According to Matt Eddy of Baseball America (),cheap andre johnson jersey, the Rays have signed Jesus Feliciano,Ponder finding his comfort zone - JSOnline, Will Rhymes, and Romulo Sanchez to minor league deals. It is not mentioned in the report, but we assume all three will be invited to spring training. [UPDATE: Marc Topkin confirms that all three will be invited to spring training] Rhymes, a second baseman, has played parts of the last two seasons with the Detroit Tigers,cheap arian foster jersey, hitting .283 with a .341 OBP and a .333 wOBA in 83 games,cheap vikings nike jerseys,cheap minnesota timberwolves jerseys 365djerseys.c. He will be 29 this season. Feliciano played 54 games with the New York Mets in 2010, hitting .231 with a .276 OBP. He split the 2011 season between doubleA and tripleA, hitting .268 with 4 home runs and 7 steals. He can play all three outfield positions. Sanchez, a righthanded reliever, appeared in two games with the Yankees. He previously played with the Pirates in 2007 and 2008. He spent the 2011 season in Japan.

With the recent signings of Rafael Soriano, Chad Qualls and Grant Balfour, the Rays are now up to 10 picks before the second round and 12 of the top 100 in this year’s amateur (Rule 4) draft. Here is are those picks currently. All of the picks could still slide down as other free agents sign with new teams… FIRST ROUND 24 (from Red Sox, Crawford) 31 (from Yankees, Soriano) 32 (Own) SUPPLEMENTAL ROUND 38 (Supplemental, Crawford) 41,Cheap Cincinnati Bengals Jerseys?(Supplemental, Soriano) 42?(Supplemental, Balfour) 52?(Supplemental, Benoit) 56?(Supplemental, Choate) 59?(Supplemental, Hawpe) 60 (Supplemental,cheap cleveland cavaliers jerseys, Qualls) SECOND ROUND 78 (from A’s, Balfour) 93 (Own) Many have wondered aloud if the Rays can afford to sign that many high draft picks. But without a pick in the top 10,cheap falcons jerseys 365djerseys.com Z6, the cost of these players should still be within the Rays’ tight budget. Either way, the 2011 draft is going to be a lot of fun,cheap bears jerseys 365djerseys.com C5. Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus calculated the cost and based on comparable picks from last year’s draft, the Rays will only be responsible for . And as we have stated in the past, the Rays can also use the plethora of picks as a negotiating advantage,cheap phoenix suns jerseys. Even if the Rays don’t sign 23 of the players, it will still be a huge draft haul in a deep draft. So the Rays will have some freedom to play the takeitorleaveit card as needed.

Talk about hedging one’s bets… spends most of his latest column, “Don’t expect Rays to rise again in 2009,” comparing the Rays to the ‘08 Rockies.. [The Rays] won with a smattering of veterans among an overwhelmingly young and inexperienced roster…At least on those levels, the 20082009 Rays most closely parallel the 200708 Rockies,cheap seahawks nike jerseys, which of course, isn’t a good thing. the ‘06 Tigers… …quality young pitching that appears set for a long run of success rarely pans out. Injuries, lack of consistency and underachieving too often get in the way…Just ask the Tigers, the last example. reminding us what division the Rays play in… But you also know where the Rays reside — and we’re not talking about The Trop. That would be in the AL East, where they still are dwarfed payrollwise by the Yankees and Red Sox, and where repeating doesn’t get any more difficult. and finally warns of an emotional letdown, again comparing the Rays to the Rockies… And, the Rays will have to figure out how to cope with the inevitable emotional letdown that follows pulling off the miraculous. Just ask the Rockies about that one,Cheap Atlanta Falcons Jerseys,Seahawks 20, Rams 13 by the numbers HeraldNet.com - Seattle Sidelines. At this point we are about to throw up on our pancakes waiting for DeMarco to project the Rays to win 6070 games,joe flacco jersey. So how does DeMarco feel the Rays will do in 2009? No, the Rays aren’t the Rockies. But they aren’t likely to get back to the World Series, either. Something in between seems most logical — something around 90 wins, and only a ‘maybe’ on another postseason appearance. Fudge the heck?!? After riping the Rays apart for 21 paragraphs, calling them a paper tiger, comparing them to two teams that averaged 81 wins, reminding us how the Yankees and Red Sox are so much awesomer than the Rays and telling us that the Rays won’t be able to handle the emotional letdown, DeMarco now says the Rays will win 90 games in the toughest division in baseball and “maybe” make the playoffs. Of course, we expect nothing less from somebody that was . Don’t expect Rays to rise again in 2009 [] Good News! Found a New Moron,Bengals weigh in on BCS title game Bengals Blog. []

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. Game Graph…,Steelers postseason history Dec. 31; [Will be up at game time] Source: Playing A Little Pepper…; If the Rays are playing a onegame Wild Card playoff and both David Price and James Shields is available, who gets the start? I would be happy with either, but for one game,orakpo jersey, I want David Price. And one of the biggest reasons is that I will know right away if Price is on his game. Shields’,wholesale andre johnson jersey; meltdowns tend to come at unexpected moments when 2 runners are on and all of a sudden he hangs a changeup that is morphed into a 400foot home run. With Price,Cheap Seattle Seahawks jerseys, if he looks strong in the first inning, I know he’;ll bring 6 strong innings. At that point, pull him and let the bullpen do their thing…;KING DAVID Lineup…,cheap cardinals nike jerseys 365djerseys.com P6; Song to get you pumped up…;

If you have been hanging around these parts for a while, you know that the model for this site is to tell you what the Rays have done,Babineaux wants to stay with Titans Titans Insider, what they are doing and try to project what they will do based on what we have learned. Think of RI as “Tampa Bay Rays 101.” However, for the next 12 days we will step away from the standard, and we present to you 12 “presents” the Tampa Bay Rays should give to their fans. Looking back at , we see that many of our wishes came true (including that sweet nohitter), and the result was another division title. Without further ado… On the third day of Raysmas, the Tampa Bay Rays gave to us,los angeles lakers jerseys 365djerseys.com N1, THREE AllStars… Last year, the Rays had four AllStars. One of those players (Carl Crawford) is gone. And another (Rafael Soriano) is not likely to come back. The other two (Evan Longoria, David Price) are good bets to be in the AllStar game for years to come. But if the Rays are going to contend in 2011, they will need at least one other player to perform above their expectations and have a careeryear,Jacksonville Jaguars Jersey. Whether it is another starting pitcher (James Shields or Matt Garza) or Ben Zobrist showing some of his 2008 power or BJ Upton becoming a more consistent hitter,cheap cowboys nike jerseys, the Rays need somebody to step up. If the Rays have any hope of contending in 2011,cheap cardinals nike jerseys, they need one player to rise up and play AllStar caliber baseball.

Tampa Bay Rays (34 days until Opening Day) For those that do not follow the comments sections, let us clarify . There are reasons to sign Bonds and there are reasons not to sign Bonds. We understand both sides of the argument. In fact, we believe the Rays would be a better baseball team with Bonds. And in all probability the Rays would sell more tickets and make more money with Bonds. However, our argument has never been about “should they” or “shouldn’t they”. We are just saying the Rays won’t. Signing Bonds would go against everything the Rays front office has done in the past twoplus years. They traded last year’s headaches, Elijah Dukes and Delmon Young. They dropped the term ‘Devil’ because some people reacted negatively. Free agent signings have filled needs, not wants. But most importantly, the Rays like to speak of their new ‘brand’ (new nickname, logos and colors). The team has gone to great lengths to promote the new brand in a positive light. It doesn’t seem very likely that they are going to want America’s first experience with that brand to be in the form of Barry Bonds. The Rays have a plan,Washington Redskins Jerseys. The plan is working. Now can we please get back to talking about the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays? Yes? Good. DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA… Beginning in spring training last year, the Rays set about to revamp Brignac’s throwing motion. A tall, rangy shortstop whose build recalls Cal Ripken Jr., Brignac was in the habit of delivering his throws straight over the top,cheap brian cushing jersey. That’s what you want from an outfielder, which Brignac was in high school until his senior season, but not ideal for an infielder. “You can’t teach hands or anything like that, but they did a great job of getting me where I needed to be to be successful,” Brignac said. “You can either take that and run with it or you can try and do your own thing, and nine times out of 10, if you listen to the advice that has been given to you and the coaching that has gone on and run with it, you learn a lot. You get better.”,Minnesota Vikings Jerseys 365djerseys.com U2; Brignac certainly did. He had committed 19 errors, most of them with his arm rather than his glove, in his first 90 games for the Biscuits. He committed only three more miscues in his final 43 games. “He’s going to be fine,” said Jason Bartlett, the Rays’,fitzgerald jersey; new shortstop. “Everybody makes a big deal about it, but he’s an athlete. … I don’t think it’,saints jerseys 365djerseys.com S3;s going to be a problem at all.” “He’s doing great,” Foley said. “There are some little things he has to do to help him out, but as far as fundamentals, he’s doing great. “Aki’s a great athlete and seems to have a real good grip on second base already,” Foley said. “It’s just a matter of playing games. When you go from one side of the diamond to the other side, and all of a sudden, you get a ball in the gap: What are your responsibilities? Those things have to be reactionary once the season starts.”

If you have been hanging around these parts for a while, you know that the model for this site is to tell you what the Rays have done,Cheap Buffalo Bills Jerseys, what they are doing and try to project what they will do based on what we have learned. Think of RI as “Tampa Bay Rays 101.”,cheap jets nike jerseys; However, for the next 12 days we will step away from the standard, and we present to you 12 “presents” the Tampa Bay Rays should give to their fans. Looking back at , we see that many of our wishes came true (including that sweet nohitter), and the result was another division title. Without further ado… On the first day of Raysmas, the Tampa Bay Rays gave to us, ONE $5 million hitter… When we put together the , we saw a team with very good starting pitching and a bullpen that may not be as good as last year, but won’t lose a lot of games either. But more importantly, we saw a team that is going to lose a lot of 42 ballgames. The offense is a big concern right now. Evan Longoria will be great. Supporting him will be BJ Upton and Ben Zobrist, both of whom should be good. But neither is the offensive threat that Carl Crawford was all the time or Carlos Pena was when he was hot. What this team needs is a professional hitter. A veteran that will come prepared everyday to do his job,cheap philadelphia 76ers jerseys. And he needs to play first base,jets jerseys 365djerseys.com G4, outfield, DH or some combination of those positions. There are a number of veteran free agents available that can probably be had for around $5 million. And as we saw in the , the Rays can afford a $5 million bat,cheap new orleans hornets jerseys 365djerseys.com G8. The two at the top of our wishlist are Jim Thome and Johnny Damon (however there are certainly other names we would be happy with). The rest of the lineup is flexible enough that either player can be worked in at DH and occasionally in the field. And both would be worth 23 wins over the course of a full season. Add one of those players and the offense still isn’t great. But it would be significantly better. And we would sleep a little better at night.

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: Playing the Game the Right Way. On Monday, Evan Longoria was hit by a pitch. Last night in the 3rd inning, Joba Chamberlain sailed a ball at Evan’s head,wholesale patrick peterson jersey 365djerseys.com. It missed. In the 5th inning Matt Garza plunked Mark Teixeira. No benchclearing brawl. No yelling from the dugouts. And that was the end of it…Evan Longoria. Dirtbag homered for the 5th time in 16 games. Of course it was in the 9th inning with the score 60, but at least somebody did something. THE BAD: Big Mouth,cheap packers jerseys. Sticking up for your players is great, but keep your damn mouth shut. Everybody knows Matt Garza hit Mark Teixeira on purpose. Garza doesn’t need to ,cleveland cavaliers jerseys. Because now it is going to cost him his next start because the league will have no choice but to suspend him. JUST. SHUT. UP,cheap dolphins nike jerseys 365djerseys.com J9!…Pat Burrell. Pat the Rally Killer left 2 more runners on base and went 04 with 3 strikeouts. And yes, we are now officially picking on Burrell. Sue us. He deserves it…Uniting Yankees Fans. For a while now,Cheap Carolina Panthers Jerseys, Yankees fans have been divided into two camps. Those that think Joba Chamberlain is a starting pitcher. And those that think he should be Mo Rivera’s setup guy and closerinwaiting. Last night he was both a starter and an 8th inning guy. Way to go Rays. Way to make him work. This was a guy that entered the game giving up about 1.4 baserunners per inning and the Rays could only muster 5 in 8 innings. If that had been a good pitcher, they might have been perfected again. THE TELLING: the Rays playoff chances are 11.4% and falling. SUNBURST PLAYER OF THE GAME: Evan Longoria DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

Time to bring back the GBT –,New England Patriots Jerseys 365djerseys.com S7; The Good,Cheap J.J. Watt Jersey 365djerseys.com Q2,cheap cowboys jerseys, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe. THE GOOD: Matt Joyce. We still aren’t buying the idea that Joyce has a shot at making the team, but he did hit his first home run with the Rays, finishing 24…Gabe Gross. The guy standing between Joyce and an everyday job also hit his first home run of the spring two batters later. THE BAD: Andy Sonnanstine. The Duke did work 7 innings, but allowed 5 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks. He looked good until he gave up a 3run home run to Jason Varitek in the 7th…Grant Balfour,cheap superbowl ravens jerseys. The Mad Australian was the one relief pitcher who worried us with his workload in 2008 and he has yet to look good this spring. He gave 3 more runs (2 earned) and couldn’t get out of the 8th inning. THE TELLING: The lineup yesterday was a Bsquad, with not a single player that figures to be an everyday player during the season…,Philadelphia Eagles Jerseys;Today’s game at home against the Twins will be the Rays final spring game in Florida. They will play a pair of exhibition games on Friday and Saturday in Philadelphia against the WFC*. DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

Several veteran free agents have signed with the Rays this offseason and the common thread among several of them was that they were . [Adam Kennedy] could have gone with a team that had some uncertainty at second base, or one that trained close to his California home. But it was the Rays who were at the top of his list, even though they meet neither of those criteria…The reason? Joe Maddon…”One hundred percent,” Kennedy said. “It was pretty much all of it. Knowing how he goes about it and the relationship we’ve had, hopefully he was up for it, and they were.” Marc Lancaster’s piece goes on to mention that Pat Burrell was also drawn to the Rays by Maddon. Pat Burrell, a career National Leaguer,Browns finale, like season, just plain sad The Chronicle-Telegram - Lorain Countys leading news sou, had no firsthand knowledge of Maddon when he began exploring potential landing spots as a free agent this winter,cheap 49ers jerseys. But the more he asked around, the more he found everyone – “Everyone,julio jones jersey,The Hangover Dioner Navarro Should Stop Swinging From Both Sides Rays Index,” Burrell emphasized – who had dealt with Maddon recommending him,Cheap Colin Kaepernick Jersey. It was not that long ago that the Rays would have needed to outbid other teams for free agents, which just assured that they would not sign any free agents of importance. Even Bob Dylan couldn’t have seen times achangin’ this much. There are those that will contend that a baseball manager is the least important leadership position in sports, arguing that a team’ manager has little affect on the outcome of a game. For those people, we counter with exhibit A: Joe Maddon. Kennedy Made Positive Move [] DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

FIRST INNING A look back… The Rays called up Fernando Perez and John Jaso now that the rosters can be expanded…Where is David Price? Right now, Price is getting ready to pitch the opening game of the IL playoffs for the Bulls. But more importantly, the Rays do not have an immediate need for Price. The starting rotation is 5deep and the bullpen is about to get an extra arm in the form of Troy Percival. In addition, there is a nice gap between the Rays and the Red Sox and the Yankees are roadkill. So King David is not necessarily needed to slay Goliath. And with two players on the DL, the Rays still have the option of adding 2 players to the roster and still be eligible for the postseason. Joe Maddon did say callups would happen in two waves,Wholesale Ben Tate Jersey, with the second batch coming after Durham concludes their season. So we could see Price in a week or two, but we are still not convinced that will happen…NOT NEEDED SECOND INNING Headlines… With the Rays calling up Fernando Perez, John Jaso and Juan Salas…Are you surprised nobody else was called up? Even though the Rays could have added as many as 15 players, nobody ever expected more than 4 or 5. Still, we are not sure anybody thought it would be as few as 3. Even though his numbers were awful, we were surprised Kurt Birkins did not get the call to add a third lefty to the ‘pen, especially with JP Howell being scaled back to give his arm rest,cheap whitney mercilus jersey. And if not Birkins, why not another reliever? It was only a couple of weeks ago when Maddon had to use all 7 relievers in 1 game, leaving the bullpen depleted the next night…ONE MORE RELIEVER WOULD HAVE HELPED US SLEEP BETTER AT NIGHT THIRD INNING Headlines… The Rays decided to promote John Jaso instead of Mike DiFelice despite having an open slot on the 40man roster. The Rays then decided to release DiFelice…Was this the right decision? We said all along that our preference was to have DiFelice on the playoff roster in place of Shawn Riggans. But Maddon has confidence in Riggans, even though the only runner he has thrown out this season came on a missed hitandrun,Cheap Houston Texans Jerseys. The Rays say they chose Jaso because they do not plan to use the 3rd catcher as anything other than a lateinning pinchhitter. DiFelice was released so that he would have a chance to hook up with another club for the last month. Noble, but worrisome. What happens if Riggans or Dioner Navarro goes down with an injury? Jaso is all of the sudden the Rays backup catcher. What if Navi is the one to go down? The two catchers on the playoff roster would be Riggans and Jaso, both of whom are belowaverage defensively…NO FOURTH INNING Headlines… It has long been hoped that Evan Longoria would be back in time for the Yankees series. He will not play in this series and there is no word when he will return…Should we be worried? With the lead in the East and the comfortable lead over the teams in the Central, the Rays may just be holding off a few more days to make sure he is 100% and to make sure he does not aggravate the injury. On the other hand, wrist injuries are particularly fickle and there is a little worry the break is not healing as fast as the team originally hoped. If we do not see Longoria taking batting practice in the next couple of days, then he might not be back until the Rays next home stand which begins with the Red Sox on the 15th. And even then, this injury may leave Dirtbag with less power for the rest of the season…YES FIFTH INNING Headlines… [RAIN DELAY...Queue episodes of The Baseball Bunch] SIXTH INNING A look outside the box… With the Rays facing the roadkill Yankees…what other series this weekend should RAYSHEADS watch closely? There is no easy answer this week. First you have the Red Sox at home against Baltimore. Any win by the O’s in that series is bonus. So let’s look to the wild card. The Rays magic number to clinch at least a wild card berth is now 19. The Twins are in Toronto and the White Sox are in Cleveland,cushing jersey 365djerseys.com E4. We still think the White Sox will put away the division at some point, so any loss by the Twins is a game closer to clinching for the Rays…TWINS TORONTO SEVENTH INNING Over/Unders… 100 wins for the Rays… The Rays are now on pace to win 101 games and have a good shot to become the first team to ever have the worst record in baseball one season and then the best record in baseball the next season. Only one other team went from worst record to first place, the ’91 Twins, and only one team has ever gone from 95 losses to 95 wins, the DBacks in ’99. However, the schedule will not be kind to the Rays. Looking at the schedule, which includes 12 with the Red Sox and Yankees and 4 with the Twins, our best unbiased guess is 1512 down the stretch. That is 99 wins…UNDER 0.5 starts for John Jaso in September… If and when the Rays clinch the division (not just a playoff spot), look for many of the regulars to get a day off. And with Riggans playing a lot recently, that means Jaso could get a start that day, with Riggans splitting time with Dioner Navarro with the remaining games…OVER 1.5 wins for the Rays against the Yankees… This is not going to be easy. We don’,cheap Arizona Cardinals Jerseys 365djerseys.com O7;t trust the Rays young lineup against Mike Mussina tonight. Matt Garza might have to throw another shutout. Carl Pavano goes to the mound tomorrow and he has pitched well in his first two starts after missing nearly 4 years. Still, a tossup with the suddenly acelike Edwin Jackson going for the Rays. We feel better about Sunday. The key to us is tonight. If the Rays can get a win tonight, with a likely Red Sox win at home against the Orioles, that will be the final nail in the Yankees coffin. That would deflate the Yankees for the rest of the series. A win tonight and the Rays will sweep the series…OVER EIGHTH INNING On deck… of just the starting lineups in a game versus the Yankees. The starting 10 of each team was $7.6MM for the Rays and $127.7MM for the Yankees…With the Rays now sitting 12 games in front of the Evil Empire in the standings, how do the starting lineups compare now? NINTH INNING Putting out the fire… The Yankees will field a starting lineup tonight with a combined salary of $140MM…What happened to all the injuries Hank Steinbrenner was complaining about? In the Yankees defense, Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle and Lou Gehrig are unavailable tonight…WE REALLY HAVE NO IDEA The Red Sox schedule looks easier than the Rays…Will the Red Sox catch the Rays before the end of the season? The only way this happens is if the Red Sox win at least 5 of the headtohead matchups. Possible? Yes. Likely? No. The Twins and the White Sox are worried about each other. If the Red Sox put a few games between themselves and the wild card runnerup, we think they will ease up on the gas a bit…NO

Due to a number of unfortunate factors, we have yet to attend a Tampa Bay Rays game this season at The Trop. This bothers us to noend, especially everytime somebody bashes recent attendance figures. It has been difficult for us to remain quiet for the fear of sounding like a hypocrite since we are such big fans and yet we haven’t found our way back to St. Pete yet this season to support the boys. Well,chicago bulls jerseys 365djerseys.com E5, it is time to rectify this clusterf***,Cheap Colin Kaepernick Jersey. Sometimes the stars align in such a manner, that we all have to just sit back in awe and admire the power…In less than a month “Mrs,Ray Lewis career as a Baltimore Raven, year by year. - baltimoresun.com,schaub jersey. Professor” will officially become Mrs. Professor. A few of my close friends and I have been discussing how best to celebrate the end of my long and storied bachelorhood. Vegas was the consensus…”CLICHE!” I yelled. No. This was the perfect time to conduct a Hajj and journey to our Mecca…Mind you, I am the only Rays fan in the group, and I had to suffer through much whining, but the **** were kissed and backalley favors were conducted and the trip is now official. ROADTRIP TO THE TROP! And all RAYSHEADS are welcome to join us. WHEN: Saturday June 21. Rays v Houston Astros WHERE: Pregaming at (4 pm),los angeles lakers jerseys. Party Deck in left field during the game.

The RI Confidence Graph will appear every Monday and is a look at how much confidence we have in the Tampa Bay Rays at this moment,Ryan Jersey. The graph is designed to give us a look at how our emotional bias as Rays fans fluctuates through time,wholesale larry fitzgerald jersey 365djerseys.com,cheap broncos nike jerseys. The “confidence” in the team is an inexact measure of how we feel about the team’s current strength as well as how much confidence we have in the Tampa Bay Rays in the nearfuture. You can think of a “confidence” rating of 10 as an indication that we believe the team is “,los angeles lakers jerseys;playoffcaliber”,Arizona Cardinals Jerseys 365djerseys.com B8;. A rating of 0 is a strong indication that we need to start reevaluating the process that led to us becoming Rays fans…

. Ben Hendrickson gave up 2 runs in 4.2 innings…The Bulls had 2 hits, both singles. Both came in the 4th when Elliot Johnson scored on a Reid Brignac base hit. . After tying the game in the top of the 7th on a throwing error, the Bulls blew the game in the bottom half of the 7th on a suicide squeeze…JK Ryu allowed 3 runs in 5 innings…Still batting in the 8th hole, Reid Brignac was 04…Joel Guzman and Chris Richard were each 24. . James Houser was ejected after the fist pitch of the 2nd inning after hitting Matt LaPorta. LaPorta hit 3 home runs in the first 3 games of the series…Gabby Martinez and Erold Andrus hit home runs for the Biscuits. Andrus’ home run tied the game in the bottom of the 8th and then the winning run scored from 3rd base in the bottom of the 10 on a throwing error. . Heath Rollins stretched out his arm a bit, going 8 innings to pick up his first win of 2008 after setting the Rays organizational record for wins last year,Oakland Raiders Jerseys. He struck out 4 and walked none…,Cheap Chris Wells Jersey,miami heat jerseys 365djerseys.com V4;Garrett Groce was 24 and Ryan Royster was 14. Royster is hitting .213…Neil Walton was 34 with his 1st home run and he stole his 2nd base of the year. . Glenn Gibson took the loss, but had his best outing in the Rays organization allowing only 1 run on 2 hits in 6 innings. He struck out 4 and walked none…The Catfish managed only 4 hits, all singles. Only once did they get a runner to second base. NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM… As if the Rays need another stud pitching prospect, here comes Hellickson and his 412 KBB ratio in 29 innings…,dallas mavericks jerseys,cleveland cavaliers jerseys 365djerseys.com V6;The 6foot1 righthander has electric stuff and has had very good control since area scout Tom Couston signed him as a fourthrounder in 2005 out of an Iowa high school. Hellickson uses his terrific arm action to helps him generate plus velocity on his fastball, which is complemented by a curveball and a changeup.

Dan Johnson’s career stats with the Rays are the stuff of a classic fourA player*. In 81 career games with the Rays, Johnson is hitting .168 with 11 home runs. But sometimes, you just have to look beyond the numbers. And The Great Pumpkin’,cheap lions nike jerseys;s resume may be as impressive as anybody that has every worn a Rays uniform. That is four games and five home runs of epic importance,Cheap Chris Wells Jersey. We tend to think teams honor,cheap ed reed jersey 365djerseys.com A2?too many players and retire too many numbers. But there is something special about what Johnson has done for this franchise to help bring a level of respect to the team. A statue for Johnson seems extreme. But should the Rays retire his number when his career is over? Should the Rays created a monument dedicated to great moments in franchise history? We don’t know what the answer is,Bills Jerseys From china. But it seems like he should be honored in some way,49ers Smith Jersey 365djerseys.com H9. * A player too good for tripleA but not good enough for the majors

THE GOOD: The extrabase hits are coming more frequently for Carl Crawford,wholesale anquan boldin jersey. Last night CC drove in 5 with a pair of home runs,Cheap Chris Wells Jersey. He has 5 extrabase hits in his last 7 games after only having 1 in the 10 previous games. He also has 6 multihit games in his last 10…Every member of the Rays batting order scored a run in the Rays’ 10run 5th inning. THE BAD: Using headlines like “” or “” or “” one day after the Rays and Marlins played . Not to mention those headlines are just unoriginal…The Rays drew 9 walks but still struck out 10 times. The Rays are 4th in the AL with 551 Ks…With Jason Bartlett away to be with his expecting wife, Ben Zobrist made the start at short, fresh off the IL disabled list. In the first two innings he made 2 errors. THE TELLING: This was James Shields’ first win in 8 starts. Apparently he just needed a little run support…Has Ben Zobrist changed his stance since we saw him last? He is very upright, with an awkward lean that we don’t recall…The Rays now have a 4 game lead in the Wild Card race over the A’,dallas mavericks jerseys;s. Their magic number is 82. DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA… Maddon creates a productive environment for young players by giving them the freedom to fail, provided their mistakes are aggressive. He’s shown he won’t back down from the Yankees or the Red Sox, no matter how daunting their mystique, and lately it seems he’s had a knack for pushing the right buttons…Friedman is building an impressive body of work with assistance from consigliere Gerry Hunsicker. With the exception of Josh Hamilton’s departure through the Rule 5 draft,dolphins jerseys 365djerseys.com N7, it’s hard to find a blemish on his résumé. In the past year alone, Friedman has made moves to fortify the Tampa bullpen (Troy Percival), defense (shortstop Jason Bartlett), starting rotation (Garza) and bench (Gross and Willy Aybar). In Tampa these days, nobody is lamenting the departures of Delmon Young and Elijah Dukes…Three years into his tenure with Tampa Bay,Cheap San Diego Chargers Jerseys 365djerseys.com H, Friedman’s résumé is starting to look like one giant heist fest.

Once we get past the excitement of Rays fans over Evan Longoria’s new contract,patrick peterson jersey, and the jokes from other fans (“I was wondering who would be playing third base for the Brooklyn Rays in 2020″), the big question is: How can the Rays afford to give Longoria a $100 million contract extension? And the simple answer is “,Cheap New Orleans Saints Jerseys 365djerseys.com E6;television revenue.” First, there are the new national television contracts signed by Major League Baseball with Fox, TBS, and ESPN, which will . That is an extra $200 million over the next eight years alone. In addition, the Rays will also see a huge boost in local television revenue after . That’,cheap bills jerseys;s significant because Longoria’s new extension begins in 2017. And based on the Rays strong television ratings, and deals recently signed by MLB teams, the Rays’ next TV deal could be worth $50100 million per year*. That would be an increase of 150500% over the $20 million annually they are receiving now. So by 2017, the Rays total television revenue could be $150 million per year. That would be ~$100 million increase in revenue every year without selling any extra tickets. And just another reason why the attendance problem is overstated. In the end,Cheap Baltimore Ravens Jerseys, the extension makes perfect sense from a financial standpoint and should not be surprising. * This also makes me think the Rays have already had preliminary talks about a new local television contract. The Rays are very careful with their financials, and it would be surprising if they made a deal like this without at least have some confirmation about what their next TV deal will look like,Cheap Kansas City Chiefs Jerseys 365djerseys.com N6.

. Wes Bankston continues to hit the ball well since being promoted to Durham. Nobody has ever questioned that Bankston could hit the ball,Cheap Alex Smith Jersey 365djerseys.com T8. The question is whether his power will ever develop,2013 Super Bowl Jerseys. Last night he went 24 and hit a solo home run in the 2nd inning. It was only Bankston’s 3rd home run in 149 at bats since being promoted to Durham, and 7th home run all season. At 6′ 4″ and 200 pounds, the former 4th round pick (2002) is projected to be a good hitter with some pop, but despite a .302 average in AAA, the ball doesn’t jump off his bat…Delmon Young also went 24 and added his 56th RBI. Jason Hammel, was removed with 2 outs in the 3rd, with an undisclosed injury. He had yet to allow a hit. . We are starting to get downright giddy about Jeff Niemann. We had been trying not to be too excited about some of his early success, because we knew it would be a while before he was all the way back,julio jones jersey. Well he is starting to consistently dominate hitters and the team is starting to let him work deeper into games. Last night Niemann threw 7 shutout innings, giving up only 3 hits and 2 walks. He struck out 7. Jacksonville only threatened in the 5th when after a 1out double, a walk and a ground out, the Sun had 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs. Niemann was able to get the final out on a fly ball to right,cheap phoenix suns jerseys 365djerseys.com O8. He is now 45 on the season with a 3.00 ERA…Justin Ruggiano continues to look impressive with his new organization, going 25, with a 2run double in the 9th against his former team. It also says a lot that the team has Ruggiano hitting cleanup for a squad that features Reid Brignac, Evan Longoria, Patrick Breen and Eliot Johnson. Brignac went 13 with a double an RBI and 2 walks,wholesale ray lewis jersey. Longoria, again batted 5th and went 15 with an RBI. The Biscuits beat Spike Lundberg in this game. Lundberg was 131 with a 2.03 ERA before last night’s start.

One number that is starting to gain steam in baseball circles is VORP (Value Over Replacement Player), a stat invented by Keith Woolner of . Without boring you with all the brainsurgery math behind the number,cheap bills jerseys 365djerseys.com V3,cheap bears jerseys, we will just say that it measures the contribution of a player to the number of runs scored/allowed by the team. The idea being that if you replaced Player A with a fictitious Player B what would the difference in runs be over the course of a season. The replacement player is an average fielder and a belowaverage hitter/pitcher. let’s take a look at the eight worst VORP values for starting pitchers in the Major Leagues: Rank Pitcher Team VORP 1 Jeff WeaverSea 21,robert griffin iii jersey 365djerseys.com K4,san antonio spurs jerseys.8 2 Mark RedmanAtl 13.3 3 Jae SeoTB 11.4 4 Tony Armas, Jr.Pit 11.1 5 Rick Vanden HurkFla 10.8 6 Casey FossumTB 10.5 7 Kip WellsStL 10.5 8 Edwin JacksonTB 9.8 Three of the eight worst starting pitchers in baseball are Devil Rays. Combined the three pitchers have a VORP value of 31.7. In other words, the Rays could have signed three pitchers off the street before the season. Three pitchers that nobody else wanted, and the Rays would be on pace to allow approximately 30 less runs this season. Three bums from the alley would allow 32 less less runs than 60% of the Devil Rays starting rotation. And on the positive note,Cheap Cincinnati Bengals Jerseys, James Shields currently has the 11th best VORP in baseball (+16.9).

Barring a collapse of historic proportions, the Rays are going to the playoffs,indiana pacers jerseys 365djerseys.com F8. The only question that remains is whether they can fight off the Yankees for the division title. But winning the East may not necessarily be the best move for the Rays. As of today, the Twins and the Rangers hold big leads in their respective divisions. But more importantly, the Twins have a 1game lead over the Rangers for overall record,Cheap Kansas City Chiefs Jerseys. This is important, as the team with the better record at the end of the season will host the Wild Card winner in the ALDS,Cheap NaVorro Bowman Jersey 365djerseys.com S4. So which team would be a better firstround matchup for the Rays,ray rice jersey? Some things to consider… We are torn,Kansas City Chiefs Jerseys, but are leaning towards preferring to face the Twins. Which team would you prefer to face?