Douchenozzles

It is this elitist entitlement attitude that pisses me off. The dirt has been kicked at the team - time to stick it to them and tell them to sit the f*ck down!

Just put this on a continual loop in the clubhouse for the next couple of days.

I hate Boston, I hate Boston, I hate Boston, I hate Boston, I hate Boston, I hate Boston, I hate Boston, I hate Boston, I hate Boston, I hate Boston, I hate Boston, I hate Boston

I was already in a foul mood this morning for a few reasons. One - it's Monday, and I'm coming off a weekend where I had to put in 20 hours of overtime for work to fix a lot of messes. I sit down to my Google homepage which shows the title above from this article.

In every other precinct outside New York and New England, there remains the hope that baseball's feel-good story still can deliver the goods. The Tampa Bay Rays making the postseason would be as close as baseball has come to the '69 Mets since . . . well, since the '69 Mets.

If you are objective, then it would be impossible for you not to embrace the Rays, a collection of underpaid kids and overachieving veterans managed by a smart baseball man named Joe Maddon who have captured the sport's collective imagination for the season's first two-thirds.

Even this morning, the Rays wake up clear of the behemoths, a game up on the Red Sox and three up on the Yankees. They are 18 games over .500, they are already but nine games shy of the all-time franchise record of 70 wins set four years ago, when they still had a Devil in their name, the only time in their decade of existence when they finished out of last place.

It would be a hell of a story, the Rays finishing ahead of the Red Sox, ahead of the Yankees. A hell of a baseball story. A hell of a Cinderella story.

Too bad it isn't going to happen.

This kind of snobbery should not be a shock coming from a joke of a paper that is widely considered a tabloid and an insult to journalism, but it is this kind of attitude that just pisses me off - and should piss off the Rays as a team.

It leaves the Rays, who this morning still lord over the Sox and the Yanks, who have refused to submit even as the footsteps behind them have grown louder and more threatening. They are a good story. Easy to root for. And unless this weekend was merely a terrible tease, just a week or two away from seeing a couple of blurs zip by them in the passing lane.

I'm tired of reading about everyone waiting for this team to fail because they're in Tampa and not in the Northeast.  Why not focus on the best storyline of all: a team with 1/5th of the Boston payroll and 1/10th of the New York payroll is in 1st place on July 28th.

The Montgomery Biscuits are able to live stream a lot of games. Tonight is one of those times as Price pitches the front end of a double header.

http://raycom.playonsports.tv/wsfa/?eventId=4954

They are making up a rain out from last night. The announcer sounds like he is talking through a tin can, but the video is a nice feed. Maybe the AA Rays can actually score runs unlike their major league brethren who can't hit with a 2x4 right now.

via 66.222.163.244

During this 4 game losing streak, the team is hitting .184 with a .250 OBP and .287 SLG%.

25 for 136 at the plate with 6 extra base hits (2 2B, 4 HR), 12 BB, 36 K's, and 7 runs.

Of course, 2 of the 4 games came against lefties who continue to shut this team down (team now hitting .245 against them this year).

Something has to change. I'd start with the lineup. Our #3 hitter has a .350 OBP but a .309 SLG% since June 10th. If a guy can't drive in runs but can get on base, try him out in the leadoff spot.

Tomorrow will be just as ugly against the best lefty in the game right now if we roll this same lineup out there. They have had 4 days to show something and have shown absolutely nothing.

Yes, I know baseball is not managed by numbers, but I'm a numbers guy so hear me out.

I used the Lineup Analyzer tool from Baseball Musings and inputted our typical 9 players that make up the lineup card against RHP.

The results were quite interesting. According to the system as it crunches numbers, our 20 best lineups all start with Upton being our leadoff hitter. The full results of that analysis can be found here.

The most optimal lineup we can put out there against RHP is:

1 - Upton
2 - Hinske
3 - Navarro
4 - Longoria
5 - Floyd
6 - Pena
7 - Crawford
8 - Bartlett
9 - Iwamura

That lineup could score us 5.427 runs per contest. If you follow the full results link above, you'll see that most of the worst case scenario lineups involve Crawford hitting leadoff or Iwamura hitting in the 2 hole.

Harden and Gaudin Sent to Chicago; A?s Acquire Donaldson, Gallagher, Murton and Patterson.

That's another solid pitcher out of the American League. Stunning it happened today, but the deal is done. Scratch Murton off the table for us acquiring a RH OF. I think that is a nice haul for the A's but the Cubs are clearly in good shape to slug it out with Milwaukee. St. Louis can kiss their butts good bye.

http://blogs.jsonline.com/brewers/archive/2008/07/06/brewers-indians-agree-on-sabathia.aspx

Brewers, Indians agree on Sabathia By Tom Haudricourt Sunday, Jul 6 2008, 05:46 PM I just was told by a reliable club source that the Brewers have a deal in place with Cleveland for left-hander C.C. Sabathia, contingent on the paperwork being done and medical records exchanged. But believe me, folks, that's a deal. All that other stuff is formality. All I know so far is that top prospect Matt LaPorta is in the deal. I was told two lower-level minor leaguers also are included. The Brewers refused to include another top prospect such as Alcides Escobar or Mat Gamel. Look for Sabathia to make his debut for the Brewers Tuesday night at Miller Park against Colorado. I'll post more details as I get them.

Let's celebrate that he's not coming to the AL East and that we're not giving up huge chunks of the future for someone we cannot realistically sign this off-season.

courtesy of FantasyBaseballGenerals

Patrick DiCaprio takes a look at Evan and just how good he has been. The article is written with a fantasy slant, but it is still a good read and makes it even tougher to temper expectations with him.

He is poised to become the third rookie in the last 50 years to have 15 HR 20 2B and 50 RBI by the All-Star Break. Is it possible that he is underrated right now?

As hard as it is to believe I think the answer is yes. I have been reading a lot of concerns about his batting average, and today heard the opinion that he is a far better real baseball player than a fantasy player because of his defense. He is one hell of a fantasy player, and could easily be a top 20 player in the second half.

link to podcast

I'll be appearing on the Fantasy Baseball Mafia podcast this afternoon from 4:20-4:40pm EST today. The focus of my portion on the show will be all about the Rays. We'll be discussing the Rays playoff chances, the pitching staff, and Longoria's awesomeness. Since it is a fantasy baseball show, things will tilt in that direction, but 15 minutes of Rays discussion is never a bad thing.

From the Hardball Times

This is a solid breakdown of the stats that say, yes, the Rays are for real and the performance is sustainable. Sullivan goes onto show how our OPS and DIPS support the 22-16 record and highlights just how well the pitching staff has been performing this year. Maybe the public will pick up on what the nation is learning because 12,000 fans at a Yankee game last night, in the midst of a 9 game home winning streak, is pathetic. Maybe people are just tired of going to those games and putting up with the idiotic yankee fans..