Angels 2, Devil Rays 1.
Come back in a little bit for a big announcement.
DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…
- Justin Ruggiano made his major league debut last night. To make room on the 40-man roster, the Rays designated Wes Bankston for assignment. [tampabay.com]
- Brendan Harris was unavailable again yesterday after pulling a muscle in batting practice on Tuesday. [TBO]
- As far as late-season rookie hazing goes, Aki Iwamura got off easy (Dice-K was made to dress like a Teletubby). On the other hand, Aki’s interpretor looks like he is in pain. [tampabay.com]
- There is a Devil Ray that holds a major league record. Scott Aldred from 1998 currently holds the record and the record is about to go down and its going down hard. [Baseball Prospectus]
- David Chalk is not happy that the Rays are dropping the “Devil”. He feels the team name has not been marketed properly, offering his own “suggestion”. [Bugs & Cranks]
- I organized my first “Rotisserie Baseball League” in 1988 (I had Kirk Gibson on my team). And SimonOnSports reminds us why we stopped playing fantasy baseball 2 years ago. Too many people now believe that Fantasy Baseball is more important than the real thing. You see, Simon apparently got “kicked in the groin” when the Devil Rays decided to shut James Shields down for the season and Simon is pissed off that Joe Maddon did not personally inform Simon of the decision in time for him to make a roster move. Apparently the Rays are idiots for caring more about the longterm health of their young Ace rather than Simon’s fantasy baseball team. [SimonOnSports]
- The folks at Roto Authority, on the other hand, understand that when a young pitcher bests his previous career high in pitches thrown, they are at a very high risk of suffering an injury or a dead arm in the following season. [Roto Authority]
With Jamie Shields shut down for the season (smart move) let’s take a look at his breakout 2007 season…Boiling all of these peripherals in a big stat cauldron gives us a 3.62 ERA to go with that 1.22 WHIP (in 2008). With the right win total that could garner some Cy votes…Speaking of which, with that many innings I think he could pick up 15 or 16 wins in 2008. He’s quietly becoming the AL’s Aaron Harang, even pitching in the East. His changeup is top ten in the game and he’s got two other above average pitches as well.
- John Sickels takes a close look at two of the top left-handed pitching prospects in baseball, Jake McGee and Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers. [Minor League Ball]
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