I don't know why, but I've never liked the Texas Rangers. Maybe it stems back to when Ivan Rodriguez was there. It's nothing close to my hatred for the Yanks or Sox, but it's still there. The Rays typically do not have good luck there.
I also tend to get tired during games from the Central Time Zone. It's very strange, but the games on 1 hour later wear me down even more than games on the west coast that start at 10:00.
Game 1
Edwin Jackson. Much better than his debut in Texas last year. I thought it was a solid start. Not earth shattering, but pretty good. He's going to be a good pitcher for us if he has a little improvement. Then the bullpen comes in. What the heck! Lugo and Camp come on without an out in the sixth. Suddenly I'm more tired than usual. Even when the Rays were down, I never got the impression that they had given up. Akinora Iwamura is definitely shining. Sorry but Aubrey Huff, BJ Upton, Alex Gonzalez would never have pulled those up
Game 2
Complete reversal. The starting pitching stuggled mightily and the bullpen did a solid job. The Rangers put up a 7 spot in an inning thanks to Seo. The Devil Rays had such an abyssimal (sp?) road record that a Devil Rays fan simply raises his hand in frustation. Especially after scoring 5 runs in the fourth inning. It's never enough. The Rays never have enough runs for the game. I think in their nine year history, I can't count 10 games where they had a huge lead and they just cruised to the end of the game.
Game 3
Jamie Shields pitches a solid game, with a huge hiccup in the sixth inning. Again, the Rays are up 6 to 1, and as a Rays fan, there is no comfort level there. You know it's still going to be close at the end of the game. What do you know? Soon it's 6 to 5. Great job by Brian Stokes and whew! I'm loving Al Reyes.
We're going into Minnesota tonight. I'm sure we'll here about how the Rays haven't won there in forever, and of course we'll hear about the Tyner bobble head doll.
Very interesting. April 6 was the Devil Rays home opener. Sold out house. A Devil Rays sell out in which you can see a lot of blue seats, but still pretty good turnout. It was also Good Friday so our family wasn't able to attend.
I got home to watch the game on tape. Devil Rays bopping home runs is a great sign, and good plate patience is also going to be great for the year. When we gave up the lead in the late innings, it just gets so frustrating (see right). Going into the bottom of the ninth losing 5-3 was the perfect recipe for three losing home openers in a row.
I couldn't script Delmon Young's game tying home run or BJ knocking in Aki to win the game 6-5. It was slightly reminiscent of the 2003 with Carl Crawford and his walk off homer. It was great to see the Rays win in front of a huge crowd.
That translated to good attendance for the second game. This was our family's "opening day." The four of us got to the ballpark early, took lots of pictures and had a great time.
Fossum did not have so great a time, giving up seven runs before leaving in the 4th. At this point, I'm going to chalk that up to nerves. He hasn't pitched since last August. It was disappointing to see Frank Thomas hit the grand slam. Fossum seemed to be scared to pitch to him. When he was 3-1, he left one right over the plate. The Devil Rays could not recover. down by six runs, they didn't give up however. Brendon Harris out of nowhere hit a three run home run, making it respectable and winnable. The Jays got some great bounces that night too. Some crazy plays. A couple of plays here and there and we would have walked away winners. I guess you could say that about any game.
The Trop looks great, the huge score board is awesome! It's going to be a great experience this year going to the games.
Yesterday I again watched the game in tape delay. Kazmir looked sharp, unbelievably sharp, striking out 10 in the first 5 innings. A home run doomed them, and Stokes came in and made it even worse.
Three good games I thought. The Devil Rays got down early in game 2 but continued to battle.
Impressed- Trop Renovations. it looks great there. Kazmir strikeout strike out strike outs.
Not Impressed - Dioneer Navaro. Is he going to hit the ball this year? It's almost like he's our pitcher up at the plate. Josh Paul had a few hits last Thursday and he'll be up tonight.
The good news is no more tape delay for a little while. I'm watching tonight's game live.
well, as I had church this evening, I watched the entire game in time delay. It was a long game, so here it is midnight and I just finished watching it about half an hour ago.
What a game! Elijah Dukes hitting another home run and hitting up and down the order. Even Josh Paul got a couple of hits. I can never let my guard down though, it is the Yankees and I was nervous into the ninth inning. It seems like the Yankees and the crowd there are expecting the walk off home run, and who can blame them!
Yeah, Yankee defense was a little more than sloppy tonight. First off, two errors by Jeter. When is the New York crowd going to start booing him? Answer -- never. I can see errors from him in the next ten games and nobody batting an eye. He's like a deity there on that field and nobody will say a word against him. It seems a few years ago, Jeter was in something of a slump, more than the "slump" that ARod was in last year. Everyone was concerned for him. ESPN , foxsports, even the Devil Rays announcers were talking about it, wondering when he would come around. Not even close to the #### that A Rod got last year. Jeter can do whatever the heck he wants and everyone will still love him. And don't be suprised if he ends up getting a gold glove....hey...he's Jeter.
I think Seo pitched pretty well against the Yankees tonight, with the exception of the fifth inning. But again, Lugo and Stokes about lost the game for us again. They are simply unreliable. Lugo has flashed of brilliance, but not enough. Giving up two runs to let the Yankees tie was another "here we go again" moment. Stokes was lucky, not skillfull or clever to get out of his inning intact.
Reyes...not bad. Poor camera work and announcing about gave me a heart attack. Posada is up with two outs in the ninth inning. He hits a fly ball and Dwayne Stats says "He hits a long fly ball!" the camer shows right field and it looks like a home run, but it's not. The ball hangs up, Young catches the ball, game is over. A little stirred up drama by the television crew.
Of all the Yankees I've hated over the years Pettitte has never been one of them. I always thought he was a classy guy and a great pitcher. It was almost sad to see him pitching so badly. Almost. The Devil Rays should have taken better advantage.
Impressed- Devil Rays hitters never seem to give up. When they were down by two runs, when Lugo allowed the Rays to tie, they still kept on coming strong. They seem to be running at top speed at all time. that is only good news for this season.
Didn't Impress- Pettitte and Lugo. Mentioned above.
I'll be missing opening day, but our family's opening day will be on Saturday.
Well, here we go. Took half a day off work to come home and watch the game on television.
I'm as excited as anyone about the new season. Even when the Devil Rays end up dead last... (did I say even when?) it's fun. I don't think you can beat the opening day feeling in any other sport. Knowing the marathon is ahead of you. Frustration, exhiliration, walk offs, strike outs, double plays. It's awesome. Even my losing baseball team last year came away winners 61 times. Not good at all for a baseball team, I know, but that's two months of winning days. You don't get that in any other sport.
Yankee Stadium, it is a great place to start. You might as well get your opening day jitters out of the way now. Kazmir is a great pitcher, but he needs a veteran to watch on opening day. Last year, in Baltimore, you could tell he was just too amped up for the day. You get the same feeling here, watching Kaz go 53 pitches in two innings. I mean, he walked Josh Phelps! In this lineup, Josh Phelps is like the pitcher...you gotta at least put him away.
In the 4th, he just walks Phelps again!
Do I dare get my hopes up? 3 runs in the top of the fifth. This is where the speed of the Rays goes up against the age of the Yankees. The age and experience the Yankees bring is unmistakable. They are fully confident of winning. Even giving up the lead, nobody is sweating. The Rays however, have scored two runs by sending runners. On other teams those runners may still be at third base.
Say what you will about the mouth of Elijah Dukes last year. He can definitely shut up naysayers with a home run like that. Now four runs in the inning. Not bad.
Kazmir has a 1-2-3 quick 5th. If it wasn't the Yankees, I might be slightly relaxing.
6th inning...that's why I don't relax. Kaz breaks down a little after 100 pitches and the Yankees have tied it up. Now it's a three inning game.
Well, that's the game. Yankees win, but not a bad showing by the Devil Rays. Of course good showings don't get you very far :)
Impressed with Elijah Dukes, good hitting and carries himself well. BJ Upton good speed and good hitting. He did misplay a ball in the 8th, but still a good day. Crawford...the usual Kazmir could have been sharper definitely and the game definitely would have swung a different way. Mariano Rivera....DANG! Yipes.
I think the Devil Rays have a lot of great potential. They played a good tough game. I guess experience won out. The Yankees outgunned and outlasted us. Hats off to them.
Not impressed with Pavano. Remember when he was so great in 2004 which led to a Yankee signing. We beat him then and he doesn't look that great now. Not impressed with Navarro and Zobrist. Each of these guys had two opportunities to bunt runners over and passed on them. Navarro replaced a sacrifice bunt with two double plays. Really nice.
Hope springs eternal, yes even here in Tampa Bay where this is some excitement about the upcoming season. Usually we enjoy a great month of April. Not a great winning month, but still being less than 10 games out.
There's optimism because we're a little older and a little smarter. Kazmir is a little better pitcher, Delmon Young hopefully can take a pitch or two, and all of these young guys we traded for will finaly pay off. I myself am looking forward to the new season. Here's a few things I'm not looking forward to.
1. Plenty of Yankee and Red Sox fans in the seats again. I'll complain about this year after year. The Rays/Yankees spring training game was completely sold out. You could hear all the Yankfans cheering for their team on our home turf. It'll be the same with the Sox.
2. Jumping off point 2, the love affair that the media has with the Yankees and Red Sox. Jeter and A-Rod, not getting along? are you kidding me? What a complete joke! You think you'll ever hear sportscenter lead off with "Ty Wiggington and Jorge Cantu are not as close as they once were!" I don't even watch the sports networks anymore. It's too boring! I don't care about Yankee news. If you're a big market ballclub, suddenly you get all the attention. I also will have to suffer through Dayn Perry's love affair with the Yankees as well.
3. I'm really going to try writing everyday. I died about a few weeks in, and I like the obligation of writing everyday. It does get awfully hard when your team is losing to come back here and report on the game.
Our starting pitchers so far are getting pretty good innings in the first few spring games. I hope to see Kazmir bounce back, and for management to stop babying him. Along with most other Devil Rays fans, I'm tired of waiting for the future. I want to win now. I can't believe Crawford and Baldelli haven't echoed my sentiments. It seems like they have been waiting to be a winner for a long time.
I'll try to get back after March 18, the fam is going to see the Rays vs. the Tigers in Lakeland.
I'd like to apologize to the faithful readers of my blog...both of them, oh yeah, one of them is me. Well it's my usual west coast tradition and I'm sure I'm not alone, of staying up and watching the late game. There is no sense, no logic to staying up late during the work week, just to watch the Devil Rays. It goes back a long ways to me staying up as a kid to listen to the Tiger games on the radio...now back then I usually didn't make it all the way to the ninth like I try to do now.
Needless to say, if I'm staying up that late, I'd at least like to see a win. Last night my heart sank as Chad Orvella came in in the 7th. Another winning game turning into a loss by the bullpen. What's left to say? the newspapers have to be tired of saying the same old thing. Starting pitchers doing a great job and then crash and burn by the bullpen. Last year we got Joe Borowski to pitch the setup eigth inning, and suddenly we were 39-34 in the 2nd half of the season. I know it's just the Devil Rays, but in many many ways we are close to being a pretty good team. Close.
Our hitting also seems to have taken a vacation. I keep seeing how great the Rays did against the A's over the weekend. We took two out of three which was great, but we scored eight runs total in three games. If our hitting was better, up where it could be, then these bullpen gaffes wouldn't be so tragic.
A few years ago, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers became popular because well, because they started winning on a regular basis. Suddenly it seemed like every football player had his own radio show where he spoke about the previous and upcoming game. There wasn't really a problem until the Buccaneers would lose a game or two and then the cry from the public would be that the Bucs should quit doing radio programs and start working on winning. ( Coincedentally I know many people who are fans of the Red Sox and the Buccaneers, It doesn't make sense except here in Tampa Bay)
I only wish the people of Boston would demand the same. A little over a week ago, Schilling spoke up about the Boston/Tampa Bay rivalry. He laid the blame on one person, and that's Scott Kazmir. Why? Because Kazmir doesn't know how to pitch inside and shouldn't. So all the build up going all the way back to Pedro "I can walk nobody and still hit batters" Martinez and Gerald Williams up until Tavarrez and Gathright is the fault of our own Kazmir being unable to pitch inside, so he shouldn't. Maybe someone should put out -- ok I will -- that people who don't know when to stop talking should learn.
Well, since that conversation, Schilling beat the Devil Rays 9-1 and Kazmir beat the Red Sox 5-1 so on a day like today, I'm sure lots of interesting parties were looking to the game where Schilling and Kazmir pitched against each other.
Well, in case you didn't hear the news, the Devil Rays handed Curt "I always get all the run support I need" Schilling his first loss and Kazmir got the win, AND he hit nobody.
Will this make Curt shut up? Of course not, I'm sure the Devil Rays somehow cheated or just acted like punks to beat Boston 2 out of 3.
It was quite a nice treat to see this on almost the one year anniversary of the big fight between the Red Sox and the Devil Rays. You know the one, where the Devil Rays were so frustrated by beating Boston the two previous nights that after the Boston pitchers chucked balls at us, we responded.
I also enjoyed seeing all the Red Coat fans in the stands being disappointed again. You can always count on lots of them to come to the Devil Rays games, when their team is in first place of course.
Yes I know the Devil Rays almost blew it, and the Devil Rays aren't the best team in the league. I also would have said the same thing if they had blown the game, but it probably would sound like sour grapes.
well, the first of six series against the Yankees did not go our way. I am quite shocked at Hendrickson and how good he is pitching. That game was definitely winable and Mark still has a 0.00 ERA (yeah, I realize it's only two games). I'm officially impressed and glad beyond belief that he is back in the rotation. It was nice to see strikeout and strikeout and 1-2-3 innings? definitely a nice change.
Russell Branyan. I think this shows how bad this team is plagued with injuries. If I had my druthers Russell and Nick Green would be gone. I may start to call him Bobby Smith II. Completely useless. When either of these two get up to bat, I just save time and score an out, but the guys that are supposed to be there are injured, so what can you do? What every Devil Ray fan has done since 1998...wait.
Red Sox coming into town tonight (I'll try to do this without using foul language)..this means that our house, Tropicana field will be swimming in Red. The fair weather red sox fans will be out in force to cheer on their team. These are not evil people, not the devil's spawn. These are people who would love to see the Devil Rays do well, but refuse to support them until they do so and can't give up their favorite team. Annoying annoying.
I have a brother in law from Massachusetts who lives down here now, and of course, loves those Sox...2003 Home opener Rays against Red Sox...this was a game billed by the Boston papers as "Pedro will easily have a no hitter tonight against the Devil Rays" Well of course the Red Coats were out in full force, cheering on their team. Well, bottom of the ninth, two on two out and Crawford up to the plate. Hey if you're a Devil Ray fan you remember the game. The Rays fans were cheering for Crawford to do something and the Redcoats were cheering for their pitcher to finish the game. It occurred to me "wouldn't it be awesome if this place was full of Rays fans cheering for the same thing?" That's what it would sound like. A full stadium cheering for the HOME team. Well you know what happened, Crawford hammered a three run home run...Rays win... Well my brother in law, still garbed in Red Sox gear picked up my son, or course in Devil Rays green like me, picked up Ben and said, "WE won the game!" Exactly, this town will completely support this team,dropping of their old allegiances, if they start winning....we have two franchises in Tampa bay that have already proven that.
Delmon Young? You've got to be kidding me, I hope he gets a huge suspension and then the Devil Rays tack on another 10 games. What an ####. Definitely a huge attitude problem. He needs to learn to get his mind straight and his attitude in order. He needs to realize he has to work hard, get to the major league, make his mark there and then after he's a proven allstar, he can have all the attitude problems he wants and the media will love it. Reference certain outfielders from the Red Sox and Giants.
1. Seth McClung (for now he gets his name back, too bad -- S&M was really starting to grow on me) pitched OK
2. Yankees would miss opportunity after opportunity to take the lead, they left 16 men on base. This is the difference between a Yankee win and a Yankee loss. Two three or even one key hit and the game is over and the Bronx is cheering. A few key hits in early innings and this would have been a 9-2 laugher. But they missed EVERY opportunity. Oh well, that's baseball.
3. Rivera blows the game against us allowing us to go ahead in the 10th. I still remember when he blew Game 7 of the 2001 world series and said to the press "I'm only human" -- he didn't seem to have that humility when he was on the top of his game. Perhaps it's time for the retirement home for Mariano. He is beginning to look like the rest of the league.
4. I won't take one thing away from my DRays -- good defense (except for that Crosby bunt in between McClung and Lee) pitching out of jams and coming through in the 10th.
Hey, they may not win the world series or even their next game, but tonight I'm going to bed a winner...
Last year it was the 8th inning that did us in at the beginning of the season, this year it's the 3rd. As much as I enjoy the Home Run Derby, I'd rather it not happen to my team. Anything Hollins and Gomes did was completely covered up by what Fossum didn't do.
For some weird reason I'm not as disappointed with Fossum as I was with S&M. I don't think it's because I've just put my hands up in despair for the season, but Friday's loss was a lot worse. S&M giving up 5 runs after we scored 4 was much more disheartening. Jackson is back and that is a good sign to me. Put S&M in the bullpen? I don't know. Maddon keeps expressing faith in him, as evidenced by the fact that he is the starting pitcher against the Yankees on Wednesday. Hey if he wins that game, I may start using his first name again. Back to Fossum, he's always seemed an up and down pitcher to me, good starts, bad starts. I don't know that I expect any different. Waechter in for two scoreless innings and three strikeouts, looking much better than my aforementioned "favorite pitcher"
Well, since no one else is saying it, I've decided to change Rocco Baldelli's name to Grant Hill. Hill is the fantastic player for the Orlando Magic who seems to be injured all the time. Rocco had a great spring, and we are waiting no until the first part of May for him to get back into the lineup. Time will tell if we'll see #5 up at the plate anytime soon, he does seem to be enjoying his huge Devil Ray contract making Kids Club commercials. There is no doubt he is a great face for the franchise, but I'd like to see him at the plate.
Well, tomorrow is the Yankees and thus the inevitable give and take at the workplace. Lots of teachers and students (I work as a media specialist) are big Yankee fans and boy did they hear it last year when the Rays went 11-8 against them. We'll see how we do. Regardless though, I'll keep right on bla bla blaing here.
well, a very up and down night from the Devil Rays. We got to see our first taste of Edwin Jackson and there was very good and very bad. The walkathon in the early innings was painful to listen to that's for sure, but the 11 straight retired definitely showed his potential. Is he another Kazmir? Who knows? Kazmir certainly had his share of bad starts and he's still not perfection, but he's getting there.
Was it a good idea to bring him up? I'm sure lots of people will debate it. I don't see a huge problem with it, especially since Jackson knew going in that it was just for one start. I think it was good to give him a taste of the big leagues. I think, or I hope, Jackson walked away thinking, I need to improve and I can make it up here as well.
Definitely the Wiggington home run made me sit straight up in bed, very exciting to have a 3 run game tying home run, but the bottom of the ninth was the usual. I can see Orvella giving up a lead off single, but the call on Perez being off the bag and therefore the winning run safely to second place is just so typical of the Rays.
Typical of the fact that the Rays never get the calls, never. The umpires must have it in there head, that because this is the lowly Tampa Bay Devil Rays they can be pushed around. Remember the first player to get punished for steriods last year? That play in the bottom of the ninth was a "neighborhood" play. This of course means that it is routinely given to the out if the 2nd baseman/ss is close, in the neighborhood. I would have no problem with what happened, if that is what always happened. But it doesn't. That would never, I repeat NEVER happen to Derek Jeter, or Alex Gonzalez. Devil Rays pitchers can be tossed for hitting batters in the SAME GAME that other teams pitchers have hit us with no repercussions.
Remember a few games back when Crawford got kicked out of the game for tossing his hat on the field -- something he did only in the most outlandish out of the way fashion. See if Manny or Sheffield ever have that happen to him
well, the complete opposite of last night took place in game one against Texas. I just can't get over how bad Seth McClung is this year, there's the last strike of the game and now he's 1-3. His one win came against a struggling Kansas City. Only Seth McClung (S&M) could take a four run lead in the first and turn it upside down by allowing a grand slam. We watched the opening day debacle and now this. Send him back to the bullpen! 9 earned runs!
I keep hearing how the Rays never think they are out of it, they keep fighting, with 7 comeback wins, that is all well and good, but every team S&M pitches against never feels they are out of it. Down by four runs, it took mere minutes for the Rangers to bat their way back into it.
Nice to see Branyan's power that I've heard all about, but never seen until today. Another Wiggington home run. It's nice to finally get some production from the third baseman position. Our offense has seemed to be doing a lot better with Nick Green sitting on the bench more. He got some playing time tonight -- might as well can't make it worse.
Well, how often are we going to see this this year? We don't have the pitching and can't seem to afford to improve it. Our 3rd blowout loss of the year. It looks like S&M will be up to face the Yankees in the finale of that series, I know I'll hear it from Yankee fans at my workplace after predicted blowout loss #4
Not to take anything away from the Rangers, they out played us on every front.
What a coincidence...when the pitching is good, the Rays can beat anyone. As we saw the previous two games, when the pitching is bad, anyone can beat us.
Game 1 Fossum definitely did a decent job getting us late in the game, but then we put the young guys in. I think these young guys have talent (Dunn, Childers) but I also think Fenway park is more than a little intimidating. This whole team needs more of a swagger. They can beat anybody, they need to remember that, not get the butterflies when they go up to pitch. They know that everybody in Fenway thinks they are losers, everyone in the media thinks they are losers just because of their Rays uniform. When they have confidence they prove everyone wrong
Game 3 is the perfect example. Great starting pitching by Kazmir. It's a shame he had to leave so early, but you could also tell he didn't want to leave, he wanted to stay in, he knew he had the stuff. All the Red Sox at that point could do was swing swing swing and miss miss miss.
Oh and tell Cry Baby Schilling that Kazmir didn't hit anyone on the way to defeating his team. He'll probably just blame it on something else. Yee haw he's 4-0, Anybody could be 4-0 with all the bats the Red Sox have, but no, the media bows down and worships him because he's such a great pitcher on a team that always gives him run support.
Yeah, yeah I know I'm a Rays fan, and I think the Red Sox will probably take the division this year. But for just last night, we went home the winners
