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Kapler Continues Power Display In Win vs Nationals


Thank You, Gabe Kapler.

Kapler has taken a lot of grief this season, and it's mostly been justified.  His .610 OPS isn't going to cut it in the long run.  Kapler may still moved in some capacity at some point, but in his last three games he has been a big part of the Rays success. 

In last Monday's game at the Yankees Kapler hit his first home run as a Ray, a game tying two run homer off of Andy Pettitte.  It doesn't seem like much now because the Rays ended up losing that game, but at the time it was huge.  Kapler had been hitless in his previous 6 games before facing Pettitte that night.  Kapler's next game would be Friday night against the Nationals.  The game was knotted up 3-3 in the 8th inning when right handed Kapler was inserted as a pinch hitter to face the lefty Ron Villone.  After Nick Johnson somehow couldn't catch a foul ball that would have ended the inning, Kapler took the next pitch and drove it over the left field wall to give the Rays a 4-3 lead.  After giving the Nationals an early 4-0 lead the Rays put runners on second and third with one out in the 4th inning.  Kapler was next up and smacked a single into the left field scoring Pena and cutting into the Nationals lead.  The Rays would add another run in the inning to make it a two run deficit.  After a Gabe Gross walk in the 6th inning Kapler came to the plate as the tying run.  Naturally, the Hebrew Hammer took a pitch and hooked it just over the short wall in left field, tying the game up at 4 runs a piece. 

That's three home runs in his last three games.  All of which have either tied the game or put the Rays ahead.  Those three home runs don't totally wipe out his poor stats up to this point, but maybe they're an indication that he's heading in the right direct.  Kapler has traditionally been a slow starter.  His career OPS by month from April-June are .702, .735, .755.  I'm not saying he's going to put up a .755 OPS this month, but it's not impossible.  With the break out of Ben Zobrist and the steady production of players like Willy Aybar, Kapler's future with the Rays is uncertain  This could all just be a mirage and Kapler could go back to hitting like he has so far this season, or it could potentially be the start of a hot streak.  From all accounts Gabe Kapler seems like a fantastic guy(just ask friend of the site Jonah Keri) and I'd hate to see him get DFA'd.  So for his sake, and the team's, I'm really hoping it's the latter.

0 recs  |  Comment 21 comments

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We'll get so much for a guy who's played good baseball for all of 3 games this season that's earning $1m.

I mean, does anybody think more then 2 seconds before they mash out shit like this on a keyboard? He’s untradeable because he has no value in a trade.

"Where we all wait in earnest with pudding in hand for the Upton comet to sail through the roofed skies, so that we may meet Him."

by kericr on Jun 14, 2009 8:34 PM EDT up reply actions   2 recs

Kinda getting sick of the influx of heater-itis I'm seeing here.

"Where we all wait in earnest with pudding in hand for the Upton comet to sail through the roofed skies, so that we may meet Him."

by kericr on Jun 14, 2009 10:45 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Welcome to the club

It makes it hard to distinguish the ignorant from the stupid and the good question from the baseless rant.

Rays Win!

by Sandy Kazmir on Jun 14, 2009 10:52 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Plus.

He’s an average to slightly above right-handed corner outfielder.

Those are pretty easy to find for cheap.

by R.J. Anderson on Jun 14, 2009 11:37 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

I missed that, I apologize.

If you’ve seen what was going on the last few days here, I would hope you understand why I reacted that way. Your sarcasm sounded a bit too much like a genuine opinion.

"Where we all wait in earnest with pudding in hand for the Upton comet to sail through the roofed skies, so that we may meet Him."

by kericr on Jun 16, 2009 5:28 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

I don't think you people understand

a .197 BABIP isn’t inline, even with his 14.5% LD rate. It needs to progress a good 60-70 points. That also doesn’t account for the fact that he is hitting fly balls at a ridiculous rate, which is quite obviously a good thing. These HRs are coming because hitting 30+ fly balls without a home run, even for a guy not touted for his power like Kapler, was not going to continue. Its simply progression. Everyone being so surprised is beyond me I suppose…

by Navi's_Navy on Jun 15, 2009 12:11 AM EDT reply actions   0 recs

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