The Rays play the Twins today, and while they have one of the worst records in baseball, it's not due to their offense. They're hitting .264/.331/.404 and have scored 51 more runs than the Rays. Target Field, once thought to be heaven for pitchers, has turned out to be the complete opposite for Twins' hitters. They have five players with a wOBA of .360+ at home. Josh Willingham leads the way at .444. Contrast that with their road numbers, where Justin Morneau and Ryan Doumit lead the way at .377.
They've got just 49 wins thanks to their pitching. It would be kind to call it terrible. Look at this line: 4.77ERA/4.69 FIP/3.3WAR. Compare that to the Rays 3.38ERA/3.66FIP/14.4WAR. Pitching wins. If only the Rays had an average offense.
There's more stadium news this morning. This Tampa Bay Times article talks about the issue of parking at the proposed Carillon location. I was just talking to a co-worker yesterday about the same issue. I work in, and used to live in, the Carillon area. It's filled with businesses like Raymond James and Franklin Templeton, apartments and marsh. As the article states, that could pose an issue.
But people familiar with the site say any stadium project would require LeClair's corporate neighbors to share their parking spaces. Office workers parking by day would be replaced by baseball fans at night and on weekends.
It wouldn't be impossible I guess, but I can't see a way it works logistically. Not every worker leaves at 5pm, you know. And day games? What a mess. As a St. Pete resident I'd selfishly love the stadium to be built in the Carillon area. As a realist I just think there's too many hurdles to jump over.
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