Odds & Ends

The Rays, as expected, failed to sign either of their first two picks. Second-rounder Kenny Diekroeger has committed to play baseball at Stanford, in spite of the "real sales job" the Rays attempted and the "really, really very good" relationship between the organization and the Diekroeger family, according to Rays scouting director RJ Harrison via Marc Lancaster. First-rounder Levon Washington, a Scott Boras client, is not academically eligible to play for his hometown Florida Gators, and will likely spend the year at a junior college. That one's kind of a head-scratcher. Apparently, the Rays and Washington were so far apart on their initial offers that the parties were unable to get together in time to make a deal work logistically.

Montgomery Biscuits' left-handed pitcher Darin Downs took a line drive off his head last night in his second start for the AA team, and though he's still in an Alabama ICU with a fractured skull, he's apparently recovering nicely and only hospitalized for monitoring purposes.

Also, Brett Favre will play for the Vikings this year. What? Wait, sorry. I don't know what came over me. Guess it's just not possible to talk about sports right now without bringing that guy up.

The Rays throw David Price tonight against Jason Berken, a rookie righty who's lost ten of his last eleven decisions and sports a 6.63 ERA. He had a 3.58 ERA and 1.23 WHIP last year with AA Bowie with 7.7 K/9 against 2.3 BB/9. He's never faced the Rays, which hopefully works in their favor more than it does his.

In this article, Joe Maddon is quoted saying "I still believe in these guys. I still believe we have a really good hot streak that we haven't seen all year. It lies beneath the surface. We've just got to bring it out." Right freaking now would be a great time to find that hot streak, don'tcha think?

LET'S GO RAYS!!

- Dustin