A Tampa Bay Rays Blog From The Other Half

Posts tagged Cano

Home-stand Re-cap

Aug05
2010 2 Comments Written by Jessica

It was a good one.  The end.

Just teasing.  This was a great home-stand and since there was only intermittent blogging around here, I would like to review and give credit where credit was due.  In speedy fashion.

It started with a bang.  Matt Garza no-hit the Tigers, and Matt Joyce hit a grand slam!

The next night Shields was solid.  Pena was on and Joyce had another big RBI.  Plus there was a walk off double play!

Longo took care of the next game along with the best tag team ever of Beniot and Soriano.

David Price and Pena completed the sweep.

Then it was on to the Yankees where Wade Davis stepped up to the challenge.  Joyce was the big hitter again.  Love him.

Soriano uncharacteristically gave up a game winner to Cano.

I saw James Shields blank the Yanks and beat CC Sabathia.  So great.

Hellickson is in the building.  Strasburg who?

Two three run homers beat the Twins.  Clap for Sean Rodriguez and BJ Upton.

The game with no offense.

The game with the Trop RBI, that the Rays probably shouldn’t have won anyway.

So 8-3 is pretty great considering the competition.  It’s just that those three games they lost were so…attainable.  Baseball is so friggan great and frustrating at the same time, but I love these guys.

Go Rays!

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Hottest Men in Baseball?

May21
2009 3 Comments Written by Jessica

This morning on MSN.com, Fox Sports had one of the lead stories.  The hottest men in baseball.  Nice morning present right?  You would think but this particular piece only brought total confusion.

It is quite possibly the worst list I have ever seen.  If they were talking about good guys who do a lot for their charities, then it shouldn’t be called the hottest guys in MLB.  So why is this list so bad?  Because not only do they pick guys who are not hot, they miss so many obvious choices.

Think about all the hot baseball players out there.  It is freaking hard to narrow that down to a top ten.  Fox Sports got three maybe four, if we’re being generous, that would be in the top fifty.  Some speculate that the list was created by a guy.

All female fans have their favorites and tastes do differ.  I’m sure many a blogger has covered this aspect at one point or another.  I know Those Girls even have a podcast in which they pick all-star line-ups based on adorableness.  Good stuff, except for that AJ Pierzynski pick, but tastes do differ.

So let’s review the Fox Sports list.
Bronson Arroyo- not a bad guy to put on your top 50 list near the bottom, but top ten?  When he’s not in uniform he looks like a member of Nickelback, not that there’s anything wrong with that.  However he made a choice in the past that should prohibit him from being on any such list, ever.

bronson arroyo

Now that’s a bad hair day.

Jose Reyes – Many people would put him on this list.  He’s cute.  I don’t think he’s top ten material, but I get that some ladies would.

Marco Scutaro - Again he is definitely cute, and great at baseball, but top ten?  He has also been disqualified based on photographic evidence of severe creepiness.

marco scutaro

Matt Kemp- Another good looking guy that I was surprised would make top ten.

Grady Sizemore – This one they got right.  9 out of 10 women would put him in their top ten.

Robinson Cano- What?!  Not even Yankees fans think Cano is hot.

David Wright- Extra credit.  He’s a no brainer, and even cuter in person.

Ichiro- Really?  I don’t see it.  He can fit in Frank Thomas’s pocket.  Aki is way hotter than him if they were trying to represent the Asian population.

Barry Zito – Now I know somebody is smoking something, and probably with Barry.  He doesn’t do it for this girl.

Jimmy Rollins – Another decent choice, but he has teammates that I think are hotter than he is.

In conclusion the Fox list is terrible.  Since I can’t do worse I will bring you my Hottest Men in Baseball list tomorrow.  (actually later today since it is after midnight now)  Hopefully the Rays will win and this will all just be gravy.

bronson arroyo

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Game 14 – Yankees vs. Rays

Apr16
2008 3 Comments Written by Jessica

After Monday’s game I found the differing emotions of Rays bloggers rather interesting.  A couple of us, myself included, were in the “at least they showed some spark” camp.  Others were understandably either pissed off or choking back tears of frustration.

While I think the mood you’re in when you sit down to watch the game has a lot to do with your reaction, there are definitely other factors that play into it.  For instance: comfort, savory snacks, beverage (preferrable alcoholic), Maddon’s lineup, and minimum suckage from the team. 

So to review, on Monday I got home late and while I wasn’t thrilled with Maddon’s bottom of the order I missed the suckage of the first five innings.  I had already eaten so I just settled into the chair with a nice Corona (since cinco de mayo is approaching) and watched the Rays score five runs to tie the game.  I was definitely bummed when Reyes all but soft tossed Cano a pitch to rip, but I liked what I saw the inning before, hence minimum frustration.

Moving on to last night.  I settled into the chair but I was cold and I had a blanket and I live in Florida!  For a snack I had peanuts, a perfectly acceptable baseball snack but I was out of beer.  At least I didn’t have sushi.  :)  I’m tired of Maddon’s lineups.  I understand there are injuries, and he’s trying to figure out the right field situation, and Aki needed a day off?, but how is the team supposed to become a cohesive unit when the lineup is never the same.  Not even close.  Try Ruggiano in right for a couple of games.  He’s got to be better than Haynes.  Have Gomes and Hinske split the DH duties.  And leave everyone else alone.  Is DiFelice too old to catch every day?  The team seems to do better when he’s in. 

Anyway Jackson pitched okay not great.  Rays left a couple men on, but not nearly as many as the Yankees.  Since every Rays reliever decided that he needed to load the bases before getting the third out.  The bottom of the order actually out hit the top, but the end result was a sweep by the Yankees.  Hense I’ve switched to the pissed off camp.

Better luck tonight boys.  Go Rays!   

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Game 6 – Rays vs. Yankees

Apr08
2008 2 Comments Written by Jessica

Pregame – All day long I was looking forward to watching the Rays game on ESPN, and hearing a fresh take.  It never occurred to me that the game would be blacked out.  I know why it never occurred to me though.  The Rays aren’t usually on ESPN!  It’s Hammel vs. Mussina so this should be interesting.

Top 1st – The Rays go down in order on like 6 pitches.  You gotta make Mussina work harder than that.

Bottom 1st – Damon singles off Hammel the bean pole.  Jeter hits into a fielders choice, Damon’s out.  Abreu (who is the slowest batter ever) shi*t! hits a two run homer.  Not Good.  0-2 Yankees.  ARod and Matsui both ground out to end the inning.

Top 2nd – Rays go down in order again.

Bottom 2nd – Yankees go down in order too.

This McGill Plumbing commercial is so bad.  I’m sorry but I don’t like crack with my baseball.

Top 3rd – What happened to Jeter, he’s not in the lineup?  And does Wilson Betemit have more or less range at shortstop??  Johnny Gomes!  Oh I have such a love/hate relationship with this guy, but he just hit one to the seats in left, so I’m feelin the love right now.  1-2 Yankees.  DeFelice grounds out.  Bartlett walks on a pitch that looked a lot like a strike, then steals second sliding under the tag.  Aki grounds out but moves Bartlett to third.  Carl Crawford hits a weak grounder to end it.  What’s up with him?  He needs to get hot.  Soon.

Bottom 3rd – Molina doubles.  Still no report on Jeter.  I bet ESPN has a report.  Damon pops out.  Ensberg is up to bat.  He is way late on the fastball, Hammel should just rock and fire!  He pops out too.  DeFelice has tons of finger paint on.  Should we be worried about Hammel’s eyesight? 
This just in…Jeter has a strained left quad.  I bet they are just being overly cautious.  Meanwhile Abreu gets a base hit, but BJ holds Molina at third, and ARod grounds out to end the threat.

Top 4th – Three more ground outs for the Rays.  Oy.

Can Aflac not afford to get Ben Affleck in one of their commercials?  Think of the possibilities.

Bottom 4th – Hinske makes a great snag in right and the Yankees go down one, two, three.

Top 5th – Aybar and Gomes strike out feebly.  DeFelice doubles in a great at bat against Mussina, but Bartlett flys out to strand him.

Bottom 5th – Melky grounds out.  Have I declared my love for Jason Bartlett lately?  Julio Lugo made three, yes three, errors yesterday.  Molina grounds out.  Damon, who has great sideburns by the way, hits a bloop single to center.  Ensberg grounds out to third when Pena makes a great scoop on Aybar’s throw in the dirt.

Top 6th – Aki and Carl ground out AGAIN.  Pena grounds to second and Cano makes a sorry throw to first.  He gets the “E”, but the first baseman Ensberg should have been able to handle it.  Cano must drive Yankees fans insane.  He’s brilliant one minute and then…kind of like Johnny Gomes!  BJ follows suit and grounds out.

Bottom 6th – Abreu hits one to right center where Hinske flubs it.  Triple.  Ok.  Hammel needs to settle down right here and not let this get out of control.  ARod singles.  1-3 Yankees.  Matsui doubles and Rodriguez scores from first.  1-4 Yankees.  Uh, still no outs.  WTF?  Cano grounds out but moves Matsui to third.  Betemit strikes out.  Okay lets get out of this inning.  The Rays walk Melky to get to Molina.  It worked he grounds out.  Interesting stat provided by Stats and Magrane – both pitchers only have one walk at this point in the game.

Top 7th – Time to get those bats going.  Brian Bruney is in to pitch.  That surprises me since Mussina was good on pitch count.  Hinkse flys out.  I think Bruney is need of a kleenex.  He keeps wiping his nose on his sleeve like a little kid.  Aybar gets hit by a pitch, but Gomes and DeFelice can’t get him anywhere.

Bottom 7th – Dohman in to pitch.  Damon flies out.  Ensberg gets a base hit up the middle.  He should have been an easy out.  Abreu walks after an eternity.  ARod strikes out looking on a pitch outside.  Dohman got lucky there.  Matsui gets another base hit to make it 1-5 Yankees.  Cano, who is battling Abreu for slowest batter ever gets a base hit.  1-6 Yankees.  Can we stop the bleeding please?  Staats mentions that Glover is now up in the bullpen and I’m thinking “You mean nobody’s been up!”  Finally Betemit strikes out.

These “we are one team” commercials are really annoying when they’re losing.  We are one team that needs to get their sh*t together!

Top 8th – Farnsworth in to pitch for the Yankees.  Bartlett flies out.  Aki strikes out swinging, and I know Magrane says he keeps his hands back, but he totally stepped out on that pitch.  Carl Crawford yuck, taps it to the pitcher.  Does he always swing at the first pitch?

Bottom 8th – Glover in to pitch for the Rays and he gets the Yankees in order.

Top 9th – Hawkins pitching for the Yankees.  Pena base hit, and then moves to second on a wild pitch to BJ.  Ok Rays get something going.  BJ grounds out.  Hinske, who’s getting heckled for his Red Sox days, walks.  Aybar grounds out and moves the runners over, but Gomes strikes out hook, line and sinker.  Final score 1-6 Yankees.

Post Game – Absolutely nothing to get excited about tonight.  If I hadn’t had a bunch of caffeine today I might not have stayed awake.  The Rays hitters couldn’t get anything going and seemed to be guessing at pitches all night.  They gave Hammel no help and he did pretty good considering who he was pitching against.
I think it’s a good thing they’re heading back to Florida.  The warmth and home crowd should re-energize them.  .500 is not bad for this road trip, but now it’s time to catch the Orioles.  Yes you read that right.

Time to watch basketball.

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