The Hangover: Are The Devil Rays Ready To Shake Up The Rotation?

Marlins 8, Devil Rays 4.
In baseball, momentum is only as good as tomorrow’s starting pitcher. The adage was never more evident than last night. The Rays came into the Marlins series riding high on a 4-game winning streak, their longest of the season and by the end of the third inning, Edwin Jackson had already exited stage-left after allowing 7 runs. The Rays have had their share of heart-breaking head-shaking losses. This was not one of them. In fact this one wasn’t painful at all. Rather by the middle of the third inning, it was actually laughable at how bad Jackson was. 7 hits and 3 walks. 62 pitches, only 34 strikes. An 0-6 record and a 7.78 ERA.

We are not basing this on anything but a gut feeling, but it would not surprise us if Jackson is removed from the rotation and relegated to the bullpen. Tim Corcoran would then be sent back to Durham with one of the Durham starters called up to take Jackson’s place. The next obvious question is “which one?” We understand there is a groundswell of support to promote Andy Sonnanstine, but that is not likely to happen, despite his 2.05 ERA and 57 to 9 strikeout to walk ratio. Keep in mind that Sonnanstine is not on the 40-man roster. While there are candidates to be removed from the 40-man to make room (cough, cough Gary Glover, cough cough), the team won’t until they have to, and there are other options at Durham that are already on the 40-man.

The most likely candidate is Jeff Niemann. Before last night, Niemann was pitching on the same pitching schedule as Jackson. However, Niemann’s start last night was rained out and his start was pushed back to tonight. Still, with an off-day on Monday, the Rays could still have Niemann slotted into Jackson’s spot and be on full rest for the series finale against the Mariners on Thursday.

Actually, the more we think about it, the more this makes sense. his first start would be at home against a team with a mediocre offense. It is a mid-week afternoon game that would normally have an anemic attendance figure and the debut of Niemann would give ticket sales a boost. Niemann would also not be forced to pitch in Chicago against the White Sox as his next start would come at home against the Tigers.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• The Hardball Times points out that the Rays infield defense has been horrible and not just because BJ Upton thinks Manute Bol is playing first base.

if there is one thing young pitchers need for their confidence, it’s good fielding behind them. And the Devil Rays’ infield defense is horrid. Compared to the average team, their infield has allowed 29 groundballs to go through for base hits, a staggering amount. If they had an average infield, they’d probably have two more wins on the ledger, and they’d be giving their pitchers a much-needed confidence boost.

• These stats always make us chuckle. On Thursday, Delmon Young became only the third player in major league history to hit 2 home runs in 1 game including a walk-off home run before his 22nd birthday. On a side not, he is the first player in majoe league history to do it in the month of May while wearing a green jersey while the moon was lined up with Aries.
• In Thursday’s victory, Scott Kazmir felt his fastball and slider were finally coming around. Unfortunately, and stop us if you have herd this before, He had to be removed from the game after 4 innings because he had already thrown…Thought you might have.
• Greg Norton had two walks and a single in his first action of the season.

The Hangover: The Rays May Never Come Home

Devil Rays 11, Rangers 8.
Last night’s win marked the first time since August 23 of last season that the Rays have won 3 straight. That 3 game streak also came at the hands of Rangers at the Trop when Tampa Bay won the the first 3 of a 4-game set. It was also a season-high in runs scored and only the second time this year the Rays have hit double-digits on the scoreboard. The bright news was that only 1 run came via the home run, when Elijah Dukes connected on the first pitch of the first inning. The Rays are second in the AL in home runs (45) but only rank 9th in batting average (.257) and 10th in OBP (.322). As a result they have fallen to 8th in runs scored (176). Home runs will only carry an offense so far especially when most of those home runs are of the solo variety. The offense has been good, but they need to be more consistent at getting on base and getting timely basehits. Last night they were able to that.

Tonight Scott Kazmir goes to the mound and will try to give the Rays a 4-game winning streak for the first time since May 21 of last season when the Rays completed a 3-game sweep of the Marlins after taking the final game versus the White Sox. Manager Joe Maddon missed two of those while attending his girlfriend’s graduation. He has never been apart of a 4-game winning streak as manager of the Rays.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• USA Today takes a look at the Rays three young studs, BJ Upton, Elijah Dukes and Delmon Young. This time it is actually a positive look.

Meanwhile, another story is brewing in Tampa Bay, where the perennially future-looking Devil Rays are still looking ahead, but also making strides in the present, thanks in large part to a talented trio.

• Sammy Sosa hit his 597th home run and extended his own record of number of different ballparks in which he has homered, with the Wide World of Sports stadium becoming #45.
• Rocco Baldelli is headed back to the DL. This will likely give Jorge Cantu two more weeks to show that he is indeed a major league hitter…delaying the inevitable.
• Carlos Pena is 14-28 in the past 9 games. Think he hears Greg Norton’s footsteps?
• Greg Norton will workout at the Naimoli Complex rather than continue with his rehab assignment. Akinori Iwamura is projected to play in an extended spring training game next Tuesday or Wednesday.

Carl Crawford Is No Better Than 51st Most Valuable Player In Baseball

Nate Silver of Baseball Prospectus and SI.com recently released his list of “Baseball’s Top 50 MVPs.”

In concept, the UFD (Ultimate Fantasy Draft) is pretty simple: If you were starting a baseball team from scratch, which players would you want to build your team around?

Three members of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays cracked the top 50 and two others were named as honorable mention.

50. BJ Upton: There are parallels between Upton and Gary Sheffield, another player who had an awesome minor league pedigree but whose defense and attitude made for a difficult adjustment to the major leagues.

42. Delmon Young: Lost in the hubbub of the bat-throwing incident is that Young’s offensive development has been a little flat over the past year and a half.

33. Scott Kazmir: He just barely edged out Victor Zambrano for this slot (poor Mets fans, even Nate Silver is piling on…hehe). Kazmir has yet to have that one season that gets everyone buzzing — he had command problems in 2005, injury problems in 2006, and is off to a little bit of a slow start in 2007.

You might be asking “Where the #%% is Carl Crawford?” Inexplicably he comes in as an honorable mention.

Carl Crawford: Crawford seems like he’s been around forever, having become a big league regular at age 20, but he’s still just 25, and may have some further room for power development. He’s also one of the more likely major leaguers to take a run at 3,000 hits, as he’s even-money to have cleared the 1,000-hit barrier by the end of this season. Plus, he’s perhaps the best baserunner in the league, and one of the few left fielders that might be worthy of Gold Glove consideration. So there’s a ton to like here, but at the end of the day a .327 career OBP from a corner outfielder is too much to overlook.

We will forgive Nate Silver because he has obviously been in Botswana for the first month and a half of the baseball season and failed to notice that Crawford, who is still two years from his prime, has a .367 OBP this season. And while we will admit that C.C. does not play a critical position in the field, it is only because there are two more natural center fielders already on the team. Crawford could easily be a center fielder and would start in center for most teams.

The other honorable mention was last season’s first round pick, Evan Longoria.

Evan Longoria: Longoria’s minor league numbers this year — five homers and a .956 OPS so far (ed. note: actually 10 HR and 1.068 OPS as of today)– are significantly better than (Brandon) Wood’s, even though he has played in a much tougher hitting environment. Longoria plays outstanding defense and might even be a candidate for a move to shortstop; think Ryan Zimmerman, Part Deux.

We have no comment on Longoria because we are still flummoxed, flabbergasted, and F#@$$ed by Crawford’s non-ranking.

Baseball’s Top 50 MVPs [SI.com]

The Hangover: Scott Kazmir Has A Lot To Learn

Orioles 6, Devil Rays 4.
He is only 23…he is only 23…he is only 23…102 pitches in 4 innings. 6 hits, 4 walks. Scott Kazmir actually threw 60 strikes, which is not terrible, so it is not just his lack of control. He just throws too many pitches. Some how he needs to learn to hit the bats more often. Wednesday’s loss starts and stops with Kid K, but there were plenty of other problems in between. Ben Zobrist, who was only starting because Aki Iwamura was sick with the flu, committed another error, because he was lazy on a routine ground ball. Instead of getting in front of it, he tried to back hand the grounder…Josh Paul became just the latest Devil Ray that failed to get a bunt a down. And once again Joe Maddon will stick with the call even with two strikes, as if he may be sending a message to the players “I will not let you swing away if you can’t lat down a simple sacrifice.” …And finally Elijah Dukes played a flyball to center into a game of twister and eventually a double…But ultimately, none of that matters if Kazmir can keep his pitch totals down and work deeper into games. He just needs to trust his stuff. You could see it on radar gun where his fastball was rarely touching 90 and never higher than 91. That is a classic sign of a pitcher that is aiming and not throwing. He was slowing everything down, hoping to find the strikezone. When a pitcher does that he loses his mechanics. He is only 23…he is only 23…he is only 23.

• Akinori Iwamura was out of the lineup with flu-like symptoms which are apparently running through the clubhouse.
• Scott Kazmir was not one of those affected despite his performance.
• The Orioles spent a lot of money on their bullpen this off-season and as soon as Scott Kazmir was pulled from the game, everybody knew the game was over. The O’s pen is just better than the Rays right now.
• Elijah Dukes is trying to bust out of his slump and he is smart enough o know that it was not the 2-3 performance yesterday but rather the walk in the 6th inning that could have done it.
• Joe Maddon needs more help at the back end of the bullpen (duh). Brian Stokes is on pace for 93 appearances.
• Uh oh. Jenn Sterger is not happy with people knocking the Devil Rays. And if Jenn is not happy, nobody is happy. Then again, we have no doubt that there are plenty of people (us included) that would be more than happy to cheer her up.
• The Colorado Rockies have asked the Devil Rays about Jorge Cantu.
• It is time to start stuffing those virtual all-star ballot boxes with the names Aki Iwamura, Delmon Young and Carl Crawford.

The Hangover: The New And Improved Casey Fossum?

Devil Rays 6, Orioles 4. We said going into this series that the Rays needed to win two out of three. Anything less and they would be digging themselves a hole that would be difficult to get out of, both in terms of standings and psychologically. After Monday night’s debacle (which still gives us the shakes) up steps Casey Fossum. Casey Fossum? Fossum had his second straight strong performance and did exactly what the team needed. He kept the O’s in check and got to Brian Stokes with a comfortable lead. Stokes did surrender a 3-run home run to the first batter he faced, but settled down to get out of the 8th and Al Reyes is looking like one of the best closers in baseball right now. He is now 5-5 on save opportunities and in those 5 appearances he has thrown 5 innings and given up 1 hit and 1 walk and struck out 7.

• Has anybody noticed that Brendan Harris has started three straight games (Two at shortstop)? He went 2-4 last night batting in the 2-hole and is hitting .444 in limited action. At this point Harris is not far from being the Rays starting shortstop.
• Right now, Akinori Iwamura is the Rays MVP and people are starting to notice. Many thought Daiusuke Matsuzaka would run away with the Rookie-of-the-Year, or maybe it would be the Rays other big rookie Delmon Young. If the vote was today, Aki should win.
• The second installment of Aki’s diary. Hard not to like this guy.
• Another person that is incapable of creating an original thought. We present you The Flock Blog.

Tropicana Field. The ugliest field in the majors

We will go ahead and lay odds at 250:1 that this writer has never even been to the Trop. And even on the off-chance that he has, we guarantee they have not been to every stadium in baseball. If they had, they would surely know that the Trop (especially after the last 2 years worth of renovations) is leaps and bounds better than the Metrodome, Shea Stadium, RFK and Dolphin Stadium.

• A professor at Detroit-Mercy graded every major league team on their game promotions. While two teams received A+ grades, the Devil Rays were one of only three teams to receive an A.
• Devil Rays are a fish and mammals have hair…so what exactly is Raymond? Yeah, we don’t know either.

The Hangover: Growing Pains

Orioles 9, Devil Rays 7. We don’t want to talk about it. OK, we will say this. We better get used to it. This is a team that will look like a playoff contender on some nights and the Bad News Bears on others. During last season’s post-all-star break swoon, the Rays lost a lot of games before the lineups were exchanged at home plate. Final scores such as 9-1 were not uncommon. There is something imminently unpainful about those types of losses. When you see the punch coming, you can brace for it. After a weekend in which the Rays beat Johan Santana and got to Joe Nathan in the 9th of another game, and with the Orioles coming to the Trop where the Rays should be a favorite, we never saw this type of loss coming. Fool us once…

• The only moment worth watching in last night’s game was a play in which Aubrey Huff committed two errors and the Orioles committed three total, leading to a run. It made us giggle.
• Delmon Young had his 12-game hitting streak snapped. The team record is 18-games, by Quinten McCracken in 1998.
• The Rays streak of 12 consecutive games with a home run was snapped last night, although Ty Wigginton came within inches of extending the streak.
• We will know early on tonight if Casey Fossum will pitch a good game. In his first start of the season he gave up 4 flyball outs and 3 ground ball outs and was pulled in the 4th inning. In his last start he recorded 13 groundball outs and only 6 flyball outs and worked 7 innings. The difference is effectiveness of Fossum’s sinker. If his sinker is on and he is inducing groundballs, he has a chance to be effective.
• Devil Rays haven’t moved in the latest ESPN power rankings. Obviously these rankings came out before last night’s debacle.

The Hangover: The Rays Finally Get To The Twins And Johan Santana

Thursday night’s game will now be known as “The Game We Do Not Speak Of.” Carl Crawford made up for it when left fielder Josh Rabe played CC’s single into an inside-the-park home run in the Rays 4-2 win over the Twins. Scott Kazmir did his part and out-dueled the two-time Cy Young winner Johan Santana. Kazmir was efficient working into the 8th inning and handing over the win to Al Reyes. Reyes worked a scoreless 9th inning for his 3rd save in 3 opportunities. A big win indeed, but can somebody please tell us why Carlos Pena was in the lineup last night. We understand he has been hitting well recently both in games (and batting practice apparently). But Pena is a left-handed hitter facing the best left-hander in the game. He is not the regular first baseman. We dopn’t second-guess Joe Maddon very often, but why on earth was Carlos Pena in the lineup?

• Akinori Iwamura’s hitting streak was snapped last night. Delmon Young extended his streak to all 10 games.
• Last night was the first loss at home for Johan Santana since August of 2005. He was 17-0 during the streak.
• It was the Rays first win in Minneapolis since June, 2004.
• Scott Kazmir was throwing harder in the 7th inning than he was in the 1st.
• Joe Maddon says the Rays are now at the point where they can score runs at any point in the lineup. Josh Paul’s rbi last night may have proved his point, although we are not overcome by confidence when Carlos Pena and Paul are in the lineup against Johan Santana.
• Was Carl Crawford’s base running error the worst ever? One Braves fan tries to compare it to Lonnie Smith’s gaff in the 1991 World Series. Thursday night was bad, but we are not sure how it is worse than costing your team a run late in game 7 with the score tied 0-0. A game and series that the Braves would go on to lose. That is a Braves fan in denial.

The Hangover: 7+2 Equals Rare Road Win

Every once and a while the Devil Rays are capable of putting together a complete game. Last night’s 6-5 win over the Rangers was far from perfect, but we could see the signs. The offense is going to score runs. This will not be a problem on most nights for the 2007 Devil Rays. If the Rays are going to win games this season they will need to pitch. They don’t need to be perfect, but the pitching staff needs to do their jobs. While a lot of attention has been focused on the failures of the bullpen, the starting pitchers have failed at their jobs also. Last night, James Shields did his job. He did give up 5 runs, 4 runs when the flood gates opened a bit in the 6th inning, but he worked 7 innings and gave the Rays a chance to win. Too many times Rays starters pitch well but have to be removed after 5 innings. Shields pitched well enough to get the team a lead after seven innings when Joe Maddon could hand the ball over to the Brian Stokes and Al Reyes. The bullpen deserves their share of blame, but if they have to pitch 4 innings every night, they are going to lose some games. Last night’s win was the way it is supposed to be done.

• The Devil Rays lead the major leagues in home runs and stolen bases. They are 6th in runs scored and batting average.
• Carl Crawford and Rocco Baldelli swapped spots in the lineup with Rocco in center field. Elijah Dukes will be back in center field tonight. Crawford “felt like a new man” in the #3 spot where he is more comfortable.
• Delmon Young (.375) and Aki Iwamura (.444) both have hit in all 8 games this season.
• Jonny Gomes is not playing but he is not going to dwell on it. He is working harder than ever and vows to be prepared when his number is called.
• MLB Trade Rumors weighs in on the Brad Lidge rumors. They don’t see it as a real possibility. Too much salary and too many question marks. We agree. Much ado about nuthin’.
• ArmchairGM reports that the Red Sox may be trying to acquire Brad Lidge.
• Bill Chastain talks with Elijah Dukes about his first week in the majors and his first major league home runs.
• When Carl Crawford signed with the Devil Rays and spurned a football scholarship to Nebraska and a basketball scholarship to UCLA, a lot of people back in the Houston area were surprised. His closest friends were not. In retrospect, it looks like CC made the right decision as he is now one of the most exciting players in baseball.

The Hangover: Cantu Or Gomes For Final Spot

• Two big notes from yesterday’s 3-3 tie with the Pink Sox. Edwin Jackson worked six innings and yielded only a single walk while striking out 5. Jackson has only had one start this spring in which his control betrayed him. If this keeps up, Jackson could be in for a big season. The second item is that B. J. Upton started at second and Jorge Cantu was the DH. We touched on this yesterday, but it is now looking more and more as if Upton’s role as super-utility may actually turn into a regular gig at second base, while Cantu and Jonny Gomes are now battling for the DH spot,with the loser being sent to Durham.
• The final two spots in the pen will come down to Chad Orvella, Juan Salas, Seth McClung, and Jae Kuk Ryu. McClung has given up 25 baserunners in less than 10 IP this spring so he is a long shot at this point. With Brian Stokes and Gary Glover likely to make the team, there doesn’t appear to be a need for another long reliever, so Ryu is probably out. Ryu gave up two home runs yesterday. Orvella has been lights out this spring (o.87 ERA) and seems like a lock. Salas has also been strong.
• All three of the Rays walking wounded saw action yesterday. Of the three, Rocco Baldelli, Dioner Navarro and Josh Paul, only Paul sounded confident that he would be ready for opening day.
• Not Rays related, but Kenny Rogers was placed on the DL yesterday with a tired arm. Wouldn’t it be great if this worked in real life. Boss, I need to take 2 weeks off, with pay, because I have a tired head. Thanks.
• Manny Stiles makes a long-winded case for the greatness of Delmon Young.
• We have no idea how good Carl Crawford can be, but it sure is going to be fun finding out.
• On Tuesday against the Jays, Carl Crawford forgot his jersey, so he was forced to wear #98. Apparently #98 was not as lucky as his usual #13. He went 0-3.
• Lou Piniella is not the only former Rays manager in Chi-town. Remember Larry Rothschild? Seems forever ago.

The Hangover: Wade Townsend? Never Heard Of Him

• The Rays fell to Cleveland 4-3. You can tell that Joe Maddon wants his pitchers working deeper in games this year. For the second time this week a starting pitcher worked 7 innings, a rare sight in spring training. This time it was James Shields, who gave up 4 runs on 8 hits and a walk. He struck out 7. Jorge Cantu had his first home run of the spring and Elijah Dukes doubled home the other run.
• Dioner Navarro was scratched from yesterday’s game which is not good news. Navarro has had hamstring problems in the past. The Rays may be better served to put him on the shelf for two weeks and make sure he is 100%. Carl Crawford was also a late scratch from Monda’s lineup although his injury appears to be less threatening at this point.
• Speaking of injuries, Wade Townsend pitched in a minor league game for the Rays yesterday. You remember Townsend, right? He was the Rays top pick in 2005 and then after 12 unimpressive outings, he threw out his elbow and needed Tommy John surgery. He missed all of 2005. He is 24 now and scheduled to pitch all season at single-A Columbus.
• B. J. Upton is playing more relaxed this season and it is probably going to translate into a position on the opening day roster. Now the question is will he be relaxed enough to duplicate something similar to his 2005 numbers at Durham?
• In 2006 Delmon Young drew one walk in 126 plate appearances with the Rays. That would normally be a red flag for a prospect. Young isn’t worried, and believes the walks will come when pitchers learn to fear what he can do with strikes. We are big believers in plate discipline for young hitters, but with Young, it won’t be a problem. For the record, Young has 2 walks in 62 plate appearances this spring.
• Al Reyes has no regrets and is just happy to be back, even if he is old enough to have fathered half his teammates.
• The Curse of LaMar-Naimoli.