Matt Garza Done In By Long Ball In Cleveland

This just in; the crane that we used for the Matt Garza game day threads is listed as day to day with a mild wing sprain. There is no word if the crane will need to go on the DL and if a furry will need to be called up to replace it.

In all seriousness last night was just not a good game. From beginning to end the team just looked flat. I don't know if it was a hangover from the previous night's epic collapse or the loss of so many players in the past week, but the club just didn't have much fire. I'm sure it didn't help that they are stuck in their own house of horrors known as Progressive Field. The last time the Rays won a game in Cleveland, Seth McClung was their winning pitcher; that tells you it's been a looooong time.

2009 staff ace Matt Garza was ok on the mound. He wasn't particularly good, but he wasn't bad either. He gave up four runs on five hits with all four runs coming off three home runs. The good news is Garza struck out seven and walked none. The first home run came off the bat of Ryan Garko, who continues to haunt the Rays. In 93 career at-bats against the Rays, he is hitting .312/.369/.602 with six home runs. The six jacks mark the most vs. any non AL-Central opponent.

Garza was clearly frustrated after giving the home run to Garko and later in the game, Garko was hit by a Matt Garza pitch, but I doubt it was intentional. On a 3-2 pitch with two outs in the sixth, Garza drilled Garko in the back. The next batter, Mark DeRosa then hit an opposite field home run to make it 4-0. Intentional or not, it was the HBP that hurt Garza the most.

Overall Matt threw 66% of his pitches for fastballs averaging nearly 94 mph while maxing out around 96. True to form, Garza maintained velocity through out the game and had his best fastball after pitch 90. I did notice Garza did not throw as many sliders as normal, but threw a lot more curveballs. Now a few sliders could have been classified as curveballs, but for the most part there is about a 10 mph difference on the two pitches. Garza threw 22% curveballs and averaged a wonderful 17 mile difference from his fastball

Again, like the rest of the team it was just a meh performance. Carlos Pena provided the Rays only offense and Carl Pavano shut the team down with a fastball/changeup combo. Randy Choate fell on the sword and ate up the final two innings facing both left handed and right handed batters.To Choate's credit he allowed just one hit, however it was a solo home-run to right handed batter Kelly Shoppach. He did get two strikeouts.