1) Joe Maddon- This is a no-brainer choice for me. He led the Rays back from there horrible start to the playoffs, with an improbable comeback thrown in there. The team could’ve easily given up after the bad start, but they didn’t because Joe wouldn’t let them. Joe definitely deserves the award.

2) Jim Leyland- The Tigers were certainly underachievers last season, but they finally lived up to expectations this year in a big way. With 96 wins they easily won the AL Central and now take on the Yankees in Game 5 tonight. He has done a great job managing this team to where they are.

3) Joe Girardi- As much as it pains me to say it, Joe Girardi has turned out to be a great manager. Sure, he has an amazing team, but it is not always easy to manage a squad of superstars. Girardi led the Yankees to the division title this year and dominated baseball while doing it.

A tie-breaker game on Thursday would lead to an interesting decision for Joe Maddon. It would be Jeff Niemann’s turn in the rotation. But, would Maddon dare send him to the mound after Saturday’s fiasco? Wade Davis would be next, but he’d be pitching on three days rest.

How much fun would it be to see Matt Moore start on Thursday? How many pitchers can say he they pitched in a Double-A All-Star game, the MLB Futures Game, the Triple-A playoffs and a big league tie-breaker all in the same season?

I hope it won’t be needed. But, My guess is Joe will go with a combination of these options. I wouldn’t be surprised with a Wade Davis start and a Matt Moore appearance early on. Maddon will probably need to use a variety of pitchers if a play-in game becomes necessary. But, it will be against the Red Sox. How bad could it be?

In a roundabout way, Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel suggests that this theory wouldn’t necessarily be true.  This morning, Bianchi has a column pretty much lambasting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and their fans.  He argues that it should be the Bucs, and not the Jacksonville Jaguars, who should be discussed as the team to move to Los Angeles.

A couple of the more notable nuggets from his column are these:

The Tampa-St. Petersburg megalopolis is the 14th-biggest market in the country, but does not support two of the most solid franchises in professional sports. The Tampa Bay Rays have proven over the last few years that they are one of the most well-run franchises in Major League Baseball yet the fan base continues to be among the sport’s worst.

and…

The fan apathy toward the Bucs is even more baffling because Tampa has always fancied itself as a football town. But I would argue Jacksonville is much more passionate about its perennially mediocre Jags than the Bucs are about one of the hottest young teams in the NFL.

At the end of the day, the situation the Bucs are in is very similar to the situation the Rays are in.  The Bucs are clearly using the Andrew Friedman model of building a young, solid team.  They were 10-6 last season and are clearly heading in the right direction.  But, they are failing to lure fans. 

For everything that Stuart Sternberg dreams of, which is a new stadium located somewhere on the Tampa side of the Bay, the Bucs already have.  The Bucs put a team on the field for eight regular season games a year.  And they played all games last season with a boatload of empty seats.    What makes Rays ownership think they could fill a new stadium for 81 games?

Matt Moore allowed two runs on five hits over 6 2/3 innings while striking out 10 to run his record to 3-0.  Russ Canzler hit his 15th home run and Stephen Vogt his 2nd in the win.  The Bulls hold a 2 1/2 game lead atop the IL South division over Gwinnett.

Montgomery Biscuits 10, Mobile BayBears 3

Shane Dyer went 7 1/3 innings, allowing three runs on six hits to improve his record to 6-7.  John Shelby hit his 14th home run and Kyeong Kang hit his 10th to lead the Biscuits.  Henry Wrigley and Matt Sweeney added two hits each.

Charlotte Stone Crabs 2, St. Lucie Mets 5

Merrill Kelly had a good start, allowing just three hits and no runs over the first six innings.  But, relievers Adam Liberatore and Deivis Mavarez allowed five runs over the final three innings to lead to the loss.  Anthony Scelfo was 3 for 4 and Hak-Ju Lee had a double and a triple in the loss for the Stone Crabs.

Bowling Green Hot Rods 14, South Bend Silver Hawks 3

The Hot Rods got home runs from Derek Dietrich (16), Julio Cedeno (8) and Mayo Acosta (2) in the win.  Dietrich ended the game 4 for 6 with the home run and four RBI.  Steven Tinoco was 3 for 5 with 4 RBI.  Starting pitcher George Jensen improved to 11-4 on the season as he allowed just two runs on five hits over five innings.

Hudson Valley Renegades 1, Aberdeen IronBirds 4

Trevor Shull made his first start for Hudson Valley after five in the Gulf Coast League and allowed three runs on four hits over 4 2/3 innings to be tagged with the loss.  Craige Lyerly was 2 for 5 with a double and an RBI.

Princeton Rays 3, Greeneville Astros 8

Eduar Quinonez fell to 1-4 as he allowed six runs (five earned) over 3 2/3 innings.  Drew Vettelson hit his 6th home run in the loss.

The Bulls got home runs from Dan Johnson (7) and Stephen Vogt (1) to beat Charlotte for the second straight night.  Vogt and Daniel Mayora ended with two hits each.  Alex Torres started and went five innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits while striking out seven.  The winner was Cesar Ramos, who improves to 2-0.

Montgomery Biscuits 2, Jacksonville Suns 6

Alex Colome got his first loss for Montgomery as he allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits over 6 1/3 innings.  Cole Figueroa had two hits for the Biscuits.

Charlotte Stone Crabs 4, Palm Beach Cardinals 10

Starter Kyle Lobstein was drilled for eight hits and six runs over four innings to take the loss.  Mark Thomas was 3 for 4 including his 11th home run.

Bowling Green Hot Rods 8, Fort Wayne TinCaps 4

Mayo Acosta hit a home run and drove in three to lead the Hot Rods.  Starter Eliazer Suero improved to 7-4 as he allowed two runs on four hits over five innings.

Hudson Valley Renegades vs. Batavia Muckdogs – postponed

Princeton Rays 5, Danville Braves 4

Jake Hager had a double and two RBI to lead the P-Rays.  Matthew Spann won for the third time, scattering nine hits and two runs over five innings.  Brandon Henderson allowed two unearned runs over four innings to notch his second save.

For those of you that don’t know, Out of the Park Baseball is a simulation based baseball game that basically allows you to manage a team through a season or many seasons. You don’t play in games, you just sit back and watch them happen.

I know it is a little late to be doing season predictions, but OOTP 12 had a little bit of a late release this year. I figured the start of the second half would be the perfect chance to post this.

So, let’s compare first halves, the real one versus the one simulated in OOTP 12. The records turned out to be pretty close, with the Rays simulated to be at 52 and 40. The actual Rays are currently sitting at 49 and 41. In the simulated season, the Rays are currently in second place, 4 games back of the Red Sox. The Yankees are in 4th, 5 back of the division lead. The Rays are 6 back in real life, sitting in third place behind the Red Sox and Yankees.

In OOTP 12, Evan Longoria and BJ Upton are each having great seasons, which we know couldn’t be farther from the truth in real life. They are batting .341 and .326, respectively.

OOTP has the Rays finishing the 2o11 season at 83 and 79, only 4 games above .500. They finished 4th in the division, 15 games behind the Red Sox. OOTP has the Blue Jays playing a lot better than they actually are, having them at 91 and 71 for the season and in 3rd place. I am hoping the Rays will not fall off that dramatically and only win 34 more games this season. If the offense keeps struggling, I could definitely see that happening. We will see how the second half plays out, and it all starts tonight versus the Red Sox.

Jeff Niemann made his final rehab start and looked good, throwing 5 1/3 shutout innings while allowing three hits and three walks.  Jake McGee pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up his fifth save.  Dan Johnson drove in Brandon Guyer with the only Bulls run of the game. 

Montgomery Biscuits - had the night off

Charlotte Stone Crabs 7, Bradenton Marauders 5

Tyler Bortnick hit his second home run of the season and reached base all four times at bat to lead the Stone Crabs.   Brett Nommensen and Dustin Biell also drove in two runs.  Merrill Kelly improved to 5-2 on the season, allowing three runs on seven hits over 5 2/3 innings.  Josh Satow got the final two outs for his fifth save.

Bowling Green Hot Rods 8, West Michigan Whitecaps 4

Luke Bailey hit his fifth home run and drove in four runs to lead Bowling Green.  Starting pitcher Victor Mateo improved to 7-4 on the season, throwing six shutout innings while allowing just four hits.

The Tampa Bay Rays started out the 2011 season by going a miserable 0-6 at home, topped off by losing Evan Longoria for about a month due to a strained oblique muscle.  How did they respond?  They became the first team in league history to start so poorly and still finish the month of April with a winning record.

They started the season with a questionable bullpen and no clear closer.  Kyle Farnsworth has been spectacular, saving 14 games out of 15 opportunities with a 1.48 ERA and .781 WHIP. 

Despite losing last night to cap a long coast-to-coast roadtrip, they come home confident after going 6-5 on the trip.   

Tonight, they begin what I think is their biggest test yet.  They get to see how they measure up against the preseason favorites, the Boston Red Sox, who come in riding a nine-game winning streak. 

Coming in, the Rays are in third in the AL East, 4 1/2 games behind Boston and two games behind the Yankees.  Tampa Bay swept Boston at Fenway in a short two-game series early this season.  This time, they do it at home with Shields, Hellickson and Price taking the mound. 

Everything is lined up the way they would want it to be.  If they pass this test, we could be in for another season like 2008 or 2010.