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

The GBT –,Cheap Seattle Seahawks jerseys; The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe. THE GOOD: BJ Upton. After an 017 stretch, Bossman has 4 hits in his last 7 at bats. THE BAD: DevilRaysian Bullpen. In one recent , the Rays gave up 8 home runs in the 8th inning or later that tied the game or put the Rays behind. They did it again last night thanks to Dan Wheeler. THE TELLING: 12,514,Cheap Carolina Panthers Jerseys 365djerseys.com J1. As in the attendance last night…,http://cheap-lions-jerseys.webs.com/;Ichiro’s home run was long,Packers-49ers playoff live blog Pregame, but it wasn’t that long. It had a “true distance”,cheap panthers nike jerseys; of 402 feet. There have been 57 home runs at the Trop this season that have traveled farther. SUNBURST PLAYER OF THE GAME: BJ Upton DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

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

. It must have been a strange site last night in Durham when the fans arrived at the park. Before the game, B. J,Wholesale J.J. Watt Jersey. Upton, who has spent most of the past three seasons wearing a Bulls uniform, was not at the ballpark, having been promoted to the Devil Rays (more on that later today),http://cheap-falcons-jerseys.webs.com/ 365djerseys. In addition, Ben Zobrist, who had replaced Upton as the Bulls shortstop was also called up to the Tampa Bay roster. Darnell McDonald, who replaced Upton at the top of the lineup went 25 with a double and 2 runs scored. He also stole his 23rd base and is now hitting .311. Kevin Witt hit another home run,http://cheap-panthers-jerseys.webs.com/, his 31st, as he went 35 with 3 RBI. ,Cheap Ben Tate Jersey 365djerseys.com O6. Speaking of promotions, Jim Magrane, who has been outstanding for the Biscuits was promoted to AAA Durham to replace J. P. Howell, who was promoted to Tampa. Our heads are starting to spin,cheap Jacksonville Jaguars Jersey. . Evan Longoria had his second straight 05 night, as his average falls to .327. Reid Brignac went 24 with his 12 stolen base and is now hitting .322. . Rough night for Wade Davis who gave up 6 runs (4 earned) in 4 innings. He allowed 9 hits and 2 walks and only struck out 2. . Josh Hamilton missed his second straight game after being pulled for a pinch hitter on the 29th. No word yet on why he has been missing from the lineup.

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

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

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

that the Rangers might be interested in Gerry Hunsicker to be their new general manager,Alex Smith Jersey. The feeling was that if the Rangers decided to make a change,Cheap Indianapolis Colts Jerseys, team president Nolan Ryan,cutler jersey 365djerseys.com E2, would look to Hunsicker, with whom he has worked in the past with the Astros. It appears that Ryan has opted to stick with the incumbent GM, Jon Daniels, as any move would have been made by now. to be on the short list for the GM position of the Mariners and the Phillies. The M’s ,dolphins jerseys 365djerseys.com T5, while the Phillies . as their new GM. Hunsicker, who is “Teller” to Andrew Friedman’s “Penn” (or “Silent Bob”,washington wizards jerseys; to Friedman’s “Jay” for the younger crowd), is the quiet partner, but by all accounts just as responsible for the product seen on the FieldTurf. It is with great relief knowing that the front office nucleus will remain intact for at least one more season. DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

, I showed that the Giants built their championship roster by drafting pitchers and signing free agent hitters. Very little of their roster was built through trades. This got us wondering, how were the 2010 Rays built? Here is the full roster breakdown… What we see is that the payroll was almost evenly divided among players acquired via the draft, free agency and trades. However, 68% of the value was delivered by players the Rays drafted. Of course, this group includes players like Evan Longoria,cheap falcons nike jerseys, Carl Crawford and David Price,cheap patriots jerseys 365djerseys.com I6. At the other end of the spectrum, free agents were worth only 1.8 wins in 2010,Cheap Green Bay Packers Jerseys 365djerseys.com I2, with no thanks to guys like Pat Burrell, Gabe Kapler and Lance Cormier. Meanwhile, 13 of the 37 players that contributed in 2010 were acquired via trade and were worth more than 12 wins. Here is what the breakdown looks like if separate hitters and pitchers… Other than the large amount of money spent on free agent?hitters, we don’,cheap texans nike jerseys;t see much difference between the hitters and pitchers. So if you are looking for the Rays to make a splash this offseason,Patrick Willis Jersey, don’;t expect it to come from free agency. Rather, keep a close eye on those trade rumors. That is where the 2011 Rays are more likely to find their impact players.

THE GOOD: Andrew Friedman. Every single move this guy has made in the last year has been pure gold. Even the moves he did not make. There were lots of rumors this offseason of trading Edwin Jackson. In particular,cheap rams nike jerseys, the hope was to get a catcher back in return. Instead, Friedman stuck with Jackson and Dioner Navarro. The nonmove may have been the best move of all…Edwin Jackson. His shutout streak now sits at 15 innings. In his last 2 starts: 15 ip, 11 hits, 2 walks,Minnesota Vikings Jerseys, 8 strike outs, 0 runs. Only 2 walks?!? Seriously. If we hadn’,cheap panthers nike jerseys 365djerseys.com L5;t seen it, we wouldn’,cheap chiefs jerseys 365djerseys.com A6;t believe it. He also seemed to get better late in the game,Indianapolis Colts Jerseys. The 6th inning may have been the best pitched inning of Jackson’;s career. With the Yankees top of the lineup up, he got Jonny Damon to ground out. That was followed by a misplay by Eric Hinske in right that turned a single into a triple for Derek Jeter *clapclap, clapclapclap*. With a runner on third and 1 out in a 1run game, Nuke got Bobby Abreu to ground out to the drawnin Jason Bartlett and then got Hideki Matsui to popup to end the inning. Then in the 7th, the last batter he faced was Shirley Duncan. After 5 straight nonfastballs, he came back with his hardest fastball of the night at 97 to get Duncan looking…Anytime a team gets to Mariano Rivera it is a ‘Good’;, but the double play enduced by JP Howell to end the top of the 11th may have saved the game. THE BAD: Eric Hinske turning a single into a triple in the 6th inning of a 1run game. That is not the sort of thing Joe Maddon wasnt to see with Gabe Gross sitting on the bench. In fact, Gross replaced Hinske an inning later…Troy Percival owes Edwin Jackson a steak or two. That is the second straight outing in which Jackson did not allow a run and Percival blew the save. THE TELLING: Edwin Jackson was not throwing as hard as usual. Normally, Jackson’;s fastball sits 9195 with the ability to crank it up to 9798. Last night, his fastball was regularly 8890. This happens to pitchers occasionally, but with Jackson, it appeared to be deliberate. This could be yet another golden move by pitching coach Jim Hickey, to get Jackson to ease up on the fastball a bit for the sake of location…Eric Hinske got the start in right field instead of Gabe Gross, against the righthanded pitcher. Of course, that might not happen again after the 6th inning blunder. DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA… [I]n the last year, Rays general manager Andrew Friedman and the Tampa Bay baseball operations staff has pitched the front office version of a perfect game, in keeping with a longrange plan that was begun long before that. Virtually every transaction that the Rays have made, going back to last year’;s June draft, has worked out, and contributed to Tampa Bay’;s strong start and ascension, for the first time, into the ranks of contenders.

Journalists are afraid to ask a “yes or no”,cheap anquan boldin jersey 365djerseys.com W4; question,cheap nfl jerseys. This is not meant as a knock on the media. They are trained to only ever ask openended questions (questions that require more than a oneword answer), as it is difficult to generate quotes for a story if all the questions are answered with one word. Unfortunately openended questions are flawed. Today’s sports personalities are conditioned to respond with evasive,cheap haloti ngata jersey, clichefilled, nonanswers,texans jerseys 365djerseys.com J1. The only way to pin these athletes/coaches/personnel down to a solid answer is to ask the closeended question and demand an answer. Here are 10 ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ questions that the local media are afraid to ask but we as Rays fans want answered… What questions do you want answered? Let us know in the comments,Indianapolis Colts Jerseys.

We’,vikings jerseys;ve had a few people bring to our attention this weekend . Most want to know: a) is it real,dallas mavericks jerseys?; b) whose ring is it? First of all, it is not a player’;s ring. Coincidentally, that were produced back in February after Matt Garza had his ring stolen. In total, the Rays had 480 rings produced. The one in question on eBay appears to be one of the $5,What Happened To Gabe Kapler Rays Index,000 rings that were given to front office employees that had been with the team since the beginning. If you zoom in one of the pictures, you can see the name of the employee on the side of the ring. I’,2013 superbowl 49ers jerseys,Miami Dolphins Jerseys 365djerseys.com Y5;m not expert on ring forgeries. But if you want to own a real AL Championship ring, this might be your chance. But just know it is not a player’;s ring. THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

THE GOOD: Andy Sonnanstine worked into the 7th inning for the first time since May 16 in St. Louis, a span of 8 starts…,wholesale ed reed jersey;Shawn Riggans was 34 and broke a 00 tie with a lonnnnggggg home run in the 4th inning…;Troy Percival did walk a batter and needed 22 pitches, but otherwise looked good in his first appearance since walking 4 batters, 5 days ago. THE BAD: Another day having to listen to the Pirates TV crew. They make us want to shove chopsticks in our ears. On Willy Aybar’,cheap eagles jerseys;s home run in the 6th the call did not even start until the ball had landed and went like this: “It is 21 Tampa Bay, Aybar’;s 3rd home run of the year.” That was the entire home run call…;The Rays have a lot of trouble scoring men from third with less than 2 outs, a sign of youth and inexperience. Top of 2nd inning,cheap chargers jerseys 365djerseys.com E4, the Rays had bases loaded with 1 out and the top of the order up. That should be a guaranteed run or two and the Rays scored none. A veteran team finds a way to drive a run home. This seems to happen to the Rays on an almost nightly basis…;Another misplay by BJ Upton, playing a single/double into a runner on 3rd base, by kicking a ball to left field. Literally. He kicked the ball into left field. That runner would later score on a sac fly…;How about more youth and inexperience? Shawn Riggans forgetting a runner was on third base and going after a dribbler to the mound that Andy Sonnanstine was clearly going to field. The runner on third broke for home and scored without a throw,cheap golden state warriors jerseys. The Rays can get away with stupid mistakes against the Pirates, but a team like the Sox or the Yankees will eat them alive,cushing jersey 365djerseys.com Q1. THE TELLING: The Rays now have their rotation set up perfectly for the Red Sox series with James Shields, Scott Kazmir and Matt Garza scheduled to start games…;The Rays finished the first half of the season with 49 wins and are on pace to finish 9864. Since 2004, the wild card team has finished with 94 or 95 wins each season. 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,ray lewis jersey. RAYS (boxscore) THE GOOD: Matt Moore. It was weird night for DoubleNickel. At no point did I think that Moore had his best stuff, but next think I know,rams jerseys 365djerseys.com Y0, I look up and Moore has struck out 8 and and allowed just 1 hit in 7 shutout innings,Ben Tate Jersey. His fastball is still too high in the strikezone but he is getting better about keeping his secondary pitches down. One concern is maintaining velocity. In the early innings, he was 9697 (fastball), 87 (changeup), 8384 (slider),cheap cardinals jerseys. By the sixth and seventh innings, his fastball was down to 9495 (not terrible), but his slider was only 7981 (that’,Ticket Sales And Promotions Calendar Rays Index;s a big drop). And meanwhile his changeup was unchanged at 8687…Lobotron! If Joe Loboton can show anythign with the bat it is a bonus considering he is the Rays best defensive catcher. His double in the 2nd inning drove in the first run. He also had a walk and scored twice. Since he has come off the DL, Lobaton has made 8 starts and has been on base 11 times. THE BAD: Hideki Matsui. It is still very early, but so far, half of every ball Matsui hits is a flyball. Matsui has always been more of a linedrive hitter that happens to hit a lot of home runs. In fact. in 5 of his last 8 seasons, he hit more groundballs than flyballs. And this is especially concerning considering we have seen a number of his balls die at or near the warning track. Again, it is early. And he has hit a few balls very hard. But something is not quite right yet. And at his age, there is the concern that it won’;t get right. THE TELLING: The Rays are still 2.5 games behind the Yankees and 1.5 games behind the Orioles…Hideki Matsui is taking grounders at first base, . THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA… DOWN ON THE FARM… . . CHARLOTTE. no game scheduled .

According to a report by Fernando Rodney will pitch for the Dominican Republic in the upcoming World Baseball Classic (). And Rodney spoke about the thrill of representing his country and whether the Rays granted him permission (translation via Google translate)…,anquan boldin jersey 365djerseys.com C5; The star closer Fernando Rodney made ??the decision to represent the country in the World Baseball Classic and has two months preparing it.?”,fitzgerald jersey;I want to represent the country, will be a pleasure to be there with the Dominican uniform,cheap jaguars nike jerseys 365djerseys.com S6,”; said Rodney,Cheap Patrick Willis Jersey, who was in Chosen the roster for the game Sunday against the Stars. Response to the question about the permission of the [Tampa Bay Rays],broncos jerseys, Rodney was clear. “To represent the country does not need permission,”; said the native of Samana to emphasize its decision. Obviously if Major League Baseball is going to allow players to participate in the WBC, teams cannot keep players from choosing to play (outside of existing injury concerns). But you can imagine that most teams are probably strongly discouraging the participation of their pitchers. And one of the Rays’ most important pitchers is going to be pushing himself hard when most other pitchers are just easing into shape.

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: Twin Killings. With the bases loaded and only 1 out, Evan Longoria took a sharp grounder and instead of going home for the easy out, he went to second to barely get the lead runner and Reid Brignac turned under enormous pressure to get the second out at first. Might have been the most dramatic doubleplay we have ever see…Joaquin Benoit. We have said this before, but we can’t help but think that Benoit is to Mariano Rivera what Rafael Soriano is to John Wetteland what the 2010 Rays are to the 1996 Yankees. Go ahead,cheap falcons nike jerseys, let Soriano get all the glory. Benoit will get all the big outs. And Benoit has the better chance of being back next year…Joe Maddon. With 2 outs in the 7th and the tying run on 2nd, Joe Maddon had Randy Choate intentionally walk Miguel Cabrera to put he tying run at 3rd base. JoeMa then went to Grant Balfour who got Brennan Boesch to strike out to end the inning,Cheap Chicago Bears Jerseys. Sweet,cheap patriots nike jerseys. Fancy. Moses! THE BAD: The Offense: Two wins and it is easy to overlook the struggles of the offense. In 16 innings so far in this series,cheap lions nike jerseys 365djerseys.com K4, the Rays have 8 hits. Luckily one was a Matt Joyce grand slam and another was a Carlos Pena 2run home run,cheap new york knicks jerseys 365djerseys.com B3. THE TELLING: Carl Crawford stole 3 bases and now has 399 for his career. Will ESPN break to Rays games each time CC gets on base until he steals #400?…Joe Maddon is now 388388 as a manager, although we are not sure why that includes 29 games as the Angels interim manager and the 2 wins against the Marlins in ’06 when he was away at his wife’s graduation. WHERE THEY STAND: The Rays are 6336, 2 games behind the Yankees in the East and 5 games ahead of the Red Sox in the Wild Card. After 99 games in 2008, the Rays were 5841. THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA… DOWN ON THE FARM…

. This is what drives us absolutely nuts about the local coverage of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. We stayed up late last night and caught every pitch of the Rays 89th loss of the season. We went to bed frustrated with the offense, but content that Jason Hammel had pitch well and has shown improvement in his last four starts. Then we wake up this morning to headline in the St. Pete Times… “,phoenix suns jerseys 365djerseys.com Z3;Bangedup Rays waste Hammel’s latest gem” Now..instead of feeling good about Hammel’s performance we now feel compelled to explain to Marc Topkin and the editors of the Times why Hammel’s performance was far from being a “;gem”. Instead of feeling good about his start, we now have to point out the faults. Is this what we have been reduced to as fans of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays? Has the pitching been so bad that when somebody other than Scott Kazmir or James Shields allows 2 runs over 6 innings,49ers jerseys 365djerseys.com X7, we are supposed to be giddy? We hope that Jason Hammel does not read the St. Pete Times,cheap whitney mercilus jersey. If he does, he might actually be content with his performance last night, and not see that there is still plenty of room for improvement. We understand that a lot of times, wins and losses are out of the control of the starting pitcher, but when it comes down to it, there is one stat that counts from last night’s start…,Ravens Jerseys On Sale;L. As in Hammel lost. The Devil Rays lost. If a team is going to only score 1 run, then the pitcher needs to find a way to keep the other team off the board. If he can’t? Let’s just say we are not about to start calling him Tom Seaver. Now there is a guy that threw some gems. Bangedup Rays waste Hammel’s latest gem [] DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA… Boras says the DRays basically got a $15MM season for the cost of $1.2MM and also takes some digs at the franchise. But it’s disingenuous to imply that a fourthyear player should be earning free agent prices. That ain’t the way it works. Albert Pujols earned $7MM in his fourth year, which seems like some kind of record. Jason Bay is earning $3.25MM in his fourth year. Matt Holliday is at $4.4MM. I could make a laundry list of young players who are huge bargains because of baseball’,Ravens Jerseys;s pay scale. Hanley Ramirez is making $402,000 this year…Pena reaches free agency after the 2009 season, and Marc Topkin says the Rays have already begun discussions on a three or fouryear deal. If the Rays are to buy out a year or two of free agency, those might cost $1215MM each. More likely, the team just goes to arbitration with him twice and trades him in a summer of ’09 blockbuster (assuming he remains a 40 HR threat).

. Mitch Talbot only allowed 1 hit in 4 scoreless innings, but was pulled after a raindelay…Steve Andrade make his first appearance for the Bulls since being promoted from Montgomery, gave up 5 runs in 1 inning after the delay…Reid Brignac has been moved up to the 5th spot in the lineup and went 03 with a walk…Joel Guzman was 14. Elliot Johnson had a double and an RBI…Ben Zobrist has yet to play for the Bulls since being demoted. Of course the Bulls have a pretty decent shortstop already. . This was the Biscuits’ 5th straight loss. Jake McGee went 7 innings and gave up 4 runs to drop to 53. He allowed to solo home runs to Cameron Maybin. McGee struck out 7 and walked 1…,Alex Smith Jersey;Rhyne Hughes finished 35 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI,Comparing PECOTA Projections To Vegas Over Unders Rays Index. ,ryan jersey. Desmond Jennings made his first start of the year and homered in his first at bat. He finished 14…Ryan Morse started for the DRays and gave up 5 runs in 4 innings…Wade Townsend pitched 2 innings in relief,Wholesale Kevin Kolb Jersey, giving up 2 hits and no runs,cheap indiana pacers jerseys 365djerseys.com K5. He struck out 1. . This was the Catfish’ 10th straight loss…Brian Flores started and gave up 11 hits and a walk in 4 innings which led to 5 runs (4 earned)…Mike McCormick was 24 and hit his 3rd home run, a solo shot. NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

“That’,cheap manning jersey 365djerseys.com L6,los angeles lakers jerseys;s an interesting suggestion.” That was St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster’;s response when told that a Hillsborough County Commissioner proposed trading a big chunk of Tampa’;s cruise industry for the Tampa Bay Rays. It was also the most positive thing we have ever heard Mayor Foster say about the Rays stadium situation. We have long suggested that St. Pete would need something tangible to loosen their grip on the Rays, rather than just a big fat check. We had proposed moving the Rays’; tripleA operations to St,miami heat jerseys 365djerseys.com H6,griffin iii jersey. Pete. But the cruise industry makes more sense. … Within the next five years or so, most of the midsize cruise ships that currently service the Tampa port will be switched to the new megaships. They are too tall to fit through the 182.5 feet available under the Skyway bridge to get to the current terminal near Channelside in Tampa…Officials have to come up with some way to accommodate the larger ships or risk losing the cruise business altogether. One suggestion has a new terminal being built west of the Skyway on land that is still technically within Hillsborough County. However, because of the location, most tourists would choose to stay in St. Pete before and/or after their trip. Elizabeth Behrman and Bill Varian,New Orleans Saints Jerseys, a decision must be made on the cruise industry in the next five years. Meanwhile, a decision on the Rays probably needs to be made in the next 1218 months.

The Rays have an attendance problem. Most people outside of the Bay Area blame that problem on a lack of fan support. However, there has been some speculation recently that the Rays attendance numbers would look much better if they received the same amount of corporate support that other teams receive. We first heard this argument last week on . And then we saw it a few days later in . The case goes like this: In their final report, The ABC Coalition noted that for every two seasontickets the Rays sell to regular fans, they sell one seasonticket to a business. However, the average in Major League Baseball is actually four corporate seasontickets for every two seasontickets sold to fans. Toby David of 1010 Sports speculated that the Rays have a seasonticket base of 9,000. That would mean 6,000 seasontickets are purchased by fans and 3,000 purchased by businesses. If the Rays were selling the typical amount of tickets to corporations (twice as many as fans), the Rays should actually be selling 12,000 seasontickets to businesses, or 9,000 more tickets per game than what they are selling now. In other words, if the Rays continued to receive the same support from fans, but the corporate support was the same as what other teams receive, Rays attendance would be about 29,000 per game. That would be 15th in Major League Baseball, and all of a sudden the talking heads no longer have anything to bitch about. Romano used a lower number, speculating that the seasonticket base is actually 6,000 (4,000 fans, 2,000 corporate). Using his numbers, businesses should actually be buying 8,000 seasontickets, or 6,000 more than they are now. That would make the Rays attendance about 26,000 per game, 18th in baseball. Still pretty good. The arguments are sound. But there might be a problem. First of all, we don’t know what the seasonticket sales look like now. The Rays have never released the numbers. But more importantly, we may be placing too much trust in the numbers from The ABC Coalition. The ABC group was tantalizingly vague when they presented their research… Typically, twothirds of MLB season tickets are purchased by corporations and onethird by individuals…However, only onethird of the Rays’ current season ticket holders are corporate, in reverse proportion to the typical MLB team. If the rays total seasonticket base were at MLB average levels, ticket revenue would not be a significant problem. First of all, where did this information come from? Considering the Rays have never released their seasonticket sales figures, the ABC group either went seattoseat at the Trop, or they got the numbers from the Rays or Major League Baseball. That raises a red flag. But more importantly, what are the actual numbers, and how were they compiled? In the above statement, the ABC group uses the word “typically” and later says “average.”,Kansas City Chiefs Jerseys; Those two things are not necessarily the same. In fact, we would be surprised if they were the same. Hypothetically, let’s say the ABC group weren’t just told this by somebody in Major League Baseball (the lack of actual data suggest they were). Let’s say they had the actual hard data. The data are going to be heavily influenced by the bigmarket teams whose seasontickets, and corporate support, dwarf other teams. Teams like the Yankees and Mets. Their numbers may be so high,cheap new orleans hornets jerseys, that the average is actually much higher than what is “typical.”,Wholesale J.J. Watt Jersey 365djerseys.com H2; And if the numbers are indeed skewed towards the bigmarket clubs, then “typical” corporate support for small and midmarket teams might actually be much less than the 2to1 ratio of support presented by the ABC Coalition,[THE HANGOVER] Edwin Jackson Quits When It Matters Most Rays Index. So let’s split the two figures proposed earlier and say the Rays have a seasonticket base of 7,500. That would be 5,000 tickets purchased by fans and 2,500 by businesses. Now let’s guess that the typical ratio in a nonbigmarket city is 1to1. That means the Rays should be selling 2,500 more tickets,Cheap tom brady jersey, which would raise their average attendance to 22,500, 25th in baseball. And all of a sudden it doesn’t seem like that big of a difference. This doesn’t mean David or Romano are wrong, or that our numbers are any better. And we can all agree that the Rays lack of corporate support does hurt attendance. Our point is only that we don’t know how much better attendance would be, because the ABC group was very vague with their presentation. And we have a feeling that the ABC group was vague because the people who gave them the information were also vague. It is our experience that when people are vague it is either because they think their audience is dumb, or they are hiding something. Take your pick.