Rays 8/6/13 Starting Lineup, Etc

Rays 8/6/13 Starting Lineup

Escobar SS
Zobrist LF
Longoria 3B
Myers RF
Rodriguez 1B
Roberts 2B
Lobaton C
Fuld CF
Hellickson RHP

Noteworthiness

The New What Next: The Rays and the Diamondbacks, Part Deux

Jason Bourgeois was recalled to fill in for the ailing Desmond Jennings
Jason Bourgeois was recalled to fill in for the ailing Desmond Jennings

The Rays made their way to Pheonix Monday, in anticipation of their second two game series in a week against the Diamondbacks. Since leaving St. Petersburg Wednesday night, Arizona has been busy. They lost a makeup game against the Rangers and dropped two of three in Boston. They traded Ian Kennedy for LHPR Joe Thatcher, reinstated Brandon McCarthy from the DL, dumped reliever Tony Sipp and called up Tuffy Gosewisch after putting C Miguel Montero on the DL. They have lost six of eight overall.

The Rays, on the other hand, took two of three from the San Francisco Giants, lost Desmond Jennings to the 15-day DL because of a fractured finger, recalled OF Jason Bourgeois to take Jennings’ place, and averaged over 28,000 fans over the span of the three game set. Tampa Bay enters Arizona a half game out of first in the AL East, having not lost a series since the middle of June.

Rays and Diamondbacks series starters.
Rays and Diamondbacks series starters.
Rays and Giants offensive production at home, away, and over the last 14 days.
Rays and Giants offensive production at home, away, and over the last 14 days.
Rays and Diamondbacks, by the numbers.
Rays and Diamondbacks, by the numbers.

Wade Miley: Per Rotowire, “Miley evened his record at 8-8 after picking up the win against the Rays on Wednesday. He didn’t allow the opposition to score a run and struck out eight over 6.1 innings.” Not much has changed for Miley in a week. Here’s what we mentioned about Miley last week, “At first glance, Miley looks terribly average. His fastball sits around 89-92 mph and his secondary offerings don’t appear to be plus pitches. Miley works in plenty of change-ups that routinely miss the strike zone. Wade also spins a slider that has improved dramatically in 2012, and rare curve. Miley’s pitching breakout: fastball (89-93), change-up (79-82), slider (81-85), curve.” Then again, he did two-hot the Rays a week ago, so… Miley has won four of his last five starts, lasting at least into the seventh inning in each of those victories. Key Match-ups: Wil Myers (1-2, BB), Ben Zobrist (1-3, 2B).

Zeke Spruill: Spruill, 23, was recently recalled from Triple-A. Per The Scouting Book, “A big, durable workhorse, righty Zeke Sprull is a big strong starter originally ID’d by Atlanta before moving to Arizona as part of the Justin Upton deal of early 2013. A straightforward fastball and decent stuff combined with a bulldog mentality and fearlessness helps Sprull pitch better than his tools suggest he should. He’s looking pretty MLB ready after posting a full-season 3.67, 1.262 over 162 innings with AA Mississippi. He doesn’t strike out a ton of guys, but he gets the outs that matter. A true pitcher, not just a stuff-laced thrower.

Noteworthiness

  • Miley has limited opponents to a .198 average in his last five outings.
  • Jeremy Hellickson will be trying to win his fifth straight road start after posting a 3.27 ERA over his last four.
  • The Diamondbacks will start the series without shortstop Cliff Pennington, who’s out with a sore left foot.
  • The Rays are a major league-best 12-3 in interleague play.
  • Jason Bourgeois has be recalled to fill in for the ailing Desmond Jennings. The Rays CF is on the 15-day DL, having incurred a fractured finger in Saturday night’s game against the Giants.
  • In the Baseball America “Best Tools” survey, James Loney and Yunel Escobar were voted the second best defenders at their position, with Evan Longoria just behind at third. Also in the survey, Matt Moore was listed as the third best pitcher, while newcomer Jesse Crain was ranked as the second best reliever. Fernando Rodney has the third best changeup, per the survey.

 

 

Desmond Jennings to the DL, Bourgeois Recalled

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The Tampa Bay Rays have recalled OF Jason Bourgeois from Triple-A Durham. Bourgeoise will fill in for the injured Desmond Jennings.

Jennings fractured a finger on his left hand while sliding into second Saturday night in a successful stolen base attempt against the Giants. He’s been added to the 15-day DL.

Bourgeois has posted a .291 BA/.336 OBP/.371 SLG/.707 OPS/48 R/57 RBI slash line in Triple-A Durham, tallying 95 total hits including 14 doubles and three triples. He’s also swiped 21 bags with the Bulls.

Bourgeois brings experience in the NL West (mind you, the Rays will be playing the D’Backs and Dodgers on their upcoming road trip) after spending time previously in Houston.

Foster Calls Tampa’s Bluff on Rays Stadium (Repost)

Noah Pransky (Shadow of the Stadium) sums up my thoughts perfectly. That said, I’ve decided to repost his piece (below) in its entirety. You can read the piece with all the applicable hot-links over at the Shadow of the Stadium main site.

I’d also add that the rumors of an impending deal to bring a rather large corporation to downtown St. Pete will undoubtedly give St. Pete/Pinellas some leverage in the Stadium Saga. Too, the Trop (and the property it sits on) will be paid off in three years, offering a site where a new facility could be built without having to venture for an expensive and accessible piece of property.

Besides, if the fine folks of Hillsborough want to incur a Marlins Park like deal (and mortgage), more power to them. I’ll still make my way to Tampa and pay some hard earned dough to watch my favorite team.

…..

By: Noah Pransky

For the first time since his election almost four years ago, St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster says it is time for the Rays to explore stadium options in Tampa, according to a report from the Tampa Bay Times.

This is either a major Foster concession that reshapes the nature of the Stadium Saga…or it may merely be the mayor calling the bluffs of elected leaders across the bay.

According to the Mark Puente/Stephen Nohlgren story, “tepid attendance over the last few years has changed his thinking, Foster said Monday, in a remarkably candid interview with the Tampa Bay Times editorial board.”

Foster’s new revealation comes on the heels of recent news that St. Pete and the Rays have been hammering out the framework of a deal that could let them explore new stadium sites anywhere in Tampa Bay – one of Stu Sternberg’s basic requests/demands in 2010.

But as we all know, location isn’t the big problem in the Rays’ Stadium Saga – funding is.

Could Foster, an attorney so keenly aware of how valuable leverage is in the stadium game, find a way to redirect some of the negative public opinions of him as an obstructionist at Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn and Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan?

“It’s somewhat humorous to watch (County Commission Chairman Ken) Hagan and (Tampa Mayor Bob) Buckhorn kind of backpedaling a little bit because they were all wearing their finest trying to court the Rays to look over there,” Foster told the Times. “Now that it might actually happen, you got Ken Hagan saying he’s not going to commit any taxpayer money to it, which is naive.”

Foster’s referencing a comment Hagan made a few weeks ago that a taxpayer-funded stadium like Raymond James Stadium would never happen again. And in Hagan’s defense, he hasn’t really changed his stance; he’s never suggested a idea of how to pay for a new $600 million stadium.

But credit Field of Schemes author Neil deMaus, who first speculated Foster may be taking the risk of letting the Rays look elsewhere, only to prove Pinellas County may be best-situated to keep the Rays in the long-term.

That said, regardless of which scenario is playing out right now, we are still a long way from the Rays being able to explore possible stadium sites in Hillsborough County.

That’s because no deal is done yet on how St. Pete would guarantee the Rays looking elsewhere wouldn’t make it easier for them to break their current contract. And the Rays haven’t agreed yet to the possible multi-million dollar price tag on exploring new stadium sites.

Again, Foster is an attorney, so there’s no way he’s going to simply let the Rays walk out on their contract – and obligations to St. Petersburg – without significant compensation.

But any Rays fan has to be happy with any sign of progress in the ongoing Stadium Stalemate (any fan, that is, except the two former councilmembers who have hopes of replacing Foster as mayor this fall).

Now if only Tampa Bay could come together to find a way to finance a stadium….the Rays wouldn’t have to!

Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Another Series, Another Series Win

Rookie Wil Myers gets high-fived in the dugout after putting the Rays ahead with a two-run home run off Guillermo Moscoso in the first inning. (Photo courtesy of James Borchuck/Tampa Bay Times)
Rookie Wil Myers gets high-fived in the dugout after putting the Rays ahead with a two-run home run off Guillermo Moscoso in the first inning. (Photo courtesy of James Borchuck/Tampa Bay Times)

The Rays walked away from the Trop with another series win Sunday, after they came from behind to defeat the Giants by a score of 4-3. Tampa Bay is now 11-0-2 in the 13 series’ they’ve played since the middle of June. Since it’s a lazy day off, I’m going to do something a bit differently. The game summary will be broken down into the principal and peripheral. That is, the things that directly contributed to the win, and the others that formed the periphery.

The Principal

  • Tampa Bay scored in the first, fifth, and sixth innings, rallying from behind to take a 4-3 lead they’d never relinquish. Wil Myers, Sam Fuld, and Evan Longoria came up with the key hits that gave the Rays that lead.
  • With two outs in the bottom of the first, and a runner (Ben Zobrist) in scoring position, Wil Myers crushed his eighth homer of the year — a 405 foot blast to left-field giving the Rays an early 2-1 lead.
  • After Sam Fuld reached base on a walk in the fifth inning, he made a very important move: Fuld stole second with two-outs, setting up what happened next. Evan Longoria hit a 1-2 single to left, easily scoring Fuld from second.
  • With two outs in the sixth inning and Yunel Escobar on second base, Sam Fuld sent an 0-1 Jose Mijares curve-ball to right-field, plating Escobar for the go ahead run.
  • At first, I questioned Joe Maddon’s line of thinking when Roberto Hernandez was pulled two outs into the fourth inning. After all, Hernandez wasn’t terrible. However one thing was certain, after giving up eight hits, including two doubles and a triple, he was getting BABIP’d by the Giants. Sure, some hits leaked through… Hits that spoke more to his bad luck than anything else. But he didn’t seem to be getting any better, and the bullpen was fresh. Plus, they’re getting two off-days this week. Why not lean on the A pen?
  • And speaking of the bullpen, Alex Torres, Jake McGee, Joel Peralta, and Fernando Rodney were outstanding Sunday, posting a combined 4.1 IP/1 H/0 R/0 BB/5 K slash line. Torres was credited with his fourth win of the year, while Rodney picked up his 27th save.
  • Tampa Bay took down the 2012 World Series champions Sunday in front of a sold out crowd. The last time that the Rays sold out a game that wasn’t Opening Day was on April 7, 2012 against the New York Yankees. This came on the heals of three consecutive plus 20,000 games, including a near sellout Saturday. I’ve long pined for a Rays/Giants World Series. In the past, both have been evenly keeled teams built on solid pitching, strong defense, and timely hitting. The outcome of three close games  speaks to that. I’ve got to say, the big crowds really made the weekend series feel like October baseball.

The Periphery

  • Evan Longoria’s 1-4 day at the plate may seem unremarkable if the back story wasn’t taken into consideration. But Longo went 0-19 prior to his fifth inning RBI single — a hitless streak extending back to the one game series against Boston a week back. Welcome back, Evan.
  • Wil Myers’ post home run actions may have been misinterpreted as bravado, potentially prompting Roger Kieschnick’s hard slide into Yunel Escobar in the second inning. Bravado, it was not. Myers was simply fending off gravity, stabilizing himself from falling over after his 405 foot blast.
Hey Kieschnick, that was an unnecessarily dirty slide.
Hey Kieschnick, that was an unnecessarily dirty slide.
  • Speaking of Wil Myers, since the All-Star Break he has hit five home runs and is hitting .417. Wil leads American League rookies with a wRC+ of 154, and is second among all rookies in MLB to Puig (191). When questioned about his production, Myers has mentioned that he’s “seeing the ball really well.” Seeing the ball is only part of the story, he’s also killing pitches all over the zone.
Wil Myers heat map. (Courtesy of ESPN)
Wil Myers heat map. (Courtesy of ESPN)
  • Alex Torres year-to-date: 34 1/3 IP, 42 K, 11 BB, 10 H, 0 HR, 0.26 ERA. Torres leads all MLB relievers.

Noteworthiness

  • A-Rod is expected to be suspended for his use of PED’s any minute now. Then again, the fateful suspension has been expected since last week, so… Nevertheless, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports, that A-Rod “Will be suspended through at least the 2014 season in an announcement Monday by Major League Baseball, but the New York Yankees third baseman plans to file an immediate appeal, enabling him to play Monday night against the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field, two people with direct knowledge of the plan told USA TODAY Sports.” National Public Radio’s Mike Pesca has an interesting take on the looming suspension, “It’s likely he will be playing under the cloud of being the guy who will get the longest steroid suspension ever.”