CHEESE & WHINE: Upton for the Cycle

Rays: 13

Yankees: 4

CHEESE:

• BJ Upton. Bossman was at the top of his offensive game last night; becoming the first Rays' player ever to hit for the cycle, and it took only 5 innings to do it. Upton finished the night with ridiculous numbers; 5 for 5 with 6 RBI and 3 runs scored. What better way to wash away the stains of a cruddy year then to finish the season by working your way into the franchise history books. The beauty of being the first to do something is that no one can take that away or break that record- it's there to stay, and for the rest of his family's existence BJ's family will always be able to boast that their grandpa/daddy/uncle/brother/son was the first Rays player ever to hit for the cycle.
• David Price. Even without the copious amounts of run-support Price would've won this one, pitching a phenomenal game to wrap up his rookie season. King David lasted 7 innings, allowing just 1 run on 2 hits while striking-out 5 and walking 2. Oh, and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if that pitch toward Teixeira's head in the first wasn't courtesy of Carlos Pena's broken finger. Price finishes the year with a record of 10-7 and an ERA of 4.42, not too bad. I guarantee it'll be better next year.
• Ben Zobrist. Here's a shocker, Zobrist had a nice offensive game... again. Hard to believe, I know. Last night Benny-Boo finished up 3 for 5 with 2 RBI.

WHINE:

• Dale Thayer. I know he came-in in a fairly meaningless position, but come on man. Thayer lasted 1 inning, giving-up 2 runs on 2 hits.
• Willy Aybar. 0 for 5 with a K, and get this; 8 men left on base, 8!

CRACKERS:

• Despite scoring 13 , only 2 of the Rays' runs came by way of the homer ( the 2-run homer by Upton in the 4th).

CAVIAR (game ball):

• BJ Upton. Obviously, hitting the team's first ever cycle earns you the Rays The Stakes caviar game ball every time.

CHEESE & WHINE: Losing Effort

Rays: 2
O's: 3

CHEESE:

• Ben Zobrist. Benny-Boo seems to be the only player still running on all cylinders. Last night Zobrist lead-off the Rays scoring with a solo-homer in the 4th, and started a 9th inning rally with a double, but one man a team does not make.

WHINE:

• Matt Garza. Although last night's performance was acceptable by any means, (6 IP, 6 hits, 3 runs, 4 K's, and 2 BB's) Garza's season can be viewed as nothing but a little disappointing. Coming into the 2009 campaign I (and many others) viewed Garza as the Rays' best pure pitcher, but 7 months later Garza finishes-up his sophomore season with the Rays with a record of 8-12. Garza had a nice ERA of 3.95, but a lack of consistency cost he and the team some W's and cost the bullpen some valuable innings. In his defense, his team didn't always do him a lot of favors through run support, but a good pitcher finds ways to win regardless. Hopefully next season we'll see a 15 win season.
• Evan Longoria. I find it nearly impossible to believe that he's in a natural slump right now, which means he's just not mentally there anymore. I know he's just a kid, but the heart of a true champion or leader never goes away- even when his team (and by team I mean bullpen, primarily) was wildly disappointing down the home-stretch. Longo was 0 for 4 again and is now 2 for 15 over the last 4 games.

CRACKERS:

• Garza surpassed the 200 innings pitched mark last night for the first time in his career, and finished the season having pitched 203 innings.

CAVIAR (game ball):

• Ben Zobrist. This may end-up just being called the "Ben Zobrist Player of The Game Award" next year instead of "Caviar".
  

CHEESE & WHINE: Zo, Zo, Zorilla

Rays: 7
O's: 6

CHEESE:

• Ben Zobrist. Benny-Boo is officially ridiculous. He has played every position but homeplate ump this season and is good at them all. Last night Zo played some firstbase before moving to more familiar territory in the OF late (where he made a great catch to record the 2nd out in the 9th inning). Zobrist finished the game 2 for 4 with a double and a homer (his 25th).
• Willy Aybar. Aybar came in as a pinch-hitter and delivered a 3-run homer to tie the game in the seventh. It was reminiscent of last season's magic.

WHINE:

• Jeff Niemann. How can I vote for you for AL R.O.Y. if you have foolish outings like that? Niemann was bad from the start last night, going only 3 and 1/3, surrendering 4 runs on 7 hits while walking 3 and striking-out 3. Its an understatement to say that the Rays won in spite of Niemann last night.
• Andy Sonnanstine. To me it's official; Sonny is done. I always thought he'd be a good reliever, and so far he has done all he can to prove me wrong. Hopefully he's just not mentally adjusted to being in the 'pen, but I'm pretty close to being done making excuses.
• Fernando Perez. Perez is obviously not a major league hitter... yet.

CRACKERS:

• Holy Homers. Last night's 4 home run performance gave the Rays a season total of 193 which is a new team single-season record. Imagine if Pena were still in the lineup throughout the last 6 weeks- they would've had a chance at 210.
• Don't forget to enter to win a Jason Bartlett autographed card from Rays the Stakes and Sports Memorabilia. Enter Here to win.

CAVIAR (game ball):

• Ben Zobrist. Zobrist is the definition of a utility player.
  

CHEESE & WHINE: Texas Toast

Rays: 3
Rangers: 8


CHEESE:

• No one got hurt.

WHINE:

• BJ Upton. Upton was 2 for 3 from the plate, but made 2 base running blunders that were costly. Bossman was picked-off at first and was caught taking a big turn around third on a hit that he presumably thought had gotten past Texas' SS Andrus... it hadn't.
• Grant Balfour. Balfour came-in in the 8th and managed to walk 2 before giving-up a 3-run homer to Ian Kinsler. Well done Grant, well done indeed. Apparently Shouse and Springer are contagious.

CRACKERS:

• Kinsler's 3-run dinger off of Balfour put him in the 30/30 club (30 homerS and 30 steals). Congrats to Kinsler.

CHEESE & WHINE: Losing My Religion

Rays: 5
O's: 10

CHEESE:

• Pat Burrell. The Bat had a nice night, going 2 for 4 with a 3-run homer and 4 RBI total. Where was that all season?
• Ben Zobrist. Benny-Boo was 3 for 4 with a double, a triple, and an RBI. Well played, sir.
• Low-K. The team, as a whole, only struck-out twice. That's quite the improvement from the team average which hovers somewhere around 672 per nine innings (or so it seems).

WHINE:

• Jeff Niemann. The Rays' most consistent starter and AL R.O.Y. candidate didn't do himself any favors last night; lasting only 4 and 1/3 innings, allowing 6 runs on 11 hits. However, he did manage to strike-out 6 while only walking 1.
• Brian Shouse. I consider myself a good Christian man, but if I ever see Brian Shouse on the street I'm going to walk up and punch him in his lip. He comes in as a lefty specialist v. Scott and promptly surrenders a solo homer followed by a 4-pitch walk. Ridiculous amounts of anger.
• Russ Springer. The same punching possibility applies.

CRACKERS:

• The Rays are now only 1 game over .500 for the season, which is an absolute travesty considering where they stood just 3 short weeks ago (69-56).

CAVIAR (game ball):

• Pat Burrell. The Bat came through with some serious run-production.

CHEESE & WHINE: Thank Heaven For Small Miracles

Rays: 8
O's: 4

CHEESE:

• The Law of Averages said that it had to happen eventually. The O's were just the salve the Rays needed for their weeping wounds.
• David Price. After a bad start, giving-up 4 runs in the 1st (3 earned), David settled-in and shut 'em down. Price lasted 7 innings, recording 4 K's and walking 2.
• Reid Brignac. 4 for 4 with a homer, a steal, and 3 RBI. That's more like it young man.
• Carl Crawford. 3 for 5 with a double, an RBI, and his 57th steal.

WHINE:

• Evan Longoria. Dirtbag was 0 for 5 from the plate with 3 K's and leaving 5 runners on-base, oh and he had a throwing error from the field. It was not one of his better days.

CRACKERS:

• The losing streak ended at 11... thank God.
• The Rays are now 73-71 and will have to go on a real tear in order to reach 90 wins. Perhaps they should aim for 80.

CAVIAR (game ball):

• Reid Brignac. Great performance.

Why No C&W and Here Come the Call-ups.

Okay, Back from my typical, but odd, weekend (Sunday and Monday), and ready to roll.

No Cheese & Whine today (please don't TP my house again!) due to the fact that yesterday's game ended nearly 20 hours ago. If you're still somehow in the dark, let it be known that the Rays won a game, on getaway day nonetheless, despite Brian Shouse's best efforts. The Rays roll out of Detroit having split the series at 2 apiece (a series which for all intents and purposes should've been a 3-1 Rays victory on the strength of Niamann's nice outing Sunday, but alas was just not meant to be).

First round of September call-ups are here, and it includes the following players:

• Fernando Perez. Welcome back Mr Perez-ident. Your speed is what we desire.
• Jeff Bennett. What? Maddon says his arm is stretched and he can be used as a long reliever if need be. The mere possibility scares me.
• Shawn Riggans. Navi has to feel great.
• Andy Sonnanstine. Please, please, please don't come out as "hittable Sonny", because when Sonny is hittable its like BP for the bad guys. Conversely, when he comes out sharp he's a darn valuable fella. I'm not a big fan of coin tosses though.

I would've bet someone else's money that Joyce, Nelson, and Davis would've been here a.s.a.p., but no dice.

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Report Card Time!

With 40 games under their belts its time for the team's first quarter report card.

Just like the old days the grading will be a simple A+ through F scale. There will be a grade for each player with as short an explanation as possible (I'm sure you've got better things to do than listen to me drone on), as well as a grade for the coaching staff and for the team as a whole.
(all stats are as of 5/19)


PITCHERS:



STARTERS


JAMES SHIELDS: C-
Shields (3-4) is supposed to be the ace, but has struggled to find the strike zone at times, which is uncharacteristic, and has been very hittable at times as well (56 hits in 52 innings). We need to see more out of the top of the rotation soon. Very soon.


SCOTT KAZMIR: C
Kaz has managed a 4-3 record, but I'm not sure how. Kid K's mechanics have been off and he's averaging just over 5 innings per start (surprise). Kaz has walked 25 while only managing 32 K's. At what point do we become truly concerned?


MATT GARZA: B+
Garza (4-3) has been the best of a bad bunch so far this season. He has the best ERA of the starters (3.50), the most innings per start, and the most K's (45)


ANDY SONNANSTINE: D+
Sonny has the highest ERA of the staff (7.36). Andy is one of those coin flip guys; either he's on or he's off, but the one thing that has always been historically true is that he doesn't issue walks... until now. Sonny has already walked 14 batters this season (or 1 BB every 3 innings) after only walking 37 all of last season (1 BB every 5 and 1/3 innings).


JEFF NIEMANN: D+
As the number 5 guy you can't expect much (especially from a rookie), but until last night Niemann was bad. Very Bad. Jeff has shown that he's got some filthy stuff if he can find it, and hopefully last night was the confidence boost he needed. Niemann does have the 3rd best ERA of the starters at 4.97 but has a 1:1 strike-out to walk ratio.



OVERALL: C-
For the Rays to be successful these guys have got to become way more consistent. They cannot continue to be a wild card if this team expects to compete down the stretch. If the starters can't start eating more innings the residual effects on the bullpen will be enough to sink the ship as they head toward September.



BULLPEN


LANCE CORMIER: A-
Cormier has been an inning-eater thus far, having pitched 11 and 1/3 innings more than the next closest reliever (Balfour). Lance also has the best ERA of all the pitchers, starter or otherwise (2.17). Cormier has flown under most pundits radars, but today he gets his just desserts [sic], receiving the only "A" on the pitching staff.


JP HOWELL: B+
Howell has been up and down thus far, but has had more ups than downs and has posted the second best ERA on the staff (2.60), and has, for the most part, been hammering the strike zone striking-out 20 (the most among the relievers) in just 17 and 1/3 innings of work.


JOE NELSON: B-
Nelson and Balfour have fairly similar numbers so far this season, and both are middle of the road. Nelson is 2 for 2 in the save department, but has walked 12 in only 16 and 2/3 innings of work. That number has to come way down.


BRIAN SHOUSE: C
Shouse is supposedly the lefty-specialist, but hasn't been overly special, and will probably be the first one pushed out of the bullpen if the need arises (and it will).


GRANT BALFOUR: B-
As I said, Balfour and Nelson have similar numbers at this point, but Balfour is going to have to get better for the Rays to compete consistently (and he has as of late). Balfour has gotten a lot of work so far this season and is walking way too many batters (12 walks to 17 K's).


DAN WHEELER: C-
Wheels has been the biggest disappointment out of the 'pen so far and has the highest ERA of all the relievers on the staff (5.79). Wheeler has allowed 9 earned runs in 14 innings pitched. Not quite what I'd call "set-up guy" numbers.


TROY PERCIVAL: B
Troy, Troy, Troy. What a conundrum. Percy has, at times, looked as bad as I've ever seen a "closer" look, and has rarely looked good, but somehow, someway he's managed to pull-off 6 saves in 6 opportunities and I've got to give credit where credit is due. His job is to record saves and that's what he's done, even if it comes at the expense of my blood-pressure.


OVERALL: B-
The bullpen has really been the Rays' saving grace over the past week or so, and have represented themselves fairly well, but they can't be expected to keep it up for long. With the addition of Isringhousen yesterday we'll see how the 'pen can maintain themselves. If these guys start getting a little help from the starters they should be fine. I believe that the race for the AL East will come down to bullpens, so these fellas are going to have to keep it together.



POSITION PLAYERS:


STARTERS


DIONER NAVARRO: D-
Navi has been a shell of his 2008 self so far in 2009. He has at times looked nothing short of lazy behind the plate, and can seemingly only contribute offensively by sac. bunting (BA .179). The Rays need Navi to step up his game- the sooner the better.


CARLOS PENA: A-
El Gato started the season red-hot from the plate, sending balls over walls at a ridiculous rate (13 HRs, leads the AL), but has slowed considerably over the past 10 days. Pena has had an all-or-nothing approach at the plate so far this year and is striking out way too much (50 K's). Carlos' defense has shown that his Gold-Glove was well deserved, and that his first shouldn't be his last.


AKINORI IWAMURA: B
Aki has been a little less consistent on D than he was last season, but is still doing a fine job at 2nd, and has picked up his game offensively hitting .291 from the bottom of the line-up.


EVAN LONGORIA: A
Longoria has cooled-off as of late, but still leads the league in doubles (16) and RBI (46) and is tied for 3rd in the AL with 11 HRs. Just because expectations are so high, I've been surprised at a few fielding gaffes thus far, but let's not split hairs.

JASON BARTLETT: A+
Bartlett has been ridiculously good so far, hitting .384 which is good enough for 3rd in the league. He also has an OBP of .423 and 11 stolen bases. On top of that JB has already matched his career high HR total of 5 in a season.


CARL CRAWFORD: B+
CC has been excellent in the field (3 assists which already matches his '08 total), formidable at the plate (BA .327) and unstoppable on the base paths (24 steals, which is 7 more than the next closest player in the league (Figgins)).


MELVIN UPTON: F
This bad apple has been spoiling the bunch all season. The player formerly known as Bossman has shown sparks at the plate lately, but is still miles away from where he ought to be. Upton is hitting a ridiculously low .183. His performance in the field has been above average, but not nearly good enough to counter his troubles at the plate. A lesser player may get the benefit of the doubt due to his defense, but we know what Melvin is capable of, so expectations are high.


GABE GROSS: B-
Gross should get more love from fans and Maddon. He is by far the best defensive rigthfielder on the roster and isn't half bad at the plate. Gross is hitting .254 and is great at grinding-out at-bats. As far as I'm concerned he should never be sat in favor of the other Gabe.


PAT BURRELL: D
Pat has disappointed so far, to say the least. I, for one, was very excited about the Burrell signing despite hearing about his 'streaky" nature, but this is ridiculous. They didn't bring Pat on-board to hit for average they brought him in to hit home runs, plain and simple, and so far he's failed miserably, plain and simple (1 HR). To be "streaky" is one thing, but streaks (or down cycles) don't last 40 games (or at least they shouldn't). Hopefully a week or so off (15 day DL) is what Pat the Patient needed to get his swing back in-line. We'll see.


OVERALL: B-
A few players are bringing the average down for the whole squad, but overall the starters aren't doing too bad. They'll need to be better to play in the fall. Pat Burrell and Melvin Upton are the keys here, if they can do what's asked of them, and everyone else plays the way they have so far (with the exception of Navi), the Rays can win every time they take the field, regardless of who's pitching or for how long.



BENCH


BEN ZOBRIST: A-
Zobrist has been amazing. Better than his numbers show, and better than advertised. All this guy does is make clutch plays. He can legitimately play 5 positions (some say 7), and he can hit from both sides of the plate. Zobrist is hitting .279 and has 7 HR's in 86 AB's.


WILLY AYBAR: B+
Aybar is another versatile bench player who can play several positions and can hit from both sides of the plate. Aybar is hitting .263 for the season, and is a consistent contributor. Having Burrell on the DL should give Willy a chance to shine (like he did last season in place of Pena/Longoria).


GABE KAPLER: D
Nope. Waste of a roster spot at this point. Matt Joyce is ready for the call-up and Gross is better in the field and more consistent at the plate. Kapler has been consistently out of position in RF, and has been anemic at the plate (.212).


MICHEL HERNANDEZ: B+
Since Navi doesn't want to play baseball this year (and Riggans is hurt again) someone has to do it, and Michel has done a fine job behind the plate and has held his own beside it as well, batting .258 and contributing 8 RBI. Just to put this into perspective; Navi has 7 RBI in 31 games while Michel has 8 RBI in 9 games.


OVERALL: B+
With the exception of Kapler the bench has shouldered much more than their share of the load. Once Joyce joins the team and Gross heads to the bench in place of Kapler it may be one of the strongest benches in all of baseball.


COACHING STAFF: C+
Maddon has made some ridiculous errors (ie Sonnanstine as DH due to line-up issue), and his refusal to bump Upton out of the lead-off spot just seems stubborn at this point. Maddon has to realize that there's a fine line between genius and luck. Maybe last year shows that he wasn't so much genius as he was lucky. Also of note, Jim Hickey has been missing something with his starters. The top of the rotation is too good to be so bad, and Hickey makes big bucks to fix it.

OVERALL TEAM: C
The team finally clawed their way back to .500 with a big win v. Oakland last night. Now its time to string together some series wins and play consistent ball as they march toward the dog days of summer. For now their 1st quarter grade reflects their record- right down the center.
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Tell me about it in the comments section.

Points To Ponder

Points To Ponder:
Rays v. Jays
July 18-20

• The Rays are 3-7 over their last 10 games, having lost 7 in a row coming into the break, while the Jays are 6-4 over that same span.
• The Rays are 8.5 games ahead of Toronto in the wildcard race.
• The Rays are 5-1 against Toronto so far this season.

Pitching match-ups:

• Tonight we get Shields v. Burnett. Shields has been a bit (just a bit) of a disappointment to this point so far this season, amassing a record of 7-6 with 5 of his 7 wins coming at home. His ERA stands at 3.83 and he is 3-0 in 4 career starts against the Jays. Burnett is 10-8 this season, but is only 3-5 away from Toronto, his career numbers against the Rays are; 6-3 with a 3.21 ERA in 14 starts.
• Saturday's match-up is Garza v. Halladay. Garza has been the most consistant Rays pitcher as of late and has shown a lot more composure on the mound since his little run-in with Navi in June. He (Garza) is 7-5 in 17 starts this season with an ERA of 3.96. Garza is 0-2 with a 7.71 ERA in his career against the Jays. Halladay is the Jays Ace and is 11-6 with an ERA of 2.71 this season. In his last start he shut-out the Yankees, allowing just 2 hits.
• Sunday's match-up should be Kaz v. Parrish (although Jackson may get the start for Tampa if Kaz needs more rest coming off the all-star game). Kaz has also been a bit disappointing this season as he has struggled mightily with pitch-count, rarely making it into the sixth inning. Kid-K is 7-5 with an ERA 3.04 and hasn't won since June 27th. Parrish is 1-0 in 3 games while replacing the injured Marcum/McGowan.

I have a feeling that the Rays will be looking to re-establish their offensive prowess today, so I'd look for Tampa to come out swinging in a desperate attempt to end this losing streak right now, especially considering the fact that they face Toronto's Ace tommorrow night.

I give the series to the Rays 2-1 (but I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see Garza show up the Jays' Ace (Halladay) on Sat. and the Rays pulling off the sweep.)

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One More Day

The wait is almost over... One more day until we get Rays baseball!!

The Rays resume their march toward October tomorrow night in St Pete versus the Toronto Blue Jays... and not a moment too soon.

I needed the break, but now I need the Rays...what can I say, I'm needy!

p.s. If Jonny Gomes is on the field I may lose my mind... and my TV may end up being broken by a flying remote... and I may have to find Joe Maddon and box his ears for being such a nincompoop!

Royal Disappointment?

The sun is shining- not a cloud in the St. Petersburg sky, you can smell coconut shrimp as it co-mingles with the salty bay air. Folks are whistling "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" as they stroll down the boardwalk walking their Scottish terriers with their cute little Carlos Pena jerseys. Birds chirp as the sound of the surf methodically washes away ten years of frustration... and somewhere in the distance you can still hear Sox fans crying softly into their lucky charms.

So with their heads held high and their chests puffed-out, fresh off a series sweep of the defending World Series Champs- the Rays march back to the Trop for a series against the almost last place Kansas City Royals...

This has disaster written all over it.

How many times in the history of sports has a team risen to the challenge and beaten their arch-rival, or the "unbeatbale foe" just to follow it up with their poorest performance of the season? I'll tell you; it happens a lot.
Preparing yourself mentally for the big game is easy, adrenaline does the work for you, but getting pumped up for the run-of-the-mill games- well that's a different story altogether.

Even if you consider it from a fan's perspective, its difficult. I was so excited about the Sox series I couldn't wait until first pitch each night, it felt like I was a kid in school waiting for the eighth period bell to ring or lying in bed waiting for Santa to come on Christmas Eve- the games just couldn't start fast enough.

The Royals series? I love watching the Rays regardless of the opponent, but really- how pumped can you get about the Royals? Even if Bo Jackson himself marched out onto the field as the Kansas City clean-up hitter it would still be difficult to even begin to garner the same type of excitement as the Sox series.

This is where inexperience can get you caught with your pants down. This is that series where veteran teams know that by winning big they can start a snowball effect that will carry them to the Break, but the inexperienced team can just as easily start to sef-destruct.

Coming off a huge series in which they've built themselves a nice little division lead, and heading into a series against a much lesser opponent is dangerous for any team, but a young team that is just now learning how to win is doubly susceptible to the prototypical let-down.

These are the series that the Rays are going to have to dominate if they plan on being contenders all season long, after all (as Sox fans are so quick to point out) you don't get anything for having the best record in baseball at the All-Star Break (although it does have anice ring to it).

No, I don't believe that if the Rays lose this series that they'll just fade away into a second half of disappointmnet and mediocrity, but I do believe that if they aren't careful, they just may give away a game or two that they'd give anything to get back come September.