Yes?

Just thought you'd handle it with a bit more class when the Rays finally got it together. C'est la vie. I guess every team needs their TGunz.

Regardless... hats off to the Rays... honestly I'd love to see them take the division and win it all if the Sox can't this year (which I don't think they can). I honestly think the WC comes out of the east this year and I think it's Boston/Tampa in some combination making it into the playoffs.

Is this it?

What's the area like around it?

When has capella handled anything with class?

You have a big sig with LOL 131-92 LOL in your profile referencing a sport you've admitted you hate, and you're questioning my class?

Enjoying the Sidney Ponson era?

It's pretty much a landfill.

Not a lot around it. Downtown area would be much more beautiful, but unlikely.

My sig was pretty obviously a singular dart at Gunz (if you recall his posts leading up to the NBA finals). That other post sorta smacks of Daly winning a random major then dropping trou and mooning Tiger and Figjam. Not an attack on Rays fans in general, you've just always been one of the more level headed ones. Guess I just misjudged ya.

Perhaps I'd like to continue rooting for the Rays to succeed and hoping to not get a bad taste in my mouth from someone TGunzing em up. Then again we've got our fair share of overzealous Sox homers who have put bad tastes in others mouths....

Again.. just my perception. Carry on with the chest thumping

So you throw a jab at gunz and all Laker fans and I throw one at Red Sox fans and all of a sudden I'm not level-headed.

Um, ok? I'm sure someone could make sense of that.

Fixed. The formatting of my sig was a direct mockery of the formatting of several of TGunz posts leading up to the finals. It was pretty targeted.

Now maybe you can see the difference Or maybe not.

Again.. no big deal. Continue with the Chest thumping. Best of luck to the Rays tonight.. got a good matchup.

Barely read any of that crap. Thought you didn't watch the sport.


Anyways, carry on.

Back to baseball...

If Percy goes on the DL, does Reyes assume closing duties if healthy? Or is the job Wheels to lose?

Whenever Reyes is ready, Percy will hit the DL. I assume Wheeler gets the nod, although he is god-awful in the 9th. I doubt Reyes gets it.


Sleeper candidate is Balfour and his 1.17 ERA. They might want to leave Wheels in the 8th-inning spot that he's comfortable in.

Thanks

I've heard the same thing. Actually would be a great location IMO...saves Hillsborough people 20 minutes...access from Gandy or HoFra...still easy to get to from Pinellas or Sarasota. Orlando people are still screwed, but who cares honestly.

A new stadium would be fantastic, with or without waterfront views.

I assume we would also see a re-design, or at least some tweaks. No reason to have no right field seats anymore.

I like tonight's lineup:

Aki, CC, BJ
Pena, Longoria, Floyd
Navarro, Hinske, Bartlett

Break out the brooms #####es - it is sweep time tomorrow!

dioner
balfour

I thought Balfour;s heart was going to pop out his jersey. Jeebus he makes me nervous looking at him.

That Longoria character plays a decent 3B...

that play felt like a gamesaver

Oh yea, Price with 6 shutout innings down in AA tonight.


Pretty good night for the Rays, all around.

nice win fellas!

Exciting baseball...nice not to be Sox / Yankees for a change...

Heard a blurb on 1470 this morning about plans just released to develop the Toytown area...shopping, restaurants, etc.

Would that be going hand in hand with the under-the-table stadium plans?

Very Probably

Rice Cakes vs Kaz :sick:

Great games thus far this series. Both teams have very strong home records (BOS 31-10 / TAM 32-13) so it's no surprise they've swept each other at home. We'll catch you guys back in Fenway in September to even up the season's series

I do gotta say this.... the cowbells are bushleague. Reminds me of the annoying thundersticks in Anaheim that Capella was always #####ing about. I had no idea the Rays shared a fanbase with the Mississippi State Bulldogs I'm happy for the fanbase... but if you can't get loud enough in a dome (which they CAN) without resorting to annoying cowbells then you might want to rethink things a bit.

The cowbells came into play years ago so the empty stadium actually sounded noisy. They even had promotions on nights against Boston and New York to drown out the mouthbreathing noise.

Now, it is just a tradition and fans realize it annoys the crap out of Boston and New York fans so they ring the bells with extra gusto.

I hate them - as I had to sit amongst 50,000 MSU fans at the Liberty Bowl and I couldn't hear myself for 3 days afterwards, but I'm for anything that contributes to a hostile environment.

If this team makes the playoffs, and they open up all the seating again, they'll break the decible record that the Metrodome had for the playoffs. The Trop is smaller and the noise bounces off the walls. It will be insanely loud in there tonight!

Good analysis, ike.

Gump -- I'm sure that has something to do with it. That's the last real patch of land left.

Fixed

as a rule, cowbells are lame, but for the rays, they are a nice touch.
50 years from now, the cowbells will mark a reminder of a 10 year period when the rays couldn't draw enough fans to make actual human noise. the 2 children being born in the bay area this year may never be able to personally experience decade-long futility. the cowbells may someday help them understand where this franchise truly came from.

priceless!

Classy!

Oh come on guys.. the franchise struggled it's first decade or so. BFD. That's common for most expansion teams I imagine. The lack of attendance has as much to do with the makeup of the area and the perfect weather than it does with the quality of the team. Who the hell builds a domed stadium in that climate?! Horrible idea. Who wants to be inside when it's 85 and sunny I assume the new stadium will be retractable or at the very least open air?

saw that on NESN last night.... that guy's a giant DBag.. not sure what his problem is.

Lotta bandwagon frontrunner sox fans with a sense of entitlement these days. no doubt.

85? probably more like 100 degrees with 99% humidity. summer in Florida is like hell on earth.

Not to mention the afternoon showers from mid May to late August that can pop anytime between like noon and sunrise.

-chris

Peak Averages of 90 degrees?

My brother lives down there... other side (Just north of West Palm Beach) and while it can be hot it's not THAT bad....gotta think most games are night games anyway...

Like Chris said, the main problem other than humidity is the daily rain at 4:00. It may not affect the game, but it routinely rains out BP. Ask the Marlins how much they like their open air stadium.

There will not be a baseball stadium built in Mid-to-South Florida without at least a retractable roof.

Only time it's 85 here is at 5am when I get up for work.

It's ####ing HOT here. Like miserably, painfully hot.

Florida rain patterns are like no other baseball city, save Seattle. As Cappy said, every afternoon, like clockwork, we get megastorms here. Just last week here in Orlando, we had 5.5" of rain.

Kaz doesn't appear to have good stuff tonight. Slider looks really flat.

Loving the new rivalry here. The last three nights at the Trop it's sounded like an ALCS game. Goodtimes

Take Lugo back. ####.

Agree Fin. Most exciting baseball series ever played here. Hopefully, that won't be able to be said in a few months.

hey, i'll take a DP with ellsbury any way we can get it.

Boy Lugo is an idiot. No way Ellsbury gets turned there.

Definately, first time I've really got that competitive feeling with these Rays games other than the typical beanings/brawls from the past. The Rays are a fun team to watch, but I'm learning to dislike certain players. Its still barely July, hopefully when these teams meet again it means something.

As you might imagine, this was the topic of discussion on Boston sports radio today. Also, probably not a surprise that most ("experts" included), felt that TB would not be able to keep this up. If I can generalize a bit, the feeling was that the SP was strong, and short of injury, should minimally keep TB in the WC chase for the whole season. However:

Questions about the BP, especially with Percival down and the ripple effect that might have.
Questions about the lineup, particularly RF and a true power hitting stud a la Ortiz, Manny, Pujols, etc.
Questions about ownership's willingness/ability to compete with Sox/Yanks/Cubs/Angels for the deadline mega deal.
And lastly, how will TB perform when the heat gets turned up in August and September? They are certainly loose and flying high now, but how will that translate when everything gets tighter? They will be going against teams that have lots of veterans who have "been there" before.

Personally, while I don't disagree with some of the potential flaws for TB, I also don't think there is another team in the division that will be able to apply so much pressure as to run away with the DC. Too many flaws and shaky health on every team.

amazing job by the pen here :puke: