Yesterday was bad. Really bad. And after sending Lueke back down to the farm Friday, bringing up Dane De La Rosa to fill that hole on the roster, the Rays are again making moves in the pen in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Late last night, Tampa Bay sent the tall hard throwing righty back down to Durham, bringing up Alex Cobb in his.
But after giving up 18 runs over the course of two games, I’m not certain if just this one move will stabilize the the bullpen (aptly titled the failpen, by DRaysBay) enough. After all, De La Rosa may have given up five runs yesterday, but he, JP Howell, and Burt Badenhop gave up eight which, effectively, took the wind from their sails. In kind, though Lueke gave up four on Friday, he Badenhop, and Joel Peralta gave up nine overall. In short, I don’t think ping-ponging one player on the roster is going to be enough. That is to say, it’s not just the players they’re sending back and forth that are in a, seemingly, perpetual state of failure. Rather, the pen flat-out looks horrible at the moment. If the Rays are willing to move just one player, I’d think that they may be in the position to make openings on the roster for one or two more. It may be time to consider bringing Cesar Ramos, in the least, back up…Perhaps Brandon Gomes as well, assuming that he’s ready after off-season surgery. Sigh…
But if anything holds true, it’s that it all starts with the starters; a group who really aren’t looking very sharp at the moment. as of now, the starters have a 4.35 ERA while averaging less than six innings per outing. They’ve allowed 25 walks, which is certainly an indication of the problem. The relievers have a 12.40 ERA over their 20 (or so) innings. They’ve walked 12. That’s a total of 37 walks in only eight games by the pitching staff. Yikes. Maddon had this to say about the situation:
“We have to do a better job as a starting pitching group. We’re putting a lot of pressure on our bullpen right now. We’ve got to get deeper into the game. We’ve just got to get back to our normal game, pitching better as starters.”
“We’re walking way too many guys. Guys maybe are trying to be a little too fine with our stuff. We have great stuff. We have to get ahead of hitters like we normally do and then finish them off and make them put the ball in play with some more weak contact.
“We’ve gotten away from our basic strength and that’s really to attack the strike zone and permit our defense to play.”
Other roster moves
Tampa Bay put catcher Jose Lobaton on the DL last night, while recalling Chris Gimenez from Durham. I’d contend that Gimenez was in a better position (than Lobaton) to be on the 25-man roster at the end of spring training, but that’s neither here or now. Gimenez is slated to start Sunday. If I may be so frank, I’d argue that the Rays should option Vogt to Durham, while recalling Jeff Salazar, even if it’s only a short term move since BJ Upton is slated to return this week. Vogt has done squat in his time on the 25-man roster. Speaking of Upton, BJ will make his second consecutive rehab start in Charlotte tonight. He’s expected to return on the 20th.
4/15/12 Starting Lineup:
Jennings CF
Pena 1B
Longoria 3B
Keppinger 2B
Zobrist RF
Scott DH
Rodriguez SS
Joyce LF
Gimenez C
Moore LHP (0-0)