Monday was one of those days where you have take the good with the bad. With this being Spring Training, you have the luxury to do as much. The good: Evan Longoria drilled a massive solo homer over the Monster (and out of the park) in the fourth inning, Jake Odorizzi put together a decent 2.1 IP/2 H/1 R/1 ER/1 BB/1 K outing where he threw his new pitch — a splitter-changeup — a lot, and Cesar Ramos worked 4-1/3 IP in a minor-league intra-squad game, slashing 5 H/1 BB/7 K on 64 pitches (40 for strikes). What’s more, Heath Bell also pitched in the aforementioned minor-league game, working 1-1/3 innings with just a walk on 20 pitches.
Then, there’s the bad…
Lefty Erik Bedard, who is also in the mix for the Rays’ final rotation spot, got knocked around for three runs on five hits, ultimately serving up a mammoth blast to Mike Napoli over the Green Monster in left-center in the sixth. Then there was the offense… Tampa Bay went 1-for-9 wRISP, while Sean Rodriguez, Wilson Betemit, Yunel Escobar, and Mike Mahtook combined to strand five runners in scoring position. Ouch.
The New What Next
The Rays will throw Opening Day starter David Price and closer Grant Balfour in Tuesday’s second round of the Knutson Classic against the Twins, in Ft. Myers. The game will air as a free exclusive audio webcast at raysbaseball.com.
Rays 3/10/14 Starting Lineup
Jennings CF
Betemit DH
Longoria 3B
Loney 1B
Escobar SS
Joyce RF
DeJesus LF
Molina C
Figueroa 2B
Price LHP
Noteworthiness
Surprise surprise, Jake Odorizzi hit Shane Victorino with a pitch Monday afternoon. Victorino was batting right handed against a right handed pitcher. This isn’t an indictment of Odorizzi, not in the least. Victorino has, ahem… garnered a reputation for getting drilled by borderline pitches. Per Fangraphs, Victorino was hit 10% of the time, in 2013, when batting right handed against right handed pitching. To put it another way, he was hit 13 times in 125 plate appearances. Juxtapose that with 4.1% when he batted right handed against left handed pitching. I’d never imply that Victorino is a dirty player, nor would I imply that he leans into pitches. After all, it’s more reasonable to assume that this is nothing more than a coincidence. Who am I kidding? If you believe the “Nothing More Than A Coincidence” theory, I have some ocean front property for sale in Oklahoma. If Victorino is already laying it on thick in Spring Training, that’s indication enough he won’t deviate from what should be called his status quo.