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Rays Win 4-1 Over Blue Jays, 16-15 Over Pirates

This is starting to get ridiculous.  The Rays have now won nine games in a row to make their Spring Training record 9-1, tops in the American League.  They're 4.0 games up on the Yankees and 2.5 games up on the Red Sox.  If only today was the middle of April instead of March...

The injury bug struck the Rays again today, with Dioner Navarro having to leave the game against the Pirates in the 3rd inning after being struck in the left thumb by a pick-off thrown gone bad.  So far it's just been labeled as a "contusion", but x-rays were inconclusive.  He'll rest for a couple days and then be re-examined.  That's five Rays that are dealing with injuries now: Aybar and his wrist, Jennings and his wrist, Price and his right palm, Joyce and his elbow (which has now been classified as a "sprain", according to The Tampa Tribune), and Navarro and his thumb.  Thankfully none of these injuries is severe, although it appears that Jennings will be resting the remainder of the spring and starting the season in Triple-A.

As for actual performances today, Andy Sonnanstine and Jacob McGee stole the day.  Sonnanstine pitched four scoreless innings against the Blue Jays, allowing only one hit, one walk, and striking out three.  He also posted a 5:4 ground ball to fly ball ratio.  McGee pitched two scoreless innings in relief, allowing one hit and striking out two.  Wade Davis started in the game against the Pirates and got hammered, letting up five earned runs in two innings.  He walked three, struck out two, and allowed three hits (including one home run).

Offensively, Crawford, Burrell, Jaso, Ruggiano, and Chavez all homered.  Burrell was 2-2 on the day with a walk, while Brignac was 2-3 with 3 RBI, making his spring total 13 RBIs.

Also, according to Marc Topkin, the Rays cut Tim Beckham, Jacob McGee, Nevin Ashley today, re-assigning Ashley and Beckham to minor league camp and optioning McGee to the minors.

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No Joyce?

PTB FOR EVERYDAY RF!

Follow Me on Twitter @FreeZorilla

by FreeZorilla on Mar 11, 2010 5:08 PM EST reply actions   1 recs

"@TBO_Rays: An MRI on OF Matt Joyce's right elbow showed a strain."

Don’t know the extent or how long / if he’ll be out.

It’d be worth having PTB out there for the comedy value, at least…

I love Casey Fossum. Now try and take me seriously.

by Steve Slowinski on Mar 11, 2010 5:12 PM EST up reply actions  

With Joyce out for any significant amount of time

It would all but assure that Kapler is on the team

by Pinto on Mar 11, 2010 8:48 PM EST up reply actions  

If Joyce ends up missing a significant portion of ST

I wouldn’t be shocked to see Zo in RF and a Brignac/Rodriguez platoon at 2B.

by Dbullsfan on Mar 11, 2010 5:17 PM EST up reply actions  

I'm thinking Brignac starts off in Durham barring anything happening to king jason

Otherwise I think most likely would be Rodriguez being the everyday 2B. I just don’t see us starting Brignac’s Arbitration clock for a platoon job

by benderbrodriguez on Mar 11, 2010 5:34 PM EST up reply actions  

The Rays need to sign Cevallos

Ruggiano for his career has a BB rate of 5.2% and K rate of 35.6%.
This Spring he is 9-17 with 2 HR and a 2B with 2 BB and 3 K

If he was able to patch up the hole in his swing or find some plate discipline, he could become a player.

Its a tiny sample size, but it beats a 1:7 BB/K

Follow Me on Twitter @FreeZorilla

by FreeZorilla on Mar 11, 2010 5:17 PM EST reply actions  

Out of interest, did Ashley see Cevallos before the AZ Fall league?

If that was the source of Ashley’s sudden upgrade in offensive production then Cevallos needs to work independently with the Rays’ players only. Agreed, sign him up considering what he’s done for Zobrist and perhaps Ruggiano.

I thought that Ashley just followed Desme like a puppy dog all Fall and copied his obviously successful routine.

by ega05me on Mar 11, 2010 7:06 PM EST up reply actions  

Has he started a game yet?

I’m asking because my impression is he is achieving those numbers against minor league quality pitching, which he has already proved he can succeed against. Its the major leaguers he seems to struggle against.

by TampaFL on Mar 11, 2010 6:10 PM EST up reply actions  

I'll throw 5 bucks into the pot to sign him

I love Casey Fossum. Now try and take me seriously.

by Steve Slowinski on Mar 11, 2010 7:24 PM EST up reply actions  

$10 here.

$5 if the Cubs will get him.

from Cubs Stats and Twitter @BradleyWoodrum

by BWoodrum on Mar 12, 2010 12:09 AM EST up reply actions  

I'm always fearful when i hear "it's nothing"

We’ve seen many of those “nothings” last 4-6 weeks

by sternfan1 on Mar 11, 2010 6:27 PM EST reply actions  

Or all season, in the case of PTB last year.

"Sure, because of the "cold weather" and rain." More bait and switch tactics by the New York owners of this team." --NikoHoullis, the lead blogger at Buc'em on racial and anti-semitic insensitivity.

by kericr on Mar 11, 2010 7:11 PM EST up reply actions  

I really don't understand this move

I think he could have been a back end reliever right now

Looking at Balfour’s career, what is there to suggest that ’08 was not an anamoly?

by sternfan1 on Mar 11, 2010 7:14 PM EST up reply actions  

Nothing. 2008 was as good as he'll ever be and he'll likely never duplicate that again.

Fortunately in 2009 he was still an above average reliever and that’s all we need him to be.

As for McGee, it’s nice to have 4 great innings in spring, but there was no chance of him breaking camp with the team. It’s just not what the Rays do. There is no rush on McGee when we have four or five really good options ahead of him.

www.draysbay.com, www.bloombergsports.mlblogs.com, Twitter @trancel

by Tommy Rancel on Mar 11, 2010 11:20 PM EST up reply actions  

Chris Benoit?

Ummm I’m not sure how to tell you this but….

by Hatfield on Mar 11, 2010 8:34 PM EST up reply actions  

You can't try to force the joke, you'll just strangle all the humor out of it. You definitely choked here.

"Sure, because of the "cold weather" and rain." More bait and switch tactics by the New York owners of this team." --NikoHoullis, the lead blogger at Buc'em on racial and anti-semitic insensitivity.

by kericr on Mar 11, 2010 10:41 PM EST up reply actions   1 recs

Wreck'd

from Cubs Stats and Twitter @BradleyWoodrum

by BWoodrum on Mar 12, 2010 12:10 AM EST up reply actions  

Toothless Aggression

Follow Me on Twitter @FreeZorilla

by FreeZorilla on Mar 12, 2010 9:19 AM EST up reply actions  

Does anyone know who

De La Cruz is? I saw him make a very nice play at SS at the Bradenton game and he hit the ball hard on the line for a double-I think it was to deep CF but am not sure I remember correctly. I think his other AB also resulted in a very hard hit line drive, but again may be mis-remembering.

I have tried to find out something about him but he is not listed on the Cube and when clicking him at the mlb.com box score it comes up that there are no stats on him. I checked the 2009 rosters of the VSl and DSL Rays teams, and again he does not appear.

by bobr on Mar 12, 2010 7:31 AM EST reply actions  

Thank you.

I assumed that he was a Latin American signing by the Rays.

by bobr on Mar 12, 2010 8:53 AM EST up reply actions  

And now when I type in

Chris de la Cruz, he appears on the Cube. Apparently a non-prospect just had a good day.

by bobr on Mar 12, 2010 8:55 AM EST up reply actions  

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