Where in West Palm can a man watch some Hockey!

Stuck in a hotel with no decent sports bars within a cheap cab ride and access to only ESPN. I had to find out about the Aki trade via the ticker, not cool.

The trade was totally not cool either. After a string of successes, Friedman and Co. are struggling to keep the Rays relevant. I'll express my full thoughts a little later, in the meantime check out the Troll's reaction. Hint - it's not good.

My late preseason breakdown of YOUR Tampa Bay Rays

There is really not much I can add for a season preview that the national pundits haven’t already addressed. They’re young, they’re better than ever and they’re going to be tough to play. The always reliable preseason predictors have them winning between 79 and 89 games. They have the second coming of Tom Seaver (Scott Kazmir), Mike Schmidt (Evan Longoria) and Joe DiMaggio (B.J. Upton).

Reading the posts of the faceless commenters on various blogs would lead one to believe that anything less than .500 and a late season wild card chase would be a disappointment and cost them a chance of getting a new stadium on the waterfront. Of course they also think the DRO has personal vendettas against them as evidenced by the demotion of Longoria the wunderkind.

If they would take a deep breath and realize every little move isn’t life or depth they would realize that the club built is decidedly stronger than any Rays club ever assembled. They have speed, power, defense and depth. They have a bullpen that doesn’t rely on Brian Stokes or Chad Orvella. Carlos Pena could smash 40 homeruns and Upton could hit 30. Jimmy Shields could pitch 240 innings and garner 20 wins. Kazmir (if healthy, always add the “if healthy” when dealing with the slight lefty) could be a Cy Young candidate. Unfortunately they need all of that to happen to sniff 80 wins this year.

When it comes down to it they just play in too tough of a division right now to expect the 90 wins necessary to be talked about in the playoff hunt. New York, Boston and Toronto are better on paper Baltimore, despite their recent renovations, always plays the Rays tough. These are the facts and they are indisputable.
Luckily for you, me and the dog next door baseball doesn’t always rely on facts and logic. Despite the trend towards statistics and PECOTA’s there are still intangibles, or “what if’s” that affect the way a season unfolds.

What if Josh Beckett misses a few games against the Rays and they take advantage to sneak out a few wins against a team that has dominated them the last few seasons?

What if the Yankees young studs falter?

What if Toronto continues its lackluster 3rd place ways?

What if the Rays precautions pan out and Kazmir throws 200 injury free innings?

What if Pena doesn’t get weighed down by his huge contract and puts up another 40-some homeruns?

If the Rays have enough of those go there way wild card wouldn’t be out of reach. Looking back on what was just typed, those what if’s aren’t quite so farfetched.

Instead of my usual overall preseason prognostications let’s go with a position-by-position breakdown.

First Base

Carlos Pena

Last Season – 46 homeruns .282 average 121 RBI’s
2008 Prediction – 37 homeruns .269 average 120 RBI’s

His home run production should be down as pitchers around the league are better prepared for him. Other than Upton there really aren’t too many other every day home run threats in the lineup. However, don’t forget that he will basically have an extra month of at bats since he didn’t really work his way into the Rays line up until May last season.

His offense overshadows what might be his biggest asset this season – his defense. As he looks out into the infielder no one he sees was in the same place last season. Aki is learning a new position at 2nd, Jason Bartlett has had his ups and downs at short, and who knows what kind of defense is going to be played from the three-headed third base position. Pena will be key to keeping extra runners off the bases for the young pitching staff.

Second Base

Aki Iwamura

Last season – 7 homeruns .285 average 34 RBI’s
2008 Prediction – 12 homeruns .290 57 RBI’s

The Japanese import had his ups and downs last season and became a bit if a cult sensation (especially here). A couple of injuries derailed him a bit and kept him from getting into a comfortable groove. When healthy he has a knack (an Aki-Knack?) for scoring runs (82 Runs in 123 games) he could blossom into a nice table setter for a potentially potent Rays' lineup.

He has one game under his belt at 2nd base this season and has already drawn rave reviews. As naturally talented as he is it shouldn’t be a big adjustment and he should definitely be an upgrade over Brendan Harris and Josh Wilson. It will be a shame that one of his greatest assets, laser cannon like throwing arm, will not be displayed quite as much.

More tomorrow.

Quick Hits

Some notes while watching the Tigers dismantle the Rays......

Aki is back. In Aki fashion he scores the winning run. The Rays are much, much better when he's holding court at 3rd base.

Gomes is gone. He needs at bats to get his swing back. Hopefully he has a solid visit to North Carolina and is ready to go when the Rays need him later this year.

New team in 2008. Andrew Friedman confirmed that the Rays have been in contact with the league office in regards to uniform and name changes for next season. He mentioned that the color scheme will be the biggest change. I would say the blue/yellow scheme rumors are true and the name change will offically make the team the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Rays may be holding a very, very big chip come trading time - Al Reyes. Several teams (the White Sox come to the forefront) have had bullpen issues. Look for the Whiz Kids (Friedman and Andrew Silverman) to make the best possible deal for Reyes.



The bullpen will get better..... it can't get worse.

Lightning Round!

Some notes on sports while I watch Brady Quinn drop down the draft board


I apologize for not writing in about a week. I spent the week mourning the end of the Lightning’s season. In the end they just ran out of gas. I think the turning point of the series happened in overtime of game 4 – Martin Brodeur stopped Vincent Lecavalier at point blank range – from then on Brodeur was his old self and the Lightning were done.

- I don’t see Dan Boyle resigning with the Bolts. He had a breakout season and will be a hot commodity in the off season. It’s a shame that the Dan Boyle Era looks to be coming to an end.

- Aki-knock(ed) to the DL…. Arrghhh… Akinori Iwamura goes on the DL with an oblique strain. It’s a tough break for the Rays as they lose one of the igniters in their offense. It looks like he may be gone for 4-6 weeks.

- The Rays leap frog the Yankees in the standings. It’s only April, but it’s still sweet. Is the end near for Manager Joe Torre? Haven’t we heard this story before, as recently as last year? After the series with the Red Sox ends this weekend the Yankees play their next 13 games against the Rangers (9-13) and the Mariners (9-9). Against those two clubs they could get hot very fast and start climbing back up the standings.

- In the Yankees / red Sox game Kei Igawa just came into the game to pitch – wearing sunglasses. I think Joe Buck may run down on the field and rip them off his head. Of course Igawa induces a double play from David Ortiz.

- I like the Bucs drafting Gaines Adams. Their style of defense is predicated on putting pressure on the quarterback. That is something that has been missing since the Super Bowl season.

- I still think Jon Gruden is gone after this season.

- Finally Brady Quinn to the Browns at the 22nd pick. I like the move by the Browns. They pick up Joe Thomas and Quinn in the same day. The jury is still out on Quinn, but maybe this is just what he needs – some players (or “golden boys” as Keyshawn just called him) need a chip on their shoulder to play at an elite level. Who knows?

- Speaking of Golden Boys – next Saturday Oscar de la Hoya versus Floyd Mayweather. The Golden Boy vs. Pretty Boy. I like this fight. Big Mike is saying Mayweather wins in the first or second round. I disagree. I think it goes much deeper.

For the first time in a long time there is a fight where there is a clearly defined good guy (de la Hoya) and a bad guy (Mayweather). They don’t like each other. Mayweather called de la Hoya a “fake-ass fighter” Oscar's response was to call him "a brat". They are both warriors in the ring. De la Hoya is coming to the end of his boxing career and wants to go out with one more shining moment. Mayweather needs to win to satisfy his ego and solidify his spot as one of his generations great pound for pound fighters. It would also be nice to see him go through a fight without breaking a hand.

In the end I think the Pretty Boy beats the Golden Boy in 10. If that happens do we see a rematch?


- Curt Schilling. Sigh. It looks like even when he’s in the right he comes off as a jerk. In response to Gary Thorne’s comments earlier in the week about the bloody sock and it’s validity Schilling fired off a blog post (all can read it at 38pitches.com) in which he ripped Thorne and the rest of the media that “hacked and spewed their way into a day or two of stories that had zero basis in truth”

Thorne later admitted that he misunderstood what he heard from his source (Doug Mirabelli) and as far as I know hasn’t ever been involved in this type of situation before. He is a good announcer (as long as he isn’t calling Detroit Red Wing games) and has earned a lot of respect through his career.

Schilling could have stayed above it all and not used it as a forum to trash the media, but that just isn’t his style. There are times when it’s better to keep your mouth shut and walk with your head held high. However, Schilling can’t let anything go by without commenting on it. He has as they say – Rabbit Ears.

It might just cost him later in his career. While it’s hard to say he’s not going to get in the hall of fame (he should end up his career with 250 wins and 3500 strikeouts) his reputation is going to continue to suffer. When his time comes there will be writers arguing that he doesn’t belong in the hall.

- Interesting stat so far this year. Which Ray pitcher is currently tied for 3rd in the majors in strikeouts? If you said Scott Kazmir you would be wrong (he’s 15th). The answer is right-hander James (Don’t Call me JAMIE!) Shields. With 37 strikeouts he is tied with local boxer, err, Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels for 3rd in the league. Shields had a strong spring training and is carrying that over to the start of the season. That bodes well for the Rays.


That’s it. Back to cleaning the sweet bachelor pad.

Winning the Rays Way.....

Nice victory for the Rays this evening. I have a feeling this is the way most of their wins are going to come – jumping to an early lead and then hanging on. James (Don’t Call Me JAMIE!) Shields picked up his first win of the season. He pitched 7 innings, if not for one misplaced pitched to Michael Young he would have pitched 7 STRONG innings.

Brian Stokes and Al Reyes cleaned up the win with two scoreless (and hitless) innings of relief. It looks like Reyes has officially stamped his name on the closer role. He also vaults into the lead as the most likely Ray to be traded before the deadline.

The offense racked up 12 hits, or should I say 11 hits and one Aki-knock as the Wasteland’s favorite Japanese import went 1 for 3 with another steal and another run. Ben Zorbist hit his first home run of the season, a 421 foot blast in the first inning. I think it went further than all of his previous hits this season combined.

After building up a 6-1 lead though 4 innings the bats went silent collecting only 2 hits the rest of the way. Ah-ha I knew Juliet was a plant! “Lost” can’t pull one over on me…. The Rays need to keep the pressure on other teams starters if they’re going to be successful this season.

Zorbist’s home run makes Josh Paul the clubhouse leader as to which Ray isn’t going to hit a home run this season. It’s always a fun way to make the dog days of July and August go by.

That’s all I got for tonight. Except for the one and only comment I’m making on the “Imus Situation”. He said something stupid. He’s old, antiquated and out of touch with the times. He probably has the same amount of listeners that the Tennessee/ Rutgers game had viewers. Should he have been suspended – yes. Should his show have been yanked from MSNBC – no.

Radio and TV announcers have been making bone headed comments ever since the first person held up a microphone. Heck Rays broadcaster Joe Magrane makes at least one idiotic comment per game. His aren’t racist or sexist, but they’re just as dumb. Let Imus make his apology and do his time. All of this incessant writing and talking about it doesn’t change anything it just prolongs it.