The Hangover: It Will All Be Over Soon

Devil Rays (off day)

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• This just in…Evan Longoria is good. Longoria plays third base. Akinori Iwamura plays third base. Aki ranked 23rd (out of 35, min. 250 PA) of major league third basemen in OPS. Aki has a weak arm. Aki may need to move to a new position in 2008. The writers that cover the Rays must be praying for Elijah Dukes to do something stupid. 3…2…1…. [Devil Rays]
  
• Rays of Light makes an argument that Carlos Pena has been more valuable to the Rays than Alex Rodriguez has been to the Yankees. Scott takes a look at the WARP values (number of wins a player is worth) for each player. While A-Rod has a higher WARP (10.5 to 9), El Gato’s WARP represents a higher percentage of the Devil Rays wins and hence he is “More Valuable”. It is an interesting argument and not necessarily “wrong”. We don’t pretend to know all the math behind these numbers, but the problem with using WARP for this argument is that in theory it is team independent. Therefore, if A-Rod was playing for the Rays (and posted the same numbers) he would still have a WARP of 10.5 and if Pena was on the Yankees, his would still be 9.0. In essence, to use WARP as a percentage of team wins, penalizes a player on a good team and gives a HUGE advantage to a player on a team that has very few wins. In an absolute sense, A-Rod is worth more wins and in the end W’s are the only stat that really matters. [Rays of Light]
• Why does John Donovan of SI.com think that the Devil Rays deserve to be ranked last in his latest “Power Rankings”? Is it because they have the worst record in baseball? Nope. Worst pitching? Nah. They are the worst team in the league because “Boston’s Dustin Pedroia is the AL’s Rookie of the Year. It shouldn’t be all that close.” [SI.com]
• John Sickels takes a look at the crash-and-burn that was Dewon Brazelton and tries to answer the question ” What the hell happened here?” [Minor League Ball]
• Roger Clemens will make his scheduled start tonight, despite speculation to the contrary. If we are lucky, Clemens will talk to reporters and support Carlos Pena Comeback Player of the Year. And of course that will be Rocket’s secret code for wanting to pitch for the Rays in 2008. [TBO]

AL East Roundup: Dice-K Might Be Talking Trash…Or He Might Not

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Boston Red Sox	26	11	–	8-2	W3	—
New York Yankees	17	19	8.5	5-5	L1	118
Baltimore Orioles	18	21	9.0	5-5	L3	116
Toronto Blue Jays	16	22	10.5	3-7	W1	115
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	15	22	11.0	3-7	W1	115

Red Sox 7, Tigers 1. Diasuke Matsuzaka said “I got your #3 starter right here.” Of course the interpreter might have mistranslated. Up to this point, Dice-K has been effective, if not over-powering. Last night, the Sox began to see return on their investment, as Matsuzaka pitched a complete game against the defending AL champs. He allowed only 6 hits, struck out 5 and did not walk a batter.

Blue Jays 5, Orioles 3. Troy Glaus drove in three including a 2-run home run in the 8th that proved to be the game-winner off of Danys Baez. Meantime, the Jays may have finally found a suitable replacement in the bullpen as Jeremy Accardo converted his second save and is yet to allow a run in 17.2 innings.

NOTE FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

• Melvin Mora and Jay Payton nearly came to blows in the dugout following last night’s loss. Mora became heated when Payton mocked Sanjaya from American Idol*.
  
• Miguel Tejada’s excuse for only hitting two home runs this season? He is not a home run hitter of course. Maybe he forgot to take his “B-12” this season.
• Remember all the talk about the Yankees scoring a 1,000 runs this season? Not so much anymore. Alex Rodriguez has 1 home run in May. Bobby Abreu is in such a bad slump, that he has tried to bunt for a bas hit on several occasions in the past few weeks. Jason Giambi and Robinson Cano are both struggling. $200 million just doesn’t go as far as it used to.
• Roger Clemens had his first workout for the Yankees in Tampa. Must be a slow news day in the AL East.

* Might not be true.

AL East Roundup: Can Roger Clemens DH On His Off-Days?

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Boston Red Sox	25	11	–	8-2	W2	—
Baltimore Orioles	18	20	8.0	6-4	L2	118
New York Yankees	17	19	8.0	5-5	L1	119
Toronto Blue Jays	15	22	10.5	2-8	L1	116
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	15	22	10.5	2-8	L1	116

Red Sox 6, Orioles 5. Sometimes a team just has one of those seasons. It might be a little early but the Sox are definitely having one of those seasons so far. Trailing 5-0 in the 9th inning, the Evil Empire Jr. rallied for 6 runs to take the rubber match of the series against the Orioles and all of the sudden the Sox have opened up a 8 game lead. The one bit of bad news was Josh Beckett being forced to leave the game early with skin inflammation of a finger. Any hopes of Beckett going 35-0 went right out the window.

Mariners 2, Yankees 1. The Yankees have now played 13 series this season and have only won 3 after losing 2 of 3 to the M’s this weekend. Derek Jeter is having another great year and Jorge Posada is hitting well, but outside of them, nobody is hitting, including Alex Rodriguez who has 1 home run in May. But hey, Maybe Roger Clemens can play DH on his off days. Well, on the off days that he doesn’t want to go golfing.

NOTE FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

• Joe Torre has more important matters on his mind as his brother remains in critical care following a kidney transplant.
• Scott Proctor dropped his appeal of his 4-game suspension and will be able to return on Thursday.
• As if the Roger Clemens story wasn’t enough of a circus, it looks like if things go as scheduled, his first start for the Yankees will be in Fenway Park.
• Josh Beckett has a history of blisters on his fingers, but he is hopeful that this time he won’t be forced to miss a start.
• Miguel Tejada has now played in 1,118 consecutive games, giving him the 5th longest streak in history.
• Derek Jeter committed his 7th error on Sunday, but it was his first since the 11th game of the season.

AL East Roundup: Yankees And Red Sox Continue To Roll Towards October

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Boston Red Sox	22	10	–	7-3	W3	—
New York Yankees	16	16	6.0	7-3	W2	125
Baltimore Orioles	16	18	7.0	4-6	W2	123
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	14	19	8.5	4-6	L3	122
Toronto Blue Jays	13	20	9.5	2-8	L8	121

Yankees 6, Rangers 2. The Yankees scored 4 in the bottom of 1st and never looked back as Mike Mussina worked 6 and said “We don’t need no stinkin’ Rocket”

Red Sox 9, Blue Jays 3. $100 million? So that is what a #3 starter goes for these days? Daisuke Matsuzaka struck out 8 in 7 innings and now has three good starts this season. One was versus KC on opening day and two against the Blue Jays, both of whom are among the worst teams in baseball.

NOTE FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

• Jays manager John Gibbons and the rest of his coaching staff were given a vote of confidence despite recent discussions by JP Ricciardi about the staff’s performance.
• Roger Clemens faced his son in a workout session in Lexington, Kentucky.
• Terry Francona has asked Curt Schilling to tone down his comments to the press. Any chance it will work?

[THE HANGOVER] Jae Seo Reaffirms His Position As Worst Pitcher In Baseball

Orioles 8, Devil Rays 3.
The headline at DevilRays.com reads “Seo shaky in loss”. Shaky? 6 innings with 9 hits and 3 runs is shaky. Seo was awful. The headline in the Tampa Tribune reads “Seo Takes Step Back“. A step back? From what? From his last start, when he only gave up 2 runs in 6 innings? This was not a step back. Last night was the true Jae Seo. The last start was the aberration, not this one. He has now given up at least 5 runs in 5 of his 7 starts. Yesterday Gary Shelton of the St. Pete Times told us we need to be patient. He pointed to Seo’s last start as an indication that he is getting things together and that he will be fine. HE’S NOT FINE! AND QUITE FRANKLY WE ARE GETTING SICK OF IT. HE STINKS. Why is he is still in the rotation? For what purpose? Somebody please answer us that. We are begging to know. There must be something that Joe Maddon and Andrew Friedman see.

How bad has Jae Seo been? Just so you don’t think we are ranting about a couple of starts, let’s take a look at his numbers. There are 145 pitchers in baseball that have thrown at least 20 innings this season, let’s see where Seo ranks in some very telling statistical categories…

Statistic	Jae Seo	Rank (out of 145)
ERA	8.82	144
Hits	56	T144
H/9	15.17	145
Runs	37	145
K/9inn	4.41	122
HR	7	128
HR/9	1.32	131
WHIP	2.02	140
BAA	.384	145
OBPA	.430	144
SLGA	.596	145
VORP	-13.2	T144

How bad has Jae Seo been? THE WORST PITCHER IN BASEBALL. GET HIM OUT OF HERE. SEND HIM TO THE BULLPEN. SEND HIM TO THE MINORS. SEND HIM TO THE GOD DAMNED ALASKAN PIG FARMERS LEAGUE. We don’t care where, but get him out of the rotation. The 2007 Tampa Bay Devil Rays could be a decent team, but they have zero chance of winning on nights Seo pitches, and we have had it. He is an automatic L.

Are Maddon and Friedman trying to give the guys at AAA more seasoning? JASON HAMMEL ALREADY HAS MAJOR LEAGUE EXPERIENCE. And he is dominating IL hitters. He couldn’t be any worse than Seo but at least their is hope and promise in his arm. GET HIM UP HERE. We know, we know. The most popular player on the team is always the backup quarterback. But this is not one start we are talking about. Maddon loves to talk about how well Seo pitched last year despite going 1-8 with the Rays. Maddon points to the lack of run support. LACK OF RUN SUPPORT? What does that matter if a pitcher’s ERA is 5.00? We are now two years removed since Seo was a decent pitcher. Believe us, we have no idea how Seo went 8-2 with a 2.59 ERA in 14 starts in 2005. BUT IT WAS 2005!

This is not only hard on the fanbase, but it must be hard on the rest of the team as well. How demoralizing must it be for a young player to know that the team is basically down 5-0 when the game starts. Maddon is trying to preach a team concept to the young players. Watch how quickly that goes out the window when players think there is ZERO CHANCE TO WIN.

Jae Seo….Jae Seo…Jae Seo…Where did that bottle of Jameson go?

[UPDATE: DevilRays.com has changed their title to “Seo struggles against Orioles”. That is the second time they have changed a title after we commented on it…hmmmm?]

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• It must be hard when you find out one of your favorite players is busted for using steroids. We can only imagine how devastating it would have been if George Bell was caught after his 1987 MVP season. We would probably still be sitting in a corner rocking back and forth and mumbling “Why George? Why?”
• We knew that $28 million figure that the Yankees are paying Roger Clemens sounded familiar.
• We linked yesterday to the New York Times article on the Devil Rays. We read Stuart Sternberg’s quotes about the life expectancy of Tropicana Field and were not nearly as floored as many other people appear to be. So much fuss has been made that Sternberg needed to clarify his statements as some felt that he might be hinting at moving the franchise away from the Tampa-St. Pete area. In short, Sternberg said that the team will not be able to remain at the Trop through the conclusion of their current lease and that a new stadium will be needed and state and local funding is a must. However, he indicated that it is not a priority issue.

We’ll focus on it more as time goes by…Something of this magnitude, it really isn’t anything I’ve spent a lot of time on. I have thought about it. Nothing can be done overnight. It’s in the background. We know it’s there. We chat about it – how and what. — Stuart Sternberg

• Several of the Devil Rays reacted to the news of Juan Salas’ suspension. Basically, it is a lot of politically correct answers, but we have to wonder how many of the players are angry and if Salas will be welcome back in the clubhouse.
• Rocco Baldelli is 0 for his last 17.
• The pink bats are coming! Somebody queue Paul Lukas.
• Greg Norton missed his second straight rehab game with soreness in his knee.

AL East Roundup: Prodigal Rocket Swayed By King George

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Boston Red Sox	21	10	–	7-3	W2	—
New York Yankees	15	16	6.0	7-3	W1	126
Baltimore Orioles	15	18	7.0	4-6	W1	124
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	14	18	7.5	5-5	L2	124
Toronto Blue Jays	13	19	8.5	2-8	L7	123

Yankees 8, Rangers 2. How huge was Alex Rodriguez’s April? Last night he hit his first home run of May and he still leads the majors by 4 home runs over the nearest slugger. Meanwhile, the Yankees got a much-needed strong performance from Andy Pettite, who was obviously in a homoerotic state of euphoria now that his buddy Roger Clemens has signed with the Evil Empire once again.

Red Sox 9, Jays 2. The Jays have now lost 7 in a row and are the only thing keeping Rays fans from jumping off the band wagon completely. The bad news for the Jays is that they now know why Victor Zambrano doesn’t like to throw strikes. Before he was yanked with 2 outs in the 3rd inning, Zambrano had only walked 2 (that’s good for him) but he managed to give up 8 runs, courtesy of 4 home runs. Oh, by the way Josh Beckett now has 7 wins ins 7 starts this season. Can we just give him the Cy Young award now? We better, or soon the Pink Hat nation is going to want the award renamed in his honor.

NOTE FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

• David Ortiz is not sure if he took steroids as a youth. If he did, it sure didn’t help him in Minnesota.
• Troy Glaus was named AL Player of the Week, which of course helped the Jays to exactly 0 wins during the week.
• Roger Clemens will pitch at least one game in Tampa for the Tampa Yankees as he prepares for his coronation as the savior of the historic franchise.
• Roger Clemens says that he was swayed to pitch for the Yankees based on something that George Steinbrenner said to him. Clemens refuse to elaborate about what was said until at least after the season. This make one wonder if this is not King George’s last season as the principal owner of the Yankees. He has been conspicuously less present in recent years and many have speculated on his health.

AL East Roundup: Yankees Spent $46 Million On Single-A Pitcher

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Boston Red Sox	20	10	–	7-3	W1	—
New York Yankees	14	16	6.0	6-4	L1	127
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	14	17	6.5	5-5	L1	126
Baltimore Orioles	14	18	7.0	3-7	L2	125
Toronto Blue Jays	13	18	7.5	2-8	L6	125

Mariners 3, Yankees 2. Instead of spending $28 million on a 45-year old starting pitcher, maybe the Yankees should find a new set up pitcher. Kyle Farnsworth, the man with a very fast, and very straight fastball has given up a run in 5 appearances this season. The latest was the tying run in the 8th with New York up 2-1. Mo Rivera than gave up a solo shot to Adrian Beltre in the 9th for the loss.

Indians 10, Orioles 1. The O’s are in prime form as they get ready to host the Devil Rays at Camden Yards on Tuesday. Steve Trachsel gave up only 1 run in 6 innings, and was pulled before the 7th inning. 4 relievers combined to give up 9 runs over the next three innings, in a very Tampa Bayian performance. Of course the difference is the Rays bullpen cost about $26 while the Orioles spent about $50 million on theirs.

NOTE FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

• The Yankees spent $46 million on Kei Igawa, and now he is the richest guy in single-A, as he was optioned to Tampa. This is the beauty of the Yankees. And by “beauty” we mean shitty. It is not that they can afford to pay Roger Clemens over $8,000 per pitch. No, the problem with baseball is that the Yankees can send a $46 million pitcher to the minors. How many other teams can afford to swallow high-priced mistakes.
• Of course the biggest question we have is, “Who were the Yankees bidding against?” The Astros are going nowhere and the Red Sox didn’t need him.
• This is why Yankees fans are crazy. They and their reporters suggest idiotic things LIKE THIS. Sure, let’s make Roger Clemens a reliever because Mo Rivera may be struggling. He hasn’t done it since college and I’m sure that is why the Yankees are paying him $28 million. Great idea. *banging head on desk*
• Joe Torre was suspended for last night’s game and Scott Proctor was suspended for 4 games following an incident in Sundays game with Seattle in which Proctor threw at a batter. Proctor is appealing his suspension.

AL East Roundup: Rocket’s Return

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Boston Red Sox	20	10	–	7-3	W1	—
New York Yankees	14	15	5.5	6-4	W2	128
Baltimore Orioles	14	17	6.5	3-7	L1	126
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	14	17	6.5	5-5	L1	126
Toronto Blue Jays	13	18	7.5	2-8	L6	125

Yankees 5, Mariners 0. We can understand if nobody noticed that the Yankees beat the Mariners for their second straight win. Apparently news came down that the Evil Empire added a couple of dollars to their payroll with the signing of some veteran pitcher. With the Red Sox off to a huge start, and Houston being Houston, there is no surprise in this move, so let’s move on.

Red Sox 4, Twins 3. JD Drew drove in 2 runs without hurting himself and Curt Shilling didn’t allow a run until the 7th inning.

Indians 9, Orioles 6. The Tribe scores 7 runs in the 4th and 5th innings and cruised behind CC Sabathia and his crooked cap.

Rangers 3, Blue Jays 2. Michael Young’s solo home run in the 8th put the Rangers on top and sent the Jays to their 6th straight loss.

NOTE FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

• George Steinbrenner‘s support for Joe Torre may have influenced Roger Clemen’s decision to join the Yankees.
• It will be interesting to see how all of Roger Clemen’s special privileges will go over with the rest of the Yankees veteran roster.
• JP Ricciardi revealed that the Jays lied about BJ Ryan’s injury in spring training, telling the media it was a bcak problem when in fact he had a sore elbow.
• With BJ Ryan on the DL, the Jays have been going to Jason Frasor in the 9th, but that could change as Frasor has struggled in the role and could be sent down to the minors.
• MLB has approached the Red sox and the Yankees as two potential teams that could play spring training games in China next season as well open the regular season in Japan.

AL East Roundup: Manny Starting To Be Manny

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Boston Red Sox	17	9	–	6-4	W1	—
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	13	15	5.0	5-5	W2	131
Toronto Blue Jays	13	15	5.0	5-5	L3	131
New York Yankees	11	14	5.5	3-7	W2	132
Baltimore Orioles	12	16	6.0	1-9	L4	130

Yankees 4, Rangers 3. It is strange that the Yankees could have such a pivotal game so early in the season against the Rangers. Of course, it is easier when facing a rookie manager that intentionally walks Jason Giambi to face Hideki Matsui in the 8th inning. Huh? We know he is a rookie manager, but hasn’t he watched baseball in the last 3-4 years. Matsui does one thing very well. He drives in runs. He has a knack for it. The Great Mariano seems to be settling down also, which is not good for the rest of the AL East. He converted his second straight save, but we knew that was bound to happen.

Yankees 5, Rangers 2. The Yanks can make up a lot of ground if they were able to play double-headers against the Rangers every day. Mike Mussina only worked 5 innings, but he only gave up 1 run and the bullpen held on.

Red Sox 8, Mariners 7.Manny Ramirez is an idiot-savant. He knows one thing and he knows it real well. He hits. He hits baseballs. And he hits them very hard.Manny hit two home runs including the game-winner in the 8th. That should scare the Yankees more than anything. The Red Sox have a huge lead and Manny is just starting to be Manny.

Indians 6, Blue Jays 5. Remember in the off-season when the Jays spent a lot of money and all the pundits predicted they would contend with the Sox and the Yankees. Ha! They are still the Jays, and once again it proves that just because you write big checks does not mean you automatically win more games. Next time maybe invest in players that won’t break down three weeks in to the season.

NOTE FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

• The poor Evil Empire. This is what happens when your entire roster is made up of 37 year old players that make $16 million per season. They are old and they are fragile and they get cranky when if they don’t get their afternoon naps. The Yankees were forced to call up two more starting pitchers from the minors and when they make their first starts, New York will be the first team to ever use 10 different starting pitchers in the first 30 games of the season.
• Bob Ryan makes a case for the Red Sox going after Roger Clemens or another pitcher. We can’t see it this year unless somebody comes up lame. Right now Julian “i’m craaaazy” Tavarez is there 5th starter, but they won’t need him in the playoffs. The rest of the rotation looks to be fine.
• Of course bullpen help might be a different story. The Sox placed Mike Timlin on the DL.
• The lack of hitting may not be “driving O’s batty“, but their pitching should be driving them bat-shit crazy. The worst thing for us yesterday? The O’s didn’t play so we couldn’t write about them losing again.

AL East Roundup: Somebody Had To Take Blame In South Bronx

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Boston Red Sox	17	9	–	6-4	W1	—
Toronto Blue Jays	13	14	4.5	5-5	L2	132
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	12	15	5.5	5-5	W1	131
Baltimore Orioles	12	16	6.0	1-9	L4	130
New York Yankees	10	14	6.0	2-8	W1	132

Red Sox 6, A’s 4. Josh Beckett has 6 starts. Josh Beckett has 6 wins. Roger who?

Tigers 3, Orioles 2. Gary Sheffield is warming up and we couldn’t think of a better team for it hapen against than the O’s. A few days after being benched because of a slow start, Sheff went 4-4 with his 3rd home run. Steve Trachsel gave a rare strong performance by a Baltimore pitcher as he lasted 7 innings. Somehow Trachsel pitched 7 innings and the game last less than 6 hours.

Indians 7, Blue Jays 6 (11 inn). Victor Zambrano made his first start of 2007 and the Mets fans are still angry. He gave up 2 runs on 4 hits and 3 walks in just 2.2 innings. Travis Hafner won the game in the 11th with an RBI double against a defensive shift.

NOTE FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

• Things aren’t going so well in the South Bronx. Two days after giving the GM and the Manager a show of support, the Yankees fired their strength coach. The coach had zero experience with professional baseball players before the season and many of the players had already complained publicly. The hamstring injury to Phillip Hughes while in the midst of throwing a no-hitter, was the final straw.
• Last season Roger Clemens signed with Houston on May 31. This year with all the pitching injuries on the Yankees roster, he may not be able to wait that long.
• JD Drew missed a game with “viral symptons“, also known as “just being JD Drew”.
• Adam Loewen is the latest AL East pitcher to feel pain in his arm. He is scheduled to see a doctor to determine the extent of the injury.