A+ Vero Beach Devil Rays (32-33)

Ft. Myers 6, V-RAYS 2-With the scored tied at two in the bottom of the ninth, Devil Rays RHP Brian Baker gave up a grand slam home run to the Miracle's Juan Portes, resulting in a 6-2 win for Ft. Myers in the second game of the four game series. Vero Beach had taken a 2-0 lead through three innings, but the offense would manage just two hits over the remainder of the ballgame, contributing to the defeat.

V-RAYS Up Next-at Ft. Myers, 7:05 EST (LH Ryan Morse)

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AAA Durham Bulls (33-30)

Charlotte 6, BULLS 2-Durham starter Jeremy Cummings ceded the lead to division-rival Charlotte by giving up five runs in the fifth and sixth innings, and the Bulls' offense could not keep up as they dropped the first of a two game set to the Knights. 

BULLS Up Next-vs Charlotte, 5:05 EST (RH Ben Hendrickson)

AA Montgomery Biscuits (30-33)

Birmingham 12, BISCUITS 4-RHP Wade Davis was rocked for six runs in just two innings of work, and the Biscuits could never get closer than 7-4 in being thumped by the Birmingham Barons. 

BISCUITS Up Next-at Birmingham, 3:05 EST (LH James Houser)

A+ Vero Beach Devil Rays (31-31)

V-RAYS 7, Sarasota 3-LHP David Price showed that he was mortal, surrendering his first runs in his fourth start as a professional, but the Vero Beach bullpen held the Sarasota Reds at bay while the offense scored six runs in a two inning span late as the Devil Rays won 7-3.

V-RAYS Up Next-vs Sarasota, 1:00 EST (RH Heath Rollins)

A- Columbus Catfish (22-40)

Rome 3, CATFISH 2 (11)-An error by 3B Greg Sexton, one of four Columbus errors and one of seven total in the game, led to the winning run scoring as the Catfish allowed a strong start by RHP Alex Cobb to go for naught in an 11th inning loss. 

CATFISH Up Next-at Rome, 2:00 EST (RH Jeremy Hall)

We're done with roughly a month of the minor league season, and by now most people know what Jeremy Hellickson did(which is: dominated). We know that a couple top guys struggled(Chris Mason, Ryan Royster, etc)... but what about the less-heralded guys? Just because a player doesn't make a top 30 prospect list doesn't mean he won't contribute someday, especially in an organization as deep as ours. So after the jump I take a look at some things that happened in the first month that may have slipped through the cracks.

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• Joe Smith of the St. Petersburg Times reports that newly acquired 1B Dan Johnson will report to the Rays today. At that time, the team will have to make a roster move to make room for him on the active roster. RHP Calvin Medlock was already designated for assignment on Friday to make room for Johnson on the 40 man roster, but the rumor is that OF Justin Ruggiano will be demoted to AAA Durham make room for Johnson at the major league level.
  
• Struggling SS Jason Bartlett will get a day off today as Manager Joe Maddon tries to help him break out of a slump that saw him make four errors in eight games. The shortstop said he experienced soreness in his arm that could possibly be the reason for his recent spate of throwing errors, though he'll still need to do far better offensively. He was hitting .230/.230/.237 going into last night's game, a line that rose marginally after a 1 for 3 campaign. IF Elliot Johnson will start in Bartlett's place this afternoon. With an off day coming on Monday, Bartlett will get two days to rest up before the Rays' series with the Toronto Blue Jays starting on Tuesday in Orlando.
• 1B Carlos Peña will likely be the Designated Hitter in this afternoon's game against Chicago, per Maddon's wishes. He too will get Monday to rest and could be back at first base for the Orlando series.
• LHP David Price threw a successful bullpen session on Saturday afternoon at the Naimoli complex as his recovery from a left elbow injury continues.
• The focal point of Marc Topkin's Sunday column this week is, not surprisingly, the long-term deal that the Rays reached on Friday with 3B Evan Longoria. Explains Rays VP Andrew Friedman of the underlying strategy:

We're always going to have to manage our roster years and years in advance to be able to compete in this division. It's the way the economics of the game are right now, and it's something that instead of feeling sorry for ourselves we've got to be proactive and do anything and everything we can to succeed.

• The reaction from fellow players and their agents was, not surprisingly, rather negative. Quoth Alan Nero:

I give the Rays a lot of credit because they did what's hard to do anymore, which is make a heck of a business deal; they controlled their costs and extended their control. I'm happy for Longoria if it's what he wants, but I'm a little disappointed that a player with seven days (in the majors) would give away his future like that.

• Other interesting morsels from Topkin's Sunday column:

How does Evan Longoria's contract affect B.J. Upton's view of a potential long-term deal? "It doesn't," Upton said. … Former longtime Ray Toby Hall on the new uniforms and Trop paint job: "It's awesome. It all looks great." … Friday morning's advisory of a 1 p.m. "major announcement" drew calls asking if the Rays were signing Barry Bonds, including one from a curious MLB official. … Ex-Ray Shawn Camp, having added a changeup, got called up by Toronto and should be in the Jays bullpen at Disney.

AAA Durham Bulls (5-6)

BULLS 2, Scranton/WB 0-CF Fernando Perez doubled in the Bulls' only two runs of the ballgame in the fifth inning off of Yankees LHP Kei Igawa, but it would prove to be enough as the Bulls shut out Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to break a three game losing streak.

BULLS Up Next-at Scranton/WB, 11:05 ET (RH Mitch Talbot)

AA Montgomery Biscuits (3-7)

News-Stacy Long of the Montgomery Advertiser reports that Biscuits LHP Jon Barratt has gone on the voluntarily retired list, ending (for now, at least) his baseball career.

"It's something that he's been thinking about," manager Billy Gardner said after today's loss at Carolina. "He said he just didn't have the passion anymore."

There could be any number of reasons behind Barratt's retirement, and as he enters private life you hate to speculate on what those reasons might be. Maybe he really did lose his passion for baseball and wanted to pursue something else, in which case I commend him and wish him the best luck in the world. Scott Autrey did something very similar several years ago. Still, Barratt was only 23 years old and a fifth round draft pick just five years ago. He most recently found success in with A+ Visalia in 2006, when he posted a 2.93 ERA in 110.2 innings for the Oaks. He regressed to a 5.46 ERA last year with Montgomery, but he fared far worse in 2005, when he posted a 6.59 ERA in Visalia. Still, if you're an ex-fifth round pick retiring from baseball at 23, it probably isn't performance-related. Here's wishing Barratt the best of luck wherever life takes him.

Carolina 9, BISCUITS 2-LHP Mike Wlodarczyk struggled in his second start of the year for Montgomery, but he was far from alone as the Biscuits dropped their third in a row at the hands of the Carolina Mudcats. 

BISCUITS Up Next-at Tennessee, 7:15 ET (LH Jake McGee)

A+ Vero Beach Devil Rays (3-7)

Yesterday-OFF

V-RAYS Up Next-at Daytona, 7:05 ET (RH Heath Rollins)

A- Columbus Catfish (4-7)

Savannah 11, CATFISH 7-The Columbus offense pounded out ten hits and the Catfish took a 7-2 lead into the bottom of the seventh, but the bullpen was unable to hold it as they were downed by the Sand Gnats.

CATFISH Up Next-at Savannah, 7:00 ET (LH Glenn Gibson)

Over the off-season I professed how I had a distaste for our bullpen, particularly the middle and back parts consisting of Gary Glover and Scott Dohmann. Every Monday I'll look at the usage over the past week, that obviously begins today.

Generally speaking the bullpen did an excellent job this week even with one loss credited to Al Reyes, and only one save to Troy Percival. The unit saw 13.6 innings worth of work, allowing six runs -- four by Reyes and the other two by Miller -- for an ERA of 3.97, quite an improvement over the 6.16 ERA last season, even at such a small sample size.

Beginning at the top, Percival was only called upon once and was efficient in preserving his first Rays save and the 325th of his career. Showing great poise Percival worked through an iffy non-strike call against Bobby Abreu and located his next pitch, striking the veteran out to end the game. Although his role thus far has been near minimal Percival's clubhouse demeanor and role have been unmatched, look for the new bullpen area configuration this week at the request of Percival.

Despite a bloodbath at the hands of the Baltimore Orioles Reyes has been solid in two of his three appearances, including cleaning up a mess left by Miller on Saturday. In the past I was skeptical about giving Reyes even more innings, but thus far it appears Joe Maddon is leaning towards using Miller and Reyes in union for the 8th inning, at least until their performance or address dictates otherwise.

Speaking of Miller he's hardly impressed, yet this is nothing unexpected. Over his career Miller has thrown more than 200 innings during the first half of the season and has an ERA of 5.18, as opposed to his 3.65 ERA in the second half. Another thing to watch during the unfortunately named "Miller Time" will be his pre-pitch tendencies, namely if he continues to go to the bill of his hat prior to each pitch.

We now reach a piece that the Rays have chosen as a core of the relief staff through 2010 at the earliest, yes the newest extension receiver, Dan Wheeler. Not only did Wheeler find himself with the most work this week but he also found himself as the most effective, not allowing a baserunner thus far while striking out two batters. As I've pointed out numerous times it wasn't hard to see that Wheeler was a candidate for performance regression, or in this case progression, based on his peripherals. His contract extension isn't just reasonable, it's a downright steal for an organization that since its inception has been hard-pressed to find consistently successful relievers and keep them in Rays uniforms.

From awful starter to potentially useful reliever, thus is the career path of one James Phillip Howell. As he showed Sunday Howell is able to go multiple innings without ill results, even against the most vaunted of lineups. To his credit, Howell also showed the ability to retire batters of either hand equally well, and even went on a streak of seven straight outs. For one day at least, Howell appears to have reached the point of his career where the talk of potentially becoming useful is turning into results and is certainly someone to watch for as this season ages.

Finally we reach Scott Dohmann and Gary Glover and while neither did anything to grant my ire, yet, I'm encouraged that Glover was used the least of all relief arms. To their credit both have been effective, but I sincerely question if the level of success achieved last year can be replicated by either. I'm skeptical, but hopeful, if the duo can at least be around league average the Rays pen could become amongst the deepest in the league.

Since the bullpen won't consist of these seven all season, or at least it's highly inconceivable that such a rarity would occur, I would also like to highlight some of the relievers at Durham during this space. Grant Balfour, the 8th reliever if you will, cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Durham. Steve Andrade remains on the disabled list to start the season meanwhile Chad Orvella has seemingly yet to recover from his injury, but the good news -- I guess -- is that Kurt Birkins has began throwing again and could join Durham soon. Dale Thayer, Calvin Medlock, Nick DeBarr and Scott Munter have been solid thus far with Ben Hendrickson  being anything but, allowing six runs in two and two-thirds innings of work.

AAA Durham Bulls (0-3)

Toledo 6, BULLS 1-3B Evan Longoria totaled up another hitless day for Durham as the Rays' AAA affiliate dropped their third straight to open the season. Longoria, who has not yet drawn a walk or garnered a hit through the Bulls' first three games, joined a parade of Durham hitters that were unable to muster much of an offensive effort off of Mud Hens pitching. Also going hitless on the day for Durham was CF Fernando Perez, who finished 0 for 4. RF Justin Ruggiano had an RBI single and LF Joel Guzman had the only extra base hit of the game, a double, for Durham.

On the hill, RHP Jae Kuk Ryu got the start for the Bulls and took the loss, surrendering three Toledo runs on four hits in four innings of work while walking one and striking out three. Two of the runs that he surrendered came on a two-run homer in the first, and his outing concluded with him having thrown just 73 pitches. Ryu was followed up by RHPs Dale Thayer and Scott Munter, who each threw 1.1 scoreless innings. LHP Brian Henderson made his first appearance in Triple A after multiple years at Double A Montgomery, and things didn't go so well for him. After getting one out in the seventh, he came back on to start the eighth only to be greeted by an onslaught from the Toledo lineup. He ended up up surrendering three runs on four hits in the eighth, including a two-run homer, and allowed Toledo to grab some extra insurance runs to seal away the ballgame. RHP Calvin Medlock relieved him and pitched a perfect eighth inning following his departure to prevent any further damage.

BULLS Up Next-at Toledo, 2:00 ET (RH Chris Mason)

AA Montgomery Biscuits (1-1)

BISCUITS 8, Chattanooga 5-Montgomery rebounded from a washed-out day off on Friday and evened up their record at 1-1 as Wade Davis threw a shaky five innings of work for the Biscuits. The Rays' highly touted pitching prospect gave up four runs on seven hits and two walks in five innings of work, striking out just one in the process. Nonetheless, Davis picked up his first win of the season in his debut start of 2008. The Biscuits' bullpen was able to hold the lead following his departure up until the ninth, when RHP Eduardo Morlan threw a perfect inning to pick up his first save of the year.

Offensively, the Biscuits lineup produced a fairly solid collective line, even if their individual marks in the box score weren't quite as pretty. C John Jaso and DH Gaby Martinez each had RBI singles for Montgomery, while RF Sergio Pedroza drew two walks to reach base a total of three times on the evening. Pedroza was also caught stealing, however, and Jaso committed his first miscue of the year on a throwing error. 3B Chris Nowak and 1B Rhyne Hughes were each held hitless for Montgomery, though Nowak did drive in a run via a sacrifice fly and Hughes drew a walk.

BISCUITS Up Next-Double-header vs Chattanooga, 3:05 ET (LH J. Houser, RH R. De Los Santos)

A+ Vero Beach Devil Rays (3-0)

V-RAYS 4, Daytona 3-Vero Beach rallied for three in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat the Daytona Cubs on Saturday night, thus preserving their standing as the only undefeated team in the Rays organization. CF John Matulia had two hits for the Devil Rays, one of which was a double, and stole two bases while LF Garrett Groce went 1 for 4. RF Ryan Royster went two for four with a solo home run; he also drove in the tying run and scored the winning run on a phenomenal night for him. C Nevin Ashley added a hit for V-Rays.

On the hill, RH Josh Butler made his season debut for the Vero Beac and tossed a good ballgame. The second round pick of the Rays in the 2006 draft gave up just three runs (two earned) on six hits while walking one and striking out four. He recorded a 9:4 groundball to flyball ratio. RH Wilton Noel tossed the final three shutout innings for Vero Beach to earn the win.

V-RAYS Up Next-vs Daytona, 1:00 ET (LH Ryan Morse)

A- Columbus Catfish (0-2)

Savannah at CATFISH, PPD-Saturday night's game between the host Columbus Catfish and the visiting Savannah Sand Gnats at Golden Park was postponed due to inclement weather. The game will be made up as part of a double-header this afternoon in Columbus, with the first game starting at 1pm EDT. The second game will begin approximately thirty minutes following the conclusion of the first. Both games will last seven innings.

CATFISH Up Next-Double-header vs Savannah, 1:00 ET (RH Josh Johnson, RH Jesse Darcy)