Maybe having a perfect game pitched against Tampa Bay wasn’t a bad thing. Since that flawless outing by Felix Hernandez out in Seattle, the Rays have won five straight.

Last night, Tampa Bay played in the Trop after a 10-game road trip and defeated the Royals 5-1. Starter Jeremy Hellickson, picked up the W at home, his first home win since May 16 against Boston. Joe Maddon said Helly set the tone for the game.

Sean Rodriguez was optioned to Triple-A Durham today to make room for DH Luke Scott who was activated from the disabled list.

Southpaw David Price takes on Kansas City’s Luke Hocevar tonight at 7:10pm.

And just in case you’re dealing with the dreary Tampa Bay area weather tonight, here’s a link to the Richard Justice piece in which he says the Rays appear to be the best team in baseball.

Try to wipe the fact that Evan Longoria won’t be able to resume baseball activities until after the All-Star Break from your mind, and focus on the good stuff.

-The Rays beat the Indians 10-3 in Cleveland last night. It was wonderful to see the offense come to life like that. Tonight, Matt Moore will face off against Ubaldo Jimenez so odds are, Tampa Bay won’t score another 10 tonight.

-Luke Scott broke an 0-for-41 streak when he got a hit, a two-run homer no less, in the top of the fifth. You can watch the video of the long-awaited hit by clicking on the screenshot above. Rays Index has gathered screenshots and a GIF of Scott and the team celebrating. » Continue reading “Rays: Good News Abounds – Homers, Music, And Dogs!”

Stu Sternberg chatted with members of the media in Port Charlotte yesterday and discussed some of the big organizational issues going into the 2012 season: money and the stadium.

Sternberg said:

“The work they’re doing and the time they’re taking and the energy they’re putting in, most importantly, the regionalization of the team, which I have been a proponent of since 2006 [when he took over] is what’s going to make this thing hum over time.”

The word I keyed in on from that quote is regionalization.

At some point, I think we’re all going to have to look at the Rays as a regional asset for the Tampa Bay area. Hopefully, that kind of attitude will help us resolve the pesky stadium saga.

» Continue reading “Rays: Stu Talks Money And Scott Grows A “Beard””

Shortly after the 2011 season was over, I wrote a blog titled How Warm Will The Hot Stove Be For Tampa Bay?   For a good while, the stove was on “low heat.”  While making a number of moves, they were low-key, and most seemed to involve the bullpen, which is the norm for most clubs during the off season.  Shields led one of the best staffs in baseball with an incredible year.

Catcher John Jaso was traded, and Jose Molina was signed to take his place, bringing great (can you say “Molina”) defensive ability, and tremendous experience to the catching corps.

While those moves, as well as a number of others were consummated, big questions still remained:  What about Johnny Damon and Casey Kotchman?  Re-sign them, or fill their shoes?

This past week provided the answer, it seems. The hot stove heated up  for Tampa Bay:   Luke Scott will now fill the DH role that Damon often occupied, and Carlos Pena will be back at first base after spending 2011 in the Windy City with the Cubs.

» Continue reading “Tampa Bay Swings Big In Free Agency”

-In signing Luke Scott, the Rays seem to have solved their DH situation for the 2012 season. In three healthy seasons with the Baltimore, he averaged 25 home runs while hitting .257, .258, and .284, with an OPS of .807, .828, and .902. The OPS numbers range from good to super. The word on the internet is that he is very happy to be a Ray. Don’t even look at his numbers from last season, as he struggled with a shoulder injury. You might also want to take a look at an injury he suffered in July of 2010 as he circled the bases with his twelfth homer of the season. Hopefully, he’ll have many more chances to pull a hammy with Tampa Bay…You can take a look at video of that here.

-Five Rays filed for salary arbitration – B.J. Upton, Jeff Niemann, David Price, J.P. Howell, and Burke Badenhop. Don’t be alarmed – it’s just business as usual. There have been 142 players file throughout the bigs.

-It seems imminent that manager Joe Maddon and the club will come together on a contract extension before long. Maddon seems to be happy in the Tampa Bay area, the area loves him, and he and the Rays seem like a great fit. Well, actually, it may take a while, as he and his wife are headed to Europe for a vacation. Maybe he’ll come home with a new item or two for this year’s Thanksmas menu! Travel safely, Joe. » Continue reading “Tampa Bay Rays: Luke Scott, Sign Soon, Joe, And Encore!!!”

In the flood of articles about the signing of left-handed slugger Luke Scott, I came across this headline from Creative Loafing:

Rays Dump Damon For A Birther

Oh. No. I have two issues with this. The first is that Johnny Damon has not officially been dumped yet. I think he’s a valuable asset as a clubhouse leader to the Rays and I am holding out hope that they will find a way to keep him around for another season. My second issue is that in this instance, politics have gotten all up in my baseball.

Creative Loafing rounded up some quotes that Scott made in previous interviews. I decided to read those original articles in full.

Scott spoke David Brown of the Big League Stew blog on Yahoo! for a December 2010 article and said:

 ”[Obama] was not born here. That’s my belief. I was born here. If someone accuses me of not being born here, I can go — within 10 minutes — to my filing cabinet and I can pick up my real birth certificate and I can go, ‘See? Look! Here it is. Here it is.’ The man has dodged everything. He dodges questions, he doesn’t answer anything.”

In the spring of 2011, Amy K. Nelson interviewed Scott for ESPN.com. Nelson reported:

The team had distanced itself from Scott’s Obama comments and had a conversation with Scott and his agent asking Scott to refrain from sharing his views while representing the organization.

Good on ya, Orioles.

Nelson also wrote:

Knowing Luke Scott is the key to understanding Luke Scott, I’ll hear again and again.

Because he’s now a member of Tampa Bay’s team, I’ll give him a chance to prove he can hang with the Rays.

Still, when it comes to the church of baseball, I believe it should be separated from the issues of state.

I appreciate someone who is an informed voter and can backup their opinions but I really don’t need any of the players I follow to share their expansive political beliefs with me. (For the record, just like David Brown, who put an image of Obama’s birth certificate in his article with Scott’s interview, I believe Obama was born in the US.)

Baseball’s an escape from the heavier stuff of the real world for me and I’d like to keep it that way.