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.

Luke Hochevar as was predicted shortly before the start of the draft. Now we clearly see the good and the bad of the MLB Entry Draft. The Bad? No trades. And we have no idea who any of these guys are. The Good? About 2 minutes between each pick. I always hate the amount of time between picks in the NFL draft, but this is almost too quick. We are following along on MLB.com and the announcers barely have time to give any analysis on the players. Before we even had a chance to start writing this post, the Rockies had already picked Greg Reynolds, followed very quickly by the Devil Rays selection of Evan Longoria, the first position player taken in the draft,raiders jerseys 365djerseys.com C5. Andrew Miller who was originally projected as the top pick was just selected with the 6th selection. Here is the of Longoria from the Long Beach State Athletics website. Interestingly, they are called the Dirtbags. Of special note is that Longoria was named the Cape Cod League’,http://womens-49ers-jerseys.webs.com/;s MVP last fall. For those of you that aren’;t familiar with the Cape Cod League. It is a fall league for amateur baseball players that give players a chance to compete against other players with Major League potential. Of special interest to the scouts is among other things,reed jersey, how well hitters do with wood bats. Many players struggle in the transition from metal to wood. Longoria appears as though he will not be one of those players. He batted .299 and led the league with 8 home runs and 35 RBI,Rays Payroll Now Projected To Be $65.0 Million Rays Index,throwback nhl jerseys sale, over a 45 game schedule.

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 []

Much has been made of the Rays attendance recently,Dodgers Jerseys. Well Chris of , pointed us in the direction of this little tidbit on . Here are the top 8 teams ranked by their most expensive singleseat ticket,49ers Willis Jersey 365djerseys.com R3. For comparison, we also included the 5 teams that charge the least for the most expensive seats,cheap falcons jerseys. Only 7 teams offer tickets more expensive than the $270 ticket offered by the Rays,http://cheap-lightning-jerseys.weebly.com/. We are not certain many $270 tickets are available for a typical Rays game, and certainly these tickets have a minimal impact on per game attendance figures. But those $270 seats are the only seats that are seen on every pitch during a telecast,Indianapolis Colts Jerseys 365djerseys.com N9. And nothing looks worse when watching a Rays game on TV than seeing nothing but empty seats in the background (). No wonder fans of other teams still think the Rays have no fans. 2009 MLB Ticket Prices []

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: Shades of 2008. We just have a good feeling about this team. Last year the Rays never win that game. Last night we were never worried. And Carl Crawford came through in his walk season with a walkoff 1out, 2run double to turn a loss into win #1…James Shields. James the Greater gives up home runs. Always has, always will. But he usually does a good job of keeping runners off base in front of the bombs. And last night it was 3 solo home runs as the only runs allowed…Catchers. Dioner Navarro didn’t exactly rake last night,superbowl 49ers jerseys, but he did have 2 hits off of righthanded pitchers, which may or may not have equaled his 2009 total. And Kelly Shoppach pinchhitting in the 9th and facing a lefty nearly ended the game when he missed a 2run HR by about 6 inches…Defense. It started with BJ being BJ running down a flyball to the wall in center and saving a run and included Evan Longoria gunning a runner down at the plate to save another run in the 9th…Evan Longoria,Houston Texans Jerseys 365djerseys.com H0. Spring training doesn’t mean anything? Longo turned up the pop in his bat the last two weeks and it translated to a monster HR last night…Pat Burrell. He had some rough moments last night, striking out twice and killing a rally in the 6th by grounding into a doubleplay in the 6th with 2 on and no outs. But he also had a double and an excellent first at bat that lasted 10 pitches and included 5 foul balls. THE BAD: Baserunning. We are all for being aggressive on the basepaths, especially with 2 outs, but why was Dioner Navarro sent home in the 3rd inning with little chance of scoring and Evan Longoria due up? And yes, Pat Burrell scored, but let’,cheap jets jerseys;s hope he doesn’t run through too many stop signs in which he probably would have been thrown out with a good throw…Percivalian…Rafael Soriano came on in the 9th to keep the game close and almost failed miserably,wholesale 2013 SuperBowl Jerseys 365djerseys.com R. 3 of the 6 batters he faced reached base and only a great defensive play by Evan Longoria kept the O’s from increasing their lead…,http://cheap-edmonton-oilers-jerseys.weebly.com/;Kevin Kennedy. We forgot how much we did not miss Kennedy. THE TELLING: Evan Longoria’s HR () was the third longest (473ft) in the history of The Trop (Vinny Castilla 478ft, Jonny Gomes 474ft) and only the second to land in the left field Party Deck (Castilla)…Randy Choate indeed got to face a righty in a highleverage situation getting Miguel Tejada to ground into a doubleplay to end the 7th inning…Kelly Shoppach will start today and possibly tomorrow. No decision has been made on who will start at second. Ben Zobrist will play second base tomorrow against the lefty. DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

Bill Chastain clearly has no idea what team he is covering. He thinks the Tampa Bay Rays , and worse, he thinks the Rays actually have a shot if they open up their wallet. Joe Torre is no longer the Yankees’ manager and Posada lives in Tampa. Such a commitment might take the entire freeagent budget,Jimmy Smith said he¿s rounding back into form - baltimoresun.com, but given the point in the team’,Cheap Ravens Jerseys;s progression, such a commitment might be the best money spent in franchise history. This is absolutely idiotic and we will speak very slowly for Mr. Chastain, in case he is still taking his stupidity pills. 6 Reasons why the Rays will not sign (and should not sign) Jorge Posada…,Wholesale Expos Jerseys; Would that be the “best money spent in franchise history”,http://cheap-ravens-jerseys.webs.com/,Terry Plutos blog on the Cleveland Browns coaching search after being turned down by Chip Kelly cl;? We admit, the Rays have spent some dumb money in the past, but if the Rays signed Posada, by the 4th year, the contract would make the Greg Vaughn signing look like the Deal of the Century. Rays’ focus on internal improvements []

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;

. If someone would have approached us and said “would you sign for being tied with the Yankees after 49 games?” We would have been idiots to say ‘no’, yet somehow being tied with the Yankees and 13.5 games behind the Pink Hats is not so fulfilling right now. Still,cleveland cavaliers jerseys 365djerseys.com B8, considering the Rays only have 2 starting pitchers. Not at all terrible. Last night Edwin Jackson once again teased us into thinking that the Rays may already have a 3rd pitcher at the major league level. There is no doubt that Jackson has an incredible arm and we have to keep reminding ourselves that he is still only 23,cheap philadelphia 76ers jerseys 365djerseys.com M. But we can’t ignore a 7.12 ERA and only 43 innings in 9 starts (4.2 innings per start). So he remains a bit of an enigma. A project that could be great once molded or he may never “get it”. One only need to look at last night’s second inning to summarize Jackson’s entire career,http://cheap-49ers-jerseys.webs.com/. The inning started with 3 straight singles to load the bases. Jackson then gave up a fourth straight hit, that drives in 2. On the play, an errant throw from Carl Crawford to home, somehow missed Jackson’s glove as he backed up the play, and struck him in the face. After that play, Jackson settled down and struck out the next three hitters, the last two on 6 pitches. So, in the span of one inning,wholesale robert griffin iii jersey, Jackson struck out 3 batters,cheap minnesota timberwolves jerseys, failed to catch a throw from Crawford and got struck in the cheek, allowed 4 hits and 2 runs. He looked great. He looked awful. He looked stupid. All in the span of one half inning. Folks…We introduce you to, Edwin Jackson. DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

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…