It’s Waaaaaay Back!

I stayed up late last night sipping (*cough* guzzling) some really nice scotch, and as I do many late evenings whilst imbibing the sweet water of life, I turned on the MLB Network to see what fine programming they had in store. Turns out that they were chronicling the biggest home runs of the 2011 season. Not the most important, mind you, but the biggest in terms of sheer distance. Now, I must disclaim that I turned it on a few minutes into the program, so I missed numbers 50 through 40. But in numbers 40 -1 I made a couple observations.

1: The only Rays presence in the top 40 was on the wrong side of the ball, when James Shields tossed up a meatball that Willy Mo Pena was able to turn around and stuff through the railings of the Captain Morgan deck.

2: Justin Upton was allllll over the countdown. I think he had 5 or 6 in the part that I saw, many of which were toward the top.

At 6’3″, BJ Upton is an inch taller than his brother, and three years his senior. Justin does outweigh BJ by a good 20 pounds, though (185 to 205). in 2012, BJ hit 23 dingers, while the younger Upton hit 31.

So c’mon, BJ. Here’s your call to action! Let’s hit the gym a little, put on a few pounds of muscle, and show the world that we’ve got a gnarly Upton in Tampa Bay, too. Don’t let little brother overshadow you! The fact of the matter is that BJ’s been involved in trade rumors nearly every year, none of which have come to fruition obviously, but with him becoming a free agent after this year, the likilhood of the Rays keeping him on staff for the entire year is low, and the liklihood of retaining him after the year is beyond low. So it would be a nice send off to see such a long term Ray have a fantastic year.

And, no, we’re not getting soft on Upton. If the called third strikes start adding up again this year, we’ll complain as much as we ever have.