Quick Hits

More posts coming later this week (I know promises, promises).

I go out of town for a few days and the Rays fall apart. In case you were wondering the Rays get zero coverage in the West Palm area.

Jon Gomes has returned with a vengeance. I had a feeling that if got the chance he wouldn't take it for granted. It makes the benching of Elijah Dukes easier for Joe Maddon.

Speaking of Maddon, getting tossed in yesterday's game was one of the few times it seemed being the Rays' manager got to him. Sure Angel Hernandez made a bad call, but I don't think it was worth getting tossed for. Looks like he had some pent up rage that he needed unleashed.

Scott Kazmir is still struggling through his starts. No need to start dumping on him yet, but he doesn't seem to be making any effective adjustments. That's one of the main differences between him and James Shields at this point.

The Chosen One finally walked a couple of people. Still he is the best pitcher with an ERA over 7.00 that has come along in a long time. Look for the ERA to drop significantly. If he has a year similar to Shields' performance last year than the rotation for 2008 is starting to shape up.

Switching to hockey. Interesting move by the Lightning to pick up Chris Gratton for a second round pick. It seems like they're willing to try anything to help the special teams out. If not for anything else at least they'll be better on faceoffs next year.

Congrats to whoever had Sam Perlazzo and June for his firing. It's kind of a shame that he became the fall guy. After all he didn't put together that stellar bullpen.

That's it for now...

Don't Call it a comeback

The Rays wrapped up their series with the Toronto Blue Jays with a little afternoon delight. Ed Jackson pitched 6 innings and only walked 2 in the matinee affair. However, he had left the game long before Delmon Young’s 2 run single made a winner out of Gary Glover. The Rays are now 4 and 3 in June and 2-0-1 in their last 3 series. Despite the bullpen implosion that led to Tuesday’s atrocious 12-11 loss they are playing well as a team. The offense has picked it up and the starting pitching has seen a marked improvement since the beginning of the season.

That’s all well and good, but I’m not going to talk about the Rays today, or at least in this post. Instead I’m moving up the east coast to talk about the dreaded New York Yankees. That’s right the dynasty that is currently lying in ruins. Or so the national media would have you believe. With a sub .500 record and trailing the Boston Red Sox by double digits one would think that most storied of all baseball franchises has descended into the depths normally occupied by the likes of the Royals, the Nationals and yes our beloved Rays.

I submit to you that the reports of the death of the Yankees are a tad premature. The calendars rolled to June a week ago. Kids abandoned schoolrooms for swimming pools mere days ago. Network news has only had two measly tropical storms to over hype. With the season just passing the 1/3 mark the Yankees have plenty of games left to make their run.

Within a month, when New York has crept to within 5 or 6 games of the Red Sox the talking heads will begin cranking up the talk. Remember that you read it here first. The Yankees are going to make this race exciting. You may think I’m talking crazy at this point, but bear with me for the next few paragraphs while I lay out a few points why this is going to happen.

1. It’s Happened Before – That’s right. I’m talking about 1978. I was 2 years old and didn’t know a baseball from my elbow. However, all of you Red Sox fans know….wait…I’m talking to the real Red Sox fans. You all know what I’m talking about. Bucky “Bleepin’” Dent. His October home run capped an amazing comeback by the Yankees that crushed the souls of Boston fans for years to come. It was one of the main cornerstones of the mythical “curse” that the 2004 Red Sox club lifted from the organization with their World Series win.

What happened between July and October of that year could have similarities to this season. In 1978 the Yankees found themselves 14 games behind the Red Sox on July 19th. This season they’re only 10.5 games behind them and it’s only June 7th. New York has an entire extra month to run down the AL East leaders.

2. They’ve already made up 3 games this month – At the end of the day on May 31st, 2007 the Yankees were 22-29 (tied with the Rays!) and found themselves 13.5 games behind the Red Sox. Fast forward to June 6 and the Yankees are 26-31 and only 10.5 games behind Boston.

Boston currently finds themselves in a bit of a slump. A win on Thursday snapped their 4 game losing streak. However, the last week hasn’t been kind to them. They lost 2 of 3 to the Yankees and 3 of 4 to the A’s. The Yankees took the two games from Boston and are looking to take three from their four game series with the Chicago White Sox. If the Yankees keep winning series they will make up ground in a hurry.

3. They’re not this bad – The Yankees aren’t a sub 500 team. They are an old team and a team with holes, but they are one of the top two teams in the AL East. Toronto is too schzioprentic to be taken serious and Baltimore plays like the season ends in August. The Rays, well have you met their bullpen?

Not enough has been made about how damaging it was for the Bronx Bombers to be without the services of Mike Mussina and Chien-Ming Wang early in the season. Add in the freak injury to Jeff Karstens and the continued debacle that is Carl Pavano’s Yankee tenure.

Without two stalwarts in the rotation (Mussina seems to win 18 games every year and Wang was their best starter a season ago) the Yankees were forced to use 11 different starting pitchers in 57 games. Starting such luminary pitchers as Darrell Rasner, Chase Wright, Karstens and Matt DeSalvo has forced manager Joe Torre to overuse his bullpen. Now that the rotation has stabilized look for the bullpen to be more effective as the starters chew up more innings.

Speaking of the bullpen much has been made of the struggles of future Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera. Overall his numbers are less than impressive. Three losses, two blown saves and a 4.87 ERA are not what the common fan comes to expect from the whip thin reliever.

Yet with the warm weather the native of Panama has had a bit of a resurgence. In his three appearances he has two saves and no runs allowed. He’s faced 9 batters and only one has reached base. Four consecutive seasons of more than 70 innings pitched has taken it’s toll on the reliever so he won’t reach the magic number of 50 save, but don’t be surprised to see him around the 30-35 save mark.

On the offensive side Bobby Abreu is not a .252 hitter and for the remainder of the season Josh Phelps will be more productive at first base than Jason Giambi. Alex Rodriguez is not going to cool off. His final average will be around .300 and he will hit 50 homeruns.

On the flip side Josh Beckett is going to lose games. His 8-0 record is nice and sparkly but this is the same pitcher who has never won more than 16 games. There is an extremely good chance that he will see some time on the Disabled List as well. His history or arm troubles and blister issues aren’t going away.

Curt Schilling is not getting younger. Despite the one hitter on Thursday his season has been marked mostly by his inconsistently. He even admits it. Just read his blog.


Those are only three points. Don’t count Brian Cashman out. He may make a move to kick the Yankees into another gear (Mark Texeria anyone?) Joe Torre may have had his head in the guillotine early this season, but it could turn into his finest coaching job ever. He may have benefited from a debilitated George Steinbrenner more than anyone on the club.

Another reason, a reason that has no basis in fact whatsoever, is that it would make me happy. I despise the Yankees as much as the next kid who grew up in Baltimore. They’re “mystique and awe” are annoying. Their wild spending is repulsive to a fan who believes in team chemistry and fundamentals.

Besides haven’t Boston fans become a little full of themselves. As if one World Series victory washed away 87 years of failure. With their pink hats and condescending sneers it seems they feel entitled to post season play. For fun ask your local Red Sawwwwwx fan when the last time they won the AL East was. If they say 2004 laugh at them. It was 1995.

Besides blowing a double digit lead to their heated rivals would bring them back to reality. When they surpass Yankee fans as the most obnoxious fans to attend games with you know something is wrong with the sporting world. Losing the division would bring some of the “woe is us” attitude that made Boston fans so adorable for the last few decades.

Finally, I have a dream. It’s not as noble as Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream, but it is still a dream. I dream that in November the Yankees are lifting the World Series trophy and a champagne covered Alex Rodriguez is being honored as MVP of the post season. As drunken New Yorkers look on A-Rod kisses his wife, then kisses his stripper mistress, then watches as his wife kisses his stripper girlfriend and rips off the storied pinstripes revealing a Los Angeles Dodgers T-Shirt, looks into the camera and says, “F--- You, New York I’m going to Disneyland”.

That’s my dream. It won’t solve world hunger or bring peace to the mid east. But it will make me happy.

Quick Note on the Rays

I figured I would write a quick post since I’m bored as can be at work. It looks like there could be some shaking up of the roster this weekend. The St Pete Times mentioned that Andy Sonnanstine and JP Howell could be replacing Jae Seo and Casey Fossum as early as today (Friday).

As I surfed the web I didn’t see any mention of the move, so perhaps the DRO is waiting another day to start the ticking of Sonnanstine’s major league clock. I’m all for letting the kids play. The Rays have to find out if their farm system is ready to develop major league talent on the mound.

The masses of online fans and talk show callers have begun to anoint Sonnanstine as the chosen one. To hear them talk you would think that he is Sidd Finch incarnate. Forget Scott Kazmir, forget James Shields this 13th round draft pick is the answer to all that ails the Rays. His impressive control (13 walks in 71 innings) is making them overlook his sub par arm strength. I believe you can had a long and storied career without possessing a 95mph heater in your arsenal. However, your first few seasons will be tough.

He is going to have to face hitters that:

a. have better plate discipline.
b. foul off good pitches instead of missing them
c. hit mistakes very, very hard

Not to mention different (read tougher) strike zones from Major League umpires.

I don’t want to rain on everyone’s parade. Like I said let him play, but don’t expect miracles from him. Even James (Don’t Call Me Jamie!) Shields went through a stretch last year where he was pounded.

So rejoice when he is called up. Tune in for his debut, but don’t ditch him if his ERA floats in the 6’s or 7’s this season. Don’t expect him to lead the Rays to contention. The next four months should be spent finding out if he belongs in the rotation behind Kazmir and Shields, not fitting him for a yellow hall of fame jacket.

Not enough

It took me a week to semi-organize my thoughts about the UEFA Final. AC Milan prevailed 2-1 over Liverpool last Wednesday. I watched the game on TIVO - taking a day off two days after coming back from a week long vacation is frowned upon at the Fun Factory - so that kind of dulled the pain.

After a week of thinking about it the same thoughts keep coming back. Rafa waited too long to bring in Peter Crouch. His game plan was solid, but the big names couldn't finish. Stevie Gerrard, Xabi Alonso and John Arne Riise all had chances to score and couldn't find the back of the net. Jermaine Pennant did a great job of creating space, but couldn't do anything once he was open. I guess a little bit of karma was paid back. The magic 6 minutes in Istanbul were repaid with 93---errr 92 and 1/2--- minutes of frustration in Athens.

Watching the replay of the first goal.... it might have been a handball, but there is no way the ref can make that call at real speed. Even watching slow down replays on the TIVO didn't show a definitive replay.

The second goal from AC Milan was the result of a sublime pass by Kaka. Pepe Reina hesitated off his line for a second and the ball was trickled into the back of the net. Crouch played strong once he was in maybe he would have been a factor on some of the wayward crosses from Steve Finnan and Pennant that were harmlessly booted away earlier in the game.

Kruyt's goal in bonus time brought a little hope into the hacienda, but I never had the feeling that they could pull it off.

Time for the mastermind to rebuild. it would be nice to see him build a team that is competitive in Europe and in the Premiership, but that will be difficult. Crouch has been assured he is still in the teams plans, but it looks like Craig Bellamy will be gone as will Robbie Fowler. It should be interesting to see what happens once the transfer window opens up this summer.

Lightning News

This is a little old, but I figured I'd still take the time to mention it.

The Bolts resigned Johan Holmqvist to a one year $1 Million contract. It looks like the goalie situation from last season will roll into next season. I don't know if that's a good thing or not. I think they need Holmqvist or Marc Denis to step forward and play as a true number one. The rotation won't work.

Craig Ramsey was let go by the orginization. Well they fired him over "philosophical differences" between him and head coach John Tortorella. If there is any doubt who is in control of the orginization the latest move should settle it. Torts is in complete control. That isn't always a bad thing.

No payroll cut.... it will still be hard to field a deep team within the salary cap limitations.

I've said in the past that Dan Boyle is a free agent. Apparently I was incorrect. He has one more season with the team. That's good news, bit it also means a year of "when will they trade Boyle" stories. That's not good for the morale of the team. I still believe that the piece that they have to move now is Marty St Louis. I'll expand more on that in the future.

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.

Radio Ga Ga

Alright folks first off I’m sorry it’s been awhile since I’ve typed some words. I also realized that’s it has been quite some time that I’ve given examples as to why I named the blog the way I did. That is to blast fans in this area. With the Rays being swept by the Marlins I figured that there would be plenty of examples of the kind of fans the TBA has on the radio today.

Lucky for you and me the filters at the No Limits Fun Factory no longer block the streaming feed of the local sports station. If you’re familiar with the TBA you know that there is only one real sports radio station and that the local talent – well it leaves a lot to be desired.

I understand that negativity makes for better radio and that in order to fill 4 hours a day you have to take down some sacred cows. However, the local hosts in Tampa take it to a new level. It seems they revel in the current slide Tampa Bay sports has currently taken. The worst part is that they do it with a smugness and ignorance that is appalling.

For their parts the fans that call in aren’t much better. No matter what the topic of the day is 75% of the callers will state that Mike Alstott needs more playing time, the Lightning should never have let Nikolai Khabibulin get away and that they are Yankee fans, but they go to “a lot” of Rays games.

Any caller that has a strong argument or can point out a flaw in the host’s argument is usually subjected to verbal abuse or quickly hung up on. God forbid a caller point out any past errors on a host’s part or question his “sources”. You may as well curse his mother or kick his dog.

So today the plan was to listen to as much of the program as possible to show the world (or at least the 7 readers I have) what it’s like to listen to local radio. It will show you why I am more than willing to pay for Sirius Satellite radio.

I tuned in at 3.00pm expecting to hear the mindless rantings of the one referred to as “The Big Dog”. As mentioned before the Rays had been swept and a major gambling event, The Preakness, had occurred. Unfortunately today was the day of The Chris Thomas Memorial Golf Tournament. Chris Thomas was truly a one of a kind announcer. Articulate, well informed and slightly eccentric Thomas was the former morning drive time host for the sports station. His death 3 years ago has left a great void that hasn’t been filled to this day.

So the “Big Dog” had the day off and was replaced by a younger host, Justin Pawlowski, who does a weekly Saturday show and usually does a good job – if he focuses on football. I would argue that of the on air talent at the station he knows the most about the game and can talk about it very well. When he hosts a show with open topics it seems he loses a little confidence and bit of credibility.

To sum up today’s show: Joe Maddon has to go and the bullpen is horrible and Shawn Camp and Brian Stokes should be executed immediately. I agree the bullpen is horrible, but I would argue that it has been a known weakness going into the season and it’s being beaten into the ground. It would be like going to a Dane Cook movie and then complaining that it wasn’t Oscar worthy.

One fan chanted, “Joe Must Go!” during his call. Another stated that he was the worst manager in the majors right now. The host implied that he was a puppet for upper management while stating that he would “never call anyone a puppet”. Yet another caller, boosting of his status as a little league coach, stated he won’t go to another game until Maddon was gone. Not one caller defended Maddon while I was listening.

As for my take , I disagree 100% that he should be fired. I don’t agree with all of his moves, but I think he is the perfect manager for this club. He is even keeled and he is dedicated to playing the young players to see what they’re going to develop into.

Case in point from Sunday’s game. In the 9th inning and trailing by 1 run the Rays had Greg Norton on first base and Dioner Navarro at the plate. Navarro is hitting .194 on the season. On the bench was left handed hitting Carl Crawford. Maddon elected to let Navarro hit – the portly catcher promptly struck out to end the game.

Outrage followed on the radio. Pawlowski was the harshest as he accused Maddon of not wanting to win the game. Despite the fact that an injury to Josh Paul had left Ty Wigginton as the back up catcher the host was adamant that a team shouldn’t leave it’s best player on the bench in a close game.

Paulowski’s argument was that you deal with the catching problem if it becomes an issue. However, he was missing the object of this season – it’s to see who can play and who can’t. What if Navarro comes through in the situation? Maybe it turns his season around. What if Crawford pulls a hamstring running out a ground ball?

It was a decision that you could argue either way at the time, it’s not the type of decision that calls for the removal of a manager. I think he still has a lot to learn as a manger and he can be loyal to a fault (see Ben Zorbist and Brian Stokes), but to fire him would be a mistake. The fans to a man seem to want someone along the lines of Lou Pinella back with managing the club.

What good would that do? It might be more entertaining with all of the yelling and screaming and hat throwing, but would it be any better for the club? No. Managers like Sweet Lou have better success with veteran clubs. The noise out of the clubhouse in the last year of his tenure with the Rays suggested that the younger players were scared to make mistakes when they played for him. That’s no way to lead a young club.

Maddon may not win any umpire baiting contests or show up on SportsCenter throwing bases around the infield, but he allows the players to develop in the line up. That’s going to lead to losses, more losses than wins as a matter of fact. It will also lead to a better ball club. My friend Big Mike once used the phrase, “long term good, short term bad”. He used it to describe a doomed relationship I was in, but it also applies here. While short term success looks bleak, the lessons learned in losses this season will lead to wins in the long term.

As far as the bullpen goes – well that’s a matter for a whole different column.