Results tagged ‘ Tampa Bay Rays ’

Byrd is the Wyrd

…or “word” for those that don’t get. Yeah, so it’s my own take on rhyming and writing.

It was
actually ironic that in his first start of the 2009 season, Paul Byrd
was facing the Toronto Blue Jays. In a span of three consecutive starts
(1 with Cleveland, 2 with Boston after we was traded in a waiver wire
deal) in August of 2008 he faced those Blue Jays. 5 of his last 10
starts of 2008 were against the Blue Jays as well. He was 2-2 with 1
no-decision in those 5 starts. So what were the expectations today? 5
innings? 3 runs? Keep the game close against Blue Jay ace Roy Halliday?
I think all of those would have been more than what the Red Sox would
have like to get out of Byrd. What did they get?

How about 6
shutout innings. 3 hits allowed to go along with 3 walks. I don’t even
think a performance like that entered anyone’s mind, not even Byrd’s.
What a follow up to Clay Buchholz’s splendid start the night before.  It was a great lift for the Red Sox tattered starting rotation, and
hopefully this is something Byrd can build off for the rest of the
season.

However, Byrd was not the only who made a big impression in their 2009 Red Sox debut. This guy was outstanding as well:

Newly
(well, it was almost a week ago now) acquired reliever Billy Wagner
final appeared in his first game as a Red Sox. He showed how nasty of
lefty he can be. He struck out the side, around a double in while
pitching the 8th inning. 11 of his 16 pitches were for strikes. Not
more you could have expected from him either. He will be a great weapon
to have in that bullpen down the stretch and during the playoffs (being
optimistic the Sox will end up winning the wild card) as well.

It
was a great way to end the homestand with a sweep of the flailing
Toronto Blue Jays. The Sox now head on a 7 game road trip to their
house of horrors in Tampa Bay and then the Windy City. This will be an
opportunity to knock the Rays right out of the wild card race, as well
as put the final nail in the White Sox playoff coffin that the Yankees
started closing up this weekend.

Go Sox!

Lost and Found: Voyeurism Returns

On of the cool things about MLBlogs is checking out the other blogs.  The way I usually do that is through the Recent Activity links on the front page.  I’ve discovered some great blogs that way, and some terrible ones too. 

Anyway back in January, I found a blog that had the name Crab in its title.  It ended up being a blog about a minor league affiliate of some major league team.  The post I read was about their new stadium they had built and included a camera with a live feed that you could watch through and control (pan left or right, zoom in and out).  It was very cool.  However, something happened, I left the computer and my browser window was closed, thus a cool site was lost.

I tried to do a search for Crab via MLBlogs search tool.  However, that search tool only searches the tags, so alas I could not get any hits that way.  I thought the only way I’d get back there is if the blog was updated, but I had not been able to find it in the Recent Activity links since.

Today, I got the bright idea to take a look in the browser history.  Luckily for me, there is a menu option that says “History”.  I clicked there and found the option “Show All History.”  There was a search function, so I typed Crab.  Funny, all of my searches I did on MLBlogs came up in the history, but so did “Life as a Crab.”  That’s gotta be it, I thought.  And presto, there was the lost blog entry I was looking for.  However, when I went to the live web cam feed, that wasn’t working.  Bummer.  However (I seem to use this word a lot), here is how it looked on that day in January when I first discovered it.

camera.JPGThis is the new ballpark of the Charlotte Stone Crabs, a minor league affiliate of the Tampa Rays.

Looks like a few construction workers were on break as a couple of tourists came in to look around the park.  I don’t know if you could hear sound, because I had my sound off.  But that camera is in the RF corner and when I pan right you could see the whole baseball field.

This would be a wonderful feature for major league clubs to have on their website of their spring training facilities.  It wouldn’t even have to be at the major league camp.  How cool would it be, to just peek in now and then at a spring training work out?  Exactly.

Some quick tidbits around Red Sox spring training:

  • Red Sox owners John Henry and Tom Werner brought up a possible salary cap for baseball.  Me?  I’m not too keen on the idea.  If a salary cap bring lower ticket prices / concession prices / parking prices then I am all for it.  Otherwise, I don’t see the need.
  • Apparently, Julio Lugo has already won the shortstop gig for the Sox.  However, if Lugo is puts up the same performance as last year, before he got hurt, I don’t see how he will keep that starting gig.  Jed Lowrie isn’t going anywhere.
  • Yesterday, was the first day of live batting practice, or I guess we should call it pitching practice.  According to Steve Buckley’s article, pitchers facing live batters is not something the batters look forward to.
  • Number 24 is back in action in Red Sox camp.  No, Manny Ramirez has not re-signed with the team.  Takashi Saito is now sporting the number.  Apparently, he got Manny’s “permission” to wear the number.

That’s all I got for now.  GO SOX!!

Busy Night in Boston

Last night, the Boston branch of the Baseball Writers Association of America held their annual awards dinner last night.  At the dinner, Dustin Pedroia picked up his AL MVP Award:

almvpaward.JPGAlso, at the awards dinner, Rocco Baldelli picked up the Tony Conigliaro award, along with his BRAND NEW Red Sox jersey.

rocco.JPGThe Red Sox signed Baldelli, formerly of the AL Champion Tampa Bay Rays, to a 1-year contract.  He will see the majority of his work as the 4th outfielder.  He could see considerable time in either CF or RF depending on Jacoby Ellsbury’s progress and J.D. Drew’s injury status.

Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon (AL Manager of the Year) and Tampa Bay reliever Dan Wheeler (New England [born] Player of the Year) were also honored.  Reportedly, the Red Sox tried to sign those two at the dinner, but were rebuffed.

It was also confirmed that the Red Sox have indeed offered a 1-year contract to former Atlanta Brave Cy Young Award winner John Smoltz.  Reportedly, the base contract is for around $5 million with incentives based on time on the active roster that could double the value.  John Smoltz is coming off an injury, but hopefully there is still some juice left in the arm.

I was actually hoping that Smoltz and Tom Glavine would both retire.  No.  Not because I do not think they can not or should not pitch in the major anymore.  It is because along with Greg Maddux, who just announced his retirement last month, it would be quite a sight to see an induction ceremony of Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz 5 years from now in Cooperstown.

tri-cys.jpgHow many times do 3 pitchers of this caliber actually pitch for 1 team for a LONG time?  Very rarely.  How many times have 3 pitchers of this caliber that were teammates been inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame together?  NEVER!  That would be quite historic.

I’ve been a Braves fan (they’re my NL team although not as much now), ever since our family first got cable as teen.  I actually hated the Braves at first, because their games (and they were terrible), would always interrupt my 2 hours of NWA / WCW wrestling on Saturday nights.  However, after watching them play, I grew attached and then enjoyed my wrestling / baseball double feature on Saturdays.

Anyway, now that I returned from detour down memory lane, it will be very strange to see Smoltz in a Red Sox uniform after spending his entire Major League career in a Brave uniform.  Hopefully, he will ended up healthy and could be a surprising big contributor down the stretch.  Looks like he will also fill the mantle left void by Curt Schilling, as the elder pitching statesmen for this team.

Finally, it looks like Mark Kotsay may return to the team.  While normally an outfielder for most of his career, I envision that Kotsay will fill the Sean Casey role on the 2009 club.  Mostly, he’ll be the back-up for Youkilis and Lowell (at 1b only, Youk will move over to 3b when Lowell needs a rest), but could see time in the OF depending on the health of Drew and Baldelli.  I like Kotsay, he has always be a solid player, but wonder if he will be happy in this role.

Since the Sox recently signed Brad Penny and Josh Bard, it’s nice to see the Hot Stove getting a tad bit warmer.

Go Sox!!!

Looking Ahead

It’s that time of year.  The time to look into the future and see what lies ahead.  So, let me put on my swami headgear, take out some sort of crystal thing, and this magic little 8 ball thing:
8ball.JPGOkay, now we are ready for our 2009 Predictions:

  • The New England Patriots will not win the Super Bowl.  (Okay, now that I got my obligatory bad joke out of the way, we can continue.)
  • The Pittsburgh Steelers will win the Super Bowl.
  • The Boston Celtics will win the NBA Championship….again!!
  • The Boston Bruins will lose in the 1st round of the NHL Playoffs.  (I really hope that is not true, but I only go by history.)
  • Some race horse will win the Kentucky Derby and then the Preakness.  Then for weeks we will hear about how great this horse is and it will be hyped up as the first winner of the Triple Crown since Affirmed in 1978.  Then in the Belmont, the horse will finish in 8th place or something stupid.  This seems like an annual ritual.
  • Tiger Woods will win the first golf tournament he plays when he returns from his knee injury.

Now, let’s get to the baseball stuff:

  • Jason Varitek will sign a 2-year contract with the Red Sox.
  • The Dominican Republic will win the World Baseball Classic.
  • Manny Ramirez signs with the San Francisco Giants.  The city of LA has never done a complete 180 on anything faster.
  • David Price will become the 1st pitcher to win the Rookie of the Year and the Cy Young in the same season.
  • A.J. Burnett will make 18 starts this season, however, J.D. Drew will spend more days on the DL than Burnett.
  • C.C. Sabathia will be the AL All-Star Game starter while the NL will send Pedro Martinez to the hill.
  • After throwing a complete game in the 10 inning All-Star Game, leading the AL to a 3-2 victory, Sabathia’s shoulder falls apart lifting the All-Star Game trophy MVP.
  • Ryan Howard, Mark Reynolds, and Adam Dunn combine for only 400 strike outs between them.
  • Curt Schilling signs with the Tampa Rays in mid-May, and goes 8-0 down the stretch to help the Rays surpass the Yanks for the AL Wild Card.
  • The Dodgers win the AL West over the Giants after Manny sits out the final month with a “calf strain”, code for “I’m not happy with only getting a 2-year, $50 million contract.”
  • The Red Sox win their 3rd World Series Championship of the Century. (Hey, this wouldn’t be a Red Sox blog without this prediction, am I right?)

ws.jpgNow, that those are finally finished, I must say I enjoyed watching the MLB Network and their broadcast of Don Larsen’s perfect game.  I am looking forward to more of their stuff.  However, I do hope they cut back on showing Viagra ads when I am watching the channel with my son.  He is 4, and doesn’t really notice that stuff yet, but……Please MLB, keep those for after bed time.  I know they pay the bills for you, but just do it.  Okay?  Great!

Cinderella Re-write

It looks like the classic fairy-tale is getting a major re-write. In the role of the newly created step-brother, Cole Hamels is about to smash both of the Tampa Bay Rays glass slippers, which (as we know from the Disney version) will prevent Cinderella from ever getting together with Prince Charming.
 
Surprisingly, at least to me, the Rays find themselves down 3 – 1. Judging from the highlights, in what appears to be one of the most exciting World Series games in a while, the Phillies won Game 4, 5-4. Unfortunately, thanks to a long rain delay, nobody other than Philly and Tampa saw this game (which ended at some point after 1 am EST) on the East Coast. B.J. Upton continues his amazing post season, by single “footedly” scoring the tying run in the top of the 8th. However, a bases-loaded single (that traveled about 30 ft) brought home the winning run in the bottom of the ninth for the Phillies.

Ryan Howard, then, awoke from his post-season slumber to lead the Phillies to a 10 – 2 drubbing. He had 2 HRs and 5 RBIs.

This game, pretty much sealed up the World Series for the Phillies, as the best pitcher in MLB is heading to the hill tonight. Hamels is on the verge of a record 5th win for a starting pitcher in a single post-season. This, obviously, would his biggest win and bring home a World Series title to Philadelphia for the first time since 1980. Hamels has had an amazing post-season, and has put himself in the same category with the likes of Josh Beckett, Curt Schilling, Jack Morris, Orel Hershiser as clutch post-season pitchers.
Congrats to the Phillies

Missed Opportunities

No, I’m not talking about the 1 for 28 the Phillies are with runners in scoring position for the first two games of the World Series. Although, 1 for 28?, that is AMAZINGly inept.

I am talking about the missed opportunity of having this man pitch in Fenway Park in Game 2 of the World Series:

Brett Myers.

Oh, the chants the Fenway Faithful could have launched while he was on the mound. To the always effective “Rogahhhh, Rogahhhh” and “Toriiiiii, Toriiiii” (well, maybe that Torii chant didn’t work out to well) and “Steroids, Steroids” for our friend Jason Giambi and other juicers, the “Wife Beat-er” chant could have been epic.

For those not familiar, back in 2006 when the Phillies were in town for an inter-league series against the Sox, Myers was arrested for hitting his wife in downtown Boston.

We, here in Boston, don’t take to kindly to big, tough athletes beating up their wives or girlfriends. Just ask this guy:

I was glad to see the Rays beat defeat Myers last night, to even the World Series at 1-1. I’m not sure if I posted my prediction here, but I am taking the Rays in 6. I see Tampa getting to the elderly Jamie Moyer on Saturday, with the only other game they will drop is Game 5 against Cole Hamels.

In some Red Sox news, the team is bringing back the entire coaching staff with the exception of Luis Alicea. Alicea was the first base / infield coach for the past couple of season. Apparently there was a “philosophical” disagreement between him and manager, Terry Francona that has led to this departure. No word on who will replace him.

Congrats to the Rays, this time

Congrats to the Rays.  That was quite a game.  Lester pitched well, but Garza pitched lights out.  He may yank the MVP right out of BJ Upton’s hands with that performance tonight, coupled with his game 3 win.

The Sox have the bottom of the order coming up, which hasn’t been good all post-season.  So, I just wanted to get this up as I’m going to bed right after the 9th ends.

Almost another great comeback, but just a bit short.  Much better than how it looked like it was going to end in Game 5.

Rays, do the AL proud against the Phillies.  I’ll be rooting for you guys.

EDIT:  Well, it worked last time when I posted early, but couldn’t get it to happen again.  Price is going to be nasty, though, if he continues to get the call 6 inches off the plate like he did against Drew (supposedly a check swing?  Batters should be able to appeal like catchers do) and Kotsay.

WOW! CRAZY! UNBELIEVABLE!

Let’s recap my evening last night.

I get my son into bed and back downstairs ready to watch the game at about 8:40 or 8:45. I turn on the TV, flip over to TBS and it is the top of the 2nd and the Rays already have a 2-0 lead. Christ! I sit down at the PC and head to ESPN.com to see how it happened. Iawmura hit followed by another Upton HR. Damn!

The Sox get a couple on against Kazmir, but can’t deliver. Kazmir seems to be pitching okay. Certainly not the Kazmir of old, but definitely not the Kazmir of recent either. However, it’s just a matter of time before the Sox get to him…right?

Top of the 3rd, and Upton gets another hit. Can we get this guy out yet? Pena HR, next. Longoria HR next. Gawd! Well, when 1 team is hitting on all cylinders and out pitching the opponent, what are you going to do? You just have to give credit to the Rays. It’s not going to be the year this year.

I check with the wife, see if she wants to watch a show. We’re both tired (my wife works nights, and worked Wed night, so she’s way more tired than me. But you know how it is with kids, your ALWAYS tired.), but I pull up the DVR and see what we have waiting to watch. How about Survivor? Great! We watch the Fang tribe (which could be like the Rays of old, or the Pirates, always losing) lose both challenges and GC get voted out.

The wife’s ready for bed, so she curls up on the couch with a blanket and is off to dreamland as I turn the game back on. It is the Top of the 7th, and Delcarmen just walked the 2nd of two batters, so the Rays have 1st & 2nd with nobody out and Upton (him again?) coming up. Francona, in a desperation moves, brings in Papelbon. However, after a double steal, runs are at 2nd and 3rd. Papelbon works back to a full count on Upton, but gives up a wall ball double that extends the lead to 7-0. That just about sealed up the MVP for Upton.

I get back on the PC, as I’m thinking about going to bed, and type up a little blog to congratulate the Rays, as I’ll probably type up more in the morning.

However, even though I am tired, it is a bit early for me to go to bed. I am a night owl. I like to stay up late. Not sure why, but I’ve always been that way. Sometimes I regret it in the morning, but most times I’m fine.

So, I start surfing the net, checking out some other blogs. I went to a message board that I frequent. I played a few games, all as the game was still on.

Maddon decides not to bring Kamir out for the 7th, and goes with the flame thrower Grant Balfour. Lowrie crushes a ball to RF, that just misses a HR. However, that gets you to take notice. Then when Varitek and Kotsay fly out, oh well. However, Crisp lines a single, but too hard for Lowrie to score. Pedroia then singles, and the Sox are on the board. At least they won’t be shut out.

Now, up comes Papi. He crushes one deep into the night.

Fenway is rocking again, and now your thinking how HUGE those 2 runs the Rays just got in the top of the inning are. That HR could have made it 5-4, but Upton gave the Rays plenty of breathing room at 7-4. Maddon brings in Wheeler, and Youk flies out to end the inning.

Papelbon comes out and gets the Rays 1-2-3 in the 8th. Sweet!

Then, a 4 pitch lead-off walk to Bay, and you can just see how tightly Wheeler is squeezing that ball. Drew crushes a HR to right, and WOW! But, your still thinking how HUGE those 2 runs the Rays got in the top of 7th are. Walks will kill you. But, the Sox are now down a run. If you’re going to lose, if you’re going to get eliminated, this is the way to go out. Not some pathetic 7-0 loss. Wheeler gets Lowrie and Casey, and is almost out of the inning. But here is where some “weird” things happen:

- Kotsay’s line drive goes off the glove of B.J. Upton in CF )who has been tracking down EVERYTHING) for a double.


- Gabe Gross’ throw to home goes straight into the ground, allowing Kotsay to score on Crisp’s single to tie the game.

- Carlos Pena (who had ground into only 2 DPs all season) grouned into an inning ending DP with the leading run on 2nd.

- Evan Longoria, one of the best fielding 3B in the league, makes an error. That runner ends up scoring the winning run on J.D. Drew’s game winning hit.

There I am, dancing around the living room while my wife is fast asleep on the couch. Haha. But, who would have thought? Seriously!! Down 7-0 in the 7th?

We go back to Tampa. There is still a lot of work to be done, but ANYTHING can happen, as we just witnessed. There are lots of questions though:

Can Beckett be Beckett?

Is the offense back?

Should Francona swap Lester to game 6 (on normal rest) and Beckett for game 7 (on extra rest)?

Saturday can’t get here fast enough for me.

Whew!

What a night!
Go Sox!
*images from this post courtesey of AP/ESPN and CBS

Congrats to the Rays

Well, it’s the top of the 7th. 2 men are on base as the Sox are down
5-0, and Papelbon is in the game. Looks like the inevitable is upon us.
You have to give them all the credit in the world. The Rays can pitch,
can hit, can run. They’ve done everything, while the stifled the Red
Sox in every possible way.

Kazmir was our only hope, but Maddon had faith in him.

I’m
sure the Fox executives are crying in their beer at this moment. Their
dream match up of the Red Sox and Dodgers have been flushed down the
toilet. No Mannywood triumphantly returning to Fenway Park.

You won’t here any excuses from me.  The
better team won, definitely won this series. The only thing in doubt, is who is the ALCS MVP. Is it
BJ Upton? Is it Evan Longoria? Can’t go wrong with either one. However,
I think Fox’s Ken Rosenthal is already preparing a column, just in case
it is not Upton. Actually, he just doubled in 2 more runs. That should
seal it…the MVP I mean.

Go Sox! Next year though. I’m going to hit the hay.

Against the Ropes

If it was a boxing match, we’d be on the verge of TKO. Luckily the bell sounded and they get to head back to their corner and regroup and try to change the game plan mid fight.
The Rays have been throwing and landing the haymakers. 31 runs in 3 games covering 29 innings is quite impressive. That is over 1 run per inning. Meanwhile, the jabs from the Red Sox have not been able to penetrate the tough defense.
The Rays really have the Sox on the ropes. This is a position that they have been in and have fought back from before. Will the Rays let them off the hook? In a curious move, Rays manager Joe Maddon is pushing up Scott Kazmir to pitch Game 5 tomorrow and pushing James Shields back to pitch game 6. With the way Kazmir has been struggling lately, it seems Maddon is conceding game 5 to the Sox, even though another get by Dice-K similar to game 1′s outing is unlikely.

Is Maddon afraid of wasting another Shields outing, and having Kazmir have another bad outing in game 6, thus allowing the Sox to get back to even with Lester ready to go in a game 7? Or is it because of some history between Kazmir and umpire Daryl Cousins, who will be behind the plate for game 6? I don’t know. The Red Sox bats have been quite stymied and frustrated the last 2 games, could Kazmir be the wake-up call they need to get back in the series?

It will be interesting to see how this move pans out for the Rays. While the Evan Longoria 1st inning HR off Beckett in game 2 seemed to revive the Rays, could Kazmir be the remedy for the Sox to get right back in this?

We’ll see! Go Sox!

On a side note, there was a nice piece in today’s USA Today about some legendary play-by-play guys. Vin Scully and Harry Kalas are broadcasting legends. I can remember NBC Saturday Baseball games manned by Scully and Joe Garagiola, not too mention the many World Series games he’s called. I was more familiar with Harry Kalas as the narrator for a lot of the NFL Films productions, with his unique voice. While dating my wife, and the many times I drove to her place, for some reason the local Boston AM station wouldn’t come in (mind boggling), but somehow I could pick up 1210 AM out of Phillie, and hear Kalas call the Phillies games for part of the ride. To me, these are the voice of baseball, along with Mel Allen who I knew mostly from This Week in Baseball. How about that? Anyway, a nice piece to take a look at.
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