The Rays

I blame 95% of Monday nites loss on Joe Maddon. He did what he has been doing of late, leaving the starting pitcher in too long. On Monday Wade Davis had 6 strong innnings. He only gave up one run. The Rays bullpen is one of the best in the league. It is a lot easier to get one run than it is to get four. But no he starts Davis in the 7th and when Choate does come in he has two on already, rather than letting him or Quails start with the bases empty. If you have 9 outs to get one to tie you can do different things. Now regarding the number of folks that came to the game, 12,000+. Before the homestand I believe that it was announced that the payroll was going to be cut for 2011. Now that is a great way to get fans to go to the remaining games. Now I think that it is known that I am not a Yankee fan but at least the owner of THAT TEAM puts money into the team so that they have a good 25 players to represent the city.UC157Larry

Tampa Bay Rays

It seems to me that neither the Rays or that other team, the Yankees want to win the Eastern Division of the American League. I am not sure that Maddon wants to win the division. Granted Longo is hurt a little, but I think he should play the guys who are hitting. Navarro is not hitting his hat size. In the game yesterday, Wilson is a dead fastball hitter. Shields was doing very well with his change. Kelly calls a fast ball, bam! game over. Not only that he is a first ball hitter. I blame not in this order, Shields, the catcher and Maddon. Seven games to righten the ship. UC157 Larry

Tampa Bay Rays

I have been a fan of the Rays forever. I have heard manager Joe Maddon say quite a few times that no lead is safe in the American League East. However the last few games that the Rays were getting blown out he pulled some of the starters. I recall in 2008 they were a exciting team as they came from behind a lot. Last night why did he wait so long to come out and get Jeff Nieman. He pitched well for 5 innings. Considering what happened his last start manager Joe should have been watching him closely. Would the outcome have been different. Hard to say, but don't let him get pounded like that. As it could carry over to his next start. The head of a pitcher is a strange bird. There are a lot of pitcher can forget about a bad outting and go on with the next game some can't. I am not a bandwagon type fan, win or lose, they are mine. UC 157 Larry