Grant Balfour likes to get pumped on the mound. The stereotypical flamethrower Balfour always speaks of his ability to feed off the crowd noise and atmosphere. Never before had we seen something quite like what Orlando Cabrera did though.

Balfour entered the game to face Juan Uribe with the bases loaded and one out. Balfour launched four straight fastballs and Uribe would strikeout swinging. Up stepped Cabrera. Balfour promptly missed outside on his first pitch, another fastball. Rather than merely a repeat of the thousands upon thousands post-1-0 interactions Cabrera said something and kicked a group of dirt towards the mound.

Balfour did not take too kindly to this and was encroaching to receive the ball anyhow. Dioner Navarro and home plate umpire Joe West quickly wedged between the two as Balfour said something that looked to be "What's your ___ problem?" After a mini-meeting with West on the mound the at-bat resumed like normal.

Balfour would force his way into a 2-2 count after a questionable check-swing call and blew a fastball by Cabrera for strike three. While walking to the dugout Balfour fist-pumped and extended his arm towards Cabrera while saying something similar to "Sit the ____ down!" Both managers would take the field to prevent more altercation, and smartly Navarro would step in front of Cabrera, acting as a shield to Balfour as Rays players, including the ready to spring Jonny Gomes, watched intently.

It's interesting to note that in the five pitches prior to Cabrera's gestures Balfour averaged 95.04 miles per hour on his fastball, but in the proceeding four Balfour averaged 95.525. Pissing Grant Balfour off has now been quantified: 0.485 miles per hour and one insane Australian with an anti-tank rifle attached to his right shoulder.

RAYS 5, KC 3 Kauffman Stadium Kansas City, MO

RAYS WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That was quite a grouse performance eh? A ripper of a performance by Garza, seven innings, five hits, three strikeouts, and no walks while throwing around 63% strikes. Garza gave way to offsiders J.P. Howell and Grant Balfour, and no knock on Howell but things got interesting when Balfour rocked up.

Balfour's mid-to-upper 90's fastball made the Sox hitters look like swagmen as the Rays became tall poppies for the third straight game, picking up his second save since going Troppo last July. Balfour's emergence becomes even larger as Troy Pecival is currently as useful as an ashtray on a motorcycle.

Oh and Percival to the DL, Mitch Talbot has been called up. Welcome to the show bloke, make us proud!

RAYS 8, Chicago 3 Tropicana Field St. Petersburg, FL

RAYS SWEEP!!!!!!!!!

FLOYD SITS FOR FOURTH STRAIGHT DAY:

For the past several days, Rays manager Joe Maddon has insisted that DH Cliff Floyd would return to the lineup the following day. Each day passed, and Floyd wasn't in the lineup. The only solace for the benched veteran had to be Maddon's assurances that he would play again "tomorrow". Yet the promised playing time never came, and Tuesday night's game was the fourth straight in which Floyd did not start.

So how did Floyd react to what seems like the surest sign yet of a benching?

"I don't blame him," Floyd said. "We're winning. We all have the same purpose: to win games. When you're on the road, it's tough to win games. Guys are swinging the bat great right now; I haven't. We're going to go with that and get me healthy, too."

"We're playing with the hot bats," Floyd said. "I'm a realist. I like to win, too. At the end of the day, who will give you the best chance to win? And that's life. That's how we're going to ride with it.

"I've never been selfish in my life. ... I just want to win. My swing is getting better, and I feel myself getting better every day."

Maddon insists that this is all there is to it; that it is merely the club riding the hot hand in 1B Willy Aybar, and that it has nothing to do with Floyd's surgically-repaired right knee. Floyd did acknowledge that one of the primary benfits of the time off was the opportunity to rest his knee, but he also said that it gave him the opportunity to hone his swing. Though Floyd is hitting .250/.329/.474 on the year, he is just 1 for his past 12. Aybar, meanwhile, was hitting .306/.358/.551 going into last night's game, including .412/.444/.765 in 18 PA since the start of the road trip.

But the move is about more than Aybar's hot bat. By resting Floyd, a hole opens up at DH where the Rays can slide in Eric Hinske. That removes a defensive liability from the field, and the net gain is huge when you figure that the opening allows defensively-adept Gabe Gross to start in his place in right field. Also, by starting the switch-hitting Aybar, the Rays remove the need for a pinch-hitter in late inning matchups. That is especially important when you consider that OF Jonny Gomes is in the midst of serving a five game suspension, thus shortening the bench.

The Rays are absolutely making the right call here. Is Aybar the better bat over the course of the season? Probably not, but you never mess with a hot streak, and Maddon is vigilant of this old adage. Besides, as mentioned above, Aybar's hot bat allows the Rays to start a defense that is appreciably better than what they would throw out normally. As we've seen in the year-to-year improvement over 2007-08, you can never underestimate the importance of a defensive improvement.

Also, Floyd is no spring chicken. He was injury-prone even when he was younger, and even the DH is not going to make him an everyday player. That time in his career is past, so he will need spells of time off like this. It is best to pace them with his slumps, so as not to suffer a loss in offensive productivity. This isn't a long term changing of the guard, methinks, but in the immediate it is the best utilization of the present personnel. And give Floyd credit for being a team player about the whole thing and being selfless. He is still a very useful baseball player, but he might be an even better teammate as this matter shows.

Continue reading this post »

YET ANOTHER BRAWL:

The mound and dugout altercations between RHP Matt Garza and C Dioner Navarro during yesterday's 6-3 loss to the Rangers got their spin in the morning papers today. The information you'll get from the involved parties and Manager Joe Maddon is something to the effect of how the two players are fierce competitors who got caught up in the heat of the moment, and that the issue will be handled "in-house". Should you believe that this incident is no big deal? You are well within your rights to think otherwise, but the Rays are 100% correct in keeping you ignorant. Regardless of what the "truth" is here, the aftermath is nothing that needs to be paraded about in the media. It was embarrassing enough to see the incident itself occur in such a conspicuous setting, and the Rays are right in stemming the tide of information leaking outward about this going forward.

Listen, regardless of the specificities of the incident, we can gather that Navarro is not a culpable party, at least in any meaningful sense. First of all, he doesn't have any sort of track record that would indicate that he works poorly with his pitchers. Secondly, Maddon all but indemnified him from blame in the matter in his postgame remarks. Can't get much more explicit than that, at least as far as stuff like this goes.

So that leaves us to this conclusion: Garza needs to grow up. This isn't the first time he's been held captive by his hot temper on the mound, certainly not if you include his days in the Minnesota Twins organization. This is a problem that has been ongoing throughout his development, and that it is continuing now without seemingly any improvement over the years is discouraging. I'm going to go ahead and speculate that perhaps Navarro didn't handle Garza well following 3B German Duran's home run. That's obviously something he needs to work on as a catcher, adjusting to the mental temperaments of his battery mates, but this is by no means laying the blame on him. He obviously should facilitate a productive relationship with whomever he is catching, but Navarro can't be a full-blown psychologist. There are some issues greater than even he can address at play here, and it is Garza's responsibility to get a grip. Lasting immaturity is guaranteed to hinder his advancement, and there is a sense of personal responsibility in that he needs to take care of matters himself. As it is, given that he is a valuable commodity in the organization, the team inevitably will have to step in to facilitate a lasting improvement in that regard.

While we're at it, the zealots calling for Garza's head need to cool it as well. It would be the pinnacle of absurdity for the team to give up on Garza at this point and try and deal him, or worse. It's not even a particularly good idea to demote him. I've never been a big fan of his, but for the love of all things holy, he isn't even old enough to legally rent a car yet. Is his maturity behind where it should be? Obviously. But the problem is just that, immaturity and the inability to exercise self-control. This isn't some inoperable character flaw that is bound to keep perpetuating itself; it can be mitigated given time and proactivity from all of the involved parties. His peripherals have been unsatisfactory thus far, but his performance to date has been very much in line with that of RHP Andy Sonnanstine and RHP Edwin Jackson, and over the long haul it will improve. Give him time, both on the field and off.

DIFFICULT DECISION?

Both RaysBaseball.com and the Tampa Tribune ran blurbs (an entire story in the team website's case) painting the impending decision of who will be replaced upon the return of RHP Troy Percival to be a "tough choice". Of the present bullpen personnel, only RHP Grant Balfour is mentioned as a potential target to be jettisoned, in both pieces.

The nature of both pieces is cocerning to me, if only because of the conspicuous lack of "Gary Glover" on the chopping block. He should definitely be placed on the hot seat, and there is absolutely no valid reason for Glover to be given an unquestioned pass at a detriment to Balfour when he hasn't been appreciably better. I will be exceedingly disappointed if the implications in this article prove to be true. His success in Boston notwithstanding, Glover has been the weak link in the bullpen since RHP Scott Dohmann was jettisoned, and probably before that as well. The "long relief/mopup" benefit that he brought to the table last year isn't even a factor anymore either, since the team has RHP Jason Hammel for those situations. Now granted, Hammel hasn't been particularly effective, but there's no way a young pitcher like Hammel gets exposed to waivers.

The presence of Hammel does sort of add an interesting wrinkle to this situation though. I would not be surprised if Executive VP Andrew Friedman were burning up the phones inquiring to see if there is any interest around the league in Hammel. Obviously if he's here, there's no way he will get the ax in lieu of Glover or Balfour, but the Rays may just opt to skip that decision altogether and see what value they can get for Hammel. Granted, they might need him for a spot start soon due to the brawl suspensions, but that's nothing that RHP Jeff Niemann can't take care of, given that he has options left. With Hammel proving ineffective in the bullpen, and no rotation spots expected to be open for him in the near-term, Hammel's career could be at a dead end here that the Rays might be wise to try and navigate out of.

ELSEWHERE:

Both papers are reporting that DH Cliff Floyd has been kept out of the lineup for the past two days due to no health issue, but rather an overarching desire to keep hot-hitting Willy Aybar in the starting lineup. With the Rays facing Angels lefty Joe Saunders this evening in Anaheim, Floyd will get his third straight day off. He is expecting to be in the starting lineup tomorrow night.

Meanwhile, the Rays' swing through Anaheim brings an annual slew of re-unions for numerous personnel on both sides. For the first time, that will include Percival, who last pitched at Angel Stadium when he threw out the first pitch at the Angels' home opener last year. Though not active, he will throw a simulated inning either today or tomorrow in Anaheim as he continues his recovery process.

Lastly, here are the previously-undisclosed fines that MLB doled out to Rays players for their involvement in Thursday's bench-clearing brawl in Boston:

The going rate seemed to be $500 for each suspended game as Jonny Gomes and James Shields (who got a slight discount) were fined $2,500, LF Carl Crawford and Jackson and $2,000 and Akinori Iwamura around $1,500.

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.

Continue reading this post »

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.