First off, I know what everyone must be thinking, Joe is off his rocker again.  Not true.  Please keep the following in mind:

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/12/14/Rays/Rays__Iwamura_confide.shtml

Ex-Rays catcher Toby Hall, nontendered by the Dodgers, said several teams called and he expected better options (Phillies? White Sox? Yankees?) than a minor-league contract the Rays might offer. "That was funny," Hall said. "I guess it would be a minor-league contract because they're a minor-league team."

This comment and quote came from December 14, 2006.  Now it is the end of January 2008.  Today, Toby Hall addressed this very comment and the firestorm that came from this comment and shed some light on how this came to be.  Apparently, Marc Topkin originally went to the Rays and according to Toby Hall, asked in a joking manner was Hall worth a "minor league" contract.  Topkin got whoever his "source" is got to say it in a jokingly, off the cuff manner and then relayed that comment back to Hall.

The point of this is like everything in life, you can't always believe what you read.  Over this winter, I have noticed a very negative angry change in Marc Topkin for reasons I do not know.  He has literally tried to impose himself, or lack of a better word, as the pen of this club.  His comments about Boof Bonser and Darin Erstad were wrong and he didn't have the fortitude to back up or corroborate the information in a legitimate, professional or even ethical manner.

What anyone thinks of Toby Hall is their business.  I know he spent 6 years here, but was exceptionally complimentary of both the club and the players themselves.  I remember the furor that came from these comments plus the club pulling away from his charity event last year, and now this story as given by Hall today on "Hot Lunch with JP" puts everything in a different perspective.  I for one am tired of the arrogance of Marc Topkin.  For over 20 years, I have respected the man's work, but over the past 18 months, even longer, he has grown to be very lazy and dismissive.  All of the major player signings were first reported by NATIONAL writers and not LOCAL (with the exception of this site), and DRB is not intended to be a news breaking site.

I point this out as an added reason why everyone needs to be critical at times and its ok to be critical in seeking the truth.  There is always 2 sides to a story, and not always everything is crystal clear.  We can all disagree, and that is healthy.  What happened with Toby was unfortunate, but I found it fascinating to hear the rationale behind this quote and the context and it makes more sense to me now.

Interesting contrast of styles in the AL and NL championship series.  Congratulations to Cleveland, Boston, Arizona and Colorado for advancing.  We saw what momentum and strong pitching can do in regards to thrwarting another team's offense.  Its up to execution in the clutch and timeliness that will get these teams to the World Series.  I know Mick will be soon spouting off on the greatness of Chief Wahoo and his Pride of the Cuyahoga.  No, Mick, RJ will not dress up as Chief Wahoo!

Let's hope for some entertaining baseball as well as bug-less conditions at the very least.

Fellas,

Don't shoot the messenger, its going to be a course of discussion.  Its the same old same old.  I am happy the team won to break the schneid, but Maddon didn't put his club in the best position to win this game.  In my opinion, you owe it to Kazmir to give him a chance to win the game rather than hold him to 6 innings and 97 pitches.  It rues of an ulterior motive and anyone can say anything they want, but Kazmir was very, very upset to be taken out of that game.  I won't pose that question, but I will go out on a limb and say Kazmir was not just a little upset, but VERY unhappy.  The game against New York and Clemens after the break, I accept him being pulled because he was fighting hitters and getting deep into counts too much.

But this was a 0-0 game against an exceptional opponent who he was geared up to face and normally pitches well against and in my mind, had the floor and plug removed prematurely.  Glover bailed the team out, but if you played Boston 10 times, you are going to lose that game 8 out of 10 times.  I do not understand why Kaz was not allowed to pitch the 7th to try to get him a W and another feather in his cap.  My two cents, and I could be somewhat off track.

Boston just DFA'ed him last night.  Sure, his best days were back in Minnesota just a couple of years ago, but he has some pedigree.  Would you go after him?!  Then again the Sox and Rays may not get along.  Hope that can not preclude them from making a deal.

Thoughts anyone?  I think he would be a help in the pen.  An extra left handed arm and he can get outs more consistently than the 3 stooges.

Legends Field had an annouced attendance of 10,400 while the Trop had an announced attendance of 13,400.  It didn't seem as if there were 13 there last night, seemed like there was 8 or 9.

Very telling when a Class A team across the bay can actually divide and affect the attendance for the MLB level game.  Granted, its Roger Clemens, whoopie, but you know what, I take it as proof that this is a baseball market.

There are other conclusions that the basic 50/50 split from Friday night says and most of it is not necessarily positive.  I hope the NDRO took note of what took place yesterday, because it is alarming on many levels.  The best thing I can say is that Tampa Bay loves baseball, and I believe now if a new facility is built (I know keep dreaming), it should be on the Hillsborough side of the bay and not on the Pinellas side.  Heck, I live in north Pinellas and distance is of little concern to me but I was wondering if any of you take anything else out of last night.

Enjoyed the wrestling and tonight its time to get some cowboy hats!

Fans,

This is become a spot of contention for me.  I understand the theory of what you want as a prototypical 2 spot hitter in your lineup.  You want contact and an ability to move runners up into scoring position if there are less than 2 out.

Bless Ben Zobrist's heart out.  I love his attitude, he brings his glove to the party and does his best on the field.  However what he is not is a premier, let alone prototypical top of the lineup hitter.  And neither is Brendan Harris for that matter.  Quite frankly, even though the thought of Zobrist hitting in front of Crawford could be sound, he is not in my mind a hitter that can be a top of the order guy.

I would hope in short order that Maddon does the right thing (in my mind) and flip Upton (or Iwamura) with Zobrist and put Upton (Iwamura) in the 2 spot and let Zobrist bat at the bottom of the order.  Let the top of the order be as dynamic as can be.

Also in the 7th inning tonight, Perlozzo brought in a matchup left hander (John Parrish) to turn and flip Zobrist to the right side of the box and got the key out of the game in my mind.  I know there is discussion about LOOGY's here, but the statistical analysis sure won out tonight.

Don't know if any of you caught this morning's rant by Mike Greenberg of Mike and Mike on ESPN Radio.  He nominated the Rays front office for the "Just Shut Up" award for the week for requesting that the Rays begin the season on the road.  He did mention the IRL race that took place on the bayfront and said that that in a few words or less that there is no reason that Tampa Bay being a warm weather team in a dome should be making such a request.

Also of note that Mike Greenberg said is he hammered the Rays on their major league low team payroll of $24 million and challenged the NDRO that until they stop sitting on their revenue sharing profits, MLB shouldn't be honoring any of the Rays' requests.

First its Steve Phillips and now Mike "Elitist" Greenberg now kicking the Rays around.  The Bristol Mafia sure has issues with the team and their direction.  Besides the ESPN Plaza does anyone have a way to get a hold of "Greenie" or Phillips?!  They need to hear it; their commentary is a bad reflection of the message the NDRO is trying to convey.