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How are you feeling about the Rays?

Poll closes May 16, 2012.

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Tampa Bay Rays Roster

pitchers # Pos.
Burke Badenhop 31 P
Wade Davis 40 P
Jeremy Hellickson 58 P
J.P. Howell 39 P
Josh Lueke 52 P
Jake McGee 57 P
Matt Moore 55 P
Joel Peralta 62 P
David Price 14 P
Cesar Ramos 27 P
Fernando Rodney 56 P
James Shields 33 P
catchers # Pos.
Chris Gimenez 16 C
Jose Molina 28 C
Stephen Vogt 26 C
infielders # Pos.
Elliot Johnson 9 SS
Jeff Keppinger 7 2B
Carlos Pena 23 1B
Will Rhymes 10 2B
Sean Rodriguez 1 SS
outfielders # Pos.
Brandon Guyer 11 LF
Matt Joyce 20 RF
B.J. Upton 2 CF
Ben Zobrist 18 RF
designated hitters # Pos.
Luke Scott 30 DH

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bottom of the 8th 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R
Boston Red Sox 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0   1
Tampa Bay Rays 0 1 0 0 0 1 0   2

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GDT for 5/16/12: Now more than ever


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via cdn.sheknows.com

Ditto.


Cue "Brie Pottery Gif" in 3...2...1...

PS: She Knows! (.com)


If you see something during the game that would fit "This Week in Sun Sports," please help us out and tag it (#TWSS) in the GDT or email to ThisWeekInSS@gmail.com. (Include inning and outs if possible.)

867 comments  | 

The psychology of a fan is a tough egg to crack. We remember certain negative events very well, but smaller events -- even if they are consistent and common and positive -- can go unnoticed.

Jose Molina has been amazing at framing behind the plate this year. Say what you will about his inability to block pitches (which has rarely affected a game so far, IMHO) or his current lack of success against the stolen base (*glances at Jeff Niemann*), but he has CERTAINLY driven some hitters crazy. That much is undeniable.

about 4 hours ago Brad_tiny BWoodrum 3 comments

Moonlight Graham Is Back

via www.trbimg.com

He has a degree rather than medicine, but the closest thing baseball has to the fictional Moonlight Graham character in Field of Dreams is now a part of the Rays 25-man roster. Earlier today, the Rays traded Durham Bulls outfielder Kyle Hudson to the Phillies for veteran minor league outfielder Rich Thompson and have added him to the 25 man roster as his name appears on tonight's lineup card per Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times.

Thompson was drafted in the 2000 draft by Toronto and has but one major league plate appearance in his professional career and that came in 2004 as a Rule 5 player with the Royals. One of our readers pointed out that the plate appearance came against former Devil Rays catcher Tim Laker in a game whose winning pitcher was current television color analyst Brian Anderson.

He was returned to the Pirates a few days after that plate appearance and has remained in the minor leagues since that time. It has been a very long career for Thompson who is known for his baserunning as he has had quite a successful conversion rate throughout his career.

YearAgeTmLevPARSBCSBBSOBAOBPSLGOPS
2000 21 Queens A- 308 42 28 8 45 57 .262 .386 .349 .735
2001 22 2 Teams A+-AAA 575 95 44 12 48 84 .304 .371 .365 .736
2002 23 Tennessee AA 631 109 45 13 50 86 .280 .361 .329 .689
2003 24 3 Teams AA-AAA 456 69 48 7 28 55 .293 .362 .337 .700
2004 25 Nashville AAA 461 73 40 15 26 62 .287 .348 .404 .752
2005 26 2 Teams AA-AAA 502 67 58 8 39 72 .247 .325 .334 .659
2006 27 2 Teams AAA-AA 346 54 17 11 39 50 .291 .400 .408 .808
2007 28 Tucson AAA 367 60 15 2 28 49 .295 .360 .415 .776
2008 29 2 Teams AAA-AA 416 42 25 2 39 74 .265 .340 .381 .721
2009 30 Lehigh Valley AAA 493 69 26 4 38 73 .265 .334 .366 .700
2010 31 2 Teams AAA-AA 534 70 41 4 33 75 .284 .339 .382 .721
2011 32 Lehigh Valley AAA 490 81 48 4 37 84 .276 .354 .408 .762
2012 33 Lehigh Valley AAA 101 5 7 2 8 18 .307 .390 .398 .788
13 Seasons 5680 836 442 92 458 839 .280 .355 .371 .727
AAA (11 seasons) AAA 3413 463 256 48 262 507 .276 .349 .383 .732
AA (6 seasons) AA 1445 241 119 25 107 203 .283 .357 .347 .704
A- (1 season) A- 308 42 28 8 45 57 .262 .386 .349 .735
A+ (1 season) A+ 514 90 39 11 44 72 .311 .380 .374 .754
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/16/2012.

Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer had a great story on Thompson over the weekend that is a must read and helps put a nice framing on how special this roster move is for a player who has persevered in the minors a very long time waiting for another chance. In that story, he highlights this anecdote:

"It (a callup) would give a lot of validation to my rationale," Thompson said. "It obviously doesn't look like it's that realistic. It would give me some affirmation. But if you were to tell me I won't make it to the big leagues again, it's not like I would just leave. That doesn't drive it at all. By no means is anything I do in the big leagues from this point on going to change my life financially. You get called up for a month, it would be nice. Maybe I could buy a new car."

Who knows what the move will bring for the Rays, but a guy with 5,680 minor league plate appearances is back in the major leagues hoping to get his second career plate appearances and that elusive first major league hit at the young age of 33.

48 comments  | 

Enjoying Ben Zobrist's Odd Season

Photo

There aren't many players in baseball like Ben Zobrist. Sure, lots of players will hit roughly the same number of homers and drive in roughly the same number of runs and steal roughly the same number of bases, but few, if any, will do it with the defensive prowess of Zobrist. He's a gold glove caliber second basemen and an above average right fielder. He's also started at least one game at every position besides pitcher and catcher. How many players can say that? The Rays' Mr. Everywhere is having one of the stranger starts to a season that I can remember, and it's been a whole lot of fun to watch.

Continue reading this post »

26 comments  |  1 recs | 

Out goes Kyle Hudson, in comes AAA lifer Rich Thompson who has had quite the SB success rate in recent years.

UPDATE: According to Roger Mooney, Thompson is on the 25 man roster as he is listed on tonight's lineup card under extras but no official corresponding move has been announced yet.

about 9 hours ago Images_tiny Jason Collette 17 comments

Toughness Quantified!

This man is tough. (Photo by Brad White/Getty Images)

Over the past few years, advanced statistics have infiltrated baseball. Front offices are filled with Ivy League economists making decisions based on esoteric numbers, some fans think they’re smarter than players, and anyone brave enough to talk about intangibles gets mercilessly mocked on "blogs." What these nerds just don’t understand is that you can’t measure heart, scrappyness, grit, or toughness. Until now.

I’ve just invented a new metric that I think will accurately measure toughness in pitchers. It’s called Batters Retired On Broken Leg per Nine Innings, or BROBL/9. Currently, our very own Jeff Niemann leads the league this year with a BROBL/9 of .526. The league average, weighted by innings pitched is .002, and our sample has a standard deviation of .024. This means that Niemann is more than a full 21 standard deviations above average in BROBL/9.

And while the Rays pitching staff as a group sports a BROBL/9 significantly below Niemann, their .056 mark still leads the league. This is a testament to the Rays training staff, strength and conditioning staff, and Maddon’s motivational abilities.

Continue reading this post »

19 comments  |  1 recs | 

Down On The Farm: May 16

May 1, 2012; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Rays designator hitter Hideki Matsui addresses the media after he was signed to a minor league contract at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-US PRESSWIRE

Hideki Matsui's debut was uneventful, but Josh Sale's coming out party has continued.

Continue reading this post »

20 comments  | 

The Rays Tank: Let's Play Count The Injuries!

May 15, 2012; Toronto, ON, Canada; Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon (70) before their game against the Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-US PRESSWIRE

Injuries are a handy excuse to point to when a team is struggling, but the hard truth is that all teams have to deal with unfortunate injuries over the course of a season. Some teams get hit worse than others, but if a team manages to get through a year mostly unscathed, they have a huge advantage over most other teams (and also, everyone will want to hire away their training staff).

In recent years, it's always felt like the Rays have had rather good luck when it comes to injuries. That hasn't always been entirely true -- they've had to deal with missing Longoria for extended periods of time before -- but it's felt that way because the Rays have built their team with extra depth so that injuries don't hurt quite so bad. Sure, luck has still had its role in helping the Rays when times are toughest (remember Super Sam Fuld?), but they have been very intentional about planning well to cope with injuries.

This season, though, the Rays probably have the least amount of depth that they've had in recent years. Their top options in the minors are a far cry from last season's replacements of Alex Cobb, Matt Moore, and Desmond Jennings. And of course, they're having to cope with an impressive amount of injuries at the moment.

Quick trivia question: How many players are currently on the DL for the Rays right now? Anyone able to guess? The answer (and more) after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

101 comments  | 

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23 - 14

0

Won 3

126

AL East Standings

W L PCT GB STRK
Tampa Bay 23 14 .621 0 Won 3
Baltimore 23 15 .605 0.5 Won 1
New York 20 16 .555 2.5 Lost 1
Toronto 19 18 .513 4 Lost 3
Boston 17 19 .472 5.5 Won 5

(updated 5.16.2012 at 9:46 PM EDT)

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