Lets see, we have Josh Beckett on the mound today, Chris Carpenter welcomes in Mannywood, Carlos Zambrano against those second half studs from Houston. The Freak goes for his 10th win, and even a King takes to the mound today ... but this match-up seems to be the best of the bunch.
Yankees (60-38) @ Rays (54-45), 7:08pm
NYY: A.J. Burnett (32, RHP, 9-4, 3.74)
TBR: James Shields (27, RHP, 6-6, 3.70)
Am I the only one wishing for Tampa to run down Boston? (outside of Tampa of course).
There are a couple of decent match-ups today, but this one stood out to me as clearly the best of the bunch.
Is this Halladay's last start in a Blue Jays uniform?
Rays (52-44) @ Blue Jays (47-49), 7:07pm
TBR: Matt Garza (25, RHP, 6-7, 3.80)
TOR: Roy Halladay (32, RHP, 11-3, 2.73)
Yes, in case you were wondering. Yes there is a thread around here somewhere, where I discuss why I traded Carl Crawford for Garrett Atkins. I should look it up, and delete it.
CarlCrawford hit his ninth home run of the season tonight, and it didn’t even clear the fence. The All-Star speedster collected his third career inside-the-park home run leading off the fourth inning against Gavin Floyd and the White Sox, hitting a ball off the wall in right-center and circling the bases with ease before the Chicago outfield could recover.
Center fielder Scott Podsednik went all-out in an effort to run down the ball and crashed into the fence himself. Neither Jermaine Dye nor Carlos Quentin made much of an effort to back him up, and when the ball caromed back to the spacious area where Podsednik normally would have been, no one was there to pick it up. Crawford didn’t even really accelerate until he was about halfway to second base and still made it home standing up.
According to Elias Sports Bureau, Crawford’s three inside-the-parkers tie him for the lead among active players with Winn, Bobby Abreu, Ken Griffey Jr. and Jimmy Rollins.
"..Working his way into it?" Didn't he just TAKE it? 7 for 7 says he did, and I do not care what the dumb manager says :)
The Rays still don't have a closer, but LHP J.P. Howell looked a lot like one in a weekend sweep of the Royals. When he retired the side in the ninth inning Sunday to preserve a 4-3 victory, Howell became only the second Rays pitcher to save every game of a three-game sweep.Howell (5-2) picked up his team-high ninth save and lowered his ERA to 1.97. In his past 15 appearances, he is 4-0 and 7-for-7 on save opportunities. Manager Joe Maddon said he wouldn't rule out Howell working his way into a closer's role.
"He's got the makeup to do it," he said. "You look at his stuff, and just because he doesn't throw 90-plus mph doesn't mean he doesn't have any power pitches. He's got power in his change-up, power in his breaking ball, and power and movement on the fastball."
Pat the Bat, is back.
Now showing some of the power the Rays signed him for, DH Pat Burrell conceded the neck strain that bothered him during the first half was a major factor in his slow start. Burrell has tried not to use the injury as an excuse - he was on the disabled list from May 11 to June 11 after if flared up in late April - but when asked directly about it, he said the ailment caused him to develop some bad habits."When you're protecting something like that, I think you can develop a bad habit," Joe Maddon said. "You don't realize you're doing it. All of a sudden you wake up one day and your neck hurts and your swing is different." "He's using his hands a lot better," he said. "I don't see as much of a push of the bat through the strike zone. I'm seeing the bat head snapping through the zone. And I do believe the neck was a big issue in regard to that."
Ya Think?
Las Vegas doesn't have much confidence in Brandon Inge winning Monday night's Home Run Derby in St. Louis. Inge has 21 home runs, tied for fourth in the American League with Minnesota's Justin Morneau and the Yankees' Mark Teixeira. But Las Vegas odds-makers pit Inge as Monday's underdog. Lasvegassports-odds.com lists Inge as its biggest underdog of the Derby's eight participants, with odds to win at +950, which means a bet of $100 could earn the bettor $950 if Inge were to win. The favorite ..
- St. Louis first baseman Albert Pujols, is a +200.
- Philadelphia's Ryan Howard is second at +240,
- Milwaukee's Prince Fielder at +325,
- San Diego's Adrian Gonzalez at +465,
- Tampa Bay's Carlos Pena at +550,
- Texas' Nelson Cruz at +750,
- Minnesota's Joe Mauer at +800 and Inge.
After watching him mow down the Blue Jays, all I can say is, thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you for simplifying.
"I just haven't had that edge," he said. "I haven't had that mentality. I have to get back to the same way I was last year and the same way that got me to this point: That batter standing in the box is trying to take something from me and I've got to stop him from doing that."Price knows he is capable, despite a body of work this season that has hardly measured up to anyone's expectations. The Rays don't believe his command problems (23 walks in 29 innings) are the result of any mechanical issues, so they have asked him to just go out and pitch.
"Simplify. You always simplify," said Manager Joe Maddon, who went on to comparing it to the approach an NFL team might take with a rookie quarterback. "You back off, you simplify, and you really create a smaller game plan as opposed to a more elaborate one."
David Price isn't throwing enough balls to walk that many batters. Okay, well he is, but he really isn't. 62% of his pitches are strikes, either called, swinging, or foul. Pitchers capable of doing that are walking around 8-10%* of their total batters faced. Price is walking double that. Either Price is an outlier, or he's going to regress at some point.
This is good.
How balanced are the Rays? Try this one on. B.J. Upton's solo home run leading off the Rays' half of the third was the team's 100th homer of the season. The Rays had already reached the 100 stolen base mark, but now that they have 100 homers they have earned the distinction of reaching 100 steals and 100 homers faster than any team in Major League history.
Manager Joe Maddon remains steadfast in his preference for keeping his bullpen-by-committee, though he said on Sunday that his relievers have a "good idea what inning they're pitching." That includes J.P. Howell, who has successfully pitched the ninth inning the past three nights and appears to be filling the role as the team's closer. "They're at the point now where they look at the other team's lineup, and they have a pretty good idea where they're pitching," Maddon said. "I know they get it. The whole group knows where they're going to stack up."
It was the third straight save for Howell, who also picked up wins on Friday and Saturday and hasn't given up an earned run since May 23. He's 4-0 with 22 strikeouts and six hits over that span. "I just know that he's got the makeup and the stuff to [close]," Maddon said. "You look at his pedigree in regard to striking out hitters. Power comes in different forms, too."
