Kazmir was totally squeezed with the last batter.

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb73/moonlightj/ex.jpg

How are pitches 2 and 3 not strikes?

Sucky roadtrip, but that was just a brutal 9 games to have to go play. Here's hoping for 2/3 from the Fish and starting to pick things up again.

btw, they do miss Pena. Hinske is awful hitting behind Upton and in front of Longoria.

Griff??

No interest in Griff. He's redundant here.

Jackson...oof. Guess that ride was fun while it lasted.

I understand from a production standpoint. But could he be a big spark for the young guys in the clubhouse and the fanbase? I think he could. And could a move like that change the minds of some voters in St Pete?

I'm sure there would be many factors weighed.

griff would certainly be nice to have, but i assume his salary would be prohibitive. especially considering what we'd have to give up to get an overpaid player with a lot of injury risk.

now, there is another young man out there with more power than griff, a better OBP than griff that would likely cost alot less and we wouldn't have to trade anybody to get him.
imo, trading for griff makes no sense when barry lamar bonds is out there for the taking.

for that matter, i think signing kenny lofton would make more sense than trading for griff too. we don't necessarily need the speed, but it wouldn't hurt. throw him in the OF with some pretty good defense and let him lead off. lofton would give the team a prototypical leadoff man that's not currently on the roster.

either way, there's 2 options (at least) that make more sense than griff.

With the stadium issue on the table, there's a better chance of me DHing for the Rays this year than there is of Bonds.

Zero chance of seeing that.

to me, that's really a shame. it's not like there aren't other teams in MLB that happily employ players suspected to have used PED's. i agree with you that it won't happen b/c of the potential PR hit, but there's no way it wouldn't help ticket sales. love him or hate him, people will still pay to see barry bonds swing a baseball bat.

it's amazing, if he was a wife beater or routinely got busted for drunk driving, teams would have no problem bringing him. being one of the several dozens of players to use PED's and he may as well be a leper.

Tampa is good okay...we all saw this coming. Can we just change the thread title already? It's been weeks now.

Let go, Cap...let go.

I love how this bothers you, Captain Obsessive.

sup cappy

The other thing about Barry is that he is HATED by everyone in baseball. I had a chance to talk to the visiting clubhouse manager the other night in FL...he was not shy about what an ### Barry is and how people feel about him.

We all know this...but to hear it from a guy on the inside and to see the passion with which he said drove the level of hatred home to me bigtime.

Barry laid his bed...no one in MLB is going to give him another chance.

hey, buddy.


pretty sweet win tonight. I would love 2/3 here...going to be hard with Zambrano going tomorrow night.

Not to mention, Sonnastine is throwing BP, err, starting

8-3 Cubbies tomorrow

Should be ugly tonight, I agree. Hope Sonny can keep them in it.

i hope so, i got the cubs and the over

but how about that bullpen you guys have? filthy stuff

Our pen has been terrific. I just hope their arms don't fall off by September. Howell is the new Everyday Eddie as he's on pace for 120 innings as a reliever. Balfour has been great since his recall as well.

Hey Icon, I think its time to change the subtitle.

I can't, Kev. Sorry.

Any chance of Niemann or Howell being added to the rotation anytime soon?

Sonnanstine seems to be teetering but is safe for now, Edwin Jackson needs to be replaced though. I have to think they're not going to mess with Howell's role so that clears a path for Niemann, right? I'm big on both of them and am looking to add one or the other in a deep league. I may add Howell regardless.

this is pretty fun so far. i smoked some ribs and picked up some beer just to celebrate the rare national TV game for the rays. it's a nice break from hovering over a laptop.

i'm a little disappointed that we didn't get to see Z lose it as the rays batted around on him in the 3rd.

No way Howell leaves his current role. He is the team MVP right now. Niemann could but he's as inconsistent as the others. Mitch Talbot might get a chance.

I highly doubt anybody in AAA offers more consistency than EJax or Sonny right now.

Talbot gives up 9 in 2/3 of an inning once a month.

Hey Chicago, whadda say, the Rays kicked your ### (again) today

Awesome, awesome win last night. That was fun.

The downer is Wade Davis got raked across the coals in AA and now has an ERA over 4. Frigg..

The Rays would be a good NL team

Seeing the Cubs get the snot kicked out of them by the Rays makes me very happy.

They will just have to settle for being a great AL team.

Yeah, and imagine how you would have described it if they had won either game by 2 runs!!!

Definitely two good wins by the Rays but I'm not concerned about it. Cubbies kept in it. Just some stupid mistakes cost them again. But that can be said of just about any team that loses. Hope they salvage the final game tonight.

This thread reminds me of the dave chappelle skit on reparations

rays fans sound alot like cubs fans. getting all excited over a good beginning to a season.

but in reality, they won 2 games at home, big deal. the cubs are known to play poor on the road. sure the rays are good, but im not impressed until they sweep them, which could happen tonight.

Beckham signed.

shields. making'em look silly.

Hey Chicago, waddaya say, the Rays swept your asses today!

1st time all year the Cubs have lost 3 straight

Crap talking after three good months of baseball in ten years?

when a team makes a run at losing 1000 games in a decade, it's okay to get excited about a good 2.5 months, i think.

especially when the recent success is the result of a good plan that's working the way it was supposed to. they didn't go sign the jose guillen's of the world, they bolstered the bullpen and defense while letting the young stud pitchers and hitters continue to develop.

speaking of the plan that's working, when do we need to start worrying about the yankees making a run at friedman when they don't resign cashman? for those in the know, would he go if they came knocking?

I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of my broom

10 years = 0 world series
100 years = 0 world series

You've been sucking a lot longer than us

I think (not sure) that Friedman was close to Sternberg before he got hired here. Worked for one of his firms or something. I wouldn't be worried about him leaving.

"They threw the ball well, all their pitchers, really," Chicago's Ryan Theriot said. "The bullpen came in and threw the ball well. You just have to tip your hat. They did a good job. Thank God we only have to see them for three days."

that's fun. when was the last time someone said that about the rays pitching staff.

I looked it up in Wikipedia - Page Not Found

Funny thing is - Balfour was DFAd at the end of camp and nobody claimed him. Watching Sonnanstine, Jackson, and Glover still scare the crap out of me but the rest of the staff is fun to watch. Garza goes against Oswalt tonight and I've got box seats for the game

Rays fans, I'm a convert. Their pitching is solid and, honestly, as I was watching the game, it's the first time this season I thought the Cubs had no chance all game. Cubs struggled, to be fair. But a lot of that had to do with the Rays staff.

Good luck and I hope we meet again this year.

David Price has been promoted to AA

That didn't take long.

I imagine it'll be Montgomery for July, Durham for August, St. Pete for September.

I have a feeling he will be with the Rays in August if they are still in the hunt for a playoff spot (and there is nothing that would indicate they would not be, they are playing great baseball).

Jeremy Hellickson has also been promoted to AA.

Going to be interesting to see how Hellickson does.

J - would you say he's above Davis/McGee at this point?

No, I think both of those guys still have more talent, but Hellickson is getting more results. Hellickson throws 89-93 while Davis and McGee are both 93-98. I still think McGee ends up a closer down the line if he stays in the organization. Mid to upper 90's from the left side out of the pen would be nice.

I'll admit to being worried about McGee. He's getting hit pretty hard down there. Davis should be fine, but McGee seems to really only have that heater, which teams are sitting on. I think the closer idea is the best course of action, but he needs innings now.