The GBT - The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe.
RAYS 7, Red Sox 5 (boxscore)
THE GOOD: Hey, look who showed up last night. It’s Evan Longoria! Remember him? He singled and scored as the 2nd batter of the 4-run 6th inning. And then he singled again the 2-run 7th inning. It was his first multi-hit game of the season. I repeat, it took Longo 15 games before he had more than 1 hit in a game. It was his longest streak without multiple hits since July, 2013 when his drought reached 26 games…Kevin Cash used Brad Boxberger in the 7th inning with the score tied 5-5 with David Ortiz, Hanley Ramirez, and Mike Napoli due up. It took 23 pitches, but Boxman shut the Sox down, striking out the side. The Rays would then score twice in the bottom of the 7th for the lead they wouldn’t give up. It was the first time Boxberger has been used prior to the 9th inning and kudos to Cash for having the guts to do it. For all the Rays’ talk about not having a closer and using the best pitchers when it matters most, Joe Maddon never really followed that philosophy as much as he talked about the philosophy. Now the Rays have a manager that appears to be more willing to practice the party line…Part of the Rays’ 4-run 6th inning was Logan Forsythe’s bases loaded walk, the Rays’ 7th of the season. No other team has more than 3……Jake Elmore homered in his first at bat with the Rays. It was just his 3rd career home run despite spending time in the big leagues in each of the last 3 seasons…
THE BAD: Kevin Cash is expected to have growing pains. But he is now 0-10 on replay challenges after missing both on the same play Wednesday night. 0-10 is hard to do
THE TELLING: Jeff Beliveau will have surgery today for a torn labrum. He was moved to the 60-day DL and his season is over. Ryan Brett became the 11th player on the DL and Jake Elmore was promoted to take his place…As expected, Drew Smyly will make his 2015 debut Friday…Steve Geltz is the 4th different Rays pitcher to record a save…Attendance was 12,733. The Rays did have a game against the Red Sox last season with a crowd of 10,543. However, that was in September when the Rays were 13 games back and the Sox were 19.5 back…The Rays are 7-8, 2 games behind the Red Sox.
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Is the stadium stalemate responsible for the small crowds? Maybe a little bit. But if you have been around these parts this spring you know the small crowds are not surprising. [TampaBay.com]
- The Josh Hamilton situation in Los Angeles has gotten ugly and he may never play for the team again. [BI Sports]
- Wil Myers on the Rays: “When Tampa traded me away, I felt they had given up on me.” [MLB.com]
- DOWN ON THE FARM [boxscores] Matt Buschmann allowed just 2 runs over 7 innings in Durham’s 3-2 loss. He struck out 7 and allowed just 3 hits. Mikie Mahtook went 1-4 with a double and Hak-Ju Lee went 2-3…Daniel Robertson was 0-4 in Montgomery’s 4-3 loss. Richie Shaffer had 2 hits including his 2nd home run in 2 games. Justin O’Conner was 0-3 with a walk and 2 Ks…Andrew Velazquez was pulled after just 1 at bat in Charlotte’s 7-6 loss. No word yet on a potential injury. Willy Adames hit his first home run of the season…Bowling Green swept a double-header with Brent Honeywell striking out 7 and allowing just 1 hit and 1 walk in 6.0 shutout innings. In 3 starts, Honeywell has allowed just 2 earned runs in 16.0 innings with 22 Ks and 6 walks. Greg Harris tossed 6 shutout innings in game 2. Casey Gillaspie was 1-6 in the 2 games and Riley Unroe went 3-5.
Now this is a David Ortiz batflip in the 9th inning I enjoyed.
Want to watch a video of Kevin Cash pitching in a blowout? Of course you do.
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11 Comments
Just for the heck of It I checked the attendance for the other teams around the league, and surprise the rays weren't the worst, but I will ask this (can't believe I am talking attendance) is it me or when I see the games on tv or when I am at the games it seems that the there are more people there than what the announced attendance is, like last nights game for ex: I read in the paper that there was 12000 people there, but when I watched it on tv there seem to be more than that, ok I didn't count them lol and I am not an expert but it does seem to look that way.
Live attendance at all sporting events in the US is going to fall off a cliff in the next 10 years for many reasons, but first and foremost it will be because of the rapid aging of the USA population. To that extent, the Rays are the canary in the coal mine, but they are not and will not be the only ones.
When you have a management team that has complained about how terrible the stadium is and how poorly located it is for 10 years, it cannot be expected to have good attendance there. (a 1-6 home start and no star power on the team not helping either). That is the fatigue we all feel.
All that said, it was a fantastic win, one that the Red Sox may rue if the Rays get ahead of them later this season. They had a chance to really stick the Rays in a bad spot and blew a 5-1 lead to a bunch of minor leaguers and Evan. That has to sting.
Cork,
Not sure the Elmore HR and Geltz save belong in the "Bad" section.
Oops. Thanks! Fixed now.
It sure would be nice if they would have added an all glass area that surrounds that stadium. That way people would be able to see outside.
I've always said that having a dome isn't the problem, it's that there is no natural light getting in. Wherever they end up it need to be somewhere with a roof, a.c. and lots of glass.
One interesting moment came when KK was lifted for Guyer when the lefty came in from the pen. I am sure many Rays fans didnt like that and would have had a field day here of harsh criticism if Brandon failed.
Fortunately he ended up tying the game and even producing a walk later.
Kevin actually has put up good numbers vesus Lefties this year not much worse than his numbers versus RHP as they were in the previous years.
I like Guyer and his defense is conservatively sound so I had no problem with the move. KK airmailed a BJ like stab at home on Hanley earlier which allowed the runner to advance to second. I am alone apparently in the view that in totality KK and DJ are a wash at defense of the CF position.
I do however agree that its best to have KK in CF rather than a corner position as his gambling style can be mitigated by another outfielder in the gaps when he takes risks often successful but in the long run will fail occasionally.
I would not call KK's throw BJ-like. The play was at the plate and a good throw would have nailed Ramirez. It was the right play just a lousy throw. A physical mistake not a mental mistake.
K2 is a considerably more sound CF-er than DJ considering the fact that DJ has tons more MLB experience there (meaning that if KK continues on his current learning curve he'll be far superior before long because he's already on-level with or better than DJ).
K2 has made 2 off target throws to the plate this week. Let's hope it's remnants of the flu...
To your point about Cash's challenges:
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/kevin-cash-is-good-and-bad-at-challenges/
Wil Myers on the Rays: “When Tampa traded me away, I felt they had given up on me." No sh*% dumba*%!!!