The Rays pulled into Fenway for the opening game of a 3 game set.  SP James Shields cruised through the first 5 innings with little more than the occasional hit.  Then the wheels came off when we hit the 6^th inning.  A hit, the first walk he gave up in the game and a blast later and the score was tied at 3.  Then another hit and another blast later and the Rays are down 5-3.  Shieldsy lost the ability to hit his spots low and left a few up I the sweet zone.  Shields was clearly rattled as he was yelling into his glove at himself and the Red Sox took advantage of the opportunities he gave them.  The bull pen, specifically Grant Balfour, gave up 2 runs in his 2 innings of work assuring the Red Sox the easy victory. 

The Rays offense struck early to take a 3-0 lead.  Carl Crawford had another outstanding offensive game going 3 for 5 scoring 3 and swiping another bag.  He was a HR away from the cycle!  CC has looked much better at the plate recently taking a lot of pitches and selecting a pitch he can do something with.  Jason Bartlett had a nice day at the dish as well collecting 2 2Bs in 3 trips and driving in a run.

The Rays have looked much better as a whole of late.  In the last week they have given us a glimmer of the 2008 team.  The one thing that I see separating the World Series team from the 2009 team is pitching.  The pitching this year is absolutely unreliable.  From the starters to the bullpen no one has stood out in more than an outing or 2.  Matt Garza has been the best starter and the bull pen would have a difficult time claiming anyone as a stand out to this point.  The Rays offense cannot possibly come from behind time after time, eventually these pitchers are going to have to step up and shut down the opposition.  

I will add and I will keep saying it – BJ Upton needs to switch positions with JB in the lineup — period!  The numbers make this statement so painfully obvious this isn’t even a question.  Look at this:  BJ = .152 BA, .272 OBP, .205 SLG, 31 K; JB = .355 BA, .382 OBP, .495 SLG, 15K.  Now, tell me where the argument lies in this!  I’m getting tired of everyone making excuses for his poor performance.  The shoulder surgery excuse has now sailed.  If he is still rehabbing it he should be in the minors doing it not here!  I get the distinct impression that Upton will be a “could have been” – a lot of unfulfilled promise.   

Well we go at it again tomorrow and hope Kaz brings his ‘A’ game!

I know it doesn’t seem like it was close due to the final score but the Rays had opportunities and had even brought the score as close as 6-5.  The BP couldn’t hold it there and the offense could not take advantage of the chances they had. So, let’s review…

Jeff Niemann had a tough outing and only lasted 3 innings giving up 5 ER (6 total runs).  Jeff never looked comfortable and his ability to hit his location was absent.  Jeff looked a bit tentative on the mound.  Look this guy is 6’9” and can bring it – so bring it, be aggressive! Knock these guys on their tails pitching in then finesse something.  You have got to use that fastball to setup your out pitch. 

Lance Cormier did a GREAT job following Niemann and shutting down the Red Sox.  Cormier went 2 innings giving up only 1 hit.  Grant Balfour followed running into some trouble in the 6^th inning.  Balfour allowed 1 hit and 2 free passes to load the bases with only 1 out bringing Youkilis to the dish and Joe Maddon from the dugout.  Brian Shouse was called on to clean up this mess and failed by allowing a 2 run 2B to Youkilis putting the Red Sox up 8-5.  Shouse continued a poor outing by giving up a “no doubter” to Lowell in the top of the 7^th.  Shouse has got to be one of the most unimpressive pitchers I have ever seen.  Not sure what the Rays saw in this guy or if they just grabbed him because he was a cheap lefty.  Sure has not shown that he deserves a spot in this BP!  Shouse walks in the 10^th run forcing Maddon to go to the BP again because he couldn’t get the job done.  Terrible!  Joe Nelson struts in to save the day and record the last out of the 7^th – thanks Joe!  Nelson pitched an amazing 8^th inning throwing only 14 pitches, 10 of them for strikes to record the 3 outs!  To this point in the season Nelson has been the best signing of this year by far!

The Rays offense had responded nicely to Cormier’s 2 innings of work by scoring 1 in the 4^th, Carlos Pena’s MLB leading 11^th bomb, and 3 big runs in the 5^th.  The big blow once again came from Evan Longoria, otherwise known as Evan Almighty, a 2 run 2B with 2 outs. Pena followed with a free pass and Pat Burrell completed the scoring by lacing a 2B down the left field line scoring Longo.   

The Rays blew a big opportunity to add a run or two in the 6^th inning and creep closer.  With runners on 2^nd and 3^rd and 1 out the top of the order, BJ Upton and Carl Crawford, gave away 2 easy outs to the Sox. 

Dioner Navarro is struggling needless to say to this pointing the season.  Look as a catcher I can live with a lack of offense but I cannot live with the horrible defense.  Navi has absolutely been horrible blocking balls in the dirt and throwing out base stealers.  To this point in this game they have 4 swiped bags and a 5^th that would have been had the runner not tripped over his own feet.  Look something has to give with Navi one way or another and the coaching staff needs to make that happen.  He is currently a liability both offensively and defensively and it needs to get sorted sooner rather than later.

Speaking of defense, more errors tonight.  Getting tired of adding these things up!  Akinori Iwamura made his 4^th error of the season on a ground ball that should have been automatic. Gabe Kapler also chipped in with his first error of the season.  But, I’m going to tell you what I saw, Kapler made a throw to the plate that would have hit Navi in the chest on one bounce but Navi was standing behind the line rather than in front therefore the ball hit the runner and bounced away.  This error might have been charged to Kapler but it was not his fault.  There was also a ball that Ben Zobrist should have corralled for out at short but he bobbled it allowing the runner to reach base.  Not sure why but the official scorer was in a forgiving mood and scored it an infield hit.  NOT!  These guys need to be out drilling daily until they can clean this up.  You must have good pitching and good defense to win ala 2008.  Good defense can snatch a few victories for “ok” pitching which is what we’ve had so far this season (aside from Garza’s last start) so let’s get this cleaned up!

The Rays will go for only their 2^nd series victory tomorrow when they send James Shields to the mound.  Let’s pack The Trop and give the Rays the “Dome Field” advantage they deserve!  See you there!

I don’t know if you’ve noticed the trend the Rays have established so far — win the first game of the series in convincing fashion then put the bats away for games 2 & 3.  Although the Rays did manage to bang out 9 hits in Tuesday’s loss we went 2 for 11 with RISP.  So a bunch of singles scattered through out 9 innings really doesn’t mean all that much if you cannot get the hits when you have the opportunities to score the runs. 

James Shields pitched effectively for 6.2 innings giving up 3 ER, 7 hits, 4 BB and 4 K’s.  Shieldsy was not on top of his game by any means but he managed to wriggle out of a few tight spots.  To be honest I think that’s a true measure of a pitcher, the ability to work out of a tight spot.  JP Howell ended up getting tagged for the loss after pitching 2/3 of an inning and allowing the winning run to score. 

As stated earlier in this blog the Rays banged out 9 hits 4 of which were for extra bases.  The big fly came off the PH HR of Ben Zobrist’s bat in the top of the 9^th to tie the score.  Zobi has been showing a lot of the bench and making the most of his opportunities, like to see the guy get more reps as the RF.   

The Rays were aggressive on the base paths stealing 3 bags (Upton 2 & CC 1) but Carlos Pena was picked off first base for the 2^nd time this season.  What is going on with this getting picked off bags???  These little things will come back to haunt a team if we don’t clean this up. 

The Rays close the series with the Twinkies on Tuesday and head back to The Trop.  I’m sure we’ll see a much better offensive effort tonight and a series victory!

James Shields pitched a brilliant game only to have it wasted by a lack of offensive production.  The only mark against Shields happened on his second pitch of the game.  He hung it in the zone to Ichiro and he deposited it into the RF seats to account for the only scoring of the game.  Shieldsy looked awesome for 7.1 innings scattering only 4 hits and allowing 1 ER, 1 BB while netting 4 K’s. 

The shame is the offense for the Rays did not show up.  The Rays had people on base through with a combination of 4 hits and 4 BB.  They stranded 7 and were 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position. 

The Rays big offensive problem to this point in the season appears to be pitch selection and a lack of patience at the dish.  A lot of these guys are hacking away at the first pitch they see putting themselves down in the count.  I think this is evidenced by the K/BB comparison that, in last night’s game, was 10 K to 4 BB.

I am a bit perplexed why Joe Maddon did not pinch hit for Dioner Navarro in the 9^th inning with the tying run on 2^nd base.  Look, Navi has been struggling mightily at the plate.  I would have liked to see Willy Aybar grab some lumber at that point.  Willy is a switch hitter and sees a lot of pitches at the dish.  Just a thought…..

Look I know “King Felix” is a pretty good pitcher and I also am aware of the sun/shadow issue BUT this is not the first game the offense has performed this poorly.  These guys need to start showing some consistency in their performance soon as we cannot afford to get too far behind in the very tough AL East.  Currently we have lost 4 out of 5 series played! We already have a tough mountain to climb just being in this division.  Sitting in the cellar for a month or 2 will make it virtually impossible to find a spot in October.

Now that’s more like it!  The Rays offense exploded behind an outstanding SP performance from Jeff Niemann and an equally impressive showing from the BP!

Jeff Niemann earned his first ‘W’ of the young season with an outstanding performance.  Niemann went 5.1 innings allowing 3 hits 2 ER, 2 BB and 3 K’s.  Jeff had a no-no through 4 innings.  I think Jeff really showed his promise today on that mound.  The bullpen followed with 3.2 innings of scoreless baseball allowing only 1 hit, 1 BB and 4 K’s.  JP Howell, Dan Wheeler and Lance Cormier capped an outstanding overall showing on the bump! 

The offense busted out of its’ 3 game slump by knocking out 15 hits, 4 for extra bases.  Pena, Longoria, Upton and Iwamura all banged out doubles.  The big bat of the day came from Carl Crawford who went 4-5 scoring 3 runs and knocking in 1.  Evan Longoria continued to knock in the runs accumulating 3 RBIs and scoring once.  When the Rays were on they applied the pressure of the running game by swiping 3 free bags and only being caught once!  The Rays also showed their improved decision making at the dish by graciously accepting 8 free passes and only giving away 5 outs via the K. 

The defensive alignment was, in my humble opinion, the best we can put out there.  Ben Zobrist is our best RF option, especially on the offensive side of the ball.  He needs to stay there and as a switch hitter there is no reason he cannot.  With the recent offensive burst shown by Kapler I think Gross is the odd man out in this scenario.  Leave Ben out there, bring up a AAA utility player to backup Bartlett and release Gross to make the room. 

Nice recovery Rays!  James Shields returns to the mound to attempt to improve on his first 3 performances…..Here’s a shout out to Shieldsy!

Ben Zobrist came off the bench in the 6^th inning to hit a bases loaded bomb into the LF seats at The Trop Friday night to put the Rays ahead once and for all.  This could not have come at a better time.  This game was all about the White Sox until this point.  The Rays had initially taken the lead on Carlos Pena’s 2^nd inning solo blast.  The White Sox then answered back with 2 runs.  All the action seemed to take place in the 5^th and 6^th innings of this game.  In the 5^th Dioner Navarro led off with a 2B and came around to tie the score on Jason Bartlett’s 2B.  The top of the 6^th proved to be trouble for Rays SP James Shields as he gave up 2 HR (3 hits total) and 3 ER with only 4 pitches to put the Sox up 5-2 just as the Rays had managed to tie this game.  The bottom of the 6^th contained all the dramatics for Ray’s fans.  Bases loaded with 2 outs Joe Maddon calls back scheduled hitter Gabe Gross and inserts Ben Zobrist who promptly deposits the baseball in the LF seats.  The Trop went crazy! 

James Shields struggled in this game.  Shieldsy went 7.1 innings allowing 7 hits (2 HR), 5 ER and 2 BB while netting only 4 K’s.  But something good did come out of this.  After all the dramatics in the 6^th inning Maddon sent Shields to the mound in the 7^th and let me tell you what a difference.   He was fired up and throwing with a vengeance.  He sat the White Sox down 1-2-3 and did not allow them to gain any momentum.  This was a good call on Maddon’s part, to allow Shields to go grab some confidence and he did just that.  This will pay dividends down the road.

The bullpen did a nice job with Wheeler, Shouse and Percival combing for 1.2 innings and giving up 0 ER.  However, it was not without incident.  Percival managed to allow runners on 1^st and 3^rd but get out of that 9^th inning mess to earn the save. 

The one down spot in this game was the umpiring behind the plate.  CB Bucknor has got to be one of the worst ball/strike callers I’ve ever seen.  AJ Pierzynski was blatantly moving his glove, pulling balls back into the strike zone and Bucknor was giving those to him.  Shields and Colon had a nice pitchers duel going on for the first 4 innings or so but Bucknor would not give them anything.  These guys were making some unbelievable pitches at the knees and e would not budge.  It was absurd and I hope he gets called on his performance.  It was poor at best.

Saturday night Scott Kazmir will take to the mound to keep this train rolling!

See you at The Trop! 

OK it may have only been game 6 of this young season but it as a big game.  No one wants to be swept at anytime during the course of a season.  The beginning of the season can set the tone for the duration.  That being said, “Big Game James” came through.  James Shields took to the mound for the Rays in an effort to stop an early season skid.  He did that and earned himself his first ‘W’ of 2009.  Shieldsy went 7 VERY strong complete innings scattering only 3 hits and 1 free pass while striking out 3.  He was the Shields we remember from 2008 plus some! 

The offense erupted as well with 17 hits, 9 for extra bases!   There were doubles (4), triples (1) and home runs (4).  Home runs are always awesome but the home run of note is Evan Longoria as this is his 5^th HR in 6 games!  Jason Bartlett, Carols Pena and Ben Zobrist are the other Rays who went yard.  The Rays were active on the base path as well swiping 3 bags.  Love to see these guys moving and taking what’s theirs! 

No need to even state the obvious and say that this game’s performance was clearly 100 times better by all involved than the previous 2 nights but, now that I have, the Rays seem to still be having an issue with strike outs.  They gave up 11 easy outs via the K in today’s game and only accepted 3 free passes.  They really need to clean this part of the game up as this AL East is looking even tougher in 2009 with the ever present Yankees and Red Sox and the obvious improvements to both Toronto and Baltimore. 

The bullpen pitched the last 2 innings of the game and all looked good except Grant Balfour.  Grant had all sorts of location issues and allowed the 3 runs in the 9^th.  He was taken out in the 9^th after loading the bases and not recording an out.  JP Howell came in and stopped the bleeding to end the game. 

The Rays will now head back to The Trop for their home opener and the raising of the AL Pennant!  How exciting is that!  I may leave now to get there!!

See you in The Pit!

That’s right folks!  The Rays were shut out by the Orioles Saturday evening in Jeff Niemann’s 2009 debut.  Niemann came out in the first inning and could not it his location.  This led to a bases loaded jack by Mora.  The Orioles sent 9 men to the plate in the 1^st inning and 5 of them crossed the dish.  The only good out of all this as the Niemann did settle down in the 2^nd and lasted 5.1 innings so we did not have to exhaust our bullpen.  Niemann looked like bundle of nerves out there throwing the ball every where Navi wasn’t.  I hope this outing gets the butterflies out and we do not have to witness this again.  Right now my thoughts on Niemann are definitely in question.  I know he’s got the stuff but does he have the nerve to stand out there and focus?  I guess we’ll see.

I spoke yesterday of my concern for our offense — that concern continues.  The offense had plenty of opportunities but could not get it done.  We were 0 for 11 with runners in scoring position.  That cannot continue if we are to have any hope of touching the post season in 2009.  Now, obviously we are only 5 games into the 2009 season and have a long way to go and I’m not about t read too much into this at this point.  However, I will say I’d like to see some of these guys clean up their act at the plate.  I am seeing too many swings at pitches not even remotely close to the K zone.  We walked away from this after collecting 8 hits, 3 of which were doubles.  Evan Longoria continued his hot hitting going 2 for 4 with one of the 2B. 

Today we look to salvage 1 game and avoid a series sweep.  As we have already lost the series let’s hope we don’t walk away from this totally outplayed.  James Shields will get the call today to stop this early season slide.  It will be interesting to see how he recovers from his opening day performance.

The Rays will travel back to The Trop to open against the NY Yankees on Monday.  Joining them in Tampa, by all reports thus far, will be BJ Upton.  Having a healthy BJ back should give some continuity to the lineup.  The only line up change to expect when he returns is which Gabe will start in RF.  We know that Navi will most likely get Sunday’s off and be replaced by Riggo. 

So, let’s not look too far into what we’ve seen to this point BUT let’s also be wary of what we’ve seen to this point.  These Rays have some work to do and unless they start it soon they will find themselves on the bottom of a very tough division.

So, a shout out to Shieldsy to start the turn around today! 

See you at 1:00 pm!         

Ahhhh, smell the hotdogs steaming, the stench of stale beer, hear the roar of the crowd – YES!   Baseball is Back!  Welcome to 2009 baseball fans!

But, alas it isn’t all good for Ray fans.  Most of you know the title of this blog is typically synonymous with real estate but in this case we’ll use it to discuss the difficulties our opening day pitcher faced against the red Sox.  Big game James Shields took to the mound with the hope of Rays Republic riding on his shoulders.  Well, ok maybe a bit dramatic but you get the picture.  The outcome was less than ideal as Shieldsy went only 5.1 innings giving up 9 hits, 3 free passes, 2 HR and 5 ER to ultimately end up as the losing pitcher.  James wasn’t able to maintain his location on his pitches and the Red Sox hitters took advantage of every mistake.

The Ray offense was absolutely shut down by Beckett.  In 7 innings he garnered 10 strike outs – 4 from Carlos Pena alone.  Beckett abused the Ray offense and the game was not nearly as close as you may think looking at the final score.  The Rays managed 1 lone run off Beckett (Okajima gave up the other 2 in the 8^th) and only 2 hits.  He completely shut down the heart of our order – Longoria, Pena and Burrell.  Between the 3 only 1 hit was to be had – that was by Longoria off Okajima. 

OK so here’s my game changing moment – the inning that seemed to shut the door on the Rays.  The top of the 6^th Aki walks and CC goes down low to knock a nice pitcher’s pitch to the wall for a double.  With no one out, runners on 2^nd and 3^rd, the heart of the order coming up, the score 4-1 — Rays fans are EXCITED!  Longo strides up only needing to drive one to the green to tighten the game and BANG – pop up to the catcher – 1 out.  Next victim – Pena – WHIFF – 2 out.  Last but certainly not least — Burrell – simple 5-3 ground out.  Beckett showed why he was the Red Sox opening day pitcher.

All in all – it is only 1 game, 161 more to go.  I’m not looking too much into this 1 game quiet yet and hopefully you aren’t either.  The Rays will bounce back tomorrow with Kazmir riding the bump. 

See you at the Park (on TV of course)!     

The Tampa Bay Rays knotted the World Series at 1 game apiece by defeating the Philadelphia Phillies 4-2 Thursday night. SP James Shields was every bit the “Big Game James” we’ve all come to expect. The intensity on the man’s face while he’s on the mound is amazing! When he doesn’t throw a pitch exactly where he wants, his head looks like it’s going to explode. Shieldsy went 5 2/3 scattering 7 hits and 2 free passes while striking out 4. The big story is he allowed 0 ER. With runners standing 90 ft away James dialed up 3 K’s 3 different innings to quiet the Phillies fans! It was awesome.

The Ray offense played a great game of “small ball”! The Rays used station to station advancement, safety squeeze and opposite field hitting to move runners into scoring position. It was great to see the team not thinking about the home run ball. It really looked as if BJ Upton was over swinging in game 1 trying to put the ball out. BJ had 2 nice hits to right field! Jason Bartlett laid down a beautiful safety squeeze bunt allowing Cliff Floyd to score easily.

This was a great game! The series now swings to Philly. There is a high possibility the Saturday night game will be rained out. This would mean pushing the games back and no off day between games 5 & 6. Could be some interesting managerial moves made if this happens. Keep your eyes posted on the weather in the Northeast!

Go Rays!!!!!!!!!