The Hangover: The Green Uniforms Have Not Yet Been Retired

Surprise 9, Scottsdale 6.
Reid Brignac was 0-4 and is now hitting .118 (2-17) and Evan Longoria was 1-3 with a single and a walk with 2 strike outs. Calvin Medlock pitched a perfect 4 outs with 1 strike out. He now has a 5.06 ERA in 5.1 IP covering 3 appearances. He has struck out 7 while only walking 1.

Here is footage of Evan Longoria’s first AFL at bat. You need to fast forward to the 2:00 mark. It is only a flyball but it is nice to see the Dirt Bag in a Rays uniform swinging the lumber.

Here is footage of Longoria’s only base hit in the AFL’s first week that was not a home run and the swing was not his best

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• The latest mailbag by Bill Chastain originally stated that the new Rays uniforms would be available in local Champs stores on November 9. Now the original question and answer are no longer found in the mailbag. Either the news was inaccurate or more likely, the Rays front office did not want the information made available yet. Oops. So for those of you looking for discounts on the old green uniforms, or for those of you that are looking for expensive material for your winter fireplace, November 9 is your target date. [Devil Rays]
• For those of you that hate the new uniform designs, it could be worse. They could have hired one of these “designers”. [Cleveland Plain-Dealer]
• With the Colorado Rockies advancing to the World Series, the Rays are now one of only three four teams to never appear in the Fall Classic, along with Seattle, Washington and Texas. [6 Things To Consider]
• Ever want to know what Joe Maddon thinks about Bruce Springsteen? Neither did we, but Marc Lancaster seems to think we would be interested. Lancaster lands a 1-on-1 with Maddon in the off-season and he does not ask a single baseball question. [TBO]
• We rarely talk fantasy around these parts. We still haven’t recovered from the Wally Joyner ruining our Rotissirie team ever season. But we need to say something when one person ranks Dioner Navarro as only the 28th best catching option entering 2008. Now we are not saying that Navi is going to have the 3rd highest OPS for catchers in 2008 (as he was in the second half of 2007) but there are at least 15 catchers ranked ahead of Navi that he could out-perform with Don Zimmer strapped to his back. [San Antonio Express-News]
• Jonny Damon has a limited no-trade clause and he has listed the Devil Rays as one of 12 teams that the Yankees are allowed to trade him to. Sounds an awful lot like Judas was forced to list 12 teams and filled the list with teams that would never be interested in trading for the veteran outfielder. Along with the Rays, he also listed Royals, Marlins and Twins, teams that would never be interested in his diminished talent or the $26 million in salary he is due the next two seasons. [Times Herald-Record]
• David Price has reached an agreement to appear on Donruss baseball cards. [Dave and Adam’s Card World Blog]

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

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

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

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

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

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

NOTE FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

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

AL East Roundup: There Is A Chink In The Armor Of The Great Mariano

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Boston Red Sox	10	5	–	8-2	W3	—
Baltimore Orioles	9	7	1.5	7-3	W2	146
New York Yankees	8	7	2.0	6-4	L1	146
Toronto Blue Jays	8	8	2.5	4-6	L3	145
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	6	10	4.5	4-6	L2	143

Red Sox 7, Yankees 6. This was as bad a loss for the Yankees as one can imagine this early in the season. With Andy Pettite on the mound and two rookies to follow in the next two games, this was the Yankees best chance for a win and they let it slip away. With the Red Sox wearing their Christmas uniforms in honor of the Celtic’s Red Auerbach, scored 5 in the 8th to overcome a 6-2 deficit. Two of the runs came off of Mo Rivera who has now blown two consecutive saves for only the seventh time in his career. But the worst part for the Yankees had to have been the performance by Alex Rodriguez. A lot of Yankees fans today will tell you that this game summed up A-Rod’s stint as a Yankee perfectly. With two home runs early off of Curt Schilling, Rodriguez lined out softly to the second baseman in the 9th inning when it “really mattered”. Also questionable was Joe Torre’s decision to go with Jose Vizcaino in the 8th with a 4-run lead rather than his usual set-up man Kyle Farnsworth.

Orioles 5, Blue Jays 4. Don’t the O’s know they are not supposed to be winning? Baltimore overcame a 4-2 deficit with 2 runs in the 8th and 1 in the 9th, on a walk-off single by Nick Markakis, his third hit of the game. The O’s are now 2 games over .500 for the first time in 87 years, while the Jays are in full survival mode while BJ Ryan is on the DL. Baltimore has now won 6 of 7.

NOTE FROM AROUND THE AL EAST...

• The Red Sox Times breaks down Curt Schilling’s blog entry following his first start against the Yankees last night.
• Apparently Jonny Damon has a hamstring.
• Joe Torre promised not to use Mo Rivera in the 8th inning this season. Well, that lasted a whole 3 weeks. So, is this the end of the Great Mariano?
• Mariano Rivera may well be the greatest relief pitcher in the history of baseball and has sustained his greatness over 10 years, a t time when relief pitchers rarely have more than one or two dominant seasons.
• BJ Ryan, on the DL with elbow pain, will miss 4-6 weeks.
• Hideki Matsui went 1-3 in his first single-A rehab start with the Tampa Yankees.
• This just in…Red Sox fans are not so classy.
• Jay Payton was activated for the first time this season for Baltimore.

AL East Roundup: Devil Rays Magic Number Is 159

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	2	1	0	2-1	W2	—
Boston Red Sox	2	2	0.5	2-2	L1	159
New York Yankees	1	2	1.0	1-2	L2	159
Toronto Blue Jays	1	2	1.0	1-2	L2	159
Baltimore Orioles	1	3	1.5	1-3	W1	158

Orioles 6, Yankees 4. It was another cold night in the Bronx and as usual, cold weather is harder on old people. The 22 year-old Adam Loewen out-pitched the 38 year-old Mike Mussina to give the O’s just their first win of the season, and drop the Yankees a full game behind the Devil Rays. Man, we love the sound of that.

Rangers 2, Red Sox 0. The Rangers picked up their first win in their home opener. Robinson Tejeda pitched 7 innings giving up only 2 hits. Sammy Sosa picked up an RBI single. Oriole’s fans must be pissed off when they see Sosa. He looked anorexic in his one season in Baltimore, and now he looks like Slammin’ Sammy again. He obviously spent a lot of time in his year off lifting weights and taking dietary “supplements”.

• A report shows that the Orioles have a major impact on the Baltimore economy. No word on the impact the team has on the health of their fans.
• It’s a good thing the O’s won last night, because the fans were starting to get restless after their season-opening sweep at the hands of the Twins.
• Corey Patterson will be the O’s representative to wear Jackie Robinson’s #42.
• Jonathon Papplebon is back as the Red Sox closer, but the team is planning on using him less than they did in 2006.
• At 13 seasons, Tim Wakefield is tied with Mo Rivera with the longest continuous service with their current teams. Only John Smoltz (19 years) and Trevor Hoffman (15) have longer tenures.
• Jonny Damon missed another game, but reported significant improvement, and won’t go on the DL.

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.