The Hangover:

Devil Rays 2, Red Sox 1.
The Devil Rays struck out 9 times last night. How unusual is that? Not at all. The Rays lead the AL with 986 strikeouts. The AL record was set by the 1996 Detroit Tigers who whiffed an amazing 1,266 times. They are averaging 7.8 Ks per game. At the current pace, the Rays would go down on strikes 1,268 times, breaking the previous record.

There are some that would argue that a strikeout is not necessarily a bad way to get out. After all it is still just one out. Obviously a double-play is worse. Still, for all the ways a batter can make one out, the K may be the worst.

A strikeout is a rally killer. With runners on base (except for a double-play) a strikeout is the worst thing a batter can do. It does nothing except move the other team closer to getting out of a jam. A strikeout does not move runners. A strikeout does not force the defense to make a play. A strikeout pumps up a team. It rallies a road stadium or it deflates the home field.

A good pitcher doesn’t necessarily pitch for strikeouts as a large number of Ks translates to a large number of pitches. But there are clearly times when a pitcher needs a strikeout with runners on base and all-too-often the Devil Rays kindly oblige.

Rays on record strikeout pace; Bedard dominant [USA Today]

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• The Devil Rays are now 3-1 against Boston in games in which Daisuke Matsuzaka is the starting pitcher. They are 0-9 in all other games against the Red Sox. [tampabay.com]
• BJ Upton has batted cleanup before last night, he just doesn’t remember when. Upton took to the new role as well as can be expected hitting a home run and driving in both runs. [TBO]
• Sure sounds like we can expect to see Jeff Niemann added as a sixth starter in September. [TBO]

“If the whole group feels that it’s appropriate to bring him here, I could see value in that,” Maddon said. “No question about it. A lot of times a guy will come up in September like that, and that one month of experience really can catapult you into the next year.”

• Grading any draft immediately after it happens is rediculous, but even more so in baseball where most prospects require 3-4 years of development and most first round picks will never make a significant impact. So please tell us why in hell the Hardball Times feels the need to give out “The DRAFTYs:The 2007 MLB draft awards”. [The Hardball Times]
• Carlos Pena is having a career year, having bested his previous career-best with his 28th home runs. He is now six home runs shy of Aubrey Huff for the franchis record. [Devil Rays]
• Don Zimmer will have to change his number next season to #60 as he is planning on returning to the Rays for his 60th season in major league baseball. [MLB News Blog]

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

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

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

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

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

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

NOTE FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

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

AL East Roundup: Apparently The Blue Jays Had An Aura

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Boston Red Sox	8	5	–	6-4	W1	—
Toronto Blue Jays	8	6	0.5	6-4	L1	149
New York Yankees	7	6	1.0	6-4	W2	149
Baltimore Orioles	8	7	1.0	7-3	W1	148
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	6	9	3.0	4-6	L1	146

Yankees 7, Indians 2. Kei Igawa picked up his first win and Yankees fans let out a collective sigh of relief. Alex Rodriguez hit his 9th home run becoming the 4th fastest to hit 9 home runs (13 games). We think we actually saw him snickering as he rounded the bases.

Red Sox 4, Blue Jays 1. The Sox hit three solo home runs, including David Ortiz’s 5th of the season. Tim Wakefield, who currently has the third longest tenure with one team (behind John Smoltz and Trevor Hoffman), pitched 7 innings and only gave up 4 hits.

NOTE FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

• Looks like we are back to turning our monitor upside-down for a while to see the Rays in first place.
• Chase Wright has “earned” a second start against the Red Sox and Diasuke Matsuzaka on national television Sunday Night.
• The Orioles activated Corey Patterson from bereavement leave.
• John Lester, recovering from cancer, will have at least one start in AAA before returning to the Red Sox.
• The Blue Jays had an Aura? Maybe back in 1993.

Around The AL East: Sox Fans Believe Josh Beckett Is Going To Finish 32-0.

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Boston Red Sox	7	4	–	7-3	W3	—
Toronto Blue Jays	7	5	0.5	6-4	W1	151
Baltimore Orioles	7	6	1.0	7-3	W4	150
New York Yankees	5	6	2.0	4-6	L1	150
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	5	8	3.0	3-7	L1	148

Red Sox 7, Angels 2. The Red Sox played their annual Patriot’s Day morning noon tilt, and once again the winning time of the marathon was quicker than the game itself. Oh, and Josh Beckett won his third straight start and Pink Hat fans everywhere are already screaming Cy Young. Big Papi hit his 4th home run.

NOTES FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

• Chase Wright has two starts above A-ball but will make his major league debut at Yankee Stadium tonight. Nothing like just throwing a child in the middle of the lake filled with piranhas to see if they can swim.
• We have all seen the now-famous pizza throwing incident from yesterday’s Red Sox game, but can somebody explain to me why it happened? They were both Sox fans and he kept an Angels player from catching a foul ball. Shouldn’t the guy have bought him a beer instead? Sox Fans *shaking head*.
• The excuses are starting to come already as to why Daisuke Matsuzaka has not thrown two perfect games in his first two starts. Apparently they use a much different ball in Japan.
• Former Devil Rays shortstop Julio Lugo is impressing people in Boston.
• The Jays’ Reed Johnson will be out until at least July after having surgery to repair a herniated disk.
• Not a good week for the Blue Jays as Troy Glaus and BJ Ryan were also placed on the DL.
• Marshall Bradway of RealGM Baseball suggests that the Devil Rays sacrifice long-term success in an effort to field the best possible team now. Hmmm? Not likely to happen.

AL East Roundup: Marcus Scutaro Helps Mariano Rivera Honor Jackie Robinson

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Boston Red Sox	6	4	–	6-4	W2	—
Toronto Blue Jays	7	5	–	6-4	W1	—
Baltimore Orioles	6	6	1.0	6-4	W3	150
New York Yankees	5	6	1.5	4-6	L1	150
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	5	7	2.0	4-6	W1	149

A’s 5, Yankees 4. Mariano Rivera is the only player in baseball that is still allowed to wear #42 regularly, so it was fitting that Rivera picked up his first save on Jackie Robinson Day. What? oops. our bad. Apparently Marcus Scutaro didn’t get the memo that said the A’s were supposed to let Mariano pick up the save so that SportsCenter could have their feel-good moment.

Blue Jays 2, Tigers 1. Josh Towers worked into the 8th inning and allowed only 3 hits, a walk and an unearned run.

NOTES FROM AROUND THE AL EAST….

• The Yankees placed Mike Mussina and Carl Pavano on the DL. AA pitcher Chase Wright will be called up to start on Tuesday.
• Derek Jeter has committed more errors (6) than BJ Upton (5). That’s not an easy thing to do.
• Yet another big name pitcher goes to the DL in the AL East. This time it is Jays’ closer BJ Ryan.
• Selling Japanese players to the Japanese market is easy. Selling teams to Japanese baseball fans is not as easy, but that is exactly what MLB is trying to do.
• Boston is hoping that Diasuke Matsuzaka will boost local tourism.
• Willy Mo Pena is the odd man out in Boston.
• The baseball schedule features one morning tilt every season, on Patriot’s Day in Boston. Make that zero games this season as the game has been rescheduled for noon.

AL East Roundup: Prelude To The Great A-Rod Escape

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Toronto Blue Jays	4	3	–	4-3	L1	—
Boston Red Sox	4	3	–	4-3	W2	—
New York Yankees	4	3	–	4-3	W2	—
Baltimore Orioles	3	5	1.5	3-5	W2	154
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	2	5	2.0	2-5	L4	154

Red Sox 14, Mariners 3. The Sox went all Tea Party on the Mariners in their home opener at Fenway. Boston scored 7 in the first two innings and were up 13-1 after 5. Josh Beckett may have had his best start as a Red Sox giving up just 2 hits and 1 run over 7 innings. He walked none and struck out 8. JD Drew managed to hit his first home run with Boston and he didn’t pull a hamstring rounding the bases.

Tigers 3, Orioles 1. The Orioles just can’t catch a break. Jaret Wright pitched better, but still lost his second straight with the O’s and then had to be removed with shoulder stiffness.

Royals 6, Blue Jays 3. Toronto committed 4 errors leading to 3 unearned runs. Josh Towers made his first start of the year and gave up all 6 runs.

Yankees 10, Twins 1. Andy Pettite pitched 6 scoreless innings and he was supported by Alex Rodiguez’s 6th home run of the season. An A-bomb by A-Rod! At this pace A-Rod may beat Barry Bonds to the home run record. He only needs 286 more home runs. The Yankees, Sox and Jays are all tied for first in the AL East. This race is going down to the wire!

NOTES FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

• Jaret Wright was upset after the game and indicated that the injury to his shoulder is reminiscent of his previous shoulder injuries that led to two surgeries.
• The Yankees starters have struggled, but the bullpen has been strong.
• Daisuke Matsuzaka will face Ichiro tonight to lead off the Red Sox game against the Mariners. The two have faced each other before in Japan. Here is video of their encounters in Japan.
• The Red Sox honored the 1967 AL Championship team before their home opener.
• Frank Thomas has 488 career home runs, but his sights are set on 600.
• Alex Rodriguez is just the 4th player in the last 50 years with an extra-base hit in each of his team’s first seven games, and one of seven players with 6 home runs in his teams first 7 games.
• It is only seven games, but some are already talking MVP for Alex Rodriguez. The funny thing about all this is…Let’s say A-Rod hits .330 with 60 home runs, 150 RBI and wins the MVP. The he has a big October but the Yankees fall short in the playoffs. Because of all the crap he has received from the fans, he will opt-out of his contract and Yankees fans will find a way to blame A-Rod. He will be a coward, even though it was the fans that wanted him gone as recently as the second game of the season when he popped up in the 8th inning with the bases loaded against the Rays.
• Alex Rios is a better player when he is leading off.

The Hangover: The Bullpen Couldn’t Hit Water

The Rays dropped their third straight, 8-4 to the Rangers in Arlington. Edwin Jackson made hist first start of the season. He had pop on his fastball, hitting 96-97 regularly. He also had control, with only 1 walk. But he did not have command. He gave up 8 hits and did not make it out of the 6th. Still, he left with 2 outs in the 6th with two runners on and the scored 2-2. It took three pitchers to record the final out of the 6th inning, and by the time Gary Glover got the third out, the Rays bullpen had allowed 6 runs to cross the plate. Carl Crawford who we think will hit 30 home runs this season, hit his second on the young season.

• Joe Maddon will consider production at DH to help decide who plays center field on a regular basis. That sounds like a great idea! So if Elijah Dukes wants to play center instead of DH (and why wouldn’t he?) his 0-4 last night as DH actually helps him.
• Tonight’s starter for the Rangers, Jamey Wright, is not on the active roster. To make room, Texas may have to release Bruce Chen unless they can trade him today.
• Usually we find player diaries boring, but in this case we were actually captivated. Akinori Iwamura recounts his first week in the major leagues, which includes receiving a shaving cream pie to the face from James Shields.
• Baseball Musings wonders allowed if the Rays picked up the steal of the off-season in Akinori Iwamura.
• Ben Zobrist led the Rays in hitting this spring. Unfortunately it looks as though he used up all his hits in March.
• Minor League Ball wants to know who you think Jeff Niemann will compare most favorably to. We say he already compares to this guy!
• SportsIllustrated.com has released their first power rankings for 2007. The Devil Rays debut with a respectable #21, one spot ahead of the 2005 World Series champions.
• Diasuke Matsuzaka of the Red Sox may not throw the Gyroball, but Akinori Iwamura sure does. Or at least he likes to throw it during practice.
• The Indians, who have already had 46 games snowed out, are moving their upcoming series with the Angels to Miller Park in Milwaukee. Before they did, they called to see see if the Trop was available.

AL East Roundup: How Do You Say ‘Yankees Suck!’ In Japanese?

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Boston Red Sox	2	1	0	2-1	W2	—
New York Yankees	1	1	0.5	1-1	L1	160
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	1	1	0.5	1-1	W1	160
Toronto Blue Jays	1	1	0.5	1-1	L1	160
Baltimore Orioles	0	3	2.0	0-3	L3	158

Red Sox 4, Royals 1. Some rookie pitcher we never heard of pitched a nice game for the Sox in their final AAA-tune up before the regular season.

Blue Jays vs Tigers. The Jays game last night was postponed due to cold weather. What are they afraid of in Detroit? It’s not like it was snowing as it was last night in New York for the Rays game. Pansies.

• Jonny Damon had an MRI on his sore calf. in his 13 major league seasons, he has never been on the DL.
• Yesterday’s Red Sox game was broadcast live to Japan at 3am and a whole lot of people stayed up.
• File this one under “shocking” news. The Yankees have ties to the mob.
• The Red Sox Jon Lester made his first start of the season at class A, after an developing cancer last year. He is now cancer-free.
• The Blue Jays traded a reliever to the Phillies.
• The Jays have gone nuclear.

AL East Roundup: Japanese Media To Invade Kansas City

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
New York Yankees	1	0	0	1-0	W1	—
Toronto Blue Jays	1	1	0.5	1-1	L1	161
Boston Red Sox	1	1	0.5	1-1	W1	161
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	0	1	1.0	0-1	L1	161
Baltimore Orioles	0	3	2.0	0-3	L3	159

Twins 7, O’s 2. The Twins completed a season opening 3-game sweep of the Orioles. Rays fans everywhere are rejoicing as 4th place in 2007 could be a reality. Making his first start for Baltimore, after two seasons with the Yankees, Jaret Wright gave up 4 hits and 5 walks in 2+ innings.

Red Sox 7, Royals 1. The Sox dominated from the start, scoring 3 in the first, making sure that all Royals fans know their place in the universe. Josh Beckett struggled with his control, walking 4, but only gave up 2 hits in 5 innings of work. The Shaggy God of OBP Kevin Youkalis homered for Boston.

Tigers 10, Jays 9. The Jays scored 7 in the 8th, but still fell 1 run short. AJ Burnett pitched like Nuke LaLoosh screws….kinda, all over the place. He gave up 5 hits, 4 walks and 6 runs in 2 innings. Victor Zambrano was up to his old tricks in his first appearance for the Jays. He walked 3 in 1 inning. ‘Bout right.

• Daisuke Matsuzaka will make his major league debut today against the Royals. The Royals? It’s always nice to have a tune up for the real games.
• Baseball Musings says that the Red Sox should be worried about their rotation. We say they might not be yet, but if Dice-K struggles tonight. The Pink Hat Nation will start to panic.
• At 0-3, is it too early to panic in Baltimore? Maybe not, but they are having serious doubts. Did they really expect Jaret Wright to be a difference maker?
• Jays manager John Gibbons may not have a lot of job security this season.
• Apparently Canadians have the sense of humor of a fungoe. A commercial featuring Frank Thomas had to be removed from Canadian broadcasts because it depicts the Big Hurt hitting one of his children with a pillow, with exaggerated effects.
• Sports in Toronto has come a long ways since the Blue Jays came on board in 1977.