• The Rays picked up another loss, 8-5 against the Red Sox. The Rays needed this win to help gain some ground, but now the Rays are two back of the Red Sox and three back of the Yankees. The Rays were hurt by the pitching staff, as the offense got it going late. James Shields gave up 5 earned. Lance Cormier gave up two earned on 2 hits, and Andy Sonnanstine gave up 1 earned on 1 hit.
• Carl Crawford went 4 for 5 in his return with a run. Willy Aybar went 1 for 2 with a 2 run homer after pinch hitting for Matt Joyce. Sean Rodriguez picked up a pair of hits.
• The Rays need a win tonight, as they cannot afford to be swept again and put more distance between them and the Red Sox. The Rays will send Matt Garza to the mound, who is 8-5 with a 4.10 ERA. The Rays need to get a great start out of him and keep the hurting Red Sox offense in check.
• The Rays will face Daisuke Matsuzaka, who is 5-2 with a 4.50 ERA after missing his first few starts due to injury. The Rays offense needs to get it going early and often off of Dice-K so we will see how they can do.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (47-31, 1st place) - beat Louisville 7-5

• The Bulls scored four in the eighth to overtake Louisville. 
• Desmond Jennings was 2-5, including his first home run of the season.  His batting average now stands at .301.
• Virgil Vasquez returned after being out since April 21 after suffering two broken wrists in a scooter accident.  He pitched five innings, allowing three runs on seven hits.
• Aneury Rodriguez, pitching in relief, was the winner.  In three innings, he allowed two runs on four hits.  He’s now 4-5 on the season.
• Winston Abreu struck out the side in the ninth to earn his eighth save of the year.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (4-4 / 41-34, 3rd place) - lost to Mobile 2-1

• The Biscuits got another strong game from starter Jeremy Hall, who went six innings, allowing one run on two hits.
• Matt Gorgen was the loser, allowing the winning run to score in the ninth.  His record falls to 3-2.
• Henry Wrigley was 2-4 with a double.

Single-A Charlotte Stone Crabs (1-5 / 44-31) - beat Palm Beach 6-0

• Joe Cruz pitched seven shoutout innings, allowing five hits, to even his season record at 6-6.
• 2B Shawn O’Malley had a big game, going 4-5 with a double and two triples.
• Tim Beckham drove in two runs with a 2-4 night and Greg Sexton was 3-5.

Single-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (3-2 / 34-40, 2nd place) - lost to Lansing 4-2

• Starter Kirby Yates went five innings, allowing two runs on five hits.
• Reliever Deivis Mavarez gave up two runs in the ninth to take the loss.  He’s now 1-5.
• Ryan Wiegand and Gabe Cohen had two hits each for the Hot Rods.

Short-season Hudson Valley Renegades (5-6, 2nd place) - lost to Brooklyn, 8-6

• Starter Julius Dettrich falls to 1-2 on the season, allowing four runs on five hits and four walks in 3 1/3 innings.
• Nicholas Schwaner was 2-4 with a double and an RBI. 

Rookie League Princeton Rays (3-5) - beat Pulaski 1-0

• The P-Rays scored a run in the first on a Kevin Kiermaier RBI and held on to win 1-0.  Kiermaier finshed 2-3 with a triple in this game.
• Starter Braulio Lara pitched six shutout innings, allowing just three hits while striking out six.
• Wade Broyles pitched the final three innings to earn his first save.

Rookie League GCL Rays (4-3) - beat the GCL Red Sox 5-4

• Cody Rogers homered in this one for the Rays.

• The Rays will open up a very important midseason series against the Red Sox tonight. The Rays have a chance to put themselves alone in second after this series. We are going to need to get wins. The Rays will hope to start the series on a good note with James Shields on the mound, who is 6-7 with a 4.55 ERA on the season. He got the loss in his last start against the Padres. The Rays need Big Game James to snap out of his funk tonight and pitch well.
• The Rays will face John Lackey, who has been mediocre since coming to the Red Sox, at 8-3 with a 4.69 ERA. He has a great record, but a terrible ERA. The Rays need to get the offense going, as they have had two terrible offensive series’ against the Padres and D-Backs, who had the worst pitching in baseball. The Rays need to have a huge night. In his last start against the Rays, he picked up a win while allowing 8 hits and 2 earned.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (46-31, 1st place) - beat Lehigh Valley 3-2

• The Bulls got two runs in the bottom of the ninth to win when JJ Furmaniak doubled in Angel Chavez and Desmond Jennings.  Chavez was pinch running for Jose Lobaton, who had singled to start things off.  Jennings followed with a single, leading to Furmaniak’s walk-off hit.
• Furmaniak drove in all three runs in the game with a 2-5 night.  Jennings was 3-5 with a double.
• Starter Richard De Los Santos went 7 1/3 innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on six hits. 
• The win went to Darin Downs, now 1-0 with Durham, who pitched 1 2/3 innings and allowed no runs on one hit and two walks.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (4-3 / 41-33, 2nd place) - lost to Mobile 6-5

• Reliever Dane De La Rosa gave up two runs in the ninth to lose for the first time after four wins.
• David Newmann started and gave up four runs (three earned) on six hits over 4 2/3 innings.
• John Matulia was 2-3, including his fourth home run in the top-half of the ninth that temporarily put the Biscuits ahead 5-4.
• Henry Wrigley was promoted to Montgomery and was 2-4 in his debut.

Single-A Charlotte Stone Crabs (0-5 / 43-31) – lost to Palm Beach 6-1

• After winning the first half, the Stone Crabs have not been able to get into the win column after five games into the second half.
• Starter Chris Andujar (6-2) was tagged with the loss after allowing three runs on five hits over five innings.
• Anthony Scelfo had both Stone Crabs’ hits, going 2-4 at the plate.

Single-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (3-1 / 34-39, 2nd place) - beat Lansing, 5-3

• Starter Jason McEachern improves to 3-6 on the season, pitching 6 1/3 scoreless innings.  He allowed just four hits.
• The Hot Rods had 14 hits, including a 2-4 night by 3B Bennett Davis, who had three RBI’s.

Short-season Hudson Valley Renegades (5-5, 2nd place) - lost to Brooklyn, 5-2

• The top-3 batters in the order, Robby Price, Diogenes Luis and Burt Reynolds combined for eight of the Renegades nine hits.
• Devin Fuller was the loser, allowing four runs on nine hits over four innings of work.

Rookie League Princeton Rays (2-5) - beaten by Pulaski 7-3

• Andrew Bellatti had another good start, allowing just two unearned runs on five hits over six innings.  His ERA is 0.79 in two starts for the P-Rays.
• DH Hector Guevara was 2-4 with a pair of doubles.
• 1B Scott Lawson was 2-4 and knocked in a run.

Rookie League GCL Rays (3-3) - hammered by the GCL Red Sox 13-2

• Rays pitching gave up 19 hits, including eight by Matthew Swilley in 2 2/3 innings. 
• Tyree Hayes, on rehab, was the starter and allowed two hits and no runs in the first three innings.
• 1B Jhonatan Gomez continues to swing a hot bat, going 2-4 with two RBI.  He’s hitting .385 for the Rays.

• Hustle. I think that is something I learned in 1st grade gym class. Run your hardest at everything. I think that should be easy for somebody making millions to play a GAME which involves the need to HUSTLE. BJ, you made yourself look bad by not running after the double. Sure, it was mute because the next batter hit a homer. Would that have happened had Ryal been on second? Then, the next time you get up, you are picked off after a walk. Sure, you almost hit a homer to win the game. All would’ve been redeemed. Except you hit it to the furthest part of the park and it was nothing but a long fly ball. BJ, you need to learn from your brother, who ran hard out of the box on a double and hustled all the way to second. Evan Longoria was totally right to say something.
• Now that I have finished that, it is on to the rest of the game. The Rays came out losers in this one, losing 2 to 1. In their 2 wins this series, the D-Backs scored 3 runs. The Rays got 2 hits, which gave them 2 hits in their 2 losses. Carlos Pena drove in the only run on a double. Wade Davis had a great start, going 7 1/3, allowing 2 earned on 4 hits, the only blip being the homer by Gerardo Parra, which proved to be the difference.
• The Rays have a tough road series ahead, with two big games against the Red Sox and 4 against the Twins in their first trip to Target Field. In the Red Sox series, the Rays will send James Shields and Matt Garza to the mound against John Lackey and Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (45-31, 1st place) - lost to Lehigh Valley 4-2

• Fernando Perez homered for the second night in a row.  He now has three for the season.  Quite the power outburst from Perez.
• Desmond Jennings was 2-5 with a double and his 18th stolen base.
• Heath Phillips allowed two runs (one earned) on seven hits over six innings.
• Reliever RJ Swindle game up single runs in the 8th and 9th innings, leading to his second loss of the season.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (4-2 / 41-32, 2nd place) - beat West Tennessee 6-2

• Starter Alexander Torres lasted only four innings, allowing two runs on four hits and three walks.
• Heath Rollins was the winner, pitching two scoreless innings.  He’s 2-0 on the season.
• Chris Nowak, Leslie Anderson, Nevin Ashley and Chris De La Cruz all had two hits for the Biscuits.

Single-A Charlotte Stone Crabs (0-4 / 43-30) – lost to Palm Beach 3-0

• Starter Matt Moore allowed two runs on five hits over six innings while striking out 11.  But, with no run support, his record falls to 3-8 on the season.
• The Stone Crabs were limited to three singles in the game, two by Reid Fronk.

Single-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (2-1 / 33-39, 2nd place) - lost to Fort Wayne, 13-2

• Wilking Rodriguez was a victim.  He gave up six unearned runs on seven hits in four innings.  But, the six unearned runs in the second inning led to his sixth loss of the season.
• At the plate, Tyler Bortnick hit his sixth home run of the season.

Short-season Hudson Valley Renegades (5-4, 1st place, tie) - lost to Staten Island 8-6

• Starter Omar Bencomo allowed three runs on four hits over four innings.
• Hunter Hill allowed two runs in the eighth leading to his first loss of the season.
• Diongenes Luis and Phillip Wunderlich had two hits each for the Hot Rods.

Rookie League Princeton Rays (2-4) - beat Bristol 7-1

• Starter Enny Romero allowed just two hits and a run over six innings while striking out seven. 
• Bryan Fogle hit his first home run of the season.
• Ruben Contreras was 2-4 with a pair of doubles.

Rookie League GCL Rays (3-2) - had the day off.

 

Clearly, BJ Upton loafed after the ball hit by Rusty Ryal.  That lead to a verbal conflict between he and Evan Longoria between innings.  The world will make a big deal about the obvious disagreement between the two, but I’m not sure it needs to be a big deal.

I’m probably the last person that would come to the defense of BJ Upton.  But, as quoted to St. Pete Times beat writer Marc Topkin, he has a point:

“You know what, where I was positioned, it’s a long way to go. Joe’s always said it to me that you shouldn’t assume, but I assumed the leftfielder (Matt Joyce) might be there, but he wasn’t and maybe I should have cut it off. But it’s over with now.”

In an odd way, I get that.  I’ll guess that he and Carl Crawford can play the field together without even thinking.  BJ probably knows where Carl will be in just about any sitiuation, and vice versa.  This was just the third game with Matt Joyce in left field.  That’s no excuse…but, in normal circumstances, this would be a non-issue.

The Longoria-Upton disagreement will be blown out of proportion all over TV over the next 24 hours or so.  BJ is known for his less than full-speed play.  But, the Rays need to move on.  The Red Sox await.

I stumbled across an excellent piece by Thomas St. Myer in the Star-Press of Muncie, IN.  St. Myer spent this spring following Rays first-round draft pick Justin O’Conner as he played through his senior season heading toward the baseball draft. 

In total, St. Myer wrote seven stories, profiling every aspect of the prospect and his journey toward professional baseball.  Today’s last part summarizes the journey and gives Rays fans a good indication of the type of player we can watch climb through the organization. 

In a separate article explaining why he chose to write such a detailed look at O’Conner, St. Myer said this:

And best of all, from my perspective, as I wrote each of the seven stories there was no gnashing of the teeth. O’Conner is an extraordinary baseball player, probably the best prep player in the history of this county, and fortunately for my sake, the size of his ego lets him fit through the narrowest of doors.

Reading this sort of reminded me of Rocco Baldelli and his journey to Tropicana Field which began in the schools of Rhode Island.  Rocco continues to be an excellent representative of the Rays organization.  At least at first glance, Justin O’Conner just might follow in those footsteps.

Among the other articles St. Myer wrote:

Cowan’s Justin O’Conner is a prized MLB draft prospect

Cowan star baseball player O’Conner uncomfortable in spotlight

O’Conners a down-to-earth family

Today’s the day for Justin O’Conner

The Trop has some fan-friendly features like a pretty cool soaring atrium and the live ray tank in center field. But it’s tucked away in downtown St. Petersburg and it’s just too far from where most Tampa Bay folks live.

Mike Harrington — buffalonews.com

Most?  I just wish I knew how many times Mike Harrington has been to Tampa Bay, St. Petersburg, and the Trop.  And then there’s this:

Ownership has actually lowered ticket prices, improved concession offerings and — get this — provided free parking, but the Rays still languish 24th in attendance, entering the weekend at 21,896 per game.

Note to Mr. Harrington, the free parking was a few years ago.  It has nothing to do with this year’s per game average.  I paid $20 today to park.  That’s not free.  Now, I know there’s still some free parking going on.  But, associating free parking with this year’s attendance is misleading.  But wait, there’s more from Buffalo…

To get to downtown St. Pete from Tampa, you have to travel over the traffic-choked Howard Frankland Bridge, a 10-mile trip across the bay. It’s quite scenic to an outsider but it’s the bane of your existence if you’re a local…

Seriously?  I don’t travel it much.  But, for me, it’s not the bridge that’s the problem.  It’s something on the Tampa roadways that trap people on the bridge that often causes the problem.  Hence, the problem with a Tampa stadium location. 

And, Mr. Harrington didn’t really put this all together.  But, the bridge goes both directions.  In the evenings, it’s more likely that the choke is eastbound, not westbound.  Assuming baseball’s success in Tampa Bay depends on fans from both sides of the bay, the “traffic-choked” bridge will always be a problem for someone.

Perhaps this isn’t a baseball market.  Perhaps the Tampa residents are too pig-headed to support a St. Petersburg-based team.  And, vice versa.  Whatever.  But, there are many factors that are impacting attendance. 

 

• The day after former Ray Edwin Jackson threw a no-no, former Yankee Ian Kennedy came in and got the loss in the 5-3 Rays win. He was more wild than Jackson, allowing 9 walks to Edwin’s 8. The big story is David Price, who picked up his AL leading 11th win yesterday. Price went 8 strong innings, allowing 2 earned on 7 hits while striking out 11. Rafael Soriano settled down and picked up his 18th save after allowing a homer to Chris Young. Soriano’s ERA is now 1.63, amazing for a closer. We will have to wait and see if he makes the All-Star team.
• On the offesive side, nobody collected more than one hit, but Jason Bartlett and Sean Rodriguez each drove in two. In the Battle of the Uptons, BJ was 0 for 4 with a walk and a run, and Justin was 2 for 3 with a solo homer and a walk.
• The Rays will look to win the series today as they face Rodrigo Lopez, who is 3-6 with a 4.59 ERA. The Rays offense is due to put a huge game together, considering the Rays got most of their runs yesterday on timely hits after walks. Rodrigo Lopez looks perfect for the Rays offense to explode.
• The Rays will need to get some runs, as the struggling Wade Davis is on the mound. Davis has had a terrible month, and is 5-8 with a 4.90 ERA on the season. Davis needs to step up as he could find himself in Durham very shortly if this start goes poorly. Jeremy Hellickson is knocking on the door to the big leagues.