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!

The Tampa Bay Rays opened the first of a 3 game set with the Minnesota Twins with a 7-1 victory.  SP Jeff Niemann went 5.2 innings scattering 3 hits, 1 ER, 4 BB and 4 K’s.  Jeff looked good at times and struggled at times (hence the 4 free passes).  He worked himself into a few dangerous situations but he maintained his composure and made the pitches when he needed them.  Another solid performance from a cast of many in the BP for 3.1 innings gives hope that maybe they’ve worked out some of their early season issues.  Joe Nelson has been a workhorse out of the pen putting up solid numbers (current ERA 3.00) and looking better each performance. 

The offense had a few stars that carried this team on its’ shoulders.  Carlos Pena belted his 8^th HR while Jason Bartlett tripled his HR production of a year ago by knocking out HR #3.  Pena was the offensive star collecting 3 RBI’s, scoring twice and lofting a 3B to add to his HR.

As I said the offense had a few stars but there are also a few that are still a concern.  Pat Burrell, BJ Upton, and Dioner Navarro have not played even close to expectations.  Yes, I know it’s early yet but with each unproductive out passes a missed opportunity we cannot get back.  BJ was moved to #1 because he gets on base a lot – his current OBP is only .288.  Pat was brought on board to knock some guys in – he currently has only 8 RBIs.  Navi – well, Navi looks like the Navi of 2007 not 2008.  His catching has been suspect – a lot of PB and he’s looking lazy behind the plate. 

I hope as much as the next Ray fan that this victory is the one that starts the proverbial turn around.  Being that we are exactly where we were at the same point last year that is a strong possibility.  But as a realist I know that we cannot rely on 1 or 2 guys to carry this team into the post season.  The rest of these guys need to get it together and start contributing. 

Here’s to a winning streak of our own – Go Rays!  

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!

Ok gang…here’s the skinny on this game.  If you cannot hit you cannot win — period.  Andy Sonnanstine pitched his best game of this young season and still had to suffer the loss on his record.  He went 6 strong scattering 6 hits, 3 ER, 7 K’s and only allowing 1 free pass.  Sonny had trouble in his first 2 starts hitting his location and walking far too many batters.  He cleaned this up in this game and looked like the Sonny of last year.

The offense started out with a bang by scoring 2 runs in the first inning.  It was downhill from there as they were then silenced.  Check out the offensive numbers 

1 for 9 RISP

10 K’s

Only 4 BB

6 Hits

8 LOB

There aren’t too many teams in MLB that will win with numbers that look like that! I cannot say this enough – the Rays MUST improve their decision making at the plate and stop expanding the zone!  Carl Crawford has looked sick hitting (or trying to hit) in the #2 hole.  He has displayed absolutely zero plate discipline to this point in the season.  I’m thinking maybe time to look at placing JB in the #1 hole and moving BJ to #2 while sliding CC to #5.  Here are the numbers to back this up 

Jason Bartlett -   OBP – .451; BB – 4; K – 6

BJ Upton – OBP – .379; BB – 6; K – 9

Carl Crawford – OBP – .246; BB -1; K – 15

Seems like a fairly easy decision to me… 

Look I’m not here to slam our skipper Joe Maddon either.  However I will state my opinion in that this spray chart shift thingy does not seem to be working.  The outfield is playing far too shallow!  I’m fairly certain that at least one of those triples would have been outs had Kapler been playing his normal position thus saving a run.  I understand the theory Joe and his coaching staff have been working with but this experiment needs some rethinking ASAP!

Wednesday evening the Rays Send Jeff Niemann to the mound to start a Rays winning streak!  

The Tampa Bay Rays opened a 4 game set with the Chicago White Sox Thursday night losing 3-2.  The games SP Jeff Niemann pitched well and had it not been for1 pitch that he missed his location may have been a winner.  Niemann left a pitch over the heart of the plate to Dye who promptly deposited into the seats for a 2-0 lead.  The White Sox never looked back.  The Rays BP had a much better outing although they did give up an insurance run in the 9^th.  Lance Cormier pitched 2.1 innings and Grant Balfour came in to strike out a few Sox to end a threat in the 9^th.  Balfour looked a bit more like his old self pacing around the mound yelling at him self.  That’s been missing in his game to this point so it was great to see it! 

The offense struggled against a decent outing for John Danks.  The Rays were 0 for 11 with runners in scoring position.  Here‘s the thing, Danks pitched well but the Rays gave up some easy outs.  They were swinging at pitches that were not close to the zone and first pitch swinging in some key situations.  They really need to find their plate discipline and work the pitch count to find a pitch they can do something with. The Rays went through similar times last year and they’ve managed to work them out.  I expect to see that happen again this year.  On a good note, Carlos Pena blasted his 5^th long ball.  Pena is seeing the ball well and selecting good pitches to hit. 

The Rays need to start putting all the facets of their game together now.  Time to start working out the bugs, so to speak.  Getting on into week 2 of this young season you don’t want to fall too far behind the leader, especially in the tough AL East.

James Shields takes to the bump Friday and will be looking to right this ship!  I expect to see the stands packed with Rays fans cheering and yelling and silencing any White Sox supporters that may be in attendance!

See you at The Trop!

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!         

Andy Sonnanstine took to the mound Friday evening in hopes of continuing the Rays winning ways.   It just wasn’t meant to be.  Although Sonny pitched as I pretty much expected, he ran into some control issue in the 5ht which cost 3 runs.  Sonny didn’t make it out of the 5^th inning after allowing 8 hits, 5 ER, 4 BB and 2 K’s.  Honestly, I love to watch this guy pitch.  He is an intense competitor with the smarts to succeed as a major league starting pitcher considering his fast ball registers only about 86 or so.  The only stat that was a bit concerning for me was the 4 free passes because if you throw 86 mph and cannot control the location you’re going to get into trouble fast.  That’s what happened to Andy in the 5^th.  Other than that when he pitches I expect him to get hit but controlling the damage is his game.

Our offense was very interesting in this game.  When we hit we hit long and far!  Evan Longoria teed off with 2 HR giving him 4 for the year so far – no sophomore slump for him!  Dioner Navarro knocked out his first hit of this young season – also a HR.  So all 4 runs scored on the long fly, not too bad!

Four games in and I have to tell you my biggest concern is the amount of K’s we are giving away.  Rays hitters struck out 9 times last night against a pitcher who really isn’t that good.  I watched, as I’m sure you did, a good number of Rays swinging at pitches not even close to the zone.  In 4 games we have accumulated 32 K’s (8 average per game) to only 15 free passes (3.75 average per game).  Love to see that start to turn around a bit moving forward.  If this stays at a 2 to1 average per game we will accumulate some “L’s”.

We made 2 big base running blunders that cost us.  Carl Crawford knocked out a nice double to RF but got thrown out at 3^rd by a mile trying to stretch it.  Longo came up next and belted his first bomb of the game – 1 run lost.   Gabe Kapler hung himself out to dry between 3^rd and home and made the 3^rd out of the inning killing a rally.  This was a perplexing move and I put it all on Gabe.  Replays show he never even looked at 3^rd base coach Tom Foley so Foley had no way to stop him.  Then when he rounded 3^rd he just stopped halfway to home.  Not sure what was going on there but that’s the 2^nd big base running mistake Gabe has made so far.  I’d like to see that come to a screeching halt!

The play of the game was made by Ben Zobrist who started in RF!  He made a diving catch on a line drive to RC gap then got up and showed off his gun by throwing a strike to double Greg Zaun off 2^nd base.  This was an awesome play!  Congrats to Ben for being selected #3 top play by ESPN!

Game 2 of this series is the season debut for SP Jeff Niemann as the #5 in the rotation.  I’m anxious to see Jeff and what he brings to the table.  We’ve heard about him for a few years now it’s time to see what he’s got and how he’ll use it.

Go Rays!!

OK, so by now you’ve heard of the Mohawk trend flying through the Ray clubhouse.  Just about all the Rays have been skinned with the pressure being applied to those who haven’t.  Expect all Ray players, coaches and fans to be ‘hawked by the time the post season begins!  Yup, I’m even considering it……for about ½ a second anyway.  This is a great show of team unity and support for one another.  A great idea to bring even more cohesion to an already close Ray clubhouse!   BJ Upton and Evan Longoria are the father’s of this trend for the Rays – GREAT job guys!  Way to spark some extra closeness amongst your teammates!

The Rays made a significant jump toward history by crushing the Minnesota Twins 11-1.  The Rays only need to win 1 more game to guarantee the franchise’s first ever trip to the playoffs!!!  That is not the only history that was made during this game.  The first ever instant replay aided overturned call was also made.   

Edwin Jackson pitched lights out in this game.  I have to admit after he walked the first batter he saw in the game I had my fears that this may end badly.  But, E-Jax recovered and did not allow that run to score or even advance for that matter.  Jackson pitched 7 2/3 strong innings allowing 7 hits, 1 ER and 1 free pass while collecting 5 K’s.  Jeff Niemann made his first appearance since his call up to close the game out for E-Jax.  Niemann pitched 1 1/3 inning not allowing a hit or a free pass.  Great job by the pitching staff!

Ok, the overturned call.  Carlos Pena launched a blast to RC that the umpire originally ruled a double due to fan interference.  Joe Maddon made his plea for instant replay.  Four minutes later the umpires emerged from the replay room and signaled HR.  Great job by the umpires to get it right!  Pena was credited with a 3 run bomb! 

This was a great game overall.  All sides of the ball performed well after the disappointing 9^th inning loss the night before.  This team has been termed resilient over the entire course of the season.  I’m not sure that’s the right term anymore.  I’d like to term them consummate professionals.  They may lose games but they understand that’s a part of a long season.  They come ready to fire the next night.  Great job Rays!  One more!

See you at The Trop!!