it can take me 120 bites just to get through half a bowl and then I am too tired to finish the grits. But man, that half-a-bowl is awesome!
The Professor: It seems like such a waste of good grits.
Kid K: (laying bowl of grits on floor) Nah. I give the other half of the bowl to my dog, Homer Philippoussis Odyssey Shawn Camp the Third. He likes to finish the meals I can’t finish. The only problem is that a lot of times, he gets the grits all over the place.
The Professor: (watches dog eating grits) boy, he sure does make a mess of those grits.
Kid K: yeah, but it is really only 2 or 3 bites that make the mess. The other bites are really good and every once in a while he doesn’t make a mess at all.
The Professor: So, I was hoping to talk to you about how your season is going so far. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions.
Kid K: Sure. go ahead.
The Professor: At times this season you have looked like your typical dominating self, but at the same time you have had trouble working deep into games. What would you say has changed in your approach this season as compared to the first half of last season?
Kid K: That is a great question. But I am sorry. I need to cut this interview short. My mouth is tired and I need to take a nap.
The Professor: I understand Scott, but I promise we really only need a few more answers from you
Kid K: (laying head down on kitchen table)
The Professor: Scott?
Kid K: (snoring)

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• One unbiased blogger thinks Carl Crawford should be the starting left fielder for the AL All-Star squad.
• In case you missed it in our “Down on the Farm” segment, BJ Upton made his first rehab start for the Vero Beach Devil Rays, playing second and going 0-3.
• It was reported earlier that the Rays were hoping to have BJ Upton back in the lineup this weekend in Cleveland. Now it appears that management will wait until Tuesday when the Rays take on the Red Sox.

Down On The Farm: Mike Prochaska Increases Scoreless Innings Streak To 21.

Rochester 12, Durham 0. A night that Tony Peguero would like to forget…Peguero allowed 11 runs in 4+ innings, on 9 hits and 5 walks including 4(!) home runs. After giving up 9 runs in the first 4 innings, we can’t imagine why Peguero was even allowed to start the 5th inning. Was he being punished? Were the Durham fans being punished? Former Bull Darnell McDonald had three hits and 5 RBI.

Montgomery 8, MIssissippi 0. BJ Upton made his first rehab start for the Rays, playing second base and going 0-3. Mike Prochaska ran his scoreless innings streak to 21 after he pitched 6 shutout innings to pick up his 4th win. He gave up 7 hits and 2 walks while striking out 5. The lefty has not allowed a run since the 1st inning of his June 16th start against Jacksonville. Evan Longoria was 3-4 with his 16th double and John Jaso added 2 hits in 3 at bats including his 16th double.

Tampa 3, Vero Beach 2 (10 inn). JeffKamrath gave up 2 runs on 5 hits and 4 walks in 5.2 innings. Chris Kelly came on in the 10th and gave up 3 singles and added a wild pitch. The last single drove in the game-winner for the Yankees. No Rays managed more than 1 hit and only Rhyne Hughes had an extra-base hit, his 18th double.

Columbus 7, Rome 5. Jeremy Hellickson struck out 4 in 6 innings and gave up only 2 runs to pick up his 5th win in 7 decisions. His ERA is now 2.73. Four players had 2 hits apiece including Nevin Ashley who added his 11th stolen base, Ryan Royster who is now hitting .317 and Matt Fields who drove in 3 and had his 18th double. Desmond Jennings hit his 6th home run, a 3-run shot in the 6-run 6th.

Princeton 8, Greeneville 5.

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

• The Hudson Valley Renegades were rained out and will play a double-header on Friday.

The Hangover: Devil Rays Bullpen Blows Lead…Again

White Sox 5, Devil Rays 3.
2008…2008…2008…We still don’t know what to think about this team. We braced ourselves for what we knew would be a trying season. The team was talented, but it was very young, which means we knew they would be inconsistent. The team still had enormous holes in the bullpen which means we knew they would struggle late in games. The rotation had several stop-gaps, just waiting for an influx of talent which means there would be many games in which the bullpen wouldn’t have a chance to blow the lead.

But then along came James Shields and BJ Upton and Al Reyes and Carlos Pena and Brendan Harris. Out were Jae Seo and Casey Fossum and the headache named Elijah Dukes. And we saw the team playing well. We saw the team coming from behind late in games. We saw strong performances from the starting pitchers and we have seen lots of home runs and at times we have seen good defense. Our hopes are rising.

But as good as the Rays have looked this season, would you be surprised that after 76 games the Rays have the exact same record in 2007 that they had last year? They do.

We can see the greatness coming. But it is not here yet. And that folks is frustrating as hell.

We just need to keep reminding ourselves that this is not about 2007. This is about 2008. Right?

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Anybody out there think the Rays still should have given Julio Lugo $8 million a year? Anybody?
• Julio Lugo ($9 million): .191/.256/.285 (4 HR, 20 SB, 9 errors)
• Brendan Harris ($386K): .311/.369/.483 (8 HR, 2 SB, 7 errors)
• Carl Crawford is bracing himself for another All-Star snub. However, it is different this year. In years past, Crawford was snubbed because he was a relative unknown on an unpopular and bad baseball team. Crawford is no longer an unknown. Rather, Crawford is well-known, but his stats are not living up to the hype this season.
• BJ Upton and Shawn Riggans are both close to returning. Upton could be back this weekend. The team has yet to give Riggans a timetable for a return.
• The Extrapolator extrapolates on Delmon Young. Just don’t watch the video clip.
• Before last night’s game, Delmon Young was hitting .331 in his last 38 games. He leads AL rookies in hits, extra-base hits and RBI.
• Don’t look now, but Josh Wilson has started four straight games. The Rays record in those four games? 1-3. We’re just sayin….

Down On The Farm: Jae Seo Remembers He is Jae Seo

Roschester 10, Durham 4. After allowing only 1 hit in his last outing, Jae Seo looked more like the pitcher we have all grown to loathe. Seo was pulled before completing the 4th inning after allowing 9 runs on 12 hits and 2 walks. He struck out 1 and gave up 3 home runs. Justin Ruggiano and Joel Guzman were each 2-5. Bennny Boo Boo Zobrist was 0-5.

Mississippi 7, Montgomery 2. Jonathon Barratt walked 5 in 5 innings and allowed 3 runs (2 earned). Fernando Perez‘s 4th home run, was one of only 5 hits for the Biscuits. Reid Brignac and Evan Longoria were each 0-4.

Tampa 8, Vero Beach 0. Jake McGee got pounded for his 3rd loss of the season. He struck out 7 in 4.1 innings, but gave up 6 runs. His ERA now sits at 3.11 on the season. The Rays were shut out on 3 hits.

Columbus 5, Rome 3 (10 inn.). Ryan Royster was 3-5 and hit his 13th home run, a 2-run walk-off shot in the bottom of the 10th. He also added his 19th double. Woods Fines struck out 5 in 6 innings, allowing 3 runs (2 earned). Desmond Jennings was 2-4 and Nevin Ashley added 2 hits in 5 at bats.

Hudson Valley 2, Staten Island 1 (5 inn.). Doug Waechter picked up the win in his second rehab start by pitching 5 innings and only allowing 1 unearned run in the rain-shortened game. He struck out 2 and walked none.

Princeton 4, Greeneville 1 (6 inn.).

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

• Jeff Niemann was named to the AAA all-star team. The IL all-star team will face a team of all-stars from the PCL on July 11. Niemann will also participate in MLB’s futures game.
• Five members of the Montgomery Biscuits were named to the Southern League’s South Division All-Star team. Catcher John Jaso, starting pitcher Chris Mason and closer Dale Thayer will all participate in the game. Evan Longoria and Jason Pridie were each selected but will miss the game. Longoria will be participating in major league baseball’s future’s game, while Pridie was promoted to AAA Durham last week.
• Yet another player of the week award for a Rays prospect. This time it was Columbus first baseman Matt Fields being named the SAL player-of-the-week.
• The city of Durham unveiled a new Bronze Bull, as part of a revitalization project. the Bull is…umm…very anatomically correct.

DevilRays.com Knows Not Of This Baseball That We Speak Of

We are beginning to wonder who the hell writes the headlines for the stories at DevilRays.com. We hope for Dawn Klemish’s sake, it is not the same person that writes the articles. After this latest diaper filled with Indian poop, we are not even sure it is somebody that knows anything about baseball.

Yesterday Dawn Klemish of DevilRays.com wrote a story about the All-Star game voting that ran with the title “Speedsters in All-star Game hunt“. And just to make sure we didn’t confuse Carl Crawford and BJ Upton with other “speedsters” like Jose Reyes and Benji Molina they added the sub-headline “Crawford, Upton need help though to go to San Francisco“.

We haven’t been paying attention to the vote totals, but we can tell you that the only way Crawford and Upton are getting to San Francisco is to buy their own coach ticket and scalp tickets outside of PacBell Park like the rest of us. We don’t need to look at the vote totals because the voting is a popularity test and Devil Rays players are about as popular as a rectal exam. And even if all 632 Devil Rays fans voted their allotted 25 times, Crawford and Upton still wouldn’t even be able to see first place.

Having not yet read the article, nor have we looked at any of the voting, let us now calculate exactly how much “help” Crawford and Upton need with THREE DAYS LEFT TO VOTE…

AL Second Basemen	Team	Total Votes
P. Palanco	DET	1,269,717
R. Cano	NYY	965,712
D. Pedroia	BOS	585,544
L. Castillo	MIN	529,031
BJ Upton	TB	490,389

AL Outfielders	Team	Total Votes
V. Guerrero	ANA	2,043,824
M. Ordonez	DET	1,445,899
I. Suzuki	SEA	1,409,762
M. Ramirez	BOS	1,386,522
T. Hunter	MIN	1,085,445
G. Sheffield	DET	957,823
G. Sizemore	CLE	802,752
B. Abreu	NYY	746,290
J. Damon	NYY	708,877
H. Matsui	NYY	666,546
JD Drew	BOS	640,889
C. Crisp	BOS	559,339
S. Sosa	TEX	515,440
C. Crawford	TB	434,507

All-star voting began on April 23. In the first 62 days of voting, Upton and Crawford managed to pick up less than 500,000 votes each. In order to be voted onto the AL All-star team, Upton will need to find another 800,000 votes in the next 3 days while Crawford will need more than 1.5 million. Of course, then they will only win the voting if nobody else receives any votes in the next three days.

But hey, Crawfor
d and Upton are “in the hunt”.

In defense of Klemish, she really does not imply at any point in the article that Crawford and Upton have any shot at being voted to the All-Star team, although she did add this tidbit…

Upton is back in fifth place in a close battle for the second-base spot on the All-Star roster that’s led by Detroit’s Placido Polanco.

The only truth to that statement is that Upton is in 5th place, and Polanco leads the voting. There is no “close battle” and Upton certainly is not part of it.

Could Upton and Crawford still be named to the All-Star team as reserves? Certainly, but not likely. The managers of each squad have much more flexibility when it comes to the pitching staff then they do with the position players. James Shields has probably pitched his way out of consideration, which leaves Al Reyes as the logical choice to be the Devil Rays lone All-Star representative.

Speedster in All-star Game hunt [DevilRays.com]

The Hangover: Ken Rosenthal Is A Smart Guy (Sometimes)

White Sox 6, Devil Rays 1.
just a quick “Hangover” today…we promise to drink more tonight…

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports says it would be a mistake to trade Carl Crawford (we agree):
  

  “I wouldn’t even consider trading him,” the GM (of a rival team) says. “Some might say, ‘Look at all you could get.’ But it doesn’t matter what you could get. You know what you have with that guy…Crawford to me, is like what Kirby Puckett was in Minnesota. When your best player plays harder than anyone on the team, you’ve got something special…Every kid coming up is not going to be as good, but he had better play as hard. That’s pretty unique. When you’ve got it, you don’t let it go. As soon as you move a guy like Crawford, you spend the rest of your career looking for one.”

• John Heyman of SI.com thinks that Al Reyes would be a good fit for the Brewers
  

  Milwaukee would like some bullpen fortification, and this ex-Brewer certainly would do the trick. He’s come out of nowhere to go 12 for 12 in saves with a 1.31 ERA. A far cry from his mop-up days in Milwaukee, when the Brewers were an AL also ran, not an NL Central contender.

• The Devil Rays #2 pick in this year’s draft, William Kline has signed and threw a bullpen session before Turesday’s game. Kline will begin his professional career with low-A Columbus.
• We aren’t sure what Marc Topkin means by “(Josh Wilson) may have played his way into their long-term plans,” but we would be surprised if Wilson is a member of the 2008 Devil Rays.
  

Down On The Farm: Joel Guzman May Force Evan Longoria To Skip AAA

Durham 7, Rochester 5. Mitch Talbot gave up 5 runs (4 earned) in 7 innings. He struck out 4 and walked 1. His ERA is now 4.57. Ben Zobrist had 3 hits including a 3-run double in the 8th that gave the Bulls the lead for good. Justin Ruggiano added 2 hits in 4 at bats and hit a 3-run home run, his 11th in the 5th inning. Chad Orvella pitched another perfect 9th inning, with 2 strike outs for his 9th save.

Montgomery 9, Mississippi 5. Wade Davis picked up the win in his second AA start. He struck out 7 and gave up 2 runs in 5.1 innings. He allowed 5 hits and 2 walks, including a solo home run. Juan Salas gave up 3 runs in one-third of an inning in his first appearance since being suspended for steroids. Salas is allowed to pitch in the minors prior to returning from his 50-game suspension on July 3rd. Reid Brignac was 1-4 with a 2-run double in the Biscuits 5-run 4th inning. He also committed his 17th error. Evan Longoria was 2-4 with 2 strike outs. He is hitting .295. Fernando Perez and John Jaso each added 3 hits. Jaso is hitting .324.

Sarasota 9, Vero Beach 1. Josh Butler was roughed up in his second AA start. He allowed 9 runs (8 earned) in 4 innings. He surrendered 8 hits and 4 walks. Garrett Groce and Hunter Vick had 2 hits apiece. Rhyne Hughes was 0-3.

Columbus 10, Rome 1. Wade Townsend had his strongest outing as a professional. He allowed only 1 hit and 2 walks in 7 innings. He struck out 8 to pick up his 5th win. His ERA is now 3.95 on the season. Townsend faced the minimum through 5.2 innings before allowing his only hit. Ryan Royster hit his 12th home run and Matt Fields hit his 13th. Desmond Jennings added 2 hits, including his 13th double and his 33rd stolen base.

Staten Island 8, Hudson Valley 5.

Elizabethton 14, Princeton 3.

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

• Evan Longoria was named the Southern League hitter-of-the-week. We’ve lost count, but we are fairly certain that this is the 74th time he has been named player of the week. Next week they may just name him pitcher-of-the-week so that somebody else has an opportunity to be named hitter-of-the-week. It is fairly clear that The Dirt Bag is no longer a AA player. He would most likely be in Durham now or in the next two weeks if Joel Guzman was not clogging the path. We are not suggesting that Guzman is more deserving of the position at AAA. Rather, Guzman is just good enough that he can’t be moved. His defense is gold glove caliber and while his batting average is nothing to brag about (.253), it is not terrible and he is starting to show some pop (12 doubles, 11 home runs). Still, Guzman is not close to being major league-ready. He has a .283 OBP and a 73 to 11 strike out to walk ratio. If Guzman is not being moved from third base at Durham, what can the Rays do? We see two options. The first option is to promote Longoria and institute either a platoon situation with the off-player filling in at DH, or just make Guzman the temporary DH for month until Longoria has shown sufficient skill to warrant a promotion to the show. The other option is to keep Longoria in AA and skip AAA all-together. This option may seem like the less likely option, but The Dirt Bag may have shown enough that he will hit at the major league level with or without a stint at AAA. Either way, we now think there is a very good chance we see Longoria in a Devil Rays uniform before the end of the season.
• Ryan Royster was .254 hitter in his first 3 seasons in the Rays organization. This year he is hitting .309 with 12 home runs and 46 RBI. The improvement is attributed to medication to treat a previously undetected case of ADHD.

The Hangover: Shawn Camp Found His Inner Nolan Ryan And His Inner Shawn Camp

White Sox 5, Devil Rays 4.
Surprise: The top four hitters in the Rays lineup went a combined 0-12, so it was not a surprise the Rays couldn’t score past the 4th inning.

Not a surprise: A member of the middle relief struggle mightily. Casey Fossum faced 4 batters and allowed 3 hits and 2 runs blowing the Rays 3-2 lead.

Hell Apparently Froze Over Then Again It Didn’t: Shawn Camp gave up a base hit to the first batter he faced. But something happened after that base hit. Camp faced 9 more hitters and struck out 7 of them. s-e-v-e-CAPITAL N…after the game, we imagine Bud Selig showing up and immediately administering a urine test…Entering last night’s game, Camp only had 17 strike outs in 26.1 innings. Of course Camp gave up the base hit that allowed the go-ahead run to score. No surprise there. Camp’s ability with inherited runners is well-documented. It might have been the single most dominating performance of Shawn Camp’s career and yet he still managed to let an inherited runner score to give up a Rays lead. The bitter irony.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Tim of Journeys of Jack Tripper has written and recorded a song titled “Elijah Dukes is My Daddy”. Our favorite line? “I’ve got 1,034 siblings, that’s 2,068 shoes”…If you’ve got a couple of minutes, it is highly recommended and you can hear the song HERE.
• BJ Upton is likely to play for Vero Beach on a rehab assignment on Wednesday or Thursday and could possibly rejoin the Rays this weekend in Cleveland. Upton will initially play second base. Fans sitting behind the first base dugout have been warned.
• James Shields is on pace to be only the third Rays pitcher to throw 200 innings. Normally that would be cause for concern for a young pitcher’s arm. But Shield pitched over 180 innings combined last season between AAA and the Rays and 200 won’t be the huge jump that is usually followed by a drop-off in performance the following season.
• Speaking of innings. We can’t say this stat surprises us…Scott Kazmir leads the AL in pitches thrown (1,734) and pitches per inning (18.1). As a result, the team is monitoring Kid K very closely to make sure he does not struggle or add any undue strain to his arm.
• You may not agree with all of Andrew Friedman’s moves, but it is hard to argue with the idea that the Rays may have made the three of the most valuable free agent signings this past off-season in the form of Carlos Pena, Al Reyes and Akinori Iwamura. He also pulled off a trade that netted the Rays a shortstop with all-star numbers (Brendan Harris) without giving up much in return.
• The Rays offense has been very strong this season. Amazing considering that the Rays have two members of the “All Lost Potential Team.“
• The Rays are hanging on to their second-page status in the latest SI.com Power Rankings.
• Happy Birthday wishes for Elijah Dukes. Lets hope his celebration is muted.