Tampa Bay Rays-2010

Oops, the fat lady has finished her song. Now all this writer can do is hope that the Texas Rangers open up a big and I mean big can of whip ass. uc157Larry

The Rays

Good morning. There has been a lot of comments on the sports radio shows concerning what is wrong with the Rays.Some good points one being the hitting coach. Seems to me he is not doing his job. They are taking too many pitches. The first pitch from the Texas pitchers have been in the strike zone. They know that the Rays are taking the first pitch, might as well throw it in the zone. They are going to take it anyway. They have scored 800 runs but most of them were before they started looking for walks. When you are behind 0-1 or 0-2 than the opposing pitcher can play around with you and let you swing at crap in the dirt or way out of the zone, they you have to protect the plate. That being said, I will still pull for them, but I am sorry, just as my Dodgers were in the habit of saying every time the dreaded Yankees would beat them in the World Series, "Wait till next year", but I am afraid that next year for the Rays will be long time cominig. They are going to lose Carl Crawford and their set up guy for Soranio. Have a nice day.UC157Larry

Tampa Bay Rays

I have been thinking about what you say about the Rays. How can a team that has won 96 games look so bad. The first game of the playoffs against Texas, Maddon had the favorite Rocco playing. What??? Played it 10 games all year. He is a great guy however, great personalities don't win playoff games. What about James Shields as the game two starter, he has not had a good season, let alone a good second half. Yeah Garza should have started the second game. But even if he had started brings to mind what happened happened to the Dodgers years ago, Don Drysdale was told that Koufax pitched a no hitter, Don said "yeah, did he win?" Why aren't the Rays hitting. Could be they are thinking about what the owner said about cutting the payroll next year. Have a good weekend, ye ole baseball fans.UC157Larry

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

New kid on the block

Major league debuts are always a good time, and we've had a whole lot of exciting ones this season. Enter, Jeremy Hellickson. The 23-year-old right-hander has been clamoring for a shot at the big leagues all season while posting some rather gaudy numbers at Triple-A Durham. On Monday against the Twins, he got that shot. Hellickson fired seven innings of two-run ball and struck out six batters to earn a win in his first appearance with the Rays. He was optioned back to Durham immediately after the start and will only be recalled as a reliever -- if he's recalled at all -- but keeper league owners got their first taste of what's to come and it sure went down smoothly. Like most of Tampa's youngsters, he will be a major factor in fantasy leagues for a long time to come.

I watched this game, for being only 23 years old he seems to have a lot of poise. The really good part is that he is not afraid to go inside and challenge the big boys. Add this kid to the Rays already great young staff in the years to come they will be tough.UC157Larry

Thriple Crown????

Elite sluggers racing toward Triple Crown

It's been 43 years since a hitter claimed the Triple Crown -- will 2010 be the year to end the drought? With the 81st All-Star Game in the books and the second half under way, four sluggers remain in contention to lead their respective league in batting average, home runs and RBIs. It's no surprise that each plays on a team making a serious playoff push. Amid a monster offensive campaign, first baseman Miguel Cabrera is perhaps the strongest candidate, driving in runs in bunches and batting well above his .313 career mark as the Tigers battle the Twins and White Sox for AL Central supremacy. Left fielder Josh Hamilton's unbelievable June -- during which he compiled a .454 average, nine homers and 31 RBIs -- propelled the Rangers to a sizable lead in the AL West, and little has changed since. Albert Pujols is once again posting MVP-caliber numbers in St. Louis, but he may not even be the best first baseman in his division this year; the Reds' Joey Votto has emerged as an elite player, hitting for both average and power as Cincinnati and the Pujols' Cardinals slug it out down the stretch. UC157Larry

Home Run Derby

last week's action is any indication of how tonight's Home Run Derby is going to go, then the action should be spectacular -- even without the likes of Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder and Josh Hamilton.

Provided you turn the volume down on the remote, of course.

Why do I say so? A total of 243 homers were hit across the majors last week. The Chicago White Sox hit 16, with Carlos Quentin hitting six. The Blue Jays also hit 16 homers, which should come as no surprise.

Four other players hit five homers last week, including Adam Dunn, Matt Holliday, Buster Posey and Jayson Nix.

As a result, some outrageous totals could be seen across H2H leagues. My team hit a season-high 19 homers (thanks to Dunn and Posey). Senior Editor George Winkler went up against a 29-homer barrage (thanks to Dunn, Holliday and Lance Berkman).

It serves as another reminder that we're not totally re-visiting the "Dead-Ball Era" quite yet. It has always been my belief that home runs and RBIs are the keys to a fantasy championship. Now is the right time to make sure you have enough power reserved for the second half.

As for tonight's derby, I'll take Holliday. As for Tuesday's game I will take the American League winning it in the ninth with David Price the winning pitcher and Evan Longoria the MVP. With the exception of the comments on the All Star Game the rest is from Fantasy Source. UC157 Larry

All Star game fast approaching

Lost in the shuffle of a billion All-Star snub articles, Rays closer Rafael Soriano has quietly put together a fantastic first half this season. Through 32 appearances and 22 save opportunities, the Dominican-born rigthy has a 1.42 ERA, a 0.76 WHIP and 21 successful saves. He's not fanning batters at the ridiculous rate that we saw last year in Atlanta, but 28 strikeouts against 5 walks is not half-bad. Soriano was traded to Tampa Bay this offseason after controversially accepting arbitration from the Braves and has been a lightning bolt at the back end of the second-place Rays' bullpen.

Suspended Carlos Zambrano should take some of the big bucks and enroll in a anger mangement class. Or better yet look for a different line of work. I hope that your favorite teams have done well the first half of the baseball season. Strange game has been on TV, everyone kicking a white ball around, some games going for 90 minutes without a score. I have been told golf is boring. Take care out there. UC157Larry