I’m not a huge fan of Steve Miller or the rest of his band. Over indulgent arena rock was never my thing, and its bloated corpse is no better. Nevertheless, he had an seven word lyric that must be haunting every Ray or Rays fan: Time keeps on slipping into the future. Whether good old Steve meant to, he has just defined (some thirty years in advance, of course) the last fifteen games of this, as of now, clusterf**k of a season. Part of me wants to keep the candle of hope lit. After all, the Rays are not mathematically out of the hunt. However, if last night’s sloppy underwhelming mess of a game is indicative of anything, it may just be that Tampa Bay has already mentally eliminated itself from the race.
I present to you evidence for my case:
- BJ Upton led-off both the fourth and sixth innings with singles. Upton, who obviously has some speed and the ability to swipe bags, did absolutely nothing to disrupt Cook’s rhythm in any way, nor did he even attempt to swipe a bag until the ninth inning when it was, arguably, too late. Granted Cook is very good with controlling the running game (allowing a total of 45 stolen bases in his 10 years in the majors, and only one this season) however nary an attempt was made while Cook was on the mound. Two things are obvious.
- When Upton stole in the ninth, he created a run.
- Even if Upton was thrown out in the fourth or sixth inning, the outcome would have been no different…there wouldn’t have been a net loss. In fact, let’s assume that BJ was successful in both innings. In each inning Ben Zobrist then grounds into a fielders choice, moving Upton to third. Matt Joyce either drives in Upton in his following at bat, or Luke Scott gets a chance to plate a run in both innings. The probability of things happening that way aren’t great. But, the odds of scoring a run are greatly increased. Were two runs enough to win the game? Nope. However, they would have been enough to keep things within striking distance.
- Not putting Evan Longoria in the game because he was feeling a little heavy legged? Ouch. DRaysBay said it best, “Listen, Maddon, I understand wanting to protect Longoria, but what are you protecting him for if the Rays don’t make the postseason? With two weeks left in the season, Evan should be demanding to be in the lineup every day, hell or high water. And given the Rays’ offense, he needs to be out there, unless you’ve already essentially given up.”
- Jose Molina, I’ve had my fill with you not running after balls that you couldn’t even block in the dirt in the first place…among other things of course. And though Joe Maddon downplayed the situation that occurred between he and Alex Cobb, chalking it up to boys being boys and nothing else, I’d imagine that some of the altercation can be blamed on the frustration of Molina playing the game lackadaisically. Good thing he’s Lobaton and Gimenez’s mentor.
- Two runs on six hits and a walk, does not a playoff team make. Neither does striking out seven times to a pitcher that notoriously induces ground balls, as opposed to striking out a lot of batters.
- Pinch hitting with a player (Vogt) that is 0-fer in all of his MLB at-bats, while doing so in what could be construed as a high leverage or clutch situation, (In the least) was akin to shooting oneself in his/her foot.
- Throwing a player in the game (Sean Rodriguez) that had no fielding practice following a stint on the DL…especially when that DL stint was due to a fracture in his hand really didn’t work out well, did it?
- Sure, I’ll contend that Cobb didn’t look so hot last night. BUT only three of his runs were unearned. Compound that with the fact that two of the five overall runs were unearned and never should have happened. Blame the fielders on three errors. In any case, a four run deficit should not be a chasm too wide to cross for a team that is scoring four runs plus a game.
So, here we go, today is another day. Yet, those another days are running out. It’s truly now or never. C’mon boys, at least finish the season on a high note. You’re better than this.
Rays 9/18/12 Starting Lineup
Jennings LF
Upton CF
Zobrist SS
Longoria DH
Keppinger 1B
Francisco RF
Roberts 2B
Gimenez C
Rodriguez 3B
Hellickson RHP
