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The Rays Tank: One game back

By Ian Malinowski
Otto Greule Jr

Off days can be sort of fun. The baseball season is a grind, both for the players and for us fans. It's nice to be able to go out with friends knowing that there's nothing one should be watching, and that by the time you get home, the Rays will be in first place again because the Red Sox need to deal with Felix Hernandez.

But the Mariners bullpen let us down, giving up six runs in the bottom of the ninth. I guess this is why the Rays need to actually play some baseball games themselves, and not just coast into the playoffs by default. Couldn't we have traded them Rodney and Peralta, and then had them fail a physical after one day or something?

Also, new Orioles pitcher Bud Norris pitched well in his debut, striking out eight batters in six innings and getting the win.

In Rays news, Brandon Gomes is in Durham, and the Rays have released Ramon Ramirez from their triple-A affiliate.

I'm slightly surprised. Ramirez seemed like an under the radar reclamation case and decent worst case scenario bullpen depth, and had been striking out well over a batter an inning in triple-A this season. Still, there's a reason he was in the minors. If we reach the point where we would have called up Ramon Ramirez, there will be other things to worry about than the fact that we no longer own the rights to Ramon Ramirez.

After the Daniel Nava-Jerry Meals home plate call, Meals admitted that upon looking at the replay, he could tell that he got the call wrong (which is as much of an argument for baseball to give their umpire the ability to use replay as anyone could make). Larry Granillo thinks that umpires are admitting their mistakes more now, so he compiled a list of every time it's happened (the Rays appear on the losing side of the list as many times as the Red Sox).

Tom Tango advocates for standardizing wOBA when doing your own calculations. Seems like a fine idea to me, although one coefficient for doubles and triples does seem a little bit extreme.

People argue over who is and isn't an "ace." Most of the time, those arguments center on ill-defined eye tests. Stuart Wallace of Beyond the Box Score tries to define the meaning of "ace" quantitatively, and arrives with only two pitchers. I think he's being a bit too fine, but it's an interesting concept.

Also at Beyond the Box Score, Stephen Loftus takes a look at who has the biggest holes in their swing. It's a fun look (no Rays on it), but there's something weird. One of the players to make the overall top five is Alberto Callaspo, a player who is actually one of the least likely major league batters to strike out. I think this study may not be quit capturing what it's trying to capture.

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