CHEESE & WHINE: Stayed Up For Nothin'

Rays: 6
Mariners: 7
(11 innings)


CHEESE:

• Jeff Niemann (innings 1 - 6). Niemann once again looked great for most of this start, but wasn't able to hold-on in the 7th. After allowing a hit in the 1st Jeff retired 17 of the next 18 batters, but then came the 7th inning (see "Whine").
• Carl Crawford. CC was 3 for 6 with 1 RBI and his 52nd stolen base of the year.
• Gabe Gross. Beautiful diving grab in the 9th to help ensure that the game would go to extras. Check it out here.

WHINE:

• Felix Hernandez. Respect the game son, turn your flippin' hat back to where it belongs- this ain't the hood!
• Jeff Niemann (7th inning). Niemann had the M's at his mercy, and was in-line for the win, but along came the 7th: Jeff had all but shut the Mariners down, but gave up a lead-off homer to Griffey Jr before giving up a walk and 2 singles. That was all Maddon had to see to pull the plug on the R.O.Y. contender, but the damage was done (or was about to be)...
• Grant Balfour. The Mad Aussie inherited Niemann's runners, but did nothing to help his starter; giving up a hit, recording a hit batsman, and allowing the M's to tie it up at 5 apiece. Yes, homeplate ump, Mark Carlson, missed a call that would've struck-out Sweeney (who was hit by the following pitch to load the bases), but Balfour's job is to get out of trouble, not create it.
• The Trains. I complained about them back in April and I'm complaining again. Nearly a dozen trains rolled past Safeco Field during the game, background noise at a ballgame should entail cheering, jeering, beer guys hollering, and crackerjack salesguys, not trains.

CRACKERS:

• These West Coast swings kill me. Getting out of bed at 7 to come to work today after staying up to watch the Rays last night was pure hell. Would've been easier had they won.

CAVIAR (game ball):

• Jason Bartlett. I know, he didn't even make the "Cheese", but his only hit should've been the game-winner. He did his part, and the Rays were only 1 strike from the W thanks to his solo-homer in the 11th.

Catching Depth

Our friends over at Rays Index in conjunction with several other sources are reporting that the Rays have acquired Gregg Zaun from the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for a player to be named later and a bag of used BP balls (okay- just the PTBNL).


Zaun's stat line is as follows:
.244/.355/.375 in a total of 56 games.

He has thrown out 10 of 39 base-stealers.

More Bullpen Help

The Rays have re-acquired RHP Winston Abreu according to Joe Smith over at The Heater.




Abreu was released by the Rays earlier in the season, was picked up by Cleveland and was then DFA'd by the Indians' organization last week.

In his brief stint with Tampa earlier this season, Abreu pitched 3.2 innings over 2 games, allowing 1 run on 3 hits, striking-out 3 and walking 2.

He will join Triple-A Durham tomorrow.

Root for The Yankees?

Four words I never envisioned myself saying, or even thinking, but with Boston and New York preparing to square off on a 4-game set I find it most logical to... gulp... root for the Yankees.

Why?
For several reasons actually:

Most importantly, the Rays need to start making up ground in the wildcard hunt, so that means catching Boston and Texas. Even if that means New York starts to run away with the AL East. As things stand now, the Rays have to stop dreaming about retaining their title as AL East Champs and start worrying about finding a way past their mediocre start and into the playoffs.

Plus, look at it this way; if you had to decide between playing at Fenway or New Yankee Homerun Derby Stadium in October which venue would you choose?
I'd say, without a shadow of a doubt, "See ya in the Bronx".
--
Let's dare to dream and say that the Yankees sweep the 4-game set. If that were the case, the standings would have New York at 69-42 and 6.5 games ahead of Boston. Let's also assume that during that 4 day time frame the Rays manage to win 2 out of 3 in Seattle. That would leave Tampa Bay at 62-49, just 1/2 game behind Boston, and left with nearly 20% of their games versus Baltimore.

But on the other hand, if Boston and New York split their series and the Rays manage to win the same 2 out of three in Seattle, that would leave the Rays 2.5 games behind the Sox and 5 games behind New York with exactly 50 games to go-- which isn't horrible either.

The reality is this; the Rays need to pass 2 teams in the standings to make it into the playoffs. Right now those teams are Texas and Boston, so until something changes all Rays fans (in my opinion) should be rooting for whomever those 2 teams are playing against.
The Rays have 6 games against Texas and 6 games against Boston left on the schedule, so they (the Rays) need look no farther than the mirror to see what it'll take to make the post-season, and then all bets are off.

What do you think? Should we be rooting for the Yankees, the Red Sox, or a split?

Online Surveys & Market Research

CHEESE & WHINE: Long Ball - Short Sweep

Rays: 6
Red Sox: 4


CHEESE:

• Sweeping. Although it was only a two-game set, getting the sweep of Boston could turn out to be paramount in the grand scheme of things.
• The Long Ball. Crawford, Pena, Burrell, and Bartlett all managed to put one over the wall.
• David Price. King David had a solid outing, lasting 6 innings, giving up 2 runs (2 solo homers), on 6 hits, striking-out 5 and walking 0. That'll do.
• Setting 'em up and Knocking 'em Down. Dan Wheeler and JP Howell continue to work well together to finish games, and last night was no exception. Wheels came in after the Rays newest bullpen arrival, Bennett, promptly put 2 men-on in the 8th with no outs, and managed to limit the damage to just 1 run. Howell came-in in the ninth and after walking the lead-off batter managed to retire 3 in a row to seal the victory and record the save.

WHINE:

• The Yankees won.
• Jeff Bennett. Hmmm... must've been a reason he was just floating around unnoticed and unsigned. Bennett came-on in the 8th and managed to put runners on second and third in a grand total of 7 pitches. Thankfully he got a little help from his friends. Oh, he'll get by with a little help from his friends.

CRACKERS:

• All of the Rays' runs were scored via homerun (Crawford (2), Pena (2), Burrell (1), Bartlett (1)).
• No Rays' player had more than 1 hit.

CAVIAR (game ball):

Carlos Pena & Pat Burrell. Both of these cats needed something to jump start their offense. Hopefully the monster homers they launched last night will be the catapult they needed; for Pena that means better hitting for average, for Burrell that means better hitting for power.

Lead-Offs & Walk-offs

LEAD-OFFS:
In an amazing act of humility Joe Maddon finally stood-down from his stubborn and illogical insistence that BJ Upton lead-off for his defending American League Champion Rays, and for the first time (since Upton returned from injury early in the season) he finally broke-down and put Jason Bartlett in his rightful place in the lineup; leading-off.

Bartlett responded immediately with patience at the plate and consistent at-bats.

Upton responded by saying he was "a little upset". Now you know how the average fan feels when, as the lead-off hitter, you swing first pitch or strike-out on 3 or 4 pitches on a consistent basis. Upton sounds more and more like CC everyday; you don't get to decide where you hit in the lineup, you aren't entitled to anything- you fill your roll, collect your inflated paycheck, and hopefully have some fun along the way, and maybe, maybe if you're lucky you can EARN your way back up to the top of the lineup.

WALK-OFFS:
Evan Longoria is a stud. Dirtbag once again proved his worth, not once but twice, coming through in the clutch v. arch-rival Boston.
Longo hit a solo homer in the 8th to tie the game, and eventually push it to extra innings, but that's not the even the good part:
The good part came with one on and two out in the bottom of the 13th when Dirtbag tee-d off on a 1-0 pitch from Boston's Takashi Saito and sent it deep into left-field for a walk-off homer, his 23rd of the season, and quite possibly his most important.
This may seem overly-dramatic, but this may've been the biggest hit of the year for the Rays. Time will tell.

Back from Vacation

A quick shout-out to let everyone know that I'm back from vacation... okay, okay, relax-- oh, thank you, thank you, you're too kind... please hold your applause.

The weather in Pa was nice, the golf not too shabby, and the break from the interwebs was like a cleansing shower (after a few days of horrible withdrawal symptoms, such as, Rays Index-itis, and facebook-ulosis).

Also, just wanted to send a public thank you to our friend Dustin who filled-in remarkably well in my absence, and who has shown over time that he could probably run this ship better than anyone (bear in mind that Dustin does this pro-bono, with no compensation what-so-ever).

Thanks Dustin, we're very appreciative.

Cheese and Whine: Royals @ Rays Part 3

RAYS 1, Kansas City 4

Aside from wondering whether James Shields did something to deserve the utter lack of support he gets from his position-playing teammates, I've got very little to say about this game.

CHEESE

James Shields threw seven excellent innings.

WHINE

Everything else about the game.

CRACKERS

Game four of this series, in which the Rays should have been looking for a sweep of the Royals prior to welcoming the Red Sox, is currently in progress (as of now, I'm listing to Dave and Andy over the internets). Though it is still mathematically possible for the Rays to make the playoffs this year, they're gonna need to play better than they did yesterday, and they're gonna need some help from the rest of the division. And from the Rangers.

Cheese and Whine: Royals @ Rays Part 2

RAYS 7, Kansas City 1

CHEESE

Jeff Niemann gave the Rays eight full innings of mostly dominant pitching. Of course, the opposing offense wasn't much, and he did give up several extra-base hits (including the DeJesus solo shot that accounted for all of the Royals scoring). But that's the point. This was exactly the kind of start Niemann should have against a team like the Royals, exactly the kind of start we were hoping for, and precicely the reason why Rays fans have reason to hope that if the rest of the staff starts pitching as well as the number five guy, the Rays might actually stay in playoff contention through September.

Dionner Navarro hit a single and a double, scored a run and, with an assist from Carl Crawford (who also contributed a two-run homer), made a great play at the plate that prevented a run from scoring and ended the fifth inning. Of course, he also grounded into a double play to end the Rays' eighth, but by then the score was 7-1 in their favor.

WHINE

The Rays' Offence still struggles against starting pitching--even when that starting pitching is solidly mediocre. I know, it's odd to complain about an offense that puts up seven runs, but this was a closer game than it should've been for longer than it should've been. With the exception of Bartlett's two-run triple in the second (during which he scored on a throwing error--Callaspo sailed the throw to third and nobody was backing up the bag), the Rays didn't manage much against Royals starter Bruce Chen, who is now 0-6 with a 5.73 ERA and a 1.49 WHIP. Yesterday was his longest start of the year for the Royals at 6.2 innings.

The Rays' Baserunning continues to frustrate me and everybody else. Pat Burrell was gifted first base when the Royals failed to catch a routine pop-up. Unfortunately, Pat the Out almost failed to notice, because he was too busy sulking and half-heartedly shuffling down the baseline. Then, when he did notice, he decided to try for second. He was thrown out, and it wasn't close. If he'd stayed put, he might've been on base when Bartlett hit his triple, thereby giving the Rays another run. Similarly, Gabe "Gabe" Kapler inexplicably tried for home on a long liner by Navi after he'd been waiting to tag up on it. When the ball dropped, Kapler was still standing on second. The Rays should've had runners at the corners. Instead, they got a man on first--a slow man on first--and two outs. If Kapler had gone half way between the bags, maybe he makes it home safe; if stays at third, maybe he scores on the wild pitch later that inning.

Fox Broadcasting is just annoying.

CRACKERS

The Rays are looking for a third win against the Royals today, and they need it. Hopefully, tomorrow we're talking sweep and the Rays have a full head of steam ready for Boston on Tuesday. Both the Wild Card and the division are at least hypothetically within reach, but the Rays need every win they can get. Every game against the Royals is a winnable game, so...

LET'S GO RAYS!!

- Dustin

Cheese and Whine: Royals @ Rays Part 1

RAYS 8, Kansas City 2

There's more to say than "phew," about the Rays' win over the Royals last night, but it's gonna have to wait. It's the weekend, and there are familial obligations that require attention. Further bulletins as time permits.