The Hangover: Casey Fossum Makes First Start Before Next Injury

• Another day…another loss. James Shields was shaky in the first, but settled down and retired nine of the final ten he face. He struck out five in four innings.
• Seth McClung had a rough outing and Joe Maddon made it clear that he has not decided who the closer is yet. If McClung continues to be inconsistent, Al Reyes is going to start getting some serious consideration.
• Ruddy Lugo is blaming his rough start to Spring Training to rust from not pitching in winter ball during the off-season. Seven hits, one walk and four runs in four innings, is a lot of rust.
• Oh boy! It’s the day we have all be waiting for. Today is like Christmas morning and what has Santa brought for us? Casey Fossum! Fossum returns to the mound today against the Tiggers. We are setting the over/under on his “hardest” pitch at 82 miles per hour. By “hardest” we of course mean “least soft”. Let’s face it, Fossum is the only major league pitcher whose arsenal does not include a fastball.
• Papa Joe Maddon is having some t-shirts printed (for the players?) that will read “No regurgitation – Tell me what you think, not what you heard.” No regurgitation? Maybe he should have some printed for the fans. Only problem is they will tell you what they think and they will regurgitate (not necessarily in that order).
• Just an interesting tidbit we picked up listening to yesterday’s game on WHNZ 1250. Yesterday’s opponent, the Houston Astros, are the only team the Rays have never faced during the regular season. We are too lazy to look it up, so we will take their word for it. Can anybody verify that for us? For example, have the Rays already faced all of the NL West teams during interleague play?

The Hangover: Seth McClung No Lock To Be Closer

• Let’s just pretend that last night, and for that matter, the first week of Spring Training never happened.
• 101 Reasons the Rays could win the World Series this year. Also known as, 101 reasons that Man-Ray’s elevator is not reaching the top floor. We are particularly fond of #60. Yo Man-Ram. You are not the first to predict the Rays will win Series. Aaron Goldstein did it last year, and he was actually serious.
• Seth McClung was the Rays #2 starter last year at this time. This year he is the leading candidate to be closer, but Andrew Friedman says that is not guaranteed.
• Uniform expert Paul Lukas of Uniwatch likes the new jersey patch the Rays will be wearing this season in honor of ten seasons of…well we are not sure what exactly they honoring. Maybe it is a memorial patch?
• We have pretty much given up on ever seeing Josh Hamilton in a Rays uniform again, but until we see Josh on the Reds 25-man roster for game 162, we will hold out hope. Of all the potential twists to this story, our biggest fear is starting to happen. It is one thing for the Reds management to want Josh to make the team. At least then their decision is based on what they see. But now Josh is turning into the “feel-good story of the Spring“. Now the Reds fans and even baseball fans in general are rooting for him to make the team. That type of public pressure will almost assure Hamilton makes the Reds roster.
• Apparently the local media have all latched on to Shawn Riggans as the Rays 2007 version of the “feel good, rookie fighting for a spot” guy.
• Dioner Navarro will be out a week to 10 days. More time for the media to write feel-good stories about Shawn Riggans.
• Of course there is another point of view as presented by Steve Phillips, that the Josh Hamilton story send the wrong message to the Reds other prospects.
• Rays prospect Elliot Johnson once homered in four consecutive innings.
• Would a Rays basketball team win more games than the baseball team? With Seth McClung banging bodies in the low post, what could possibly go wrong?
• You get a ring if you win a Minor League Championship? Apparently the Montgomery Biscuits will.