Joe’,cheap atlanta hawks jerseys 365djerseys.com J4;s gotta hang a lot of this absolute disaster of an extrainning loss on Joe Maddon and the firstbase umpire. B.J. Upton was?on third with the bases loaded in the 10th inning and Sam Fuld steps to the plate with one out. What the hell are the odds of being successful there with a safety squeeze with a speedster at third and one at the plate? 80 percent? But no.?Maddon has Fuld,Tennessee Titans jerseys, pinchhitting no less, swinging away and he takes a called third strike fastball,?before Elliot Johnson does the same to end the inning. Where was the computer, JoMa? And what the hell was Fuld looking for to be frozen like that? Game over quickly in the bottom of the 10th. To get to the screwy 10th,?Kyle Farnsworth TWICE picked off Chris Getz at first base with a onerun lead in the ninth, but no freaking call from the umpire. And a fielder’;s choice took out Getz and that baserunner became the eventual twoout tying run. Total BS. There’;s no question on the replay. This has to go down as one of the worst losses of the season. And as long as Joe is piling on here, Maddon?taking out Joel Peralta for J.P. Howell in the eighth was the equivalent of a failed suicide attempt,fitzgerald jersey 365djerseys.com N4. Peralta was on fire,cheap raiders jerseys. What a shame to flush a gritty start by Jeff Neimann and an extraordinary return for Desmond Jennings, whose two extrabase hits are one shy of Reid Brignac’;s entire 2011 total. Jennings,kerrigan jersey?simply flew around the bases — like a hungry Upton. Sad times.

,http://cheap-jays-jerseys.weebly.com/, Rays hitting coach Derek Shelton has been chosen to coach a group of Major League Baseball AllStars as they tour Taiwan next month. This of course raises several questions. The first few come from the audience (via )… What the. How did he even… what.. WHY???? Michael, these are all very good questions. Let’s speculate: But maybe the biggest question is: why does an MLB AllStar team need a hitting coach? We have long said that hitting coach might be the most overrated coaching position in sports. Hitting coaches don’t turn bad hitters into good hitters. Occasionally, a hitting coach might help a good hitter out of slump if the mechanics have gone haywire. But that’s about it. But in the meantime,Cheap NHL All Star Jersey 365djerseys.com Y3,Cheap Flyers Jerseys,wholesale robert griffin iii jersey 365djerseys.com A8, maybe we can just hope he learns something from the allstars,Kevin Kolb Jersey.

Buster Olney of ESPN recently spent several days with Carl Crawford discussing his offseason workout regimen,http://cheap-rams-jerseys.webs.com/ 365djerseys.co. The result is an episode of “Baseball Tonight”,wholesale ed reed jersey 365djerseys.com B0; that will be dedicated entirely to Crawford,Twins Jerseys. The episode will air tomorrow (Sunday) at 12:30pm ET. CC’s background in basketball and football and how he wishes he could trash talk more in baseball. Olney also breaks down some of Crawford’s best and worst splits from 2009,http://cheap-patriots-jerseys.webs.com/. Finally, that Crawford is sporting a new tattoo. This one is a “fullsleeve”,http://womens-browns-jerseys.webs.com/; tat covering the entirety of one of his arms to the wrist.

Click on above images to be taken to full standings,Red Sox Jerseys, boxscores or schedule… THE GOOD: Even though the lead in the East is down to 1.5, the Rays are still very much in the driver’s seat. The lead in the loss column is 2 and the Rays hold the tiebreaker,http://cheap-astros-jerseys.weebly.com/. In order for the Rays to lose the division, they need to lose 3 more games than the Red Sox this week and their last 3 games are at home against the Yankees. In other words, if the Rays go 44, the Red Sox have to go 61. And don’t think the Yankees won’t enjoy playing spoiler against the Sox…The odds of the Rays winning the Division is now 72.3%…The Yankees Tragic number is 1. THE BAD: We sure hope the Rays don’t lose the division by 1 game as the Rays just gave away a game yesterday. We thought the afternoon clinching game on Saturday would help a little,superbowl Frank Gore Jersey 365djerseys.com T2. Let the Rays celebrate for a few hours and they could still get a decent night’s sleep prior to getaway day. After all, there is still a division to win with only a week to play,Cardinals Jerseys for sale. Every game is important. But apparently they went too far as the team played as if they were hungover yesterday, managing only 5 hits and committing 2 errors. And keep in mind the difference between winning the division and being the Wild Card. The Wild Card team starts on the road and likely has to beat both the Angels and the Red Sox without home field advatage in order to get to the World Series. Also, the Rays finish the season this week with 8 games in 7 days on the road. If they are the Wild Card, they will come home next Sunday and have to fly out to Anaheim the next morning…The Red Sox magic number to clinch at least a wild card is 1. THE TELLING: The Rays finished the regular season with an attendance of 1,Masthay leaves room for improvement Packersnews packersnews.com,811,986, second only to the inaugural season in 1998 (2.5 million). Over the course of the season the Rays had 8 sellouts (including Sunday), matching the total number of sellouts from the first 10 years. DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

the topic of Carl Crawford and just how good he has been this season. Add up all of his talents and you have a player who deserves consideration for American League MVP honors this season. Crawford ranks sixth among AL position players with 4,http://cheap-panthers-jerseys.webs.com/ 365djerseys.com P2,http://cheap-brewers-jerseys.weebly.com/.1 Wins Above Replacement (WAR) level so far this season… CC is on pace to set a careerhigh in batting average, obliterate his careerhigh in OBP,cheap bears jerseys, approach his careerhigh in home runs and steal a kazillion million bases. And at 28 he is also already a 3time allstar. Unfortunately, as Keri mentions, this could be his last with the Rays,cheap redskins jerseys 365djerseys.com M5,Cheap Canadiens Jerseys. Crawford’s playing like an MVP, but is this his last hurrah in Tampa? []

If you have been hanging around these parts for a while, you know that the model for this site is to tell you what the Rays have done, what they are doing and try to project what they will do based on what we have learned. Think of RI as “Tampa Bay Rays 101.” However, for the next 12 days we will step away from the standard,2013 superbowl ravens jerseys, and we present to you 12 “presents” the Tampa Bay Rays should give to their fans. Without further ado… On the second day of Raysmas, the Tampa Bay Rays gave to us,los angeles lakers jerseys 365djerseys.com Y8, TWO BIG LEAGUE DESIGNATED HITTERS… Have you seen the ? If the season started today, the DH would be some combination of Elliot Johnson, Sean Rodriguez,http://cheap-saints-jerseys.webs.com/, and Ryan Roberts,cheap steelers nike jerseys 365djerseys.com X2. That’s not good. Once Wil Myers is promoted, things get a little better as you can add Brandon Guyer and either Sam Fuld or Matt Joyce to the mix. But who knows for certain when that will happen. In the meantime, the Rays need at least one bat, and probably two. They don’t have to be traditional DHtypes. More likely they will be typical utilitytype players with strong splits. But who? If you have any suggestions, we’d love to hear them,Cheap NaVorro Bowman Jersey.

The GBT –,http://cheap-expos-jerseys.weebly.com/; The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe. THE GOOD: Sean Rodriguez. Rodzilla is becoming a fixture here. Yesterday was a diving catch and a single that he hustled into a double…Hank Blalock. Another double for Blalock, who now has 3 in limited action…James Shields. In what looked like a midJune start, Shields allowed just 1 run in 5 innings of work, striking out 3 and walking none,cheap 49ers jerseys. And in typical Shieldsian fashion, the one run was a solo HR. THE BAD: Rays Beat Reporters. Please stop calling Sean Rodriguez “SRod.”,falcons jerseys 365djerseys.com T4; There is nothing in the AP Style Guide that says every big league ballplayer with the last name “,49ers Bowman Jersey 365djerseys.com Z7;Rodriguez”; should have his name abbreviated in this manner. If you want to throw one out there every once in a while, that’s cool. But let’s not make it a habit. K? Thx. THE TELLING: Rafael Soriano made his debut with the Rays, striking out the first two batters he faced. He did give up a double and hit a batter…Matt Joyce participated in a minor league going 16,Cheap NaVorro Bowman Jersey. DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

Ahh Milton Bradley. This image comes to us , and we first saw this story at . What we love is that Bradley doesn’t even do the “pretend to scratch my head” routine,cheap womens browns jerseys 365djerseys.com X6. Nope. He is not even going to pretend that he is not an ass. Let’s see…,ryan kerrigan jersey;there was where he didn’t dismiss the idea that the Cubs were purposefully giving him racist mail,Seattle Mariners Jerseys. There was the in the first game of spring training. And there were the and the assertion that he was “,cheap titans jerseys;not going to change.” Who the hell gets ejected during spring training…;Twice?!? That’s a hell of a first two months with the Mariners. Pat Burrell may not be able to OPS like Bradley, but at least he keeps his middle finger in his pants,[THE HANGOVER] And Down The Stretch They Come Rays Index.

[Update 11:35am] a Rockies scout was in the stands to watch Hammel pitch today and Smith has some quotes from Jason Hammel about the possibility of being traded. “I haven’t heard anything,”,Seattle Mariners Jerseys; Hammel?said. “It’s been pretty rough actually. I’m just trying to not think about it. We’re just taking it in stride…I’,http://cheap-expos-jerseys.weebly.com/,cheap Skelton Jersey 365djerseys.com E7;ll throw strikes for whatever color,”; Hammel said. “Whatever happens, happens…“Its been a pleasure here. I’m not saying I’m gone. But they’ve given me a lot of opportunities. Sometimes it is what it is.”; [11:00am] Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post is reporting that the Rays have accepted the Rockies offer of doubleA pitcher Aneury Rodriguez for Jason Hammel. But, they are waiting to see if another team can best the offer. The Rockies and Rays have agreed on the parameters of a deal that would land Colorado right handed reliever Jason Hammel, but Tampa Bay is still mulling other offers…The Rockies would send DoubleA pitcher Aneury Rodriguez to the Rays, whom Tampa Bay scouted heavily in Tucson last week. This news raises a couple of questions… While those questions still linger,minnesota timberwolves jerseys 365djerseys.com K7,http://cheap-saints-jerseys.webs.com/, it does appear that Niemann is the fifth starter and Lance Cormier is the seventh arm in the bullpen unless something dramatic happens in the next few hours. Rockies tentatively set to get Hammel []

. Heading into this series with Boston, if we were told we would win three of four from the divisionleading Red Devils, we would have gladly signed for that and been ecstatic. Still,Frank Gore Jersey 365djerseys.com Z6, we found ourselves pacing around the room at 65 in the top of the 9th and then banging our heads against the wall as soon as David Ortiz began to unleash his thunderstick. We must admit…,cheap 49ers jerseys;if one player is going to destroy our hopes with a grand slam in the 9th inning, we were glad it was Big Papi. Is there a more lovable player in baseball? And quite frankly it is starting to get to the point where we expect Big Papi to hit a home run every time he comes to the plate in the 9th inning of a close game. With the loss,detroit pistons jerseys, the Rays missed an opportunity to climb out of the cellar in the AL East,china cheap nhl jerseys 365djerseys.com F9,Bills Jerseys. Tampa remains a half game behind Baltimore.

, who is to the Rays new stadium as Rachel Nichols is to Brett Favre, has the latest on the quest to find a home for a new Rays stadium. And if this latest report is any indication, things do not sound promising. All four sites that have been considered in mid Pinellas would require major and sometimes massive infrastructure improvements. At least two would require building thousands of parking spaces. And three could need road upgrades and possibly a new interstate exchange…,cheap andre johnson jersey 365djerseys.com J2;The group studying the possible locations, A Baseball Community, has yet to consider the potential problems with any of the mid Pinellas sites, and declines even to talk about them,http://cheap-falcons-jerseys.webs.com/. But the Rays recent acknowledgment that they prefer a location closer to the population center of the Tampa Bay area will no doubt trigger questions about the feasibility of such a move. The benefit to moving to a midPiniellas location is the proximity to a larger population. A team study determined that roughly 1.2 million people live within a 30minute drive of the Gateway (north St. Pete) area, compared to 600,000 who live that close to downtown St. Petersburg. The team also says north St. Petersburg has almost twice as many employed people within a 30minute drive…;The Rays say only 19 percent of the area’s population is within a 30minute drive of their current home, Tropicana Field. In Milwaukee, Cleveland, Cincinnati, San Diego, and Minneapolis, the percentage is closer to 60 percent, the Rays say. Of course, all of this comes on the heals of the failed attempt to land a new stadium at the site of Al Lang Stadium along the St. Pete waterfront. And don’t think the Rays won’t remind everybody that the waterfront would have cost the taxpayers a lot less,The Price For Rocco Baldelli Scott Olsen Rays Index. One reason the Rays originally pitched Al Lang Field as a new stadium site was because it was the cheapest option available, said Rays executive Michael Kalt…;Cost estimates for the other sites do not exist, but comparatively, the Rays and others acknowledge they will be more expensive. At this point, the Rays are waiting for A Baseball Community to conclude their study before moving forward with a specific plan,cheap philadelphia 76ers jerseys. But the silence coming from the offices at Tropicana Field is deafening. The Rays understand that they need to work with the community to find a solution that is best for everybody, but they are also not about to settle for something that doesn’t maximize the potential revenues for the team. Besides, we don’t get the impression that Stuart Sternberg is somebody that is just going to let somebody else tell him what is best for his business. And right now, all the decisions are being made by people outside the organization. In the end,Indianapolis Colts Jerseys, the more the city of St. Pete drags their feet, the closer they are coming to losing their one professional sports team to the city on the other side of the Bay. []

We call him The Dirtbag because of how he plays and because he played college ball at Long Beach State whose baseball team has the coolest mascot in sports…The Dirtbags. The biggest question mark for the Tampa Bay Rays in Spring Training is whether or not Evan Longoria will be named the opening day third baseman,http://www.cheap-bears-jerseys.ewebsite.com/. Manager Joe Maddon has repeatedly stated that the decision will be based less on his stats, and more on how the 22year old handles himself on a daytoday basis and how well The Dirtbag adjusts to everyday life as a major leaguer. From now until the Rays announce a decision on Longoria’s fate, we will track The Dirtbag’s progress through his numbers, our own observations and quotes from Maddon and Andrew Friedman… Notes on the DirtbagOMeter… Yesterday at the plate: DNP. Longoria did not make the trip with the team. Quotes: None reported. Summary: Willy Aybar was 23 with 2 RBI, but committed the team’s first error in only 3 total chances,SuperBowl Aldon Smith Jersey. Longoria has been flawless defensively, errorless in 5 total chances in one fewer innings played…Still, this is not your normal spring position battle. The situation is more passfail for Longoria, and so far he is passing with flying colors. Aybar could conceivably ‘win’,49ers Kaepernick Jersey; the job with a hige spring which could give the team an excuse to end Longoria back to Durham, but so far that has not happened,Cheap larry fitzgerald jersey 365djerseys.com V2. Interestingly,[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Old Kazmir, Not-So-Automatic Runs And A Platoon Behind The Plate Rays Index, Joel Guzman has yet to see any spring action at third base logging all his playing time at first base.

Yeah, Joe Maddon knows what he’s doing. The guy’s a miracle worker. But this game wasn’t played with the urgency it called for. C’mon. The Rays get runners on first and second with nobody out in the seventh,2013 superbowl ravens jerseys?down 42 and Maddon isn’t going to have Casey Kotchman lay down a bunt to move the runners?and pressure the infield and another crappy starter the Rays made look like Steve Carlton.?(Jeremy?Guthrie? Really,cheap Atlanta Falcons Jerseys 365djerseys.com H5?) Was,cheap 49ers jerseys?Maddon looking for a big inning out of John Jaso and Reid Brignac behind Kotch? The Matt Moore sighting was exciting and depressing at the same time. Joe only hopes the kid’s confidence isn’,detroit pistons jerseys;t busted up. Especially since he’ll be put in even tougher spots (hopefully) against the Red Sox. And how Jaso and Wade Davis don’,superbowl ravens jerseys 365djerseys.com E5;t settle on an 02 pitch that can’t be taken out of the ballpark is another one of the great 2011 mysteries. So here it is: four games back of the Sox and a four game series at Fenway starting tomorrow. Every Rays fan would have had wet dreams over such a fantasy entering the season. Try to forget about how the Rays got here and enjoy it.

Joe is so giddy over the Rays win he doesn’t know where to begin? It was the Holy Trinity of baseball tonight: pitching, defense and a key hit. * Wade Davis: Was this his best outing? Hard to argue. Once he got past the first, he was simply dominant. Joe has written before Davis could carry the Rays a long way until/unless James “No Game” Shields has proven he has put his awful pitching woes behind him. Joe cannot write just how great that is to see a No. 4 pitcher come out against a team with the best record in baseball and shut them down for six innings,http://cheap-vikings-jerseys.weebly.com. As strong as the Rays bullpen is, Rays pitchers only need to get through seven innings. Nice job Wade! Keep it up! * While Joe has been a bit difficult on Carlos Pena at times for his penchant for imitating Rob Deer with his strikeoutorhomer offense, Joe has never wavered that Pena is one of the best defensive first basemen in baseball and maybe the best. Pena diving to his right and throwing to MFIKY covering first for the final out was simply breathtaking. It reminded Joe of Albert Pujols in the seventh inning of World Seriesclinching Game 5 of the 2006 fall classic with the Cardinals clinging to a 32 lead, Pujols dove far to his right and while lying on his back, flipped to Jeff Weaver for an out. Web gem indeed! Who knows what happens if the Yankmees bust open the door with a baserunner there? * Matt Joyce: Dude is on fire with critical home runs. Could Adam Dunn do any better? As Kevin Kennedy said in the Sun Sports postgame show, “Maybe the Rays have all the pieces to the puzzle?” Kid is clutch and Gabe Kapler should never start in right over Joyce unless the youngster from Tampa is injured. [Column intermission: Why do the Rays beat writers cling to ancient media philosophies,wholesale haloti ngata jersey 365djerseys.com Y8? Apparently, per various Twitter reports (none from the Rays beat writers) Rays reliever Grant Balfour was escorted by security from the Rays clubhouse. One Twitter account suggested Balfour "looked sad." Again, no Rays beat writers Twittered this information... and they were in the clubhouse after the game! What's going on here fellas? Aren't you guys paid to report? We don't live in 1985 any longer. You guys wonder why newspapers are hurting? Here's ExhibitA and it's hardly the first time this has happened. Joe follows other teams' beat writers and when somebody sneezes during, before or after a game, they report the news immediately on Twitter. If your editors are that paranoid about losing pageviews, at least send a link to a blog update via Twitter. Get with the times!!! Shameful. Disgraceful. Irresponsible. At least most of the Bucs beat writers have the right idea: They Twitter just about everything without delay. With a baseball team in the midst of a pennant race, maybe one of the newspapers' interns can teach these guys how to use Twitter and explain why it exists?] Joe is happy,womens cardinals jerseys. Giddy. Wants to get drunk but has to get up early to go to Bucs training camp. Still, with all that is right about this win,wholesale brian orakpo jersey 365djerseys.com B9, pulling the Rays to a game of the Yankmees,http://cheap-coyotes-jerseys.weebly.com/, Joe has to temper his enthusiasm. There are still two games left in this series. And it’s still July. Joe sure hopes this Friday night hex that has plagued the Rays this season is now finished.

If you have been hanging around these parts for a while, you know that the model for this site is to tell you what the Rays have done, what they are doing and try to project what they will do based on what we have learned. Unlike most team blogs, we do not very often tell you what the Tampa Bay Rays should do. We prefer to live under the premise that the people that run the Rays are smarter than we are, and know many, many more things that even the most learned fan will never know. However, for the next 12 days we will step away from the standard, and we present to you 12 “presents” the Tampa Bay Rays should give to their fans. Looking back at , we see that the Rays didn’t come through on very many of our wishes, and the result was a somewhat disappointing season. Let’s hope that changes in 2010. On the fifth day of Raysmas, the Tampa Bay Rays gave to us, FIVE positions with at least 20 home runs… Quick,Bills Jerseys From china 365djerseys.com T8, off the top of your head, name the 4 positions that produced the most home runs for the Rays in 2009. Ready? 1B 41 3B 36 DH 21 LF 20 SS 17 CF 15 RF 15 2B 14 C 13 We would have never guessed that DHs produced the third most home runs for the Rays last year. Of course, that is what we hoped for when the Rays signed Pat Burrell. But considering how awful he was, this is a surprise now. Meanwhile, Ben Zobrist’,Indianapolis Colts Jerseys;s primary positions (RF, 2B) produced 29 home runs total (he hit 16 of his 27 HR at 2B or RF). Looking at that list, we see four positions (DH, CF,http://cheap-falcons-jerseys.webs.com/, RF,cheap titans jerseys, 2B) that can, and should, produce more power in 2010. And what is amazing about the above list, is that the Rays still finished 5th in the AL in home runs. Of course, they were only 4th in the AL East. But they were not a weak hitting team. It is not unreasonable to think the Rays can get a little more power out of center field (BJ Upton),A Look At The Catchers Defensive Numbers Rays Index, right field (Matt Joyce, Gabe Kapler) and second base (Ben Zobrist). That gives the Rays seven positions that are capable of producing 20+ home runs. If that happens, the Rays will have a very good shot at being one of the top two or three offensive teams in the American League in 2010.

Remember when we speculated that Evan Longoria’s superduperawesome contract ? And remember how you guys all thought we were crazy? Maybe we weren’t so crazy after all. Longoria dropped his first hint that he wouldn’t mind seeing the remaining years on his contract ripped up. Longoria told Marc Topkin of The St. Pete Times that he would be that would keep him with the Rays for the rest of his career. Longoria added that he would be interested in a deal similar to what his college teammate, Troy Tulowitzki, signed with the Rockies. Tulowitzki recently signed a tenyear, $157.8 million contract. If the Rockies pick up the 2021 club option, the deal will keep Tulowitzki in a Rockies uniform for the first 15 years of his career, through age 36,suggs jersey,larry fitzgerald jersey 365djerseys.com O7. 2011 will be the fourth year of Longoria’s sixyear, $17.5 million extension that he signed shortly after being promoted to the major leagues. The contract also has team options for 2014, 2015 and 2016 at very reasonable prices. Those options make the total value of the contract, $47.5 million over nine years. Longoria’s deal would keep him in a Rays uniform for the first nine years of his career, through age 30,Detroit Lions Jerseys. Don’t underestimate the power of seeing teammates, friends and lesser players making more money. Have you ever said you would play baseball for free? Maybe you would, for a little while. But eventually you would see how much money everybody else is making,Indianapolis Colts Nike Jerseys, and you will want your fair share. Longoria might be getting the itch for his fair share,cheap packers nike jerseys 365djerseys.com A5.

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: They’,north carolina jerseys 365djerseys.com O1;re Back! For the second time in three seasons, the Rays will be in the playoffs despite playing in the toughest division in baseball. How improbable is what the Rays did this season? Of SI.com’;s 13 baseball “,Expos Jerseys;experts,” the Rays would make the playoffs and only one thought they would win the division. Congrats to all the players and the front office. It has been an up and down season, but it has been a fun ride so far…Cy Price? David Price put an exclamation point on his season with 8 shutout innings and 8 strikeouts. It was his 19th win. More importantly, he improved to 40 with a 1.67 ERA in September when the games matter most…Red Sox Are Now Officially Roadkill. With wins by both the Rays and Yankees, the Red Sox were eliminated from postseason contention. Better luck next year. THE BAD: The Wild Card. This is the downside to the Wild Card. What exactly were the Rays celebrating last night? “,http://cheap-yankees-jerseys.weebly.com/;Hey, we are at least the Wild Card team!”,cowboys jerseys 365djerseys.com B1; It is just awkward and will diminish the celebration should the Rays win the East. THE TELLING: Last night’;s attendance was 17,891…The Rays’; magic number to clinch the division is now 4 with 5 to play (the Yankees have 4 games remaining)…,Cheap Sharks Jerseys;According to the Rays now have a 100% chance of making the playoffs (82.0% chance of winning the division). WHERE THEY STAND: The Rays are 9463, a halfgame ahead of the Yankees. After 157 games in 2008, the Rays were 9562. THE JUNKYARD 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. RAYS 7, Orioles 7 () THE GOOD: Matt Moore,wholesale tom brady jersey. Moore looked good and did not appear to be holding back, consistently hitting 9597 on his fastball. He struck out 3 and walked 1 in 1,cheap steelers nike jerseys.2 innings…HakJu Lee. It was just during scrub time late in the game, but Lee went 22. But what was really interesting is that Lee was in the game as a DH, again. Not that the Rays would ever use Lee as a DH, but it shows that they want to get a good long look at his bat this spring. He already has 17 at bats this spring which is a lot considering he only has 24 games above singleA under his belt…Stephen Vogt. Kid can rake. He leads the Rays with 8 hits this spring including 3 doubles and a triple. He also has 3 walks and can play several positions. You can tell Joe Maddon likes him and we will probably see him in the big leagues at some point this season, but like Lee, he is still inexperienced,http://cheap-dolphins-jerseys.webs.com/ 365djersey, with only 31 games in tripleA at the end of last season. THE BAD: Tim Beckham. 119 is not how you impress in Spring Training. And while HakJu Lee is not exactly killing baseballs, it has been Beckham that has seen extended time at second base. The team says that is just to give him more flexibility defensively, but you can read the writing on the wall. At some point, Lee will need to be in tripleA and he will be playing shortstop…Chris Gimenez. The second catchers spot appears to be a battle between Gimenez and Jose Lobaton. And while Gimenez already has 5 hits, he also has 8 strikeouts and no walks in just 22 at bats. That’,Should the Cowboys’ first touchdown vs. the Redskins have been disallowed Dallas Cowboys Blog,Coyotes Jerseys;s not good. THE TELLING: Carlos Pena batted second again…Both Sean Rodriguez and Reid Brignac played shortstop yesterday, but not at the same time. That would have been weird…Jeff Keppinger . THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

[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, and cost estimate, due by late April,Texans Jerseys 365djerseys.com U5. [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. 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,colts jerseys. 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. Petersburg. The Rays hired stadium architect HOK Sport of Kansas City, Mo., to evaluate renovating Tropicana Field,chargers jerseys. A report could be available next month, Rays senior vice president Michael Kalt said Tuesday. As many of you may know, HOK is the leading architectural firm in the country when it comes to building stadiums (my dad, a retired architect, 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,johnson jersey, 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,reed jersey 365djerseys.com X8. Group may have something to report by June []

. Delmon Young likes to throw things very hard and very far and very accurately. We call it Gettin’,http://cheap-marlins-jerseys.weebly.com/; A Delmon…Jason Kubel Got A Delmon…In the 4th inning, Kubel rambled a little too far towards second base on a line drive to Delmon Young in right center. Despite catching the ball while moving away from first base, Young turned and fired a pea to Carlos Pena at first to doubleup Kubel and get the Rays out of the inning…Justin Morneau Got A Delmon…In the 6th inning, Morneau hit a rocket off the right field wall that would be a double on any other night. But on this night Delmon Young was roaming the FieldTurf II of the Trop. He played the ball off the wall, spun and fired a rocket to Brendan Harris at second base,Cheap Nordiques Jerseys. Both Kubel and Morneau should just be grateful that Young wasn’;t throwing a bat. As for the rest of the game,peyton manning jersey, the Rays once again were able to get to Twins closer Joe Nathan, scoring 2 in the 9th to tie the game. In 3 appearances this season against the Rays (3 innings) Nathan has given up 9 hits and 4 runs. In his other 10 appearances (10.1 innings) he has allowed only 10 hits and 1 run. In the bottom of the 10th inning (the Rays first extra inning affair of the year) Ben Zobrist fell rounding third base on Harris’; double, but made up for the gaffe beating the throw home on Dioner Navarro’;s ground ball to short. The Rays are now in sole possession of third place in the AL East, 5.5 games behind the Red Sox and only 1 game behind the Jays for 2nd place. Even more intriguing is that the Rays are only 4 games back in the wild card. But that is the last time we will mention that number until the Rays reach a more important milestone, ,cheap colts nike jerseys 365djerseys.com R7.500. In our minds there are three numbers the Rays are chasing. 6.5 games is the Rays “mark” in the AL East. 4 games in the Rays mark in the wild card race, but neither of those numbers mean anything until the Rays reach “The Charlie Hough Line”. For his career Hough was 216216. The knuckleballer was the epitome of a .500 pitcher. The Rays cannot think of any other teams until they first surpass Hough’;s career winning percentage. So from now on we will only speak in terms of “Games behind Charlie Hough”. Right now the Rays are 1.5 games behind Charlie Hough,Cheap New England Patriots Jerseys 365djerseys.com. DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…