The Tampa Bay Rays were in Pittsburgh (Bradenton) to take on the Pirates. Once again, there was no video broadcast, but the Rays provided highlights as well as a couple interviews. The first televised game will be tomorrow. March 9, on YES network and mlb.tv. Thie first game broadcast on Sun Sports will be March 19. You can view the whole spring training broadcast schedule here.
Today's game ended in a tie. leaving no one (except perhaps Corey Brown) satisfied. The teams were so unhappy that they promptly scheduled a rematch for March 10.
In these videos you will see:
- Kevin Cash talking to the umpires, because, you know, he's a manager.
- Alex Cobb striking two batters out. Say, did you know that he just adopted a lost dog?
- Evan Longoria with a barehanded pickup and James Loney with a good stretch.
- Desmond Jennings flashing the leather in left field. Yeah, that's right -- left field. Steven Souza Jr. started in center, and Joey Butler started in right.
- Corey Brown replaced Jennings in left field, and then went yard. Controversy anyone? (No.)
- Justin O'Conner flashed his 80 arm.
Here's part one:
And part two:
An interview with Kevin Cash:
Notes:
- Cobb looked really good, used all of his pitches.
- Cobb stepped off a few times to get the pitches right
- Apparently DJ said he wants to be out in left field. That's interesting, and I like it. He clearly has the worst arm of our outfielders (compared, to Kevin Kiermaier, it's not even close), and his speed transfers anywhere, so that's likely the spot where he can provide the most value with his defense.
An interview with Alex Cobb:
Notes:
- Alex Cobb is "working on getting outs."
- He's also working on controlling the running game. That's "been a flaw in [his] game in the past."
- Talked a bit about building the relationship with Bobby Wilson (apparently they had some trouble getting on the same page in this game).
- If you have a dog for over 72 hours, it becomes your dog. This is why you should use a rotating stable of dog sitters when you go on vacation.