As I watched David Freese pick up the National League NLCS MVP award on Sunday, I thought to myself, “Gosh, I’d like to see that guy in a Rays uniform.”

Then the wheels started turning. While I’d still like to see Freese suit up in navy, columbia blue, white and gold, I realized we already have a guy like him. That guy is Johnny Damon.

Don’t laugh…I’m serious. I know that Damon’s numbers can’t compare to what Freese put up this season. But like Freese, Johnny is playing for his hometown team and relishes the chance to do so. Add in the megawatt smiles we see from each of these guys, and it felt natural for me to make a connection between Freese and Damon. It didn’t hurt that I’d already labeled Freese my “postseason crush” and called Damon my “perfect storm.”

I’m not one to stop a thought before it’s done processing, so I decided to give Dad a call and bounce a few ideas off of him. While our offseason has been underway for two weeks, I think us Rays fans could have a little fun comparing our guys against the ones who will play in the World Series.

Evan Longoria and Adrian Beltre

• Tampa Bay’s third baseman had 483 at-bats before the postseason began this year. Beltre, who plays third for Texas, had 487 at-bats in the regular season. Longoria hit 31 homers and had 99RBIs. Beltre knocked 32 out of the park and drove in 105 runs.
• Each man has won two Gold Gloves for his work at third base.

Ben Zobrist and Michael Young

• Zobrist’s offensive stats can’t stack up against Young’s, but the two players are alike defensively. Tampa Bay’s Zobrist and Texas’ Young will play just about anywhere their team needs them.

David Price and C.J. Wilson

• David Price (12-13, 3.49) struggled a bit this season and there were plenty of times when the offense didn’t support him. C.J. Wilson (16-7, 2.94) had a fantastic regular season, but has had a rocky postseason thus far. He’s 0-2 in three starts with an 8.04 ERA. But these southpaws are united by more than a few rough starts.
• They’re both MEGA tweeters and are great about interacting with their fans online. You can follow Price here and keep up with the Texas starter Wilson here. » Continue reading “Shades Of Rays: Seeing Tampa Bay In The World Series”

Here we go. The Tampa Bay Rays will host the Texas Rangers in Game 4 of the ALDS. The Rays are down 2-1 in the series.

Win today and they head back to Arlington for Game 5.

Lose today and I have to start coming up with off-season content. I’d rather do that in November and let me be clear: I am not a lazy person and I can get pretty damn creative. I’d just like to write about Tampa Bay’s games as long as possible.

The 2 o’clock start stinks, but I’ll be at Tropicana Field. I even did laundry before I ran out of clean underwear just so I could wear the same Rays shirt I sported all day Friday when Tampa Bay beat Texas 9-0. Maybe I’m a little superstitious, maybe I was just happy that my friend said I looked skinny when I went out to World of Beer on Friday night. Whatever it is, I hope that shirt helps bring a good day to me and my team.

The Rays will hand the ball to Jeremy Hellickson in what will be the biggest start of the young Iowan’s career. Hellickson went 13-10 with a 2.95 ERA in the 2011 regular season. The 24-year-old righthander rarely shows emotion during a game, but his family enjoyed seeing him celebrate when the Rays won the American League Wild Card last week.

All of us Rays fans would like to see the AL Rookie of the Year candidate get a chance to let loose again after Game 5 on Thursday night. Hellboy just has to get the Rays to Arlington.

That one hurt.

As far as the feeling in my stomach goes, Saturday’s 8-6 loss in Arlington just doesn’t even come close to Monday’s 4-3 loss in St. Petersburg.

Game 3 started off well enough. When we were through three innings, it looked like David Price and Colby Lewis were ready for a pitcher’s duel. Tampa Bay’s Price had allowed three hits, but still had a shutout going.  Lewis took control for Texas defensively and did not give up a single hit in the first third of the game.

In the bottom of the fourth, rookie Desmond Jennings went yard with the Rays’ first hit of the day.

Neither team could send a man home in the fifth or sixth inning. Then came the seventh.

Texas leadoff man Adrian Beltre singled and then reached second on a wild pitch by Price. Mike Napoli, the man who heard his name chanted in Texas on Saturday, was up next. If the series was still in Arlington, he would’ve heard chants again after he homered to left.

Price seemed to settle down a bit and was able to get Nelson Cruz and Mitch Moreland to ground out. Then Craig Gentry singled and Brandon Gomes was called upon to relieve Price.

Gentry stole second, then Gomes walked Ian Kinsler. Then we witnessed a double steal by Gentry and Kinsler. Gomes walked Elvis Andrus and the Rays looked to reliever J.P. Howell.

At that time, I had to look away. I have not felt comfortable watching Howell on the hill all year long. This time, Howell faced Josh Hamilton. No big deal, right? Hamilton, as he tends to do, got a hit. His single allowed Gentry and Kinsler to score and the Rays saw themselves on the bad end of a 4-1 ballgame.

» Continue reading “Postseason Pain: Rays Unravel In The Top Of The Seventh”

I. Am. FUMING.

Around 8pm ET on Sunday night, MLB released the schedule for the remainder of the ALDS and NLDS games. And guess what? Rays and Rangers fans got royally screwed.

This one's for you, MLB scheduling "gurus."

Here’s the way the Divisional Series’ schedules shake out:

ALDS-Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees

ALDS-Tampa Bay Rays and Texas Rangers

NLDS-St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies

NLDS-Arizona Diamondbacks and Milwaukee Brewers

Umm…what? Let’s review: Out of a possible five game series, the latest start time for the Rays and Rangers would be Saturday night’s 7pm ET Game 2. The series could feature up to three 5 pm ET starts with the fan favorite 2pm ET start thrown in for good measure. The Rays and Rangers will have the most early starts out of any Divisional Series during the 2011 MLB Postseason.

The Tigers and Yankees could have up to five 8:30 starts if they need all five games. I am sorry that Mother Nature took away their off day and required them to return to the ballpark on Sunday afternoon, but that doesn’t make this schedule right.

I needed to vent out loud so I called home. Both of my parents saw things my way. We discussed how the early start times for the Rays and Rangers make it difficult for a small market team like Tampa Bay to build a fan base. I know that a lot of folks outside the Tampa Bay area, including Aerys Sports’ own LOHO crew, have chosen the Rays as their postseason team and now they may not get much of a chance to watch them during the ALDS.

Dad, quoting Cool Hand Luke, described Major League Baseball’s relationship with its fans by saying, “What we’ve got here is a failure a to communicate.”

Mom’s response, “They’re communicating. They don’t give a crap about you.”

» Continue reading “A Postseason Scheduling Cluster…”

Well, it’s back to Tampa Bay with the ALDS knotted at one game apiece. I can live with that. Sure, the Rays wanted to head home with two wins under their belts, but that’s often not the way baseball works. If you had told the Rays they would split in Texas before they left the Sunshine State, they would have taken it.

Yes, they would have wanted to come home in need of only one victory to take the series, but in baseball, a split on the road is generally considered OK. It’s just that when you win the series opener, you tend to get greedy. And that’s as it should be.

However, as a friend of mine, Art Pollock, used to say, baseball is “a 60% game.” Basically, if you win 60% of the time, you make the post-season. And in a five-game series, you need to win 60% to stay alive. The Rays can get that done.

James Shields suffered through a bad fourth inning, and was lifted after giving up back-to-back singles to Mike Napoli and Nelson Cruz to start the seventh. After pitching effectively for the first three innings, it looked pretty good for the Rays. In the top of the fourth, Matt Joyce absolutely torched a high fastball from Texas started Derek Holland, and Shields had a 3-0 lead. Then, it fell apart. Shields took full responsibility for the inning:

“I hit Andrus and things really started rolling there for me. I made some bad pitches and they capitalized.”

Even great pitchers have rough outings once in a while. He’ll be back and pitch well. That’s my prediction.

» Continue reading “The 60% Rule And “Keep on drivin’ ‘em””

By Ricardo André Frantz (User:Tetraktys) (taken by Ricardo André Frantz) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) via Wikimedia Commons

When I first heard that Matt Moore was starting the ALDS, I simply put my faith in the Rays’ organization. They do their homework, and when it comes time for the test, they seem to pass with flying colors more often than not.

Granted, I predicted they would win 83 games this year, and ultimately not make the playoffs. That doesn’t mean I didn’t have faith. It meant that I saw how much they had lost in the off-season.

I also said that if Joe Maddon and Jim Hickey could work their magic, especially with the bullpen, the Rays could go beyond that number of 83.

Well, add Andrew Friedman to the Maddon/Hickey equation and that’s how Moore got the start in Texas. And the kid more than held up is end of the deal.

When watching Moore, the first thing you notice is his composure. Then, you see a smooth, repeatable delivery. Along with that delivery comes a fastball of 95-97 MPH, a breaking ball that snaps toward the back foot of a right-handed hitter, leaving him defenseless, and then, the change-up of death.

It’s hard to call a fastball that is mid- to upper 90s sneaky, but with his quiet, fluid delivery, Moore’s fastball appears even more sudden. Out of 98 pitches, 76 he threw were fastballs. The key was how he mixed his change and breaking ball in. The change forced hitters to have to cover both sides of the plate at what I call “stretch” velocity – plus fastball, plus change = tough for the hitter to sit on anything.

Then, the breaking ball added tilt and stayed in the bottom of the zone, as opposed to the fastball, which was generally up – good up, in the PITCHER’S zone, not the hitter’s zone. That adds the North/South factor for hitters. In the end, the hitter ends up playing a shell game that he just can’t win. Moore has the stuff. He has the makeup. And against the Yankees and Rangers, he has shown he can truly execute with pressure on. Winner, winner, great steak dinner!

» Continue reading “From The Kid To Complete Game James, Rays Look To Take Two In Texas”

Ladies and Gentleman,

Let’s give a collective pat on the bag to “Big Complete Game” James.  Our Shieldsy threw his 11th complete game of the season on Monday against the formidable Texas Rangers (80-62).

I love, love, love that Shields said complete games aren’t “routine” for him (even though the numbers might not jive with that.)  He’s a workhorse and it seems like he’ll stay that way.  When Shields walked Elvis Andrus in the top of the ninth, it was good to see that he was ticked off about it.  Unfortunately, that walk set the wheels in motion for the Rangers’ only run of the day.

The Rays offense supported Shields and Tampa Bay jumped ahead early with a solo shot by Evan Longoria in the first inning.

Tampa Bay made the most of a bad inning by Texas starter Scott Feldman.  In the fourth, Feldman loaded the bases on walks setting up Casey Kotchman’s two-run single and John Jaso’s double-play ground ball that sent Sean Rodriguez home.

BJ Upton tacked on one more run for the Rays with a homerun in the seventh.

And to add one more ray of sunshine to the end of a holiday weekend, Monday’s victory was manager Joe Maddon’s 500th career win.

Tampa Bay continues their series against Texas tomorrow with a 7:10 game.  Jeff Niemann will square off against CJ Wilson for the second time in just six days.

-Catcher Jose Lobaton’s time behind the plate will increase during the last month of the regular season which means we’ll be seeing less of Kelly Shoppach and his beard.  Skipper Joe Maddon said of Lobaton:

“Going into next year, he’d definitely be a candidate. And that’s why it’s vital we see him right now.”

-Jeff Niemann gets the nod for the Rays on Tuesday.  He’ll try to put his last start against Texas behind him.  On September 1, Niemann lasted just five innings in Arlington and gave up five runs on six hits.

-The wives of Rays players will hold a “Mystery Ball” event before Saturday’s game against Boston.  Proceeds will go to St. Petersburg’s All Children’s Hospital.  Of course when I read “Mystery Ball” my mind first jumped to a masquerade ball…but the event that will actually occur on Saturday sounds like a lot of fun too.  Fans can purchase a wrapped, autographed baseball for $30.  The wrapping will conceal which player, or players, signed the souvenir, hence the mystery.

The Rays fell to the Rangers 2-0 in Arlington last night.  If you relied only on MLB sources, you’d think starter Jeremy Hellickson was absolutely abysmal.  The Tampa Bay recap from MLB.com was titled “Hellickson stumbles as Rays get blanked” with the sub-heading “Tampa Bay manages just three hits in 13th shutout loss.”

MLB posted this little beauty from their Facebook page during the game:

Thanks for sharing, MLB!

I’m sure that the fact that the Rays were losing when this photo popped up in my newsfeed didn’t help, but I was really miffed.  I wasn’t annoyed that MLB ran an unflattering photo of Hellickson, it was the lack of context.  Put in a caption like “Rays starter Jeremy Hellickson feeling the heat in Texas. Rays down 2-0″ and then ask for your fans’ input.

From that photo alone, you’d think Hellickson had just served up a grand slam.  I don’t even want to get into what hundreds of people had say about the post and I haven’t looked at it today to see how many hundreds more climbed on the Caption THIS bandwagon.

Hellickson was not perfect (duh, he gave up two runs) but let’s not completely pin the loss on his shoulders. Only BJ Upton, Sean Rodriguez and pinch-hitter Sam Fuld showed signs of life at the plate.

The other night my dad and I were talking Rays baseball and what do you know, the lack of offense came up.  Dad was a pitcher through college and can empathize with the Rays rotation.  When you can’t count on your team for a few runs each night, it makes stepping on the mound a more daunting task than usual.

Feeling like you need to be perfect wears on you after a while, whether you’re a baseball player, a student, or in the working world.

Yes, Hellboy struggle.  He lasted six innings, gave up six hits and two earned runs with four walks and four strikeouts.  Over the course of the night, he threw 112 pitches, 69 were strikes.

James Shields, who has 10 complete games under his belt this season, will look to turn things around for his team, and himself, when he’s on the bump tonight.  Shields is 1-2 with a 5.14 ERA at Arlington.