Sayonara, Akinora Iwamura

It's official. The Rays have traded infielder Akinori Iwamura to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for right-handed, relief pitcher, Jesse Chavez.

Chavez, 26, finished the 2009 season with an ERA of 4.01 while recording 47 K's and 22 BB's.

Chavez should have a legitimate chance at procuring a roster spot for the 2010 season.

By making the trade before the official end of the season the Rays saved around 1/2 million dollars.

I think in the long run that Ben Zobrist will end-up costing the Rays more, but in the short term this move seemed all but inevitable, especially considering that the Rays will have no choice but to continue to carry Burrell's inflated salary, as well as the $10M that Crawford is due.

Game Recap: Aki To Victory...

June 24, 2008

RAYS: 6
Marlins: 4

HIGH-LITES:

Aki went 3 for 5 out of the lead-off spot, including a 2 run homer (his 5th of the year) in the 3rd to put the Rays ahead 2-1. He also recorded his 12th double of the season and finished the night with 7 total bases.

Although Sonny was far from prefect he pitched a fairly good game, which is all the Rays ask of him. Andy gave up 6 hits in 5 innings of work, allowing 2 earned runs while striking out 5.

Howell, despite giving up a run, recorded 4 K's in 2 innings of work. J.P. continues to impress with some great pitches when they matter most and picked up the W.

Evan Longoria hit another clutch double in the top of the 9th to put the Rays up by a margin of 6-3. He came through in the clutch again in the bottom of the 9th; with the bases loaded Evan made an amazing diving stop to prevent an extra bases hit then threw to 2nd (from his knees) to record the second out of the inning. That play more than made up for the balls he lost in the lights earlier in the game.

Patience at the plate by Navi and Hinske. In the 8th, with the bases loaded, immediately following less-than-stellar at-bats by and Upton and Dirtbag, first Navi and then Hinske showed patience and allowed the Marlins to beat themselves by walking-in 2 runs.

LOW-LITES:

BJ Upton's lackluster performance on both sides of the ball. The fellas over at Rays Index touched on BJ's recent lack of effort yesterday, and Mr. Bossman proved their point fabulously last night. Upton was 0 for 4 from the plate with 4 runners left on base. He also helped Crawford screw up a routine fly ball into left-center: after Crawford let one get by, BJ proceeded to stroll over in his usual cavalier manner and managed to muff a bare-handed grab of a ball that was nearly stationary, which gave the Marlins the go-ahead run. Upton better get his head in the game... more on this later today.

Troy Percival came in and recorded the save, and I have no idea how he got away with it. Percy faced 7 batters and walked... are you ready?... 4 of them! Look on the bright side; he recorded a K too. Over the last 7 days Percival has an ERA of 9.00, giving up 5 BB to only 2 K's in 2 appearances.

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Game Recap: Garza! Garza! Garza!

JUNE 2, 2008

RAYS: 4

Red Sox: 7

HIGH-LITES:

Aki started the game off with a homer on the 3rd pitch of the night giving the Rays the start they needed.

Pena also homered, blasting a 2-run dinger as high as it was long, over the rightfield wall, and giving the Rays a 4-3 lead in the 6th.

The bullpen was solid again last night, giving the Rays a chance to comeback. Glover worked 2 innings, giving up 1 hit and striking out 1. While Balfour worked 2/3 giving up 1 walk and also recording 1 K.

LOW-LIGHTS:

Matt Garza did his best Edwin Jackson impression last night. He ran into a buzz-saw line-up in Boston and couldn't find the plate... that's a deadly combination. For anyone who saw the game it was easy to see very early on that Garza wasn't going to have his best stuff last night.

Jason Bartlett, who played nearly flawless baseball in May, made a huge mistake in the sixth when a softly hit grounder took a short hop and tied him up- what should've been at the very least one out, and quite possibly could've been a double play ended up turning into nothing, and giving Boston bases loaded with no outs. Boston went on to score 4, and never looked back.

Gabe Gross (who I'm a huge proponent of) struggled mightily at the plate, managing to strike out 3 times. Gross, who hasn't gotten many chances to start in RF (given the Rays stack-up at that position), has to do a better job offensively if he wants to secure his job.

In the 8th, trailing by 3, the Rays had 2-on with no outs and were unable to produce even 1 run. In an important game against a division rival you've got to be able to take advantage of scoring opportunities. In total the Rays stranded 8.
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