The Rays may have struggled at the ticket booth this season, but their local TV audience was among the biggest in baseball. According to an industry insider, the Rays and Sun Sports/Fox Sports Florida,Detroit Lions Jerseys? finished the season 5th among all baseball teams in local TV ratings. [You can see more on the ratings,titans jerseys, including the surprising teams with the worst TV ratings,Custody fight for child of Chiefs murder-suicide victims CJOnline.com, in .] Here are the top five as well as their respective attendance rankings… As you can see, the Rays weren’t the only team with attendance issues to still fare well in front of the TV. The Reds were in a similar boat,[THE HANGOVER] Scott Kazmir Offers Up Extra Batting Practice For Sox Rays Index. While the Rays won’t profit from these ratings directly, it could mean a huge boom for the team’s bottomline when it comes time to renew their TV deal. The current deal expires in 2016. And with the Rangers recently signing a new deal that ,Throwback Stars Jerseys, the Rays could be in for a huge payday in 2017. One source indicated to us that the Rays current TV deal is worth approximately $20 million per season. The Rangers new deal is worth $80150 million per season for a team with TV ratings not nearly as strong. All of a sudden, the Rays attendance “problems” don’t seem that important.

Last night the Rays drafted speedy middle infielder/center fielder LeVon Washington with the 30th pick of the draft,Panthers Jerseys From China 365djerseys.com P5. Shorty after being selected, Washington and Andrew Friedman sounded eager to get him in a uniform. LeVon Washington had already impressed the Rays with his speed. Then he really showed them something about an hour after being the 30th pick in the draft Tuesday night, announcing on a media conference call he already was committed to sign: “I’ll be a Ray.”…”That’s great news,Baltimore Orioles Jerseys,” Rays executive vice president Andrew Friedman said later, “and we feel the exact same way.”,seahawks jerseys; Not so fast. There is one person that has yet to show the same eagerness and in the end it may be his opinion that matters most of all,cheap bears nike jerseys 365djerseys.com K4. That is Washington’s agent, Scott Boras. Boras rarely makes a move with his clients before it is absolutely necessary. He prefers that his players wait as long as possible before signing contracts. It is his belief that waiting almost never costs a player money, but quite often it makes them more,Aldon Smith Jersey. And no matter what you think of Boras, he is usually right. So what does this mean for Washington and the Rays? Unless the Rays open the wallet, we expect that like David Price, negotiations will go down to the August deadline, but that eventually a deal will get struck. But more important may be how this affects Washington’s playing career. If a deal is not made prior to August, it is unlikely that Washington will play this season for any of the Rays farmclubs. Whereas Tim Beckham was able to get on the field last summer and was ready for a fullseason this year, it is more likely that Washington will play in the fall instructional leagues and won’t make his Rays debut until next June in one of the shortseason leagues. In other words, it could be a while before Washington starts his Tampa Bay Rays career. Tampa Bay Rays draft Gainesville prep star LeVon Washington with firstround pick []

on Carl Crawford and his outlook for 2009. Crawford says he is healthy and feels “fast again.” Also interesting is the assertion that CC’s hamstring issues were not due entirely to the Trop’s FieldTurf, although it dis play a factor. Especially with the 27yearold Crawford healthy again after missing seven weeks with a finger injury last summer and playing the entire 2008 season with a hamstring problem caused by a 2006 ankle injury that’s finally healed,Cheap Colin Kaepernick Jersey 365djerseys.com D3. The article mentions something we have heard before,cheap nhl jerseys from china, that CC adjusted his offseason workouts to compensate for the affects of the FieldTurf. With all of the success enjoyed by the Rays in 2008,Red Sox Jerseys, Crawford was a bit of a forgotten figure. While we have doubts about whether he will still be with the Rays in 2010, a healthy Crawford could go a long ways to once again being once of the most exciting players in baseball in 2009. (that picture has absolutely nothing to do with Crawford, we just find it somewhat amusing. That’s all,packers jerseys. Don’t judge,Wholesale Kevin Kolb Jersey 365djerseys.com W6.) DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

The GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe. THE GOOD: David Price. Yes, he got pounded and was out of the game after 5 innings. But when the right situation presented itself (first base open), he plunked Kevin Youkilis. And now we know that the Rays were just blowing smoke when they said Youkilis spiking Casey Kotchman was unintentional. And just in case you want to watch Youk getting spanked, over and over, …Casey At The Bat. Lucky. This is an awfully long lucky streak. Casey Kotchman homered and is now hitting .339. THE BAD: David Price. One of those nights,Robinson Opinions abound over the Steelers lost season TribLIVE,cheap cleveland cavaliers jerseys. Price can get away without his best stuff against the Blue Jays, but not against the Red Sox. It took him 106 pitches just to get through 5 innings as he walked 5 and allowed 3 runs. Guess we can take away that “Big Game”,Wholesale Yankees Jerseys; nickname. Oh wait. Nevermind…The NonCloser NonSave. Let’s ignore for a second that Kyle Farnsworth is not the official closer (he is). We have ALWAYS hated using closers in nonsave situations,cheap philadelphia 76ers jerseys. There is something about the intensity of the save that leads to closers letting up in nonsave situations (queue 3,000 words on why this is not true from a website that thinks the game is played by robots). And Farnsworth was the latest casualty, giving up a home run in the top of the 9th. When the Rays got two on in the bottom of the 9th, scoring one run would have been a lot more doable than scoring two…Top O’ The Order To Nowhere,Seattle Writers On Strange Rumor; Gammons On Rays Moves Rays Index. The Rays top 4 hitters in the lineup were 015 with 3 strikeouts and 1 walk. In the series they were 237 (.054) with 7 strikeouts. THE TELLING: Matt Moore. ?…ESPN’s “Baseball Tonight”; crew on the umpire warning both team after David Price hit Kevin Youkilis: “We have no idea why [the warning] happened.”; *payingattentionfail*…Cory Wade tossed 2 more socreless innings for the Yankees. But yeah, the Rays bullpen was too good to fit Wade in someplace *smh*… THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA… DOWN ON THE FARM… The Lightning Take Batting Practice (via TampaBay.com) Mike Smith and fellow Bolts celebrate his BP home run (via TampaBay.com)

DRG here again to get you through the weekend. I can be reached .. The Good: Evan Longoria’s first 2home run game, including a 3run shot in the 1st inning of the tapemeasure variety…BJ Upton justmissed 2 home runs of his own, going 44 with 2 doubles that hit off the top of the wall. The Telling: The Rays are actually a game up on the Red Sox in the loss column…The Rays are 2,minnesota timberwolves jerseys 365djerseys.com O8,cheap seahawks jerseys.5 games ahead of the A’s in the Wild Card standings and 4 games ahead of Toronto. The Rays go for the sweep of the O’s today. The Rays have already swept the Red Sox, the Blue Jays and previously won 3 of 4 in a series against the Yankees. They are now 2012 versus the AL East, while no other team in the division is above .500. Was trolling around the MLB,Cheap Indianapolis Colts Jerseys.com team stats page this morning, and I can’,cheap saints jerseys;t find one category in which the Rays are performing above their own heads. The only category they lead in the AL as a team is stolen bases, and even there, they also lead in caught stealing. DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…,49ers coach focuses all attention on the Packers Packersnews packersnews.com;

The GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe,Cheap Alex Smith Jersey. Yankees 7, RAYS 0 () THE GOOD: Savior of the Universe. Flash! ahhhh. Savior of the Universe! Flash,Detroit Lions Jerseys! Ahhhh. He’ll save every one of us! Right? Well, it was at least good to see Desmond Jennings back in the lineup…Cesar Ramos. Ramos came in and gave the Rays 3 innings of relief sparing the rest of the bullpen on a night when some arms could have been wasted. THE BAD: Defense and Starting Pitching. Wait. What? These are supposed to be the Rays’ strengths, right? Well,cheap manning jersey 365djerseys.com O6, three more errors, and just an awful night for James Shields equals an ugly, ugly 70 loss. Then again, how are the defense and starting pitching supposed to win ball games if the offense can’t score a single god damned run?…Where’s Sweet Swingin’? This is the problem that Joe Maddon has right now. With Desmond Jennings back, that leaves Luke Scott, Hideki Matsui, and Matt Joyce for DH and right field. And last night it was Joyce left without a chair when Maddon’s music stopped. And this also proves that not everything Maddon does is based on numbers. He basically put Matsui in right field batting cleanup on the hope that he would have a big night in his return to the Bronx. He went 04. THE TELLING:Desmond Jennings was activated prior to the game and Rich Thompson was optioned to tripleA Durham…The Rays are once again tied with the Orioles for first place in the East. THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA… DOWN ON THE FARM… . Jhonny Nunez gave up 4 runs in just 2 innings on 4 hits and 3 walks…Alex Torres allowed 2 runs in 2.2 innings of relief. He did strike out 5 and walked 2…LF Leslie Anderson continues to hit well going 24 with a double and his 7th home run…1B Henry Wrigley had 4 hits including a double and his 4th home run. He is hitting ,cheap raiders nike jerseys.274 in 23 games since being promoted. He also has 11 home runs combined between AA and AAA this season…C Chris Gimenez was 34 with a double…2B Reid Brignac was 03 and is hitting .162. . SS HakJu Lee went 25 with his 2nd home run. However, he also committed his 12th error…LF Brad Coon had a single and his 12th stolen base…CF Ty Morrison went 25 with a double. CHARLOTTE Lakeland. postponed BOWLING GREEN,Cheap Arizona Diamondbacks Jerseys 365djerseys.com. no game scheduled Well, this pretty much sums up this game… This is an odd clip to use during the pregame…

. Something strange is happening and we can’t quite put our finger on it. Here at RI we have been hesitant to give Joe Maddon a hard time. Sure we have from time to time, but we have held back criticism of his managerial decisions and chalked up the horrible moves to being a rookie, and all rookies suffer growing pains. OK, held back. But we have muffled our criticisms of his obviously poor decisions at times. This is the manager that with 2 outs in the 7th inning of a tied game and first base open and Jason Varitek on deck. Yes, he really did that. In actuality Joe Maddon has done everything wrong short of giving the umpire a wedgie during an argument. Of course Joe would actually have to argue something in order to be close enough to give the umpire a wedgie. In actuality, we at times think it is more likely that after a bad call against the Rays, that Joe Maddon will go give the umpire a hug and then explain in the press conference after the game that the ump’s dog was sick and should be forgiven. Still,cheap broncos jerseys, others have not been so kind, and quite frankly we are surprised that FireJoeMaddon.com hasn’t popped up someplace. But like we have said before and will say again, it is just Maddon being Maddon. So we think it is fitting that Joe Maddon finally made a good managerial decision and that decision paid dividends on the same day that Madden ’07 was released. Maddon decided to give Jorge Cantu a couple of days off to clear his head. It has been a trying year for Cantu,Cheap Buffalo Bills Jerseys. After hitting .28628117 last season, he was poised for another big year this season. An early foot injury knocked Cantu out of action for more than a month and he hasn’,Cheap Cleveland Browns Jerseys 365djerseys.com C1;t been the same since then. He only had 1 home run before the injury, but he was batting ,wholesale ray lewis jersey 365djerseys.com M6.291. Since returning from the DL, his average had fallen to .236 and his power numbers are way off last years pace, leading some to speculate that ’06 was a fluke. Well, last night Cantu returned from his Maddonenduced exile with a vengeance. He went 34 with 2 doubles and 2run home run in the 5th that gave the Rays a 30 lead. Starter Casey Fossum quickly surrendered that lead in the top of the 6th, but an RBI double by Cantu in the bottom of the 6th gave the Rays the lead for good. B. J. Upton struggled mightily for most of the game, in which he struck out looking the first three times up to the plate, but he came through when it was needed. After a Rocco Baldelli triple (who is suddenly red hot) Upton hit a bouncing ball through the drawnin infield for an RBI. That was followed by a 2run home run by Carl Crawford that just cleared the left field wall. So we must give credit where credit is due and Joe Maddon deserves credit for giving Cantu a breather for a couple of days. He also deserves credit for sticking with Rudy Lugo in the 9th inning,bills nike jerseys. Lugo worked through the 8th in only 8 pitches. He also deserves credit for sticking with Lugo after he gave up a leadoff single in the 9th. Lugo settled down and struck out the next three batters. All of the sudden the Rays have won three in a row from a team that was red hot entering the series and had their eyes on a playoff run. Now the Rangers are 7.5 games out and their playoff hopes are DONE. Rangers fans are having such a tough time coping with a potential sweep at the hands of the Rays, that they are actually . It must be tough to root for a team managed by Buck Showalter.

We* recently presented to you ““. For those of you that have been around these parts for a while, know that we will take the occasional (welldeserved) jab at the franchise, the team and/or certain players but for the most part we have always been apologists for our beloved Rays, even if it is often to a fault. The post was written during a very trying month of very awful baseball and this was one way to vent our frustrations on the gods of baseball. Well, the fine folks over at Bugs & Cranks have taken exception to the list, even going so far as to refer to this site as “tRaytor Index”. So, they “The AllTime Tampa Bay Devil Rays: Guts, Glory & Greatness”. Before we get to the list… Guts? Most often during these 10 seasons, the Guts have been from the Devil Rays sprayed all over the Tropicana Field turf after another beating. Glory? Glory in sports is winning. The Rays have never won a thing. Greatness? There have been some great players that have played for the Rays, but they were all past their primes (Wade Boggs) or the side effects of steroids were starting to set in (Jose Canseco and his trips to the DL). Anybody remember the Roberto Alomar era,cheap 49ers jerseys? Now to the list. And please believe that we love many of these players, but this shows you exactly why we decided not to do this list and instead decided to produce a list of the worst Devil Rays. Wade Boggs 3B (1999). Hitting a home run for your 3,000th hit, does not make for a great season. Sure Boggs hit .301, but he only had 2 home runs and 29 RBI, and of his 3,010 career hits, only 88 came in 1999. Yes, the Rays retired Boggs’ number, but let’,cheap cutler jersey 365djerseys.com V0;s just say Boggs’ plaque in Cooperstown does not have a “TB” on it. Jose Canseco DH (1999). S.T.E.R.O.I.D.S. In addition to 34 home runs and 95 RBI, Canseco also led the AL in back acne. Victor Zambrano SP (2003) Whenever a player is the “bad” half of a trade in which people talk about the worst trades in the history of baseball, said player is NOT “great”. Also,Dallas Cowboys Jerseys 365djerseys.com K4, Zambrano was the first ever pitcher to win the pitcher’s triple crown of futility. In 2003 he led the league in walks, wild pitches and hit batters, yet Bugs & Cranks thinks that we should remember that season “fondly”. Mark Hendrickson SP (2005) Lerch had a 5.90 ERA that year. And that is a “great”,orlando magic jerseys; season? Albie Lopez (1998), Jim Mecir (1998), Travis Harper (2004), Esteban Yan (1998), Travis Phelps (2001), and Jesus Colome (2004) Relief pitchers. Are any of these guys even in the majors any longer and did any of them ever do anything of value with another team? Let’s just say, when we try to think of Devil Rays to “be proud of”, “Jim Mecir” is not the first name we think of. We applaud David Chalk and Bugs & Cranks for attempting to do something we did not have the heart or the stomach to complete,arian foster jersey. We also thank them for demonstrating completely, why we thought the venture was futile and hopeless. *Rays Index has been lucky enough to have several additional authors contribute to this website as well as the assistance of several others behind the scenes that prefer to remain anonymous. The AllTime Tampa Bay Devil Rays: 10 Years Of Guts, Glory & Greatness [] The AllTime Tampa Bay Devil Rays: 10 Years Of Sucktitude []

[Update: 10:00am] Marc Topkin . Among other potential improvements, the Rays have asked HOK to look at the possibility of a retractable roof at Tropicana Field, with a report,washington wizards jerseys, and cost estimate, due by late April. [Wednesday] The St. Pete Times has an update on the Rays’ pursuit of a new stadium. The group that is researching potential sites that could be a new home for the Rays is expected to have something to report on potential sites in June,cheap raiders nike jerseys 365djerseys.com D5. In other words, in three months we won’t know much more than we do now about a new stadium for the Rays. The snail’s pace of the group, “A Baseball Community” is not what caught our attention. Rather it was the revelation that another possibility is being explored by the Rays: Staying at The Trop. The group said it also hopes to address the possibility of renovating the Rays’ current home, Tropicana Field in St,cheap panthers jerseys. Petersburg. The Rays hired stadium architect HOK Sport of Kansas City, Mo., to evaluate renovating Tropicana Field. A report could be available next month, Rays senior vice president Michael Kalt said Tuesday. As many of you may know,Wells Jersey 365djerseys.com P2, HOK is the leading architectural firm in the country when it comes to building stadiums (my dad, a retired architect,Kevin Kolb Jersey, worked for HOK for several years). We have long heard that the site The Trop sits on is a potential home for a new stadium, but this is the first we heard that the Rays are considering a future in The Trop. While no other details were provided, we have to believe that the only way the Rays would consider remaining in The Trop is if the stadium could be renovated as an openair stadium or with a retractable roof. We just can’t see a team named after sunlight plaing in a domed stadium any longer than they have to. Group may have something to report by June []

The GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe. THE GOOD: James Shields. “,Cheap Minnesota Vikings Jerseys 365djerseys.com G7;Big Blast” Shields pitched 3 innings. That is good because apparently he wasn’t in the game long enough to work on his home run pitch. He finished with just one hit and 1 walk allowed. No runs, no Ks…Joe Cruz. Cruz made his spring debut a successful one with a 123 4th inning. Cruz hadn’t pitched in a game in 10 months after having surgery last year…Tim Beckham. Beckham started at shortstop and contributed a double a walk and drove in the Rays only run. THE BAD: Freddy Garcia,superbowl ravens jerseys,Cheap Oakland Raiders Jerseys 365djerseys.com K7. Yes, Freddy Garcia, was the Yankees starting pitcher. And the players that could be in the Rays opening day starting lineup went 419. THE TELLING: Another outing for Jake McGee against the minor leaguers. McGee pitched the 8th inning, giving up one unearned run. Right now it doesn’t look like Joe Maddon has any plans to have McGee on the opening day roster…Alex Torres, part of the Scott Kazmir trade, will start today against the Twins…Jeremy Hellickson threw a 44pitch bullpen session that went well…Jeff Niemann will start a “;B” game (an unofficial spring game) today to get some work in. RANDOM THOUGHTS: Would anybody be surprised if Derek Jeter was a minority owner of the Rays?…One of Joe Maddon’s theme road trips will apparently be “;skinny jeans.” This will be worth it just to see Kelly Shoppach and Jeff Niemann dressed like they are going to play at CBGBs (RIP)…Whatever happened to Willy Aybar,manning nike jersey? He apparently left his winter league team early and is still unsigned. In fact we haven’t even heard of any teams being interested. Seems strange for a guy with a decent OBP and can play several positions,cheap colts jerseys. THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA… Johnny Damon on ESPN’s Spring Training Bus

It is time for one of our favorite annual features, the AntiPennant Race, the race for the worst record in baseball. The reward for the “winner” is the first pick in next year’s amateur draft,Baltimore Ravens Jerseys,Cheap Kansas City Chiefs Jerseys 365djerseys.com W. This year is extra special as this marks the first time the Tampa Bay Rays are not in contention to win,cleveland cavaliers jerseys. In fact, last season the Rays became the first team to ever be awarded with the top pick in consecutive seasons (until recently, the top pick alternated between leagues), winning the AntiPennant in and ,Kansas City Chiefs Jerseys. The first year this feature ran (2006), the top pick was not a sure thing, but David Price was the clear favorite. Last year, without an obvious favorite for the 2008 draft, we decided to name this feature after the inaugural namesake. Without further ado,[THE HANGOVER] And Down The Stretch They Come Rays Index, we present the 3rd Annual David Price Sweepstakes and the race for the top pick in the 2008 draft! Notes on the AntiPennant Race…

Last year the Phillies beating our beloved Rays in the World Series,Ryan Jersey. So maybe the Clearwater Threshers should have realized that the about the idea of honoring the WFC* with bobbleheads in the Rays’ own backyard. …the Philadelphia Phillies’ minorleague team in Clearwater was caught off base when it learned its bobblehead giveaways, featuring stars from last season’,Cheap Chicago Bears Jerseys 365djerseys.com T0;s World Series victory,Philadelphia Eagles Jerseys, would have to be abruptly canceled,haloti ngata jersey,patrick peterson jersey 365djerseys.com K2. The Rays recently informed the Phillies that they were enforcing a licensing agreement that prohibits the use of other Major League Baseball brands by minorleague teams within the Tampa television market, said Jason Adams, assistant general manager of the Clearwater Threshers. So take that Philadelphia. We’ll call it square now, cool? Cool. Promotion nixed for Clearwater team in Rays’ territory [] *no we are not bitter about it. Why do you ask?

Amongst all the craziness that went down in the series finale with the Indians yesterday, was (thanks Amanda),wholesale matt schaub jersey. After Kerry Wood threw a second pitch at BJ Upton and the benches emptied, Pat Burrell was in the clubhouse and wanted to join his teammates on the field. There was one small problem… “I didn’,Kolb Jersey;t like how that went down,” said Pat Burrell, who hurriedly threw on some pants and a jersey to join the scrum on the field that followed Wood’;s second pitch. to former Devil Ray () Jonny Gomes. Even Rays Pat Burrell, on his way to the DL (stiff neck) and in the clubhouse in a veritable state of undressed, ran onto the field as he pulled up his zipper and yanked on a jersey. It wasn’;t even his jersey. In the old days, Jonny Gomes would have come out naked,fitzgerald jersey 365djerseys.com I3. So we went to the video tape, and sure enough… There is Burrell in the middle of the scrum.This image was snapped exactly 47 seconds after Joe Maddon first stepped out of the dugout yelling at Victor Martinez. And as we can see he is already mulling about in the middle so he has been there for a while. A conservative estimate says that Burrell went from naked, to the middle of the scrum, in about 3035 seconds [see update below]. That is a guy that has a lot of practice putting clothes back on very quickly. He did manage to find his own jersey, but it is his batting practice jersey as you can see by the white side panels. Untucked, no cap,golden state warriors jerseys 365djerseys.com G1, white sneakers and we are not even sure those are uniform pants. They seem too white and might be lacking the blue piping. Of course,cheap falcons jerseys, Burrell is on the DL with a neck injury, which begs the question: Why was Burrell not wearing any pants in the first place? Pat Burrell caught with his pants down. Or as Pat calls it…Sunday. [Update] Here is a second image that was snapped only 20 seconds after the yelling began and we can see Burrell running out of the dugout. Wow. Just wow. Wacky, wild win for Rays against Indians [] Another manic day for Rays []

Coming off the David Price masterpiece, Saturday’s unraveling against the Tribe was thoroughly frustrating. From the crappy strikeout call against Johnny Damon to Kelly Shoppach tossing his bat in the stands —,Cheap Philadelphia Eagles Jerseys 365djerseys.com A3; dude can’t hit,cheap miami heat jerseys, now he can’t even hold the bat —; to sloppy defense and 19 runners left on base,?the Rays flushed away a quality start by James Shields,Cheap 2013 SuperBowl Jerseys. Joe can’t take away some topshelf pieces of hitting by the Indians, but this one overall is tough to swallow,Houston Texans Jerseys,minnesota timberwolves jerseys 365djerseys.com W4, especially as the good guys sit two games out of first and two games out of the cellar. Is the glass half full or half empty? A look at the lineup?card hardly inspires that halffull feeling in the AL East.

Business Week ranked the “,Seattle Seahawks jerseys;Power 100″ athletes,cheap arian foster jersey 365djerseys.com F5. This list is based on achievements on the field as well as ability to promote products and services off the field. The … Longoria is one of just two male athletes on the list not to bring in at least seven figures (he can thank the MLB pay scale for that), yet many consider the secondyear pro to be the best at his position—topping even fellow power athletes ARod and David Wright. Combined with his marketable face, that should spell big bucks down the road. In addition to Wilson gloves, Longoria recently became the coverboy for 2K Sports newest version of their popular baseball game, “;MLB 2K10.” And not sure if you guys noticed, but Longoria’,wholesale arian foster jersey;s shoes and batting gloves have pretty little swooshes on them. Nike commercials can’;t be too far away,falcons jerseys 365djerseys.com Z8. #58,cheap detroit pistons jerseys. Not bad. Then again, #57 is Lorena Ochoa. DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

Durham (offday),Cleveland Browns Jerseys 365djerseys.com C4 ,chargers jerseys. Jason Cromer allowed only 2 unearned runs in 6 innings…Rhyne Hughes (12), Gaby Martinez (19) and Rashad Eldridge (4) homered for the Biscuits. . Wade Townsend turned in maybe his best performance of the season, allowing only 1 run in 6 innings on 4 hits and 3 walks. He struck out 2 and threw a wild pitch…Ryan Owen allowed a 3run, walkoff home run in the 13th…Ryan Royster was 05. Columbus v Lake County (ppd wet field) . . Tim Beckham was 24 with his first professional home run, a solo shot in the first inning off of a hanging curveball. He also stole his 4th base…Wait? Burt Reynolds is ? We did not see that one coming. NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM… “It felt great to get that first one off my chest,” Beckham said. “Finally. I mean, it took forever [34 games]. I was just worrying about squaring it up,jones jersey 365djerseys.com B3, making solid contact and hopefully it would fall somewhere, and it did.” First of all, he has all the tools: he can run, he’s got a good arm, he’s got good hands, he can hit, he can hit for power. He possesses all the tools that you need and then he’s got that desire,toronto raptors jerseys, that wantto. He’,cheap browns nike jerseys;s coachable, and that’s the biggest thing—he wants to learn. He asks questions all the time; he’s constantly wanting to get better and get better now. He wants to get everything now, and he realizes after he’s been here a while how much he’s learned in the short time he’s been here and how much more he needs to learn. It’s good because he didn’t come in here thinking that he had all the answers. He came in knowing that he had to learn and get better and iron things out, and he’s doing a great job. He’s made tremendous strides from the first day we saw him to now.

Let’s see if you can pick out the pattern in Evan Longoria’s comments from?this column by Tony Fabrizio in which Longoria wanted to clarify (via )… “,wholesale arian foster jersey;…the one thing I do want to say is, for the fans that have been coming out, we are happy that they have been…That’s the one thing: Just moving forward from all this, and not looking back,cheap patriots jerseys 365djerseys.com K0, we need to say ‘,cheap 49ers jerseys;thank you’ to the fans that have been here throughout everything…The fans that have been here have been very supportive,cheap colts nike jerseys. That’s the biggest thing for me is just thanking those people.” So, Longoria wants you to know that?his comments from Monday night were not directed at the fans that live close enough, and can afford to go to games. The rest of you can still piss off,cheap jets jerseys 365djerseys.com X1.

Tampa Bay Rays (35 days until pitchers and catchers report) [Update 1/15/08: We have added the from Rays of Light.] [Update 1/14/08: We have added Stacy Long's list of to the MetaAnalysis,Cheap Green Bay Packers Jerseys 365djerseys.com W0,cheap seahawks nike jerseys. Long's list is clearly needed in this metaanalysis as he has seen most of these players play on a firsthand basis while covering the Montgomery Biscuits.] [Ed,packers jerseys. Note: We have updated the list to include the rankings posted by the highly respected John Sickels at . His list was just posted this morning. There was little change in the overall rankings] Yesterday Baseball America unveiled their list of Top 10 Prospects for the Tampa Bay Rays. No big surprises. You can find the full writeup along with their list of the Top Tools in the organization. BA is the 5th website (that we are aware of) that has released a rankings list for Rays prospects. We decided to do a and compare the results from several websites,cheap raiders nike jerseys 365djerseys.com R5. In the science community,cheap bills nike jerseys, a metaanalysis is what we do when we don’t want to do any work ourselves and instead want to take the work of a bunch of other people, tease the data a little, draw some conclusions that nobody had noticed before, and then pawn it off as our own. A few notes on the MetaAnalysis.. RAYS PROSPECTS WEBTOPIA… Top 10 Prospects: Tampa Bay Rays [] Baseball America Names Rays Top 10, I Was Nearly Right… [] Rays Prospect Preview [] Rays Top 11 Prospects [] Baseball America’s Top Ten Rays Prospects [] Top Rays Prospects []

We are about to start digging into our offseason 25man and 40man roster projections for 2012. But before we do, it will help if we have a good idea of where the Rays can improve. Most teams set a goal of being?at least average at every position and above average at a few positions. A .781 OPS might not be great at first base, but in center field,chargers jerseys 365djerseys.com S8, the Rays are ahead of the curve. So let’s take a look at how the Rays performed at the plate by position and look at how each position compares to the rest of the AL… The key column to focus on is “Diff.” That is the difference between the OPS by the Rays at that position and the American League average for that position. The Rays had four positions that were below average in 2011, including DH, first base, catcher, and shortstop. SHORTSTOP AND CATCHER: It is not breaking news that the Rays struggled at shortstop and catcher in 2011, but this gives us a better idea of just how bad they were. And for a team that prides itself on being “strong up the middle,” this is a huge disappointment. Of course, where the Rays have failed is in player development at these two positions. For all the great prospects the Rays have produced,cheap whitney mercilus jersey 365djerseys.com C9, Reid Brignac and John Jaso have been huge disappointment. And once again, we enter the offseason with the Rays looking for answers. FIRST BASE: First base is a bit trickier. Despite his a strong season by Casey Kotchman, the Rays were still wellbelow average. Of course,cheap texans nike jerseys, this does not include Kotchman’,portland trail blazers jerseys;s defensive abilities. But first base is not a premium defensive position, and teams expect more offense out of the position. The problem however is that offensive first basemen tend to be overpriced in free agency. DESIGNATED HITTER: Johnny Damon is a nice guy to have on the team. He seems to be one of those veteran personalities that young players can lean on. But he is also a belowaverage hitter at this point in his career,cheap detroit pistons jerseys. And it is not like the Rays to spend a lot of money on a guy for belowaverage production If Damon is going to come back in 2012, it will have to be a highly reduced salary.

Joe is back with his postgame thoughts…. How about career minorleaguer Rich Thompson going old school Don Baylor or Craig Biggio and getting plunked with two strikes?to open?the 11th inning, and then coming home with the winning run on B.J. Upton’s double. Joe’s offering a standing ovation. Thompson has one career hit at 33 years old,cheap ryan kerrigan jersey, but what he displayed out there was beautiful veteran baseball. Clearly he had little interest in getting out of the way of that Darren Oliver breaking ball,cheap julio jones jersey 365djerseys.com I3. Bossman’s rip brought him up to .300 for the season (we’ll miss you next year, B,falcons jerseys.J.) and the Rays come out with the series win. But this was another ugly one,wholesale robert griffin iii jersey 365djerseys.com C2, with the Rays seemingly leaving runners on base in every inning and Elliot Johnson costing them with a misplayed ball. James Sheilds pounded the strike zone mercilessly for 10 Ks, so one can hope he’s back to elite form. The Rays are now a stunning 113 in onerun games this season. Those are some championship numbers,SuperBowl Patrick Willis Jersey.