Our Tampa Bay Rays fell back into a tie for first in the AL East with last night’s 5-2 loss against the Yankees. The featured photo of losing pitcher David Price in the DRaysBay recap captures the mood.

To make Price’s night a little tougher, a Twitter user decided to tweet this to the southpaw:

Kazmir, the one-time Rays standout, has not played in the bigs at all this season. In 2011, he played in one, yes, one game with the LA Angels in which he gave up 5 runs in 1.2 innings of work.

Somehow, I think Price (5-2, 2.98) is safe for now. » Continue reading “Rays: A Lesson In Tweeting After A Loss”

-Y’all, I love Twitter. I’ve dialed back on my use of Twitter this offseason, but I’ll be Tweeting as often and my little fingers, and “real” life, allow once we get to Spring Training. (BTW: PITCHERS AND CATCHERS REPORT IN LESS THAN TWO WEEKS.)

I am far from being the only young professional to embrace the land of thoughts expressed in 140 characters or less. John Gregg of Rays Digest has a rundown of the team’s Minor Leaguers who can be found behind an @. Consider yourselves followed, guys. In the Twitterverse, I’m known as SarahSeesSports.

-Guess what? David Price can dunk. I’m not terribly surprised by this, but I still enjoyed watching the video on Rays Index.

-I am not currently paying to be an ESPN Insider, but luckily it looks like some people are! Keith Law wrote a piece for Insiders in which he ranked the farm systems of Major League teams. The Rays were ranked second, behind only the San Diego Padres.

Here's to many more!

As the regular readers of Cowbell Clankers may know, one of my favorite Joe Maddon quotes is this one:

“If we take care of the seconds, the minutes, the hours, the days take care of themselves.”

That theory of our fair skipper resonates especially with me on this day, the first anniversary of Aerys Sports.

If we writers do our part and take care of our day-to-day responsibilities, Aerys Sports will continue to thrive in this wide world of sports networks under the direction of our President and CEO (and resident Cubs fan) Julie DiCaro.

A year ago, I wrote a piece saying I hoped I was more entertaining than watching the live feed of the AstroTurf installation at the Trop. I cross my fingers that I came through on that for you.

Since I moved to Tampa in the September of 2009, I have fallen head-over-heels in love with not only the Rays, but also the fans who support them. I smile every time I see that someone has mentioned me on Twitter in relation to our team. Even when you disagree with me, I appreciate the dialogue!

Some of my Rays tweeps in particular deserve a personal thank you: @RaysIndex, @DRaysBay, @JasonCollette, @RaysDigest, @ProfessorTwain, @fsutoby, @BKibbs, @SportsShuffle, @HappyHour1010, @JoeBucsFan, @TimValenzuela, @JordiScrubbings, @asr_gator, @MandaGator, and of course, @billsfanmonica, my Tweetup pal.

Without you, the Twitterverse would feel a lot less friendly. I can’t thank you enough for your support through the past year, whether it came in the form of retweeting an article link, imploring your followers to follow me, or voting for me a ridiculous number of times in the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl Talent Tryouts. Let me say now, I will always do my best to return the favor.

There are so many things I fondly remember from 2011: Johnny Damon’s first presser, being emailed by one of the guys I named “Most Likely To Make Me Feel Like A Cougar” in my Draft Awards, James Shields’ complete games (I saw his against the Marlins thanks to @HappyHour1010), having an extra excuse to call my dad and talk baseball after he signed on as a contributor to this site, the month of September, Matt Moore’s beautiful delivery and equally beautiful smile, and of course, Evan Longoria’s homerun in the 12th inning of Game 162.

Yes, there are a few things I try not to dwell on (cough, Manny, cough).

But overall, I look back on 2011 as a happy year both personally and professionally. You, my readers, had a hand in that. The women, and men, of Aerys Sports, also had a hand in that. To you all, I am very grateful.

As we prepare to enter Spring Training, and as Aerys Sports begins Year Two, let’s not forget to allow ourselves to look at the big picture while we take care of those seconds.

We’re Rays fans. We sure as hell know how to dream big even when we’re the new kids on the block.

Image via Flickr user louderthanever

Twitter can get a bit dull over the holidays (I’ll admit I’ve neglected my own account a bit) but David Price is still going strong.

Today, I’ll take you through some of his best tweets over the past week.

Yep, he still has a sense of humor.

I am not the proud owner of a David Price jersey, but this still gives me a sense of relief.

Consider “the real matty j” followed.

Words can’t express how happy it makes me to see Price refer to Friedman as his second father. » Continue reading “Tampa Bay Rays: The David Price Edition Of TWIRT”

What a week.

I am so thankful that Twitter exists so I can feel at least slightly in touch with my favorite team during the offseason.

Elise Myers isn’t the only one who uses Twitter as therapy when there is no MLB baseball to be had, I just can’t draw nearly as well as she does so you’re stuck with screen shots.

-I’ll kick this thing off (pun intended) with some tweets about the trip several members of the Rays took to Tallahassee last weekend for the Miami v. FSU game since I happen to be heading up to my alma mater this evening.

First off, let me say that knowing several of the Rays were at Doak cheering on my Seminoles makes me pretty ridiculously happy. Secondly, how sweet is Reid? For those of you who don’t know, Candie Fisher (@canfish16) is the wife of Jimbo Fisher, the head football coach at Florida State.

Reid wasn’t the only tweetin’ Rays player to publicly thank Mrs. Fisher.

And now, I need to go grab some tissues before I talk about this next one.

» Continue reading “Tampa Bay Rays: TWIRT-Tallahassee, Team Love, And Tim Tebow”

In this edition of “This Week in Rays’ Twitter” we have Call of Duty, golf, college football, cake and a baby on the way, among other things.

I’ll start with Reid Brignac (@reidbrignac) since he reached a Twitter milestone this week and took the opportunity to thank his followers.

Reid’s been one busy guy this week!Seriously, we’re lucky he’s still tweeting since he’s the owner of the new Call of Duty.

It was through Twitter that I learned that Briggy’s father had neck surgery on Wednesday. I also learned from Brignac’s timeline that his father is doing well post-op. Best wishes go out to the Brignac family as Reid’s father recovers!Brignac wasn’t the only Rays player who spent some time on the golf course this week.

That’s David Price’s (@DAVIDPrice14) nephew. Can we all say “awwwwww” in unison? » Continue reading “Tampa Bay Rays: TWIRT”

We did it. We survived the first full weekend of the offseason. By now, we’ve even made it through most of Monday.

So just how did our favorite baseball team spend their weekend? I’m not on a first name basis with any of the Rays, yet, but thanks to Twitter they never seem too far away.

While Evan Longoria celebrated his 26th birthday on Friday (thankfully, he didn’t tweet any party pics) centerfielder BJ Upton was cheering for his brother, Justin. In the end, Justin and his fellow Arizona Diamondbacks lost Game 5 in their NLDS against the Brewers.

Reid Brignac prepared to spend his Saturday at the “What Women Want” expo at Raymond James Stadium. I already had other plans for the day so I was unable to attend, but if other women are anything like me they probably enjoyed meeting Reid and listening to him speak with that Louisiana drawl.

The event that kept me away from Ray Jay on Saturday was Redbull Flugtag. Evan Longoria not only attended Flugtag, he was on the panel of judges. Note to future competitors: Longo will give you a low score if your whole team doesn’t jump in the water. Seems like he’s all about the team play even off the diamond.

Kelly Shoppach took some time off from inspiring hashtags on Twitter and went to a wedding in Wisconsin.

» Continue reading “How The Rays Spent The First Weekend Of The Offseason”

Tampa Bay’s third baseman Evan Longoria was promoting the Pepsi MAX Field of Dreams contest on Tuesday and I was able to interview the two-time Gold Glove winner on behalf of Aerys Sports and Rays Index.

Longoria was featured among other big names in baseball in two Pepsi MAX commercials, and took a starring role in the one below, earlier this year. Now he’s encouraging bay area residents to vote for their very own dream team.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unzmIwbaP5o&sns=em

Before Evan met with fans gathered at a Sweetbay Supermarket in Palm Harbor, Florida, I spent a few minutes with him and talked about the Pepsi MAX Field of Dreams and his season so far.

Let’s get started on the right foot. How did it feel to reach that 20-homerun mark the other night and then hit number 21 Monday night?

Um pretty good. It’s been quite a struggle this year just physically to be healthy. But, I mean, I’m pretty happy with how it’s gone. Obviously, my average is not good, but outside of that I mean I think the goal is just to produce as many runs as I can at this point and just do everything I can to help the team win.

That leads right into my next question. Your average isn’t where you want it to be, but you lead the team in ribbies after missing 29 games and your defense has been spectacular, as usual. Does that fit in with Joe Maddon’s “Find another way?”

Like I said, it’s been a different year for me and so I think, to go out there every day and just really try to focus on doing anything you can to help the team win, whether it’s drive runs in, make a defensive play in the eighth or something to save a run…You know I think that’s always been my focus but especially this year when it’s not going as planned. There’s gotta be different ways to try and make things work and so that’s just been my focus.

My dad coached ball for 20 years. He said it looks like lately you’re standing a little farther off the plate than usual. I don’t know if that’s an adjustment you’ve made or if he’s just watched too much TV! But he said you look comfortable.

I don’t know. My mom is a great TV hitting coach too. Ya know, everybody has their opinions, but for me, Derek Shelton has done a great job with just watching video and trying to point things out and see maybe if there is something or other that can help. But my swing has definitely felt good over the past couple of weeks, so I just gotta continue to work.

Your range backhand and forehand is impressive. How much do you spend working on that?

I take probably 20 to 30 ground balls a day. I just try to do it at game speed so it transfers over into the game. But I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I moved over from shortstop so I was already accustomed to having to move moreso than I would if I was just playing third my whole life. But that’s kind of a point of pride for me, just being able to get to balls that other guys may not be able to get to.

Because of your success with Tampa Bay and then teaming up with Pepsi, you’re one of the recognizable faces of Major League Baseball today. What is it like for you to be in that group with the Pepsi MAX commercials?

It’s different. It’s definitely not something that I expected to happen, especially going down the road that I did to start off my pro career. But, it’s an awesome feeling. And like you said, to be associated with groups like Pepsi and the Pepsi MAX Field of Dreams that we have going on now, it’s an honor. And it’s something that I didn’t think would happen.

Field of Dreams is a favorite baseball movie for a lot of people. If you had a baseball movie marathon, what movies make you list?

(laughs) Definitely Field of Dreams, probably The Sandlot, what is it…Sixty..

61. I stole my dad’s copy of that DVD.

Yeah, 61*. Shoot, there’s so many good ones man. The Natural is good. Rookie of the Year is awesome.

Major League?

Yeah, Major League. There’s a lot of good baseball movies.

On the Field of Dreams ballot, which third baseman would you go with?

Definitely Brooks Robinson. Not only was he obviously a Hall of Fame player, he’s one of the sweetest men I’ve ever met. He’s an awesome guy, for one, that puts him at the top of the list. Not taking anything away from the either of the (other) guys. I actually played with Schmidt. He coached the USA club when I was on it for two days, I got a chance to meet him. But I think Brooks was obviously a 16 time Gold Glover, recognized for his glove, not moreso than his bat, but obviously 16 times is pretty impressive, so that’s really what I appreciate about him.

For the rest of my interview with Evan, and to learn more about the Field of Dreams contest, keep reading! » Continue reading “Seven Minutes With Evan: Longoria Promotes Pepsi MAX Field of Dreams”

The Rays have a rare off day today following yesterday afternoon’s 4-3 loss to the Reds.  James Shields (8-5) struck out 10 and lasted seven innings instead of the nine we’d become accustomed to seeing from him.  Shields told the St. Pete Times:

“I think (Wednesday), I had a couple innings where I threw about 20 pitches,” Shields said. “That kind of killed me a little bit. I threw seven strong, that’s my goal, to go seven to nine and try to get a quality start. Unfortunately I was one pitch away from a quality start, but I hung in there.”

That one pitch was a curveball that Ryan Hanigan sent out of the park for a three-run homer.

Evan Longoria went one-for-four as did Johnny Damon.  But Damon’s one hit was special.  It was his 2,654 hit in the show and tied him with Ted Williams at 71st on the MLB all-time hits list.  I think when this season is all said and done, most people will have to agree Damon’s contract was $5.25 million well spent.

-All of Major League Baseball is celebrating Social Media Day today.  You can “like” the Rays on Facebook and then enter their Social Media Sweeps for a chance to win a personalized 2011 All-Star jersey from your favorite team, or the grand prize: four tickets to this year’s All-Star Game in Phoenix, Arizona.  You can learn more about Social Media Day here.

-One Rays player who knows his way around Twitter is David Price (@DavidPrice14).  But at one point, Price, like many of us, thought Twitter was the “dumbest thing ever.”