CUP O' JO - December 18, 2008

TOMMY EVERIDGE - Los Gigantes de Carolina, Puerto Rico (1B, Oakland A's Organization - Midland Rockhounds, AA)  This will be the last Cup O' Jo until Spring Training or the World Baseball Classic.  Tommy is home for good as Carolina winds down its season.  For those following the team, Wednesday's game was suspended due to rain and today is a scheduled day off.  Ponce has a firm hold on first place with 4 other teams pretty knotted up in the middle so some of the Gigantes rainouts/suspensions may need be played.  It's really tough finding info on the Puerto Rican  league but hopefully low attendance and other problems that resulted in a year off from Caribbean Leagues participation are a thing of the past.  The league recently added webcast of a selected Saturday afternoon game and this week it's Carolina vs Ponce.  Tune in at 3:30 PST and watch the Gigantes take on the Leones.  Here's a link to the website. You need to register, but it seems to be free.  

Rays Chatter:  Rays outfielder Fernando Perez is making a strong case for the 25 man roster come spring.  He homered, drove in three runs and fell a triple shy of the cycle in yesterday's game.  His Venezuelan team remains in first-place.

RAY-DEMPTION ! ! !

Your 1:39am EST update... Rays win on a BJ Upton bloop sac fly in the 11th that scored Fernando Perez, pinch running for Navi. Didn't I tell you the Magic Bus needed Perez' speedy wheels? Ray-demption.

The series is tied. Tampa Bay, the boys will be back for Game 6. To win the ALCS at home.

Evan Longoria, BJ, and Dan Wheeler ... Game 2 Heroes . And we needed some.

A 9>8 win. How perfect. PollyAnna is gonna sleep like a baby tonight.

Chicago River Runs Black, Blue, and Bubbly

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Ooh those boys made a mess out of the Visitor's Clubhouse on the Southside. I hope they left the attendants a nice tip.

Rather than hyperventilate over the possibility of Percy returning to the Rays' ALCS roster at the expense of our most fleet footed position player, let's have some fun.  Here we go...

You Write The Caption

My entry is the title of this post:
Chicago River Runs Black, Blue and Bubbly

C'mon. You can do much better.
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Prizes? This ain't no radio station.  We ain't got no stinkin' prizes.

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Two! Woo!

2 many good things to count 2day:

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  2 = Rays Magic Number:  A Rays win and a Red Sox loss today and we can avoid the whole Magic Number = 1 drama.

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  2 = Doubleheader Sweep in Baltimore Yesterday:  2 wins. Twice as nice. 2 games closer to the AL East Title. First twin bill sweep in franchise history.
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  Shields needed 2 innings to get in a groove for a career best 14th win:  The rotation was juggled to line him up for the Game One start because he goes deep into games, sparing the bullpen on a doubleheader day.  His pitch count was mighty high after two, but then he locked in and was awesome.
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  2 Baggers key a game one win:  Navi , Perez, Bartlett.  
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  2 awesome not to mention:  Perez' sac bunt to drive in the final run in a 5-2 win. Speedy Perez can fly. A flippin' fast Ray OF that WANTS to bunt... and CAN.  Love that. 
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  2 out rally in game 2:  Top o' the 8th.  Bennie Boo Boo Zobrist, the Rays latest Left Fielder (seems "Utility Infielder undershoots the mark) outdid his actually awesome defense with a monster triple to get something going for the Rays. Down 4, the Rays needed much more and got it.  Aybar grounded out but scored Zobie. Dan Johnson K'd and Rays fans fluffed up the mohawks under their rally caps. Long-o drove a first pitch fastball 410 feet.  Rocco singled his booty on base and Gross walked.  2 on. Barty drives in 2 more with a pinch hit single. Baseball God and my personal hero Dioner Navarro scores 2 in a pinch hit appearance. BJ Upton, you guessed it, hits a 2B to score Navi. Rays 7- O's 5.
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  2 many errors and 2 pitchers later, a 2 run lead for the Rays.  The Orioles played the sloppiest defense I have ever seen last night.  They are done plucked.
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  2 scoreless innings and a save for Closer By Committee Member JP Howell.  He hails from Sacto by the way.
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  2 few Jonny Gomes sightings.  C'mon JoJo.  Not 2 many chances left.

Not quite a perfect day though.  PTownFan's name was not drawn in the Rays' "2 Cheap 2 Buy Season Tickets, But Wants A Playoff Ticket Anyway" lottery.  But, there's a 2nd chance drawing if the series returns home to Tampa Bay for Game 5 :-)

PRays The Lord And Pass The Advil!

The Rays deserved a celebraytion.

And they got one. Which might explain why the B Team took the field in the final game of the Twin series yesterday at The Trop. Sonny pitched another great game but didn't have the customary and ultra reliable infield to back him up. Longo was the only regular infielder and his aim was a bit off yesterday. At the end of the day in front of another sell-out crowd, the Rays came up short in a 1-4 loss to Minnesota. No action for the hometown boy. That swing is sure gonna be rusty if he ever gets a chance to air it out. The Magic Number clicker is still stuck on 6 with a Red Sox win yesterday.

Photo Steve Nesius (AP)

The drive for the AL East begins today as the Magic Bus rolls to Baltimore.

The last week of the regular season will feature rookie starters on the mound. David Price gets the ball tonight. Mitch Talbott tomorrow night. Garza, who threw on a quick turnaround last week, gets a rest until Saturday. Meanwhile, Percy's back is still in knots and he'll have a second set of epidural injections Tuesday and be available to pitch on Thursday. If things go well. He pitched an inning in relief on back to back days this weekend and wiggled through them with only a slight bit of drama. Joe's got some mighty heavy closer dice to roll in about a week. Percy better level with him to keep the 9=8 equation in balance. If the math on the t-shirts is new to you, it's been Joe Maddon's mantra all season. That's 9 players playing hard for 9 months = 8 teams that play on. Hey, it's worked so far :-)

Post-Season Roster Prognostications.

Carl Crawford's hand is still not cleared to swing a bat. He may be available this week as a defensive replacement or to pinch run. A reinjured tendon could be career ending. He didn't have a career year and may not be able to pick up where he left off. Rocco Baldelli is a great story and we love him, but he seems to need several days between partial games to recover. When this roster is whittled back down to 25 players for the playoff run it will be a tough call between two guys who could be out for the season, or worse, with one wrong move... or a few healthy guys who can be personally credited with the single game or two that will probably decide the AL East. Ruggiano, Perez, Gomes, Johnson, Baldelli, and Crawford. Oohhh-eee. Tough call.

Just like hitting bottle caps with sticks... Sox Meatloafed in 90th Win

"We were joking around in the dugout before he hit the home run," Pena said. "A popular game in the Dominican Republic is to hit the bottlecaps with the sticks. So I'm like, 'Hey man, Willy's played a lot of bottlecaps with sticks. It's a good matchup here."

That was Carlos Pena's reaction to Joe Maddon's light bending lineup card last night. Tim Wakefield has owned The Trop and lefty DH Cliff Floyd was just 1-11 against the knuckleballer. So why not try something new? Joe's solution... use untested switch hitter Willie Aybar's right handed bat against the softball server. Something about the bat path of his swing path from that side of the plate. Uh huh. Willie went yard in his first at bat and put the Rays up 3-2. They never looked back. Gross, Perez and Longo flicked a few bottlecaps before Francona pulled the plug and began the bullpen emptying procession of Sox relievers.

Meanwhile, Ortiz hit two home runs off Garza who held his ground but didn't dazzle last night. With a cushy but not comfortable 8-3 lead in the 5th and Ortiz coming to the plate a third time, Maddon went to the pen with a one-run mindset. Garza needed only one more out to be credited with the win, but in the other quote of the evening, Maddon later said:

""It isn't about Garza's won-loss record," Maddon said. "It's about the Rays' won-loss record."

We'll need that kind of thinking a lot during the next 45 or so days.

No bottlecaps for Jonny in the Rays 10-3 win last night. But I'm sure he's having the time of his life. The Rays Meatloafed the Sox again taking 2 of 3 and reduced their magic numbers to 10 for the AL East Championship and 4 for a wild card berth. They host the Twins in a four game series that begins tonight and finish the season with a 7 game road trip in Baltimore and Detroit. Let's hope a two game lead over the Sox is enough.

The Rays have now blown through all but the most Pollyanna-ish expecations, notching their 90th win. 95 is within reach. Whoda (really) thunk it?

Woo! The Other Johnson Gets Rays Back On Track

Lotsa chatter that Jonny Johnson Gomes will finish his season in Tampa Bay once the Governors' Cup International League Championship is in the bag. But the plane ride was pushed back a day when the Bulls dropped the opener last night against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.  The Bulls took the lead with an 8th inning rally, but the Yanks came back with 2 in the 9th to win it 8-7. Gomes was 1-4 with a single and a run scored at DH and is batting .263 in the post season.  Newly minted Minor League Player Of The Year, David Price struck out 9 in his 6 inning appearance and may be on his way to The Rays as soon as today.  Cannot wait to see that boy throw.

Meanwhile, Dan Johnson has been quietly getting it done all season.

The left handed batter was claimed off waivers from the A's in April and many Rays fans wondered what the plan was for another 1B with limited experience at other positions and a 5 pound medical record. Johnson was in Tampa Bay just long enough to get a uniform when the Rays right field platoon swelled yet again and Dan was Durham bound.  The popular former A played some outfield and 3B for the Bulls but was used primarily as the DH, swinging the bat well  with a .307 average, 25 home runs and 83 RBIs. He got the call to Fenway yesterday and arrived too late to start, but just in time to save the day.  The Rays were up 3-2 in the 8th with 2 outs, a Sox runner on, and a textbook matchup at the plate.  Jason Bay was just 1 for 18 against Rays reliever Dan Wheeler. Naturally, Bay launched a 1-1 pitch over the Monster for the lead.  On his reputation for working the count, Dan Johnson got a last second call to pinch-hit and lead off the 9th. Against Papelbunion Papebon. No pressure.  He saw three balls, then a strike and hammered the 6th pitch into the right field stands. The first Papel-bomb since June 14th.  Johnson snapped a career 0-15 pinch hit streak as a Major Leaguer and what a time to do it.  The speedy Fernando Perez drilled a double off the monsta. My hero Dioner Navarro, hit yet another clutch double to plate Perez and put the Rays back on top 5-4.  With Percy set to close, Rays fans chanted their favorite motivational quotes and popped a Rolaid.  The Rays closer managed to get it done but, as usual, it was an E-Ticket ride instead of a Brandon Morrow mow down. Whatever. We won and we're still on top in the AL East.

As for Jonny Johnson Gomes... the Rays are still convinced Jonny is a lefty specialist in the batter's box and opted for left handed hitter Dan Johnson given the series of RHP they'll face the next few days.  Jonny's Durham splits?   .171 vs LHP in 35 ABs.  and .292 vs RHP in 72 ABs for a combined .252.  But what do I know.

Hey, Longo is back this weekend if everything stays on track with that mending wrist. Love him, but he'll have to put on quite a show to knock Navi off PTownFan's pedestal for Rays MVP.

If I Were A BlueJay On Throwback Jersey Night...

... I would call in sick. They have to be the ugliest uni's ever hatched in the MLB. So-o-o-o much worse than those rainbow striped Astros' threads. I'd sooner be caught wearing those icky green and neon yellow A's duds with the elastic waistband.

These things are so much Selsiun Blu-ier than this picture would lead you to believe. Royal blue stripes, socks and helmets just make the whole thing worse.

The newest teams in baseball have a few advantages. No "Curse of The Bambino" and no ghastly old uniforms on throwback night.

I'm watching the Rays/Jays game. 6-4 Jays in the top of the 9th. The new guy, Fernando Perez, who got the call-up over Jonny has got some wheels... and his first MLB hit tonight. They say he's a good fielder. Let me tell you, the kid can fly.