It is time for one of our favorite annual features, the AntiPennant Race,Chicago White Sox Jerseys, the race for the worst record in baseball. The reward for the “winner”,Wholesale Chris Wells Jersey 365djerseys.com S1; is the first pick in next year’s amateur draft,cheap new orleans hornets jerseys. This year is extra special as this marks the first time the Tampa Bay Rays are not in contention to win. 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),Phillies Jerseys, winning the AntiPennant in and . 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,cheap chicago bulls jerseys 365djerseys.com G8, we present the 3rd Annual David Price Sweepstakes and the race for the top pick in the 2008 draft! Notes on the AntiPennant Race…

Time to bring back 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: Gold Gloves. Typical Rays D in the 3rd. Evan Longoria got a speedy Endy Chavez trying to drag bunt (right when the M’s announcers were trying to tell us that Longo is almost as good defensively as Adrian Beltre),Wholesale Alex Smith Jersey. Junior Griffey then grounded right into the shift, which was followed by Aki Iwamura making one of his patented plays on a ground ball behind second base. Just your typical 123 inning. THE BAD: BJ Upton’s quad. BJ missed last night’,cheap Ryan Jersey;s game with a sore quad,wholesale matt schaub jersey 365djerseys.com N8. He says there is nothing to worry about. We are worried…7 infielders,Panthers Jerseys From China 365djerseys.com R8. Really. 4 infielders is probably enough. Sometimes a 5th is called for. But the way routine fly balls keep landing in the outfield grass it is as if Joe Maddon is using 7 infielders. In the bottom of the 4th two triples got over the heads of Ben Zobrist and Gabe Kapler scoring 3. It took an amazing diving catch by Kapler or else it would have been 3 overthehead basehits. We think it might be time to doublecheck the math on that theory…Not Zorilla’s night. With 1 out in the 4th and Pat Burrell on first, Ben Zobrist hit a line drove double off the left field wall. Unfortunately, he hit it too hard. A little higher and it is a home run,cheap Minnesota Vikings Jerseys. A little softer and Burrell scored from first. Instead, The Bat is at third. Eventually the Rays loaded the bases, but failed to score. Later in the game, Zobrist hit a long drive to leftcenter that was caught just short of the wall. THE TELLING: The Mariners apparently rearranged their rotation to make sure Jarrod Washburn got a start in this series…What do you think goes through the head of every pitcher each time one of those flyballs lands 20 feet short of the wall without being caught? SUNBURST PLAYER OF THE GAME: Andy Sonnanstine. Kinda tought to give it to a pitcher that allows 4 runs, but his defense didn’t help on 3 of the runs and there really weren’t any other good options. Besides, 7 strike outs and only 1 walk is a good night and hopefully a sign of things to come from The Duke. DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

We were originally just going to transcribe some of Joe Maddon’s comments at his postgame press conference after Joel Peralta was ejected for having pine tar on his glove,womens broncos jerseys. But you really need to hear the anger in his voice,bears jerseys 365djerseys.com R4, and see the anger in his face,http://cheap-sabres-jerseys.weebly.com/. This is not a happy man. Some things to look for: Maddon refuses to say the pine tar was accident,cheap seahawks nike jerseys 365djerseys.com S2. Maddon is most concerned about the reputation of Peralta. He insinuates that other teams are not going to be happy with the Nationals for how this played out. Also, when Maddon is asked whether this will carry over to the rest of the series, he says he is going to find out and makes it sound like he wants to have a talk with Nationals manager Davey Johnson. [Ed. note: The comment seen in the title was scrubbed from the video below. But it did happen.] Here’,Baltimore Ravens Nike Jerseys;s the video via …

Marc Topkin is reporting that the Rays and Joel Peralta have agreed to terms on a new contract (),cheap colts nike jerseys. Topkin says there are no details yet on the new deal. However, there were reports earlier in the day out of the Dominican Republic that said it is a two year, $6 million contract,cheap peyton manning jersey, with a 2015 option for $2.5 million. Peralta will be 37 in 2013. And two guaranteed years would be unusual for the Rays, who typically give veterans, especially veteran pitchers, one year deals, or occasionally one year plus an option,Cheap Rockies Jerseys,Browns notes Montreal Alouettes coach Marc Trestman interviewing today in Berea - Cleveland Browns . The chances of getting two more,wholesale andre johnson jersey 365djerseys.com X1, much less three more, solid seasons out of Peralta at his age would seem like a longshot.

Bud Selig went on Sirius XM yesterday and to say about the Rays struggle to get a new stadium, which we think they still want. But really,Washington Redskins Jerseys, who knows at this point…,cheap new orleans hornets jerseys 365djerseys.com; “I like Stu Sternberg a lot, as you probably know…;I, too, am concerned about their attendance. I track attendance every day,Throwback Hurricanes Jerseys. He knows it. I’ve talked to him a lot. They are a wonderful organization, produced a terrific team this year and finished last in the American League in attendance. I’ll let you draw your own conclusion. That’,cheap washington wizards jerseys;s bad…;[Selig then asked if stadium situation is a "lost cause"]…;I can’t answer that yet but I’m usually an optimist and I don’t have any reason to be too optimistic.”,Brewers Jerseys 365djerseys.com Z8;

There are only four major professional sports leagues in North America. So you would think the selfproclaimed “Worldwide Leader in Sports,” would at least know the names of the teams that play in those leagues. And yet, time after time after time, they continue to mangle the name of one of the best teams in Major League Baseball. We don’t even know how many dozens of times the talking heads in Bristol referred to the team as the “Tampa Rays.” A phenomenon that we find bizarre considering we NEVER hear anybody say “Tampa Bucs”,Cheap NBA Jerseys; or “Tampa Lightning.”,Evan Longoria’s Foot Injury Last Season Was A Lot Worse Than We Knew Rays Index; And those teams actually, you know, play in Tampa. And there is that didn’t get the memo that the Rays exorcised the Devil three years ago… Exhibit ‘,Cheap Phillies Jerseys;A’ is the American League East, where both the Yankees and Devil Rays are almost assured of a trip to the postseason. Unbelievable. Hey, if you are a fan and want to keep calling them the “,miami heat jerseys 365djerseys.com G0,http://www.cheap-49ers-nike-jerseys.ewebsite.com/;Devil Rays” because you liked that moniker better, that is fine. But if you want to be a sportswriter, GET THE GOD DAMNED NAME RIGHT. Cool? Cool.

Here we are for the first ever Devil Rays live game blog. We are now in the Belly of the Beast. We are in New York City, a stone’s throw from Yankee Stadium. We will be “broadcasting” from the comfort of a couch, a computer, a big TV, and a fridge stocked with beer. We really have no idea what we are doing. We kinda feel naked here. Who knows, if we drink enough, maybe we will be. So whether you are stuck at work or at home, follow along AFTER THE JUMP as the Devil Rays take their first step towards .500 and the 2010 World Series! We will also keep an eye on the RedsCubs game as Josh Hamilton will be making his major league debut. OPENING DAY 2007 DEVIL RAYS YANKEES LIVE GAME BLOG OK, here we go. We are less than half a mile from yankee stadium. We were tempted to find a bar near the stadium with wireless access. But then we realized that may not be so smart in the south Bronx with a bunch of drunken Yankees fans. We would probably end up with a shaved head, a Yankees tattoo and one less laptop. Here are today’s lineups. No surprises. Carl Crawford, lf Ben Zobrist, ss Rocco Baldelli, DH Ty Wigginton, 1b Delmon Young, rf Akinori Iwamura, 3b Dioner Navarro, c Elijah Dukes, cf B.J. Upton, 2B Scott Kazmir, p We love BenZo in the #2 spot. He could really flourish there in a Jay Bellmold. Getting on base a lot. Working pitchers. Taking pitches to give C C plenty of chances to steal. Lot of moving runners over with bunts or ground balls to the right side. We are a little surprised that Delmon is in the #5 hole, but who else was Papa Joe going to put there? BJ Upton in the #9 hole basically gives the Rays two lead off hitters. Yankees Matt Damon, cf Derek Jeter, ss Bobby Abreu, rf Alex Rodriguez, 3b Jason Giambi, dh Hideki Matsui, lf Jorge Posada, c Robinson Cano, 2B Josh Phelps, 1b Carl Pavano, p Basically an allstar at every position. I thought about giving you everybody’s 2007 salary to show you the disparity between the Rays and Yanks, but by the time I got done with the Yankees, the Zero key on my keyboard would be broken. We will just say that ARod makes almost as much as the entire Rays 40man roster 12:59 PM Andrew Friedman was interviewed by Carl Ravich of ESPN a little bit ago. I am now convinced more than ever that he is 12. During the interview they had a graphic that says the Rays pitching staff has 14 career saves. Mo Rivera could do that with his left arm. Andrew Friedman stated that team wouldn’t ask to move out of AL East. Nobody thinks the team can compete, but the players and franchise accept the challenge of proving them wrong. He called it “entrepreneurial”. We call it crazy. Also said that they will never be able to keep all the players (past free agency) but hopefully there will be enough young talent that the team CAN’T keep everybody. Need to continue having one of the best development systems in baseball. Most players enter free agency around their age 28 season, which is the middle of their prime. Hopefully the Rays can get some more of their players to sign long term deals at least past their first year or two of free agency. It will stink to see a player grow and develop for 6 years as a Ray, only to jump ship. 1:06 We are going to start with the local Yankee broadcast. We thought about going with the Rays radio with the game on mute, but i always love hearing what other teams announcers have to say about the Rays. Carl Pavano is walking out and he hasnt pitched in a major league game in over 600 days. Surprising i didnt hear any boos as he was walking in from bullpen 1:09 MLB.com has a their gameday revamped and looks pretty nice. TOP OF THE FIRST First pitch is a ball to Carl Crawford and we are under way! CC took the pitch to left and it goes in the books as a single, but lets just call it a double. CC took off on the second pitch and there wasnt even a throw BenZo has worked the count full…Fouled one off…Swing and a miss and BenZo is down on strikes. (1 out) Nice to see Rocco (AKA Bubble Boy) in the opening day lineup for the first time since 2004. Long drive to left center, tracked down by Matsui. Crawford tags to third. Wiggy is up and he pops up to third in foul territory. AND AROD DROPS IT! And the boo birds are out already. Wiggy bounces a 11 pitch back to the mound, and he is retired. (END OF THE FIRST) Bottom of the first Arod has the option to opt out of his contract and he said a few weeks ago that he would let the fans decide if he was staying. Id say he is in a new uniform next season Kid K takes the mound…announcers are commenting on how too many strike outs is bad for Kazmir Leadoff hitter, Damon gets a basehit to right Joe Girardi just said he cant consider Kaz an ace because he throws too many pitches and desnt work deep enough in games. Arrggg Jeter, AROD’s boyfriend, flies out to Delmon (where the hell is the beer man?) Abreu singles to right…Arod walks to the plate to a mixture of boos and cheers Yankees are wearing black arm bands for Corey Lidle. They just showed a fan in the stands with an ARod jersey. it has always bugged me that Yankees fans have the pinstripe jerseys with the name on the back when the team doesnt have names on their jerseys. How is that authentic? or even a replica? Kaz is already up to 17 pitches as the count is full to Arod Runners go and Arod strikes out. No throw from Navi. and the boos are getting louder for Arod. 2 outs, 2nd and third Kaz looks a little bigger this year. His face looks like it has aged about 5 years. He finally looks his age. Giambino just got a 2run single. Well that was deflating. I think that is 19 pitches for Kaz. Looks like we will be seeing the bullpen by the 6th inning. thats not good. its quickly 30 on Matsui sorry…that is now 29!! pitches for Kaz. and #30 walks Matsui. Let me correct that earlier statement. We will be seeing our revamped bullpen by the 5th inning. The announcers just predicted 1000 runs for the Yankees this season. In comparison, the Rays scored 689 in 2006. Our first shot of Joe Maddon. We love day baseball games for a lot of reasons. Mainly it gives an excuse to start drinking in the afternoon. But we also love that Papa Joe puts his eyeglasses away and brings out the much better looking sunglasses. Of course, it is an overcast day here in NYC, so not sure why he needs them. Kaz, finally gets out of the first by getting Georgie Posada to pop up to our new second baseman BJ “dont call me Melvin” Upton. TOP OF THE SECOND final tally for Kid K in the first. 35 pitches (18 stries, 17 balls) Delmon young who never saw a pitch he didnt like, hacks at the first and flies out to Johnny Damon Holy little people! Akinori Iwamura is a tiny guy. I’m talking Ecksteinsmall. I dont care how small the Japanese ba llparks are, how did he ever hit 40 home runs. MuuRah is on first after a throwing error by Jeter. rod looks at Jeter as if to say “you suck, i could have had that” Navi is up, a former top prospect for the Yankees. flies out to center. and here is the Man…Elijah Dukes and here we go with the usual..”world of talent…attitude problems” it amazes me that pitchers throw Delmon Young first pitch strikes, and Dukes they pitch around. he works the count full and gets a walk. Dukes has great plate discipline and here is BJ Upton…all 120 pounds of him…BASEHIT! up the middle under Jeters mitt. MuuRah comes around to score and Dukes goes to third and Upton goes to second on throw. Crawford flies out to center to end the frame,cheap dallas mavericks jerseys 365djerseys.com S5. but it feels good to get the first run on the board. BOTTOM OF THE SECOND (Yankees 21) Thank you to those that pointed out that the JUMP wasnt working. I think we got it fixed. Robbie Cano is up. must be rough to have a guy who almost won a batting title, batting 8th in the order. Kaz gets him on strikes. Former Rays first baseman Josh Phelps is up. Wasnt given much of a chance of making team but hit over .400 in spring to earn opening day nod over Mientiviecz or whatver that guys name is. Kaz walks Phelps. another long count Jesus just popeed out to Wiggy in front of the plate Jeter is hit by pitch. Kaz is struggling with his control. cant tell if its nerves of opening day in Yankee stadium or the weather. maybe a bit of both. Abreu grounds out on a slow roller to third and MuuRahs first chance is a good play but the throw was a little off. Kaz is out of the inning without any damage. Only 14 pitches that inning, but he is up to 49 already TOP OF THE THIRD Bobby Murcer is in the booth. Murcer, a former yankee slugger and current yankees announcer suffered from a brain tumor this offseason, but all signs are that he is going to be ok. one of the great voices in baseball. BenZo grounds out to Jeter and amazingly he didnt boot it. Rocco pops up to Josh Phelps and Wiggy grounds his seond offering to Arod. That was quick. BOTTOM OF THE THIRD Arod grounds out to BenZo and he is now one more plate appearance away from opting out of his contract at teh end of the year. Although the boos were lessened that time. Crowd is starting to get bored booing him The Giambino went down on strikes Matsui grounds out to first. Kid K’s first 1,2,3 inning. Only 14 pitches that frame. but he up to 63 for the game. Not good. looks like he will be 5 innings and out today. Hopefully the Rays will score 20 more runs before we have to unleash the fury of our bullpen. TOP OF THE FOURTH (YANKS 21) The weather still hasn’t cleared up. Overcast and chilly. Delmon Young is up and I wouldnt have believed it if i didnt see it, but he took a Ball! Delmon had one walk in 128 plate appearances in 2006. And this time he goes down on strikes. The Japanese David Eckstein is up…also known as Aki Iwamura. MuuRah draws a walk and Navi promtly grounds into an inning ending double play. For a guy who hasnt pitched in 14 years, the rays sure are helping him look good today. BOTTOM OF THE FOURTH (YANKS 21) Where is that beer man? Georgie Posada is up, and he just hit his 199th career home run to right field. 31 Yanks. It was a change up that just didnt get down. I like to call those 400foot strikes. Robbie Cano is up and he pops out to left. Beer man…make it two. Josh Phelps is up again. Not sure about Phelps. He has shown promise before. But he usually disappoints. If i had to guess, Phelps will be down on the farm by the allstar break and the more slick fielding Doug Mientjfoijfoijfijij will be manning the bag on the right side of the infield. Phelps walks Jesus walks JOSH HAMILTON is NOT in the lineup today for the Reds. We will keep an out to see if he pinch hits at any point. Kaz now has 4 walks and a hit batter and Jim Hickey just made his first visit to the mound as a Rays pitching coach. Boy he has his work cut out for him this season Jeter goes down looking. thats Kid K’s 4th strikeout. Abreu grounds out to end the inning TOP OF THE FIFTH (Yanks 31) Elijah DUKES HOME RUN!!!! his first major league hit is a home run at Yankee Stadium. Dukes was the one player we were pumped to see play today and he is not dissapointing. He gave a big fist pump rounding first. You gotta love the emotion. Upton follows with a basehit Upton goes…and not even close. Thats what the Rays need from Bossman Junior. get on base. and wreck havoc with the speed. He has the talent to be Jose Reyes. We’ll see. CC is up with no outs. groundball through the right side. Upton comes home, Crawford gets cought in a pickle between first and second, but Phelps throws it into center. all tied up 33. Benny Boo Boo, he of the hot Christian rock singing wife, has a chance to give the Rays the lead for the first time. He is 02. BenZo tries to move CC over, but instead of just making sure the bunt was down, he tried to drag bump and the ball hits him after he was out of the box. Joe Maddoncomes out to argue but it looks like a good call. Zobrist is out,cheap minnesota timberwolves jerseys 365djerseys.com G4. Wait…Maddon argued a call? He must be a fembot. CC is almost picked off second. he is thinking third. Rocco drives a ball into left field and Crawford comes around to score. Rays are now up 43 and th boo birds come out for Pavano. Joe Torre is going to mound. That will be it. As he walks off the field, there is nice mix of boos and cheers. Brian Bruney comes on to pitch, proving that the Yankees do have somebody that makes less than $14 million per season. Rocco steals second. The rays third swipe of the day. Surprising as Rocco is the DH today bc he has a sore hamstring. Why is stealing bases if he is not healthy enough to play the field? Delmon young, obviously mad about not hitting first pitch last time, deposits the first pitch into left field for an RBI single. 53 Rays. with 2 outs, lets see if Delmon takes off for 2nd. and he does and he is thrown out by a mile. end of the inning. BOTTOM OF THE FIFTH (Rays 53) before we get too excited about taking the lead, Kaz has 84 pitches in 4 innings. He will go 5, but can he go 6? And just like that, Kid K puts the Yanks down 123 on only 10 pitches. The Rays needed that from their ace TOP OF THE SIXTH (Rays 53) Sean Penn comes on for the Yankees? Sorry…Sean HENN And Aki gets his first major league hit top left field. Aki predicted he wanted 40 stolen bases this year. lets see if Maddon trusts him Navi grounds into his second double play of the afternoon. and Dukes follows up his first major league home run by flying out to Abreu BOTTOM OF THE SIXTH (Rays 53) Shawn Camp is warming up in the pen, uh oh, Johnny Damon has come down with a case of Rocco Baldelliitus…he is out of the game with sore hamstrings…both of them? Melky cabrera take his place. Georgie Posada has Kazmir’s number today. basehit to left we are not th e first to say it, but for those of you that are not old enough, Robbie Cano’s swing looks an awful lot like Rod Carew. except for the angle he holds the bat. the actual swing is identical. and he does just what Carew loved to do. rifle a single to right field. that will be it for Kazmir. Here comes Shawn Camp. Well, the lead was nice while it lasted. Kid K’s final line 5 ip, 6 hits, 4 walks, 1 hit batter, 5 strike outs and 3 runs. but the most telling number was 107. the number of pitches it took him to go 5+ innings. its like deja vu all over again. with the righty on the mound…,cheap Skelton Jersey;Mientckdjfldkjf pinch hits for Josh Phelps and sacrifice bunts the runners over. 1 out, 2nd and 3rd. Not content with only two runners on base. Camp hits Melky Jim Hickey is back out to the mound. no word if anybody is warming. Check that, Brian Stokes is warming up. Sun is starting to come out…31 to Jeter and there are no empty bags basehit right up the middle and we are tied. Thats why Jeter is so great and so important. Big Papi is clutch with the late home runs, but I put mymoney on DJ every time. He is as clutch as it gets. Thats it for Camp. Here comes starterturnedrelieverbecausethe Rayshave nobodyelsethey candependon Brian Stokes. Still no sign of Hamilton in the Red game. Tough spot for Stokes in only his second major league relief appearance Stokes gets Abreu to fly out to Dukes and Melky stumbled faking a tag up and the Rays double him up. end of the inning. the Rays will have Upton/Crawford/Zobrist in the top of the 7th TOP OF THE SEVENTH (Tied 55) Luis Vizcaino is on the mound for the Yanks Upton fakes a bunt to bring ARod in a little more then flys out to center CC takes the first pitch to left field and flies out BenZo flies out to center and thats the end of the inning. BOTTOM OF THE SEVENTH (tied 55) Stokes is still out there with Arod leading off. he is 03 make that 14, as ARod drives one past Zobrist. Zobrist is lucky to still be alive after that one. to lefties coming up (Giambi and Matsui) and no lefties in the pen ARod just stole 2nd. Close throw by Navi. Apparently that one was on Stokes for not keeping him close. And Giambi drives a ball through the right side and a good throw by Delmon could have had ARod but it was offline and cut off by Wiggy. 65 Yankees. Matsui is up (02). He flies out to CC in left. 1out Georgie Posada is one Yankee sad to see Kazmir out of the game. He moves to the other side of the plate against Stokes. He is 23 with a home run he flies out to right, and Delmon almost doubled up Giambi off first. what a throw. Should I note now that the Rays have lost 31 of 34 on the road? I didnt think so. Cano pops up to Upton. end of inning. TOP OF THE EIGHTH (Yanks 65) Better score here or else it is Mo Rivera in the 9th and lights out. Kyle Farnsworth is on the mound and he is looking an awful lot like Britney Spears Rocco is up. He is 13 with a ribbie. Farnsworth gets him swinging. 1 out Wiggy is 03 and he gets his first hit of the season. a line drive up the middle Delmon Young is up. 13. and of course he swings at the first pitch. We read somehwere that he wung at the first pitch 67% of the time in 2006. Thats amazing. Aki is up. 12 with a run scored. And he grounds out to second to end the inning. Do we have to play the 9th inning? BOTTOM OF THE EIGHTH (Yanks 65) Doug Mientjsd;lfkjija gets an infield single off of new Rays pitcher Ruddy Lugo. could have been error on Upton,Green Bay Packers Jerseys. he tried to bare hand it and probably didnt have to. Melky is up and he bunts Dougie Baseball over to second. Papa Joe is out of the dugout and thats it for Lugo. We were just taken aback a bit. our stat page said we have had over 1000 unique visitors since the beginning of the game. that seemed an awful lot for a love blog. then we realized we were j. Juan Salas comes on to face Jeter who is 13 with the tying and goahead RBI. Salas apparently didnt shy away from the allyoucaneat buffet this offseason Jeter grounds out to Iwamura Abreu is up. He is 14. Abreu singles to left. doug mientsdfvsrev scores from 2nd. a good throw from CC and he is out. And ARod just destroyed a pitch to center field. 2run home run. 95 yankees. might as well warm up Frank Sinatra. Yankees fans crack me up,Minnesota Vikings Jerseys. They have booed ARod all day and now they give him a standing ovation. What have you done for me lately? The Giambino flied out to Dukes. end of inning. Enter Sandman? with a 4runlead? Tomorrow is an offday. TOP OF THE NINTH (Yankees 95) And here comes the Sandman. The single most valuable player in baseball in the last 15 years. Navi goes down swinging. And Big Mo made him look bad. 02 to Dukes. The crowd is on their feet. and he goes down swinging. Upton is 23 with a run and an RBI. And he goes down looking. Never had a chance. Thats the game. 95 Yankees. Feel free to check back here every little while over the next hour. We are switching over to the Reds game to see if Josh Hamilton gets an AB today. Thanks for stopping by. It’s been fun and a learning experience. BOTTOM OF THE 8th in Cincinnati. Reds up 51 and Josh Hamilton is making his major league debut. Huge Standing ovation, and Lou Piniella is icing Josh by just now going out to change the pitcher. #33 steps in we are rooting hard for Josh line drive to left, and Murton makes a sliding catch. Welcome to the big leagues Josh. big hug from Griffey. And a huge smile on his face

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: Matt Joyce. In a game with 33 hits, the biggest came from a guy that wasn’t even in the starting lineup. Joyce’s 2run double in the 8th erased a 1run deficit and sparked the lateinning surge that saw the Rays score 7 times in the final 2 innings…Evan Longoria,http://cheap-dream-team-jerseys.weebly.com 365djerseys.com X. The nogloves trick continues to work. Two more home runs, a double and a single yesterday. Let’s just hope he doesn’t develop any blisters. Maybe he can pee on his hands just like Moises Alou, another noglover, did in his career. And how did the umpires not see the fan hit the ball on Longoria’s flyball? Thank goodness for replay, as it was overturned and ruled a home run…BJ Upton. Upton has a swing built for Minute Maid Park. He would hit 40 home runs a season if he played for the Astros. This weekend, he homered in all 3 games,cheap bears jerseys. THE BAD: Pitching. As good as the offense was, the pitching wasn’t nearly as bad. In the first 8 innings, the Rays had a single 123 innings (5th). Not including Kyle Farnsworth, Rays pitcher allowed 10 runs (9 earned) in 8 innings on 14 hits including 2 home runs. Amazingly, they didn’t walk a single batter…Jeff Niemann. Remember how good Niemann looked in his first start off the DL when he pitched 6 shutout innings,cheap seahawks jerseys? He gave back all that good feeling with his stinker on Sunday: 5 runs on 7 hits in just 3 innings,jets jerseys 365djerseys.com S4. And of those 7 hits, 6 went for extra bases. THE TELLING: The Rays are now 93 against the National League…The Rays went 51 on this roadtrip and are now 4434, 2 games behind the Yankees and 1,cheap Atlanta Falcons Jerseys.5 games behind the Red Sox…The Rays and Reds will be the ESPN game tonight. And of course, that means all sorts of commentary on how bad the attendance is and what the future of the team will be. Yay! *head hits desk* THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA… DOWN ON THE FARM…

This post, which will appear before every game, will include starting lineups (when we learn them) and during the game will include a Game Graph that will constantly update the percent chance the Rays have of winning this particular game. Playing A Little Pepper… The Rays have now been on the shortend of 13,cheap patriots nike jerseys.0% of the perfect games in baseball history and 21.4% of the nohitters since Derek Shelton became the hitting coach following the 2009 season. How much blame does he deserve? I think Raysfan137 said it best in the comments: “,wholesale ryan kerrigan jersey 365djerseys.com O9;It’s not Shelton’s fault. But he’s not doing a damn thing to improve things.”,http://cheap-pirates-jerseys.weebly.com/; It’s a great point. What hitters this season have shown any improvement? In fact, every nonrookie on the team has an OPS this season lower than their career average except for Ben Zobrist and Matt Joyce. Everybody else is down. And some (e.g,Cheap Chris Wells Jersey. Carlos Pena) are down a lot. Coincidence? An entire roster of bad luck? In Shelton’s defense, we have seen players in the past have career years (e.g. Casey Kotchman in 2011). But those seem few and far between. And we have seen far more players underperform. At some point, the hitting coach either does something or he doesn’t. And if it is not Shelton’s responsibility to make hitters better, or at least keep the majority of them from getting worse, then why have a hitting coach at all?…MORE THAN HE IS GETTING Game Graph… [Will be up at game time] Source: Lineup… Song to get you pumped up…,Wholesale Ben Tate Jersey 365djerseys.com C2;

. JP Howell was roughed up for 9 runs (7 earned) in only 4 innings. Calvin Medlock pitched 3 shutout innings, with no hits, but did walk 2 and struck out none. Evan Longoria hit his third home run since being promoted to AAA to account for the Bulls only run. He also committed his second error. (11 innings). Chris Nowak walked with the bases loaded in the 11 inning to give the Biscuits the victory. The win pulls Montgomery within 1 game of the South division leader Jacksonville (anybody else find it strange that the Southern League has North and South divisions? No? Just us. Ok.). Nowak finished 34 and hit his 5th home run. . Mike Wlodarczyk gave up 5 runs in 6 innings, but got enough run support to improve to 85 on the year. He struck out 2 and walked 1 while giving up 7 hits,cheap washington wizards jerseys 365djerseys.com L. Patrick Cottrell was 35 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI. . Woods Fines pitched 5 shutout innings, allowing only 2 hits. He struck out 2. Ryan Royster was 03. . Maiko Loyola and Stephen Vogt each collected 2 hits, the only hits for the ‘Gades on the evening. Vogt hit his 4th home run,cheap bills jerseys 365djerseys.com P6. (game 1). Tyree Hayes gave up 5 runs (3 earned) in 5 innings to drop to 36. He struck out 4. Dustin Biell, the 5th round selection in this year’s draft, was 22 with an RBI. (game 2). Matt Moore, the Rays 8th round pick, struck out 6 and allowed only 2 hits and a run in 2.2 innings, but walked 4. Dustin Biell, went 22 and was 44 in the doubleheader. NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM… Entering Thursday, Brignac led Southern League shortstops in total chances, assists and errors. “,Islanders Jerseys;He’s really established himself as a quality shortstop,” manager Billy Gardner said,Cheap nba jerseys. “;He’,wholesale tom brady jersey;s really, to me, improved a great deal at shortstop.”

Kevin Witt called up to replace Branyan on roster Last night the Devil Rays to the San Diego Padres for minor leaguer Evan Meek and either a player to be named later or cash. The Padres, who are 1 game back of the Dodgers in the NL West and 1.5 games back in the wild card race, are looking to bolster their bench with a power bat that can also fill in at third base. Branyan is not the sort of player that is going to make a difference in a pennant race. He has the worst batting average of any Major Leaguer with 150 at bats (.201) and has as many singles as home runs (12). He also struck out 62 times in 169 at bats. His last at bat as a Devil Ray was a fitting end to his short stint for Tampa Bay. Last night, with 2 outs and the tying and winning runs on base, Branyan struck out to end the game. Still,Cheap San Francisco 49ers Jerseys 365djerseys.com, the price was cheap and the Padres decided to take a chance. In return the Rays received Evan Meek. Meek was an 11th round draft pick by the Twins in 2002 out of high school. After going 71 with a 2.47 in his first professional season, Meek lost his control and began to walk batters at a Ankielian rate. In 2004 he walked 40 in 28 innings. In 2005, he walked 36 in 18 innings. At the end of that season, the Twins cut their ties with Meek and he was signed by the Padres. He has been much better this season with Beloit in the Midwest League (same league as Southwest Michigan Devil Rays). In 119 innings he has 113 strikeouts and 62 walks. He has a fastball that reaches the upper 90s but little command of any other pitches. At best he is a project and a longshot to ever be a legitimate prospect. He will begin his tenure with the Devil Rays in highA Visalia. To replace Branyan on the roster, the Devil Rays have called up Kevin Witt. Witt’s promotion was long speculated, long overdue and very deserving. At 30, Witt is past the status of prospect but some players develop a little later than others and Witt has thoroughly dominated the International League this season and is a leading candidate to be named league MVP,http://cheap-packers-jerseys.webs.com/ 365djerseys. In 128 games for Durham he hit .291 with 36 home runs and 99 RBI. Witt has 10 more home runs and 15 more RBI than any other hitter in the IL. With Gomes out nursing his sore shoulder and possibly done for the season,Panthers Jerseys, Witt is expected to get a lot of starts as the team’,cheap patriots nike jerseys;s DH down the stretch,http://nhl-all-star-jerseys.weebly.com/. Devil Rays get righty Meek for Branyan. []

Let’,raiders jerseys;s take a look at how the recent trade of James Shields and Wade Davis impacts the 2013 opening day roster and payroll. Some notes on the payroll can be seen below… Notes on the projection…,Alex Smith Jersey; (1) Once a player is added to the 40man roster,http://cheap-packers-jerseys.webs.com/ 365djerseys.com R3, the team can ‘option’ the player to the minors 3 times. A team cannot be charged with using more than one option in a given season even if a player is demoted to the minors several times that year. An option is not used if a player is added to the 40man roster midseason unless he is sent back to the minors at some point,jones jersey 365djerseys.com N0. An option is only used if a player spends more than 20 days in the minors while on the 40man roster. A player with more than 5 years experience can refuse a minor league assignment, so we list those players as having no options. (2) Years remaining under control of franchise before free agency eligibility. A player can become a free agent after 6 years of Major League service time. (3) First, second and third year players will have their salaries determined by the team, but will fall close to the major league minimum which is $480K in ’12. Minor leaguers on the 40man make $78,250,chargers jerseys. We are not including signing bonuses or incentives. * Players with at least 3 years since their big league debut. These players must clear optional waivers in order to be demoted to the minors even if they have options remaining.

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,buccaneers 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. A report could be available next month,Tigers Jerseys, 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),china nhl jerseys,wholesale anquan boldin jersey 365djerseys.com D1. 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,Carolina Panthers Jerseys 365djerseys.com V2. Group may have something to report by June []

[Update: 3:40pm] Now it looks like the Cubs and Padres have . Of course, the Rays could still try to work with the Padres on a deal for Giles, but this seems less likely now. [9:56am]In case you missed it , there is a rumor going around the winter meetings that the Rays may be getting involved in the Jake Peavy talks as a third team, with their eyes set on Brian Giles,cheap Dolphins jerseys. There was talk last August that the Rays tried to land Giles but were blocked when the Red Sox put in a claim on the outfielder,cheap utah jazz jerseys. There is no mention of what the Padres would want from the Rays, but the holdup in a potential Cubs deal (for Peavy) is the lack of Cubs prospects that are close to the majors. The Padres were also looking for a major league shortstop from the Braves. So we have to believe the Padres will be asking for something like Andy Sonnanstine. The Rays would probably rather a package include Jeff Niemann and Reid Brignac. Would Edwin Jackson get the deal done? It seems unlikely that the Rays would be willing to part with a top pitcher for Giles (136 OPS+ in ’08) if the Rays could potentially land a free agent like Bobby Abreu (120 OPS+, 3 years younger) for the same price and without having to give up any prospects. The Padres could make it more enticing by eating some of the $9 million salary [Ed,http://cheap-yankees-jerseys.weebly.com/. note: As per the comments, Giles' salary goes to $11 million in '09 if he is traded]. Giles is in the last year of his deal. Of course, all this means nothing if Giles is unwilling to be traded. Giles has full veto power as a 10and5 player (10 year veteran,The Tampa Bay Rays Are ALWAYS One Bat From The World Series Rays Index, 5 years with current team) and vetoed two deals (Red Sox and A’s) late last season. Rays Rumored Third Team In Peavy Deal; Possibly Targeting Giles Again [] DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…,http://cheap-colts-jerseys.webs.com/ 365djerseys.c;

Late last night,mercilus jersey, the Tampa Bay Rays traded James Shields and Wade Davis to the Royals for Wil Myers and three other prospects. In addition to Myers, who was the Minor League Player of the Year, the Rays also received two other players ranked among ESPN,Cheap Astros Jerseys.com’s?top 100 prospects, including lefty Mike Montgomery (#52) and righthanded pitcher Jake Odorizzi (#71). And before we get to what others are saying, here are a few thoughts… Overall, the package is stronger than the bounty the Rays received in the Matt Garza deal. But it also took both James Shields and Wade Davis to make it happen,bears jerseys 365djerseys.com P7. And while Shields was expensive and will be a free agent after two more years, Davis can be an averagetoabove average starting pitcher and has five more years on his deal. So the Royals got seven years worth of big league starting pitchers. And that’s a lot. Of course, Davis was just a middle reliever with the Rays. And those are replaceable. On the other hand, the Rays got the big bat they desperately needed with little or no risk involved. While he is a prospect, and there are no guarantees, top prospects that are position players rarely fail completely,cheap 49ers jerseys 365djerseys.com D4. Usually, the worstcase scenario for a top prospect position player is that they never develop into an allstar. But at the very least, they almost always develop into an everyday player. Myers is probably ready for the big leagues right now, but don’t be surprised if he spends the first few weeks in the minors. There is still the issue of service time that the Rays can’t ignore with a talent like Myers. And saving a few weeks up front means big money saved down the road. As for the Rays as a team, many are already wondering what the Rays will do with the $13 million they just saved on the 2013 payroll. And unfortunately, the answer is probably, “not much.” They will add a relief pitcher or two. And they need to add a DH or two. But I can’t see the Rays spending a lot of money on any of the players,cheap redskins jerseys. Maybe they will spend $45 million on a primary DH. But the others will be cheap. Other odds and ends…

. Carlos Hernandez had a strong start, giving up 1 run in 5 innings on 5 hits and 2 walks,New Orleans Saints Jerseys. He struck out 2…Matt Joyce was 02 and was removed for a pinch hitter in the 6th…Reid Brignac was 03 with a walk and an error…John Jaso was 23 with a triple and is 1028 (,http://cheap-packers-jerseys.webs.com/.357) on the season. ,Toronto Maple Leafs Jerseys. Desmond Jennings had a huge night. He was 56 with a triple. He scored 2 and drove in 3. He is 1643 (.372) on the season with a .984 OPS…Raynor Oliveras gave p 3 runs in 5 innings,Postgame Shot Of Joe Win Rivals Garza’s No-Hitter Rays Index. ,cheap rams jerseys 365djerseys.com M2. Jeremy Hall gave up 3 runs on 8 hits and a walk in 5 innings. . Chris Andujar worked 5.2 innings and allowed 2 runs…Tim Beckham was 14 with a K. Notes from Down on the Farm…

Joe is back with his postgame thoughts… Thank God Desmond Jennings is back. Well, at least for one game,Wells Jersey 365djerseys.com E7. With the Rays in dire need of a guy to put the team on his shoulders until (if?) Dirtbag returns, thanks goodness it was Jennings, who just about singlehandedly carried the Rays to a 42 win over the Tigers,49ers Willis Jersey 365djerseys.com K4. Yes, two solo blasts to mediumrange left field was nice,patriots jerseys, and in fact, the difference in the game,Wholesale White Sox Jerseys. But how about him going Superman, diving headfirst like Joe at a free beer fest into the those wooden chairs along the left field line. Joe didn’t know whether to cringe in agony or scream for joy! It helped that David Price pitched like a stud tonight, holding the dangerous Tigers to five hits while fanning seven. Nice job there,cheap los angeles clippers jerseys, man. If the Rays are to get back into the division race without Dirtbag, it will need more spectacular games like Jennings turned in tonight.

We don’t have to tell you things are bad,Wholesale Alex Smith Jersey 365djerseys.com F7. Everybody knows things are bad. The Rays suck right now. The Rays are playing like everybody’s scared of losing their job. The starters can’t even work five innings, the closer can’t protect a sixrun lead,http://cheap-throwback-nhl-jerseys.weebly.com/, the allstar catcher can’t hit, the center fielder is not playing like an allstar and there’,Mariners Jerseys;s nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there’s no end to it. We know the Rays are hard to watch,[WORLD SERIES MONSOON] Phillies Fans Have Only Head Groundskeeper To Blame (And Maybe Karma) Rays Index, and we sit watching our TV’s while Dewayne Staats tells us that today the Rays struck out 15 times and committed four errors, as if that’s the way it’s supposed to be. We know things are bad – worse than bad. They’re crazy. It’s like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don’t watch after the sixth inning. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, ‘Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let us have our LOST and our Daily Show and our Conan O’Brien and we won’t say anything. Just don’t make us watch this **** baseball team. But no, we have to watch. And because we watch, all we know is we are mad. WE ARE MAD AS HELL AND WE ARE NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE! But we are not going to protest. We are not going to riot. We are not going to write our congressman. Heck we are not even going to open the window and yell. We can live with one ugly loss. Heck we are Rays fans…we can live with a LOT of ugly losses. But if the Rays are going to play like the Devil Rays, well, then we are going to start calling them the Devil Rays. From now, until the Tampa Bay Rays have a winning record, we will only refer to the team as the “Devil Rays.” The team wants to be “The Rays” and be the beacon of sunlight shining through The Trop’s roof? Then they better damn well stop playing like the bottomdwelling fish. ,cheap Ryan Jersey. For every instance in which we use the team’s old moniker, we will donate $1 to the Tampa Bay Rays Foundation,? until the team has a winning record, or the end of the season, whichever comes first. But the team better not assume that we will be giddy because the money will go to a good cause. We are talking about our beer money and we don’t give that up without throwing a few punches. By our count, we are already out $5 and the Devil Rays ($6) are still 4 games under .500. So this might add up.

Yesterday,Cheap Jays Jerseys, AstroTurf and the Rays announced that Tropicana Field would be outfitted with AstroTurf for the 2011 season. Of course, when AstroTurf became the official turf of Major League Baseball. And it was confirmed by Marc Topkin (link,Wholesale White Sox Jerseys?) earlier this offseason,Texans Jerseys On Sale 365djerseys.com B7. The picture at right is of Tropicana Field yesterday morning and you can see that the renovations are already underway. The new turf shouldn’t get that shiny, “,Cheap New England Patriots Jerseys 365djerseys.com C0,Lightning Jerseys;dead” look that FieldTurf would have. However, if this turf is similar to the AstroTurf installed at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, it will be very bouncy. THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

. The entire evening you could sense the impending doom. It didn’t come in the first 6 innings as Edwin Jackson pitched his way around trouble with his third straight decent outing,Cheap Dallas Cowboys Jerseys. We were sure it would come in the 7th inning when Jay Witasick walked two batters but Casey Fossum was able to kill the rally by getting Travis Hafner to ground out to end the inning,Boston Red Sox Jerseys. We thought it might come in the 8th inning, when Gary Glover gave up a single after striking out the first two batters. But Glover got out of the inning by getting Josh Barfield to pop up to Ty Wigginton. But that was when the axe fell. We thought about who was left in the bullpen. Joe Maddon had already used three relievers. That meant that only three relievers were left in the ‘pen. With the Rays on the road, Al Reyes needed to be saved in case the Rays were to take the lead and a save opportunity arose. Maddon could have gone to Jason Hammel, but he faced 7 batters the night before and is not yet used to pitching on consecutive days. In addition, Maddon needed to keep Hammel in the back pocket in case the game went extra innings. This is why we hate the definition of a “quality start”. Six innings from your starting pitcher is NOT a quality start. A quality start should be a minimum of 7+1+1,cheap los angeles clippers jerseys 365djerseys.com S8, meaning the team gets 7 innings from the starter and then he hands the ball to the set up man for 1 and then to the closer for 1. With Jackson only going 6 innings, it forces the manager to use the entire bullpen to get through the game. In this case, if Maddon was going to pull Glover after one inning,Mariners Jerseys, that left one relief pitcher to come out for the ninth inning. Shawn Bleepin’ Camp. As soon as we saw Camp come into the game,Cheap Aldon Smith Jersey 365djerseys.com E0, our heads dropped and we heard millions hundreds of Rays fans everywhere scream out in pain. The game was over, the players just didn’t know it yet. Shawn Bleepin’ Camp. He makes us want to hurt baby stuffed animals. DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA… But, Maddon said, Leyland hadn’t learned the elected players’ names by the time the two spoke Friday afternoon. So the phone call didn’t necessarily mean the Rays had no players elected.