The Hangover: Pitching, Pitching, Pitching

Devil Rays 4, Tiggers 0.
We have a favorite saying around these parts.

Baseball is about three things…Pitching, pitching, pitching.

We can’t emphasize it enough. It is amazing how good a team can look when they get good pitching. After losing their previous three games and last eight road games, the Rays entered the final two games with the Tigers with their two aces, Scott Kazmir and James Shields. The two combined to throw 13 innings and allowed only 1 run on 8 hits and 1 walk while striking out 16. With only 94 pitches, Kid K could have pitched the 7th inning, but with an 8-0 lead, there was no need. In the two games, the bullpen combined to allow only 1 run in 5 innings.

The result was two wins and a series split against the defending AL champs in their ballpark.

Of course the downside is three games in Arlington against the Rangers during which neither Shields nor Kazmir will make a start. With Duke, Nuke and the Hammer going in each of the next three games, two out of three is probably hoping for too much. Of course, if the Rays lose tonight, that might change to “hope we don’t get swept”.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Finally…The Rays beat a team and another site actually gives them credit, rather than predicting Armageddon or blaming a late night at Tampa strip clubs and an outbreak of herpes. [Bless You Boys]
• Carl Crawford was 3-4 and now leads the majors with a .417 average during day games. He also stole his 37th base which leads the AL.
• The Devil Rays are 3rd in the AL in home runs (132), but only 8th in runs scored (537). Joe Maddon believes this is because the players hit too many flyballs and strikeout way too often. They lead the AL with 885 strikeouts. [Devil Rays]

“What would you think the league average for two-strike batting average? How about .197,” Maddon said. “What do you think ours is? Try .179. Then you see why we don’t score runners from third with less than two outs because we strike out too much. We don’t put the ball in play enough.”

• The Rays begin a 3-game series in Arlington tonight against the Rangers. The Rays swept the Rangers in 3 games earlier this season in Orlando. The Rays enter the game with a 2-game winning streak on the road. The Rays have not won 3 straight on the road since September 2005.
• Each of the Rays regular outfielders will serve as DH once in the Ranger series. [TBO]
• Jonny Gomes on the new D-Rays bullpen. [USA Today]

It’s confidence those guys have earned. It’s not in the past, when people didn’t really earn jobs and they were given jobs. These guys have earned their spot and they have career numbers, and it’s a good thing to watch them work.

Down On The Farm: Jake McGee’s AA Debut A Wild One

Durham 9, Toledo 3. JK Ryu had his best start since being converted back from a relief a pitcher. In 6 shutout innings, he struck out 7 and walked only 1. Dale Thayer made his AAA debut for the Devil Rays and struggled with his control. He gave up 2 hits and walked 3 which led to 3 runs. He was unable to complete the 7th inning. The big news though came from Jason Pridie and Evan Longoria both of whom are trying hard to tempt the Rays brass into a September call-up. Pridie was 1-3 with a home run and 2 RBI. It was Pridie’s 3rd home run in the past two games to go along with his .315 average and .924 OPS in 39 AAA games. Evan Longoria was 2-4 with his 2nd double and 2nd home run. He drove in 2. In his first week at AAA, Longoria is 8-23 (.348) with 2 doubles, 2 home runs and 8 RBI. He has also walked 5 times to only 3 strike outs and has a 1.162 OPS.

Chattanooga 6, Montgomery 4. Jake McGee’s AA debut was one he would rather forget. In 2 innings, McGee allowed 4 runs on 5 hits and 6 walks. Four of the walks came in the first inning, including one with the bases loaded. He struck out 4. Fernando Perez was on base 4 times (1 hit, 3 walks) and stole his 27th base. Reid Brignac was 0-4 with a walk and 2 strike outs.

Lakeland 6, Vero Beach 1. The Rays managed only 2 hits.

Greensboro 4, Columbus 3. Ryan Morse walked 4 in 6 innings, but only gave up 1 run. Ryan Royster was 3-4 and hit his 21st home run. He is hitting .318 with 76 RBI.

Hudson Valley 7, Batavia 5. The ‘Gades scored 4 in the 8th inning to rally for the win. The big blow was a 3-run home run by Reid Fronk, his third of the year. Fronk, the Rays 7th round selection this year, was 2-4 and drove in 4.

Burlington 9, Princeton 7. Chris Andujar struck out 3 and gave up 2 runs in 4 innings.

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

• Jake McGee admitted to being nervous for his first AA start. [Montgomery Advertiser]

McGee’s first-inning totals included 43 pitches and only 18 strikes.

“I was pretty nervous and I threw the ball all over the place in the first inning,” said McGee, whose 1162/3-inning totals at Class A Vero Beach included only 39 walks and 145 strikeouts.

“It’s pretty frustrating, but at least I got my first outing out of the way.”

Why The Devil Rays Columnists Suck: John Romano

This is a few days old, but we have been busy. Sue us. We’ll give you $20.

In his latest column, John Romano makes an effort to praise Delmon Young for his success this season and tout the 21-year old for rookie-of-the-year. Unfortunately, Mr. Romano can’t just praise Young and what he has accomplished on the baseball field. He is unable to just gives us the numbers and compare them to other rookies in the American League.

No. Mr. Romano must make it clear to all of us, that he and Delmon Young have a tumultuous history. We were unaware of this until Mr. Romano felt the need to point it out to us. When Mr. Romano tried to approach Delmon about doing a story, he was turned away. Mr. Romano tries to imply that he is the bigger man by praising Young, and putting aside his dislike for the young slugger. Instead he comes off as a bitter, whiny 12-year old that did not get ice cream after dinner.

The plan was to talk to Young about his candidacy Sunday morning, but he is a man of few words. Or, in this case, one word.

“No,” he said, wagging a finger and walking away.

In Delmon’s defense, he doesn’t like me. If I may speak for him, and I suppose I have to, I’d say he hates me. Which doesn’t make him unique, or even misguided.

The problem is his reputation as an individual is still catching up to his prowess as a player. In simpler terms, Young can be a petulant brat.

Mr. Romano claims that the “The real issue is Young’s talent. It is undeniable, and it is impressive.”

If that is the case, then why does Mr. Romano even need to bring up the bat-tossing incident or the quotes in USA Today last year?

If that is the case, then why must Mr. Romano resort to name-calling, by referring to Delmon as “a petulant brat”?

We understand the plight of the clubhouse reporter/columnist. They are just trying to do their job and sometimes they need to write things that may be taken as offensive by the players/teams they cover. But if a player chooses not to speak to a certain writer, that writer needs to remain professional and objective. Mr. Romano was unable to do this.

Nobody needs to know that Delmon Young and Mr. Romano do not get along. Nobody needs to know that Delmon Young won’t answer Mr. Romano’s questions. And nobody needs Mr. Romano to tell us what he thinks of Delmon Young as a person.

Rather than remain professional, Mr. Romano took his personal beef with Delmon Young to print. Mr. Romano tried to make sure all of his readers know that Delmon is brat. Instead Mr. Romano let all of his readers know that he is a jackass.

Grit your teeth and give Young his due [tampabay.com]

[THE HANGOVER] Dioner Navarro Is Just A Lil’ Guy

Devil Rays 7, Tiggers 1.
Dioner Navarro was 3-5 last night to raise his average above .200 for the first time (.201) since May 15. He also hit his 4th home in the last three weeks, after only hitting one in the first three and a half months.

Once considered the top catching prospect in baseball, when he was in the Yankee’s organization, Navi is in just his first full major-league season, after playing parts of each of the past three seasons. Despite the hype, Navarro has yet to show his potential at the plate. In addition to his .201 average, he only has a .259 OBP and .316 SLG. His .575 OPS is the third worst number in all baseball for players with at least 250 plate appearances.

Navarro is still only 23, which is about 18 in catcher’s years. Let’s take a look at how Navi’s contemporaries performed in their 23-year old season. Each of these catcher’s have made an all-star appearance since 2000. In many of these cases, the player split their season between more than one level. We tried to pick the level that was most indicative of their season. We used major league numbers if they played a more than a few weeks at that level. In the case of Mike Piazza, his season was split evenly between two levels so we included the numbers for both.

CATCHER	Level	AVG	HR	RBI	OBP	SLG	OPS	K	BB
D. Navarro	MLB	.201	5	25	.259	.316	.575	45	21
J. Mauer	MLB	.347	13	84	.429	.507	.936	54	79
I. Rodriguez	MLB	.303	12	67	.327	.449	.776	48	16
R. Martin	MLB	.282	10	65	.355	.436	.791	57	45
B. McCann	MLB	.267	12	65	.317	.451	768	52	24
J. Lopez	MLB	.245	13	35	.299	.419	.718	61	17
B. Santiago	MLB	.248	10	46	.282	.362	.644	82	24
C. Johnson	MLB	.251	11	39	.351	.410	.761	71	46
J. Kendall	MLB	.294	8	49	.391	.434	.826	53	49
R. Hernandez	MLB	.279	3	21	.363	.397	.760	11	18
Pierzynski	MLB	.307	2	11	.354	.45	.809	14	5
J. Posada	AAA	.240	11	48	.308	.406	.714	81	32
M Lieberthal	AAA	.281	6	42	.388	.432	.820	26	44
V. Martinez	AA	.336	22	85	.417	.576	.993	62	58
P. LoDuca	AA	.246	1	8	.339	.302	.641	25	26
J. Varitek	AA	.224	10	44	.340	.361	.701	126	61
M. Piazza	AA/AAA	.350	23	90	.412	.587	.999	75	50
J. Girardi	AA	.272	7	41	.330	.375	.705	51	29
D. Miller	A	.212	1	26	.281	.265	.546	44	31

At first we were surprised how many of these catchers were in the major leagues at the age of 23. That should be a strong indication for future success from Navi, as reaching the majors as a catcher at such a young age is rare (Shawn Riggans is still considered a catching prospect at the age of 27). With Joe Mauer and Ivan Rodriguez being the obvious exceptions, most of these catchers posted average numbers, at best, even at the lower levels. The one constant throughout all these numbers is the excellent strikeout-to-walk ratios. In almost every instance, the numbers are close to 1-to-1 which is another strong indicator of future success for a young hitter. While Navarro’s numbers are down this season, his career strikeout-to-walk r
atios prior to this season were 229:179 (minors) and 72:51 (majors).

While we would have liked to have seen an OPS closer to .700-.750 this season, Navi is still very young and history has shown that numbers posted at a young age are not reflective of numbers posted later for catchers.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Jon Switzer is now the only lefty in the Rays bullpen and will be relied on more heavily than earlier this season when he was recalled from Durham. [TBO]
• With the promotion of Jon Switzer, the Rays will continue to employ only three hitters on the bench. On of those would be the backup catcher Josh Paul who is not likely to be used in games in which he does not start, leaving Joe Maddon with two pinch-hitting and substitution options at the end of games. [Devil Rays]
• We are not sold on James Shield’s clubhouse nickname. We need to come up with something good. Scott Kazmir is “Kid K” and Andy Sonnanstine is “The Duke”. Shields? [TBO]
• Scott Kazmir, who goes to the mound this afternoon for the Rays, has been using a more simplified approach when taking the mound and Joe Maddon attributes that to his recent success. [TBO]

“I’m just seeing a very simple approach to what he’s doing right now and I like it,” Maddon said. “You just really want to get to that point where you can really leave your physical mechanics on the sideline and just go out and pitch and rely on your mental mechanics.

Down On The Farm: Four Renegades Named To All-Star Team

Durham 4, Columbus 3. Jason Pridie drove in 3 of the Bulls’ 4 runs, with a 2-run first inning home run and a solo home run in the 5th. He also added a double and now has 5 home runs and is hitting .315 (.907 OPS) in 38 games since being promoted from AA. Justin Ruggiano was 2-4 and Evan Longoria was 1-3 with a double and a RBI. Mitch Talbot struck out 6 in 6 innings to pick up his 10th win. Shawn Camp struck out 4 in 1.2 innings for his 2nd save.

Chattanooga 9, Montgomery 8. In their first game without closer Dale Thayer, the Biscuits blew a 7th inning 8-5 lead, with the final two runs being scored on a home run in the 9th inning with 2 outs and 2 strikes, off of Nick DeBarr. Wade Davis allowed 5 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks in only 2.1 innings. 5 of the 7 outs recorded by Davis came via the strikeout.

Clearwater 12, Vero Beach 5. Jay Witasick pitched one inning in his first rehab appearance, allowing 1 hit. Jackson Brennan was 4-5 with his 18th double and 2 runs scored. Garret Groce was 2-5 and drove in 2.

Greensboro 12, Columbus 6. Wade Townsend continues his up-and-down season. After a strong effort his last time out, Townsend was touched for 7 runs (6 earned ) in 3.1 innings. He walked 5 and gave up 4 hits. He fell to 6-10 with a 5.08 ERA. The Catfish hit 4 home runs, including two by John Matulia, who doubled his season total. Cesar Suarez hit his 10th and now has 73 RBI, good for 8th in the SAL. Ryan Royster hit his 20th home run which is tied for 3rd and he has 75 RBI, tied for 5th in the league.

Hudson Valley 8, Batavia 4. Maiko Loyola was 2-5 and stole his 18th and 19th bases for the Renegades.

Burlington 3, Princeton 2 (12 innings).

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

• Four members of the Hudson Valley Renegades were named to the New York-Penn League All-Star team. The players are Emeel Salem, a 6th round pick this season, Maiko Loyola, Mike McCormick, a 5th round pick in 2005 and Jason Ragan. The game will be hosted by the Renegades next week. [Hudson Valley Renegades]
  
• Jay Witasick made a rehab appearance last night for Vero Beach and will likely make another on Saturday. [TCPalm]
• Tim Corcoran has been optioned to AA Montgomery and Dale Thayer has been promoted to AAA Durham. Thayer, who set the Southern League record for saves in 2006, leads the SL this season with 21. Corcoran is likely to be designated for assignment when/if the Rays sign David Price before the August 15 deadline. [OurSports Central]
• Tim Corcoran will have to shave his beard, as Devil Rays minor leaguers are not allowed to wear facial hair. [Stacy Long’s Riverwalk Talk]

The All-Time Tampa Bay Devil Rays Redux

We* recently presented to you “The All-Time Tampa Bay Devil Rays: 10 Years Of Sucktitude“.

For those of you that have been around these parts for a while, know that we will take the occasional (well-deserved) jab at the franchise, the team and/or certain players but for the most part we have always been apologists for our beloved Rays, even if it is often to a fault.

The post was written during a very trying month of very awful baseball and this was one way to vent our frustrations on the gods of baseball. Well, the fine folks over at Bugs & Cranks have taken exception to the list, even going so far as to refer to this site as “tRaytor Index”. So, they have come up with their own list “The All-Time Tampa Bay Devil Rays: Guts, Glory & Greatness”.

Before we get to the list…
Guts? Most often during these 10 seasons, the Guts have been from the Devil Rays sprayed all over the Tropicana Field turf after another beating.
Glory? Glory in sports is winning. The Rays have never won a thing.
Greatness? There have been some great players that have played for the Rays, but they were all past their primes (Wade Boggs) or the side effects of steroids were starting to set in (Jose Canseco and his trips to the DL). Anybody remember the Roberto Alomar era?

Now to the list. And please believe that we love many of these players, but this shows you exactly why we decided not to do this list and instead decided to produce a list of the worst Devil Rays.

Wade Boggs 3B (1999). Hitting a home run for your 3,000th hit, does not make for a great season. Sure Boggs hit .301, but he only had 2 home runs and 29 RBI, and of his 3,010 career hits, only 88 came in 1999. Yes, the Rays retired Boggs’ number, but let’s just say Boggs’ plaque in Cooperstown does not have a “TB” on it.

Jose Canseco DH (1999). S.T.E.R.O.I.D.S. In addition to 34 home runs and 95 RBI, Canseco also led the AL in back acne.

Victor Zambrano SP (2003) Whenever a player is the “bad” half of a trade in which people talk about the worst trades in the history of baseball, said player is NOT “great”. Also, Zambrano was the first ever pitcher to win the pitcher’s triple crown of futility. In 2003 he led the league in walks, wild pitches and hit batters, yet Bugs & Cranks thinks that we should remember that season “fondly”.

Mark Hendrickson SP (2005) Lerch had a 5.90 ERA that year. And that is a “great” season?

Albie Lopez (1998), Jim Mecir (1998), Travis Harper (2004), Esteban Yan (1998), Travis Phelps (2001), and Jesus Colome (2004) Relief pitchers. Are any of these guys even in the majors any longer and did any of them ever do anything of value with another team? Let’s just say, when we try to think of Devil Rays to “be proud of”, “Jim Mecir” is not the first name we think of.

We applaud David Chalk and Bugs & Cranks for attempting to do something we did not have the heart or the stomach to complete. We also thank them for demonstrating completely, why we thought the venture was futile and hopeless.

*Rays Index has been lucky enough to have several additional authors contribute to this website as well as the assistance of several others behind the scenes that prefer to remain anonymous.

The All-Time Tampa Bay Devil Rays: 10 Years Of Guts, Glory & Greatness [Bugs & Cranks]
The All-Time Tampa Bay Devil Rays: 10 Years Of Sucktitude [Rays Index]

Show Your Love: Rock The Raymond Vote

The folks over at Home Run Derby have a tournament-style bracket running in an effort to determine the best mascot in baseball featuring 40 mascots from the past and present.

HRD has assembled a Menangerie of 40 Mascots (39 anthropomorphic and 1 obnoxious monkey) from Major League Baseball’s past and present … and set them against each other in an NCAA-style single elimination winner-take-all tournament.

The “2007 MLB Mascot Brackets” were very kind to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays mascot, Raymond. Despite being the harriest fish in the world, Raymond has garnered a #2 seed in the “Furrie Division”. He is matched up, head-to-head, with the Chicago White Sox mascot, Southpaw.

You can go HERE TO VOTE, and show your Raymond-love.

Home Run Derby presents: MLB Mascot Brackets [Home Run Derby]
MLB Mascot Brackets – Raymond vs Southpaw [Home Run Derby]

The Hangover: The Casey Fossum-Era Comes To An End, One Season Too Late

Tiggers 9, Devil Rays 6.
Just the links for now. We will be back in a little while.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• BJ Upton has taken to centerfield very well but he is still learning how to play the position. In the meantime he will struggle with mental errors such as the one that allowed a routine fly ball to drop between he and Carl Crawford on Monday night. [MLB]
• Casey Fossum has been outrighted to AAA Durham and Jon Switzer has been recalled to replace him. The move is likely to mark the end of Fossum’s tenure with the Devil Rays. Fossum has 3 days to accept the demotion or become a free agent. Even if Fossum does accept the move, the team is not likely to pick up his option for 2008. Fossum posted a 7.89 ERA in 10 starts and a 7.30 ERA in 30 relief appearances to go along with a VORP of -20.9 which was the second worst in baseball for all pitchers with at least 20 innings pitched (Mike Maroth must be having a very shitty season). [tampabay.com]
• Tim Corcoran ended his rehab assignment with Montgomery after 7 appearances. Corcoran is currently on the 60-day DL, and does not count towards the 40-man roster. To be activated the Rays will need to add him to the 40-man roster, which they could do after the demotion of Casey Fossum. They may also try to designate him for assignment and outright Corcoran to Durham. [TBO]

Down On The Farm: Jake McGee Joins Wade Davis In Montgomery

Columbus 4, Durham 1. The Bulls managed 10 hits but only 1 run. The one run came via Evan Longoria’s first home run at AAA. He was 1-3 with a walk and is hitting .313 with 4 RBI in 5 games. Justin Ruggiano collected 3 hits in 4 at bats and Jon Weber was 2-4 and is now hitting .352 in 16 games since being acquired by the Devil Rays. Jae Seo gave up 4 runs in 7 innings to drop to 5-3 with the Bulls.

Vero Beach 6, Clearwater 4. One of the hottest hitters in the minors right now is Sergio Pedroza. Pedroza hit his 19th home run yesterday. It was the fourth straight in which he has homered and 6th in the last 10. He also has 3 doubles and 11 RBI in the last 4 games. Doug Waechter had his best start since moving his rehab to Vero Beach. He struck out 5 and walked none, allowing 1 run over 6 innings to pick up his first win in 5 starts.

Batavia 6, Hudson Valley 4. Jason Ragan allowed 5 runs (4 earned) in 6 innings. His record fell to 5-5 with a 2.78 ERA on the year. Maiko Loyola picked up his 17th stolen base in 37 games since being demoted from Columbus. He is hitting .322. The Rays 12th round pick, Stephen Vogt, was 5-5 with 2 RBI to raise his average to .282. On the season he has 21 strikeouts and 19 walks to go along with 26 RBI. But, of his 40 hits, only 4 are for extra bases ( 2 double, 2 home runs).

Danville 4, Princeton 3. Nick Barnese, the Rays 3rd round pick this year, a high school pitcher, made his 5th professional start, striking out 4 and walking none in 5 innings. He gave up 6 hits and 4 runs (3 earned). He is now 1-2 with a 2.42 ERA.

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

• The Montgomery Biscuits and Columbus Catfish had scheduled off-days on Tuesday.
  
• Jake McGee has been promoted to AA Montgomery and will make his first start on Thursday. McGee was 5-4 with a 2.93 ERA and a FSL best 145 strikeouts. The move rejoins McGee with longtime teammate and rival Wade Davis. Both players will likely start the 2008 campaign at Montgomery with the team aiming for 2009 Major League debuts. [Montgomery Advertiser]

They both admit they feed off each other’s success. Last year, McGee and Davis finished 1-2 in strikeouts, in that order, in the Class A Midwest League. Davis had a 3.02 ERA, six-hundredths of a point be­hind McGee.

McGee was fifth among Tampa Bay prospects in a preseason Base­ball America list. Davis was eighth.

“When he goes out and has a good outing, I try to go out and have a better one,” Davis said. “It’s the same thing off the field. When we’re working out, we’ll both try to do bet­ter than the other.

“It’s good. I think it will be good for both of us.”

• The Durham Bulls Athletic Park was named the “2007 Most Vegetarian-Friendly Minor League Ballpark” by PETA. [Durham Bulls]

The Hangover: Rocco Baldelli Close To Returning

Tiggers 6, Devil Rays 4.
New bullpen, still the same ole Devil Rays.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Amazingly the Rays are only 5th in baseball with 59 blown leads. However, they are second only to the Houston Astros, having blown 58.4% of their leads. Is the Astros bullpen really that bad? [MLB]
• Rocco Baldelli may be able to begin a rehab assignment within the next two weeks. [TBO]
• Carl Crawford and Robinson Cano shared the AL player-of-the-week award for this past week. During the week, CC hit .591 with 3 home runs, 6 RBI and 8 runs scored. Crawford also won the award in 2006 and BJ Upton won the award earlier this year. [TBO]