HER RAYS!

A face all Rays fans love.

I’m not sure how coherent this post is going to be since you know I’m totally stoked for Matt.  He threw the first no hitter in Rays history!  What a game.

I got home a little late and picked up the action in the 4th inning.  It took me a little while to figure out what was going on since frankly it was a long day and I was just glad to be sitting at that point.  First my frazzled brain goes to the score. 0-0.  Oh, pitchers duel is my next thought.  Slowly it sinks in, they are both throwing no hitters.  Then as a Rays fan my thought was “not again.”

Both pitchers were dealing until the 6th inning when Scherzer started to show signs of weakness.  He struck out Shoppach, but walked Zobrist.  Carl gets on due to catcher’s interference, and Longo walks.  The Rays have bases loaded but still no hits.  Pena strikes out for the second out.  Who’s up?  Surely you didn’t call me Joyce!  What does he do?  He HITS a grand slam!  How does he look?  Super cute!  How loud was it in my living room?  The squirrels outside ducked and covered.  IT WAS AWESOME!

Meanwhile Mr. Garza just goes about his business.  Carl Crawford as usual made a great catch and then followed it up with a home run. 

Then things got tense.  It was on to the 9th.  Todd Kalas pointed out that all the starting pitchers in the dugout were staying in the same seats so they didn’t mess anything up.  Of course I then felt the need to stay in the same spot even though I was super antsy.  Matt did a great job of keeping himself calm.  Me, not so much.  There was nail biting, knuckle cracking, and whisper chanting.  None of which mattered because he did it.  Matt Garza pitched the first no-hitter in Rays history!  IT WAS AWESOME!

You know it’s great when you’re compelled to watch all of the post game shows.  Congrats to Matt and all the Rays on a great night.  He had his own headline on the ticker!  Go Rays!

This is one of those games that you could tell your friends about and it sounds so far fetched that they’ll think you’re making the whole bloody thing up.

You – Carl Crawford got picked off first.  Guess where the ball hit him?  In the hoo-hoo.
Friend – No way.
You – Way.  He left the game.  Nobody had the balls to call him tater-nuts though.

You – Garza gave up back to back to back home runs in the second.
Friend – Get outta here.
You – Seriously I thought his head was going to explode.

You – BJ Upton hit a home run.
Friend – Because he wanted to jog around the bases instead of running hard?
You – Hardee Har Har

You – Garza gave up another home run to Luke Scott in the 3rd.
Friend – Bringing the total to four?  This story is getting deep.
You - Seems like it.

You – Matt Joyce hit a home run.
Friend – Now that I believe.
You – Plus he’s cute.

You – The Rays scored 4 runs in the 6th inning.
Friend – It’s the Orioles, that’s possible.

You – Benny made a boo boo in right and two runs scored.
Friend – You are a liar.  Take it back.
You – It wasn’t the only weird route he took.

You – Choate was only able to retire one of the lefties he faced.
Friend – That sounds about right.
You - No, I said left.
Friend – Right.

You – Brignac homered to take the lead back to two.
Friend – He’s no Sean Rodriguez.
You – Reid my lips, I love that kid and I will throw you down.

You – The Rays had a two run lead going into the ninth.  Bring in Soriano.
Friend – Game over.
You – Not so much.  Soriano’s a tad rusty since he’s been on the shelf FOREVER.  Tie ball game.
Friend – That blows.
You – Chunks.

You – They go to extra innings.  The Rays take the lead in the top of the 12th.
Friend – But?
You – But they give it right back in the bottom half of the inning. 
Friend – This story is getting tired.
You – You’re telling me.

You – Guess who blew the game?
Friend – Lance Cormier?
You – Oh you’ve heard this story before.
Friend – Tragically.
You – Know what else is tragic?
Friend – What’s that?
You – The Yankees finally freakin lost a game.
Friend – Well you always have the day game after a night game to look forward to.
You – Yippee.  Go Rays.

A popular trend among female baseball bloggers is to chose a player who performed well as their boyfriend of the game.

Well let me just tell you that tonight I would be a ho.  How could I chose just one boy on a night like this?

Jeff Niemann was brilliant.  He pitched a two hit shutout.  In other words, he did it all by himself.

Carlos Pena hit TWO home runs, to the tune of FIVE RBIs.  Plus he really needed that.  He even got a curtain call!

BJ was back in the lead-off spot and he owned it.  He was on base four times. 

Oh and don’t forget Longo who quietly went three for five and drove in two.  He has 46 RBIs on the 8th of June.  Dude.

So how is a girl supposed to be faithful to one?  Yeah it’s not happening.  I love them all.  Especially when they beat the Jays like that.

I do have one question about tonight though.  Why is the clean-up hitter bunting with two men on???

Splits are good right?  They don’t feel so good.  Matter of fact these games against the White Sox were a bit draining to watch.  One minute they’re up, the next minute they’re down.

Yesterday was great.  Davis was dealing.  Pena and Upton were producing!  Then today was a game of bizarro.  Shields finally got some run support but was totally out of character and gave up a grand slam.  I guess I can’t call him Hans Solo anymore.  I’m sure it was a freak accident and we won’t have to call him Hans Quatro.

Tomorrow is my birthday, so I’d like to make a few wishes.  I’ll list them in my favorite batting order.

I wish for…
Zobrist to embrace his new role as lead-off and continuously set the table.
Carl Crawford to keep being his awesome self even if it turns him into a hot commodity.
Longo to stay healthy all season so we can witness greatness.
Pena to find his stroke and keep it.  I want to see that smile back on his face.
Jaso to stay hot, and keep working hard on his defense.  He shouldn’t make me appreciate Navi.
Willy to keep hitting a heavy ball, and good things will happen.
BJ’s offense to be half as good as his defense which is phenomenal.
Briggy to stay fresh and into it.  I love this kid.
Sean Rodriguez or Gabe Kapler to be successful in their roles, even if it is king of the bunt.

Garza to relax and go to work keeping those Blue Jays at bay.
Barty to take it easy and get healthy.
The Rays to keep their amazing road record going.

Well that’s a lot of wishes, but I have one more.  Please take a moment to remember the soldiers, past and present, for all that they’ve done for us.  Go Rays!!

Baseball is a sport of numbers.  Everything, I mean everything from every game is recorded and all of that data is accessible.  Now you can do with that what you will, different strokes for different folks and all.  Many people regularly delve into the numbers.  It might be to gather information for their fantasy leagues or it might just be that the quantitative side of baseball is fascinating to them.

Others don’t want anything to do with the new fancy metrics and either ignore stats all together or rely on the basic stats that they’ve know forever.  Joe Morgan said last night “I don’t know anything about Z rating, I just know he didn’t get a good jump on that ball.”  They were discussing Jeter’s range.

Most of you that come around here know that I don’t use numbers in my posts, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t appreciate them.  There is a reason I like in depth analysis.  I like to confirm what my eye and sometimes heart are seeing.  As a silly girl fan I like to think that I have a decent eye, and it is fun to check the numbers or read an article that confirms what you have been feeling.  On the flip side it is also good to read and be informed when your wrong.  It makes you a better fan.  Besides there are usually pretty charts, and who doesn’t  love those.

This weekend Jason Hanselman  at RaysIndex took a look at the Rays batters pitch results through the first 40 games.  I found this very interesting as you can look at each player and see if your perception of what they’ve been doing at the plate is what they’ve actually been doing.  Some are surprising, some not so much.

In the comments I asked a question regarding Ben Zobrist and how he’s starting to get hot now.  I wondered if he changed his approach at all because there were times earlier in the season that I felt he wasn’t being aggressive.  Jason was nice enough to look in-depth at Benny Z.  You should check it out.  There are pretty charts…

Oh and don’t worry we will get back to our regularly scheduled dippy blogging tonight when the Red Sox come to town.  In the meantime here is a picture of my Rocco to make you feel at home.

Some would say the Rays suffered from an intensity let down.  Some would say there were a few too many cocky fans that thought a win was a certainty against the Astros.  Some would say the boys were tired from the quick turnaround.  What would I say?  Eh, you can’t win them all.  Although the Rays had every chance to win this one.

Garza didn’t have his best stuff, but this girl noticed that he was workin hard.  He saved the pen and battled through eight innings giving up only two runs.  If your offense can’t score two runs then you are in trouble son.  Matt did have a little league moment though where he couldn’t pitch strikes to the pitcher because he was showing bunt.  Like a youngster he got frustrated and ended up hitting him.  Kinda funny until a run scored later in the inning.

It was rather funny watching Mr. Garza bat.  It’s one of my favorite things in baseball.  Watching pitchers who rarely hit step in the box.  Now maybe Matt can imagine what it’s like for someone to see his pitches coming.  He did get a sac bunt down though.  It almost makes up for the pitch that he bailed on that turned out to be a strike.  Yep, I love him but I laughed at him.

What can I say about the offense?  Well Benny Z and Brignac hit well on the night.  Other than that the story is about LOBs.  The Rays left a family reunion on the bases.  What happened to get the mofo in?!

Why oh why was Zobrist stealing third with no outs???  It’s a puzzler.

There were many chances to win the game, but alas it didn’t happen.  Let’s hope Niemann can get them back on track tonight.  Oh and he will be most excellent to watch step up to the plate!  Interleague is fun, and I haven’t mentioned it yet but Brian Anderson makes me laugh.  Did you catch him giving Staats crap about calling Lee slow.  Good times.  Go Rays!

Tight, beast, ninja, these are the popular words among kids these days.  For example if you were telling them about tonight’s game you might get these responses.

The Rays scored three runs in the top of the first.  That’s tight.

Benny Z hit his first home run.  Yeah he’s beast.

James Shields worked through some troubles, including home runs and multiple bunts.  That’s tight.

BJ hit a home run to retake the lead.  Bossman is beast too.

Did you see him lose that fly ball?  Yep, fail.

Carlos Pena hit two home runs and made some really great defensive plays.  That dude is ninja.

The Rays are five games up and have swept the Red Sox and the Yankees on the road.  They are so tight.  The defense is beast and the pitching is ninja.

Here is the key.
tight = cool, sweet
beast = really good, super
ninja = freaking awesome
oh and fail is self explanatory

Anyway you say it, these guys are really fun to watch.  Plus it’s going to be even more fun this weekend in Houston.  Pitchers get to hit, now that is ninja.  Go Rays!

The Rays keep on winning even when this blogger procrastinates. 

I missed the game on Sunday because I was watching kids play baseball.  Cliff Lee pitched a complete game and the Rays still won.  I didn’t really have too much to say about that except “Good on ya mates.”

Then yesterday the Rays squeezed out another win, but it was pretty late when they finished and I was falling asleep at the computer.  I figured since there was a day game in a few hours…

On to today.  Rays win.  Again.  They are totally ridiculous right now.  Half of the team is not even hitting well and they keep finding ways to win.

The pitching has been pretty great.  Even if they aren’t perfect they find a way to keep their team in the game.  Can’t ask for anything more than that.  The bullpen is pulling their weight too.  Ben Wha?  Been awesome.  Sonny has even been getting some big outs.

Pena had some big hits today, and BJ is smacking the ball it just happens to be right at someone.  Longo is on fire.  I can’t believe I’m going to say this but I agree with Kevin Kennedy that Longo should be the number three hitter. 

It feels weird not having anything to complain about.  Rays fans could get used to this.  Oh, I can think of one thing that annoys me.  Watching a third strike, with runners in scoring position.  Yeah I’m lookin at you Benny and Willy.  Those pitches were way too close to take.  Matter of fact the nickname Zorilla came about because Ben was an animal who was aggressive at the plate.  Time to let the Zorilla loose again!

Oh and from bummer central comes the news that JP Howell is probably done for a year.  There needs to be a full blown investigation here.  I need to know if I should be hating on Peggy Fleming for wrecking the boy’s shoulder.

Tomorrow the boys will face the big bad Yankees.  Let’s hope they just keep keepin on.  Go Rays!

Somebody better buy Jered Weaver a drink tonight.  He had what you’d call an unlucky game, and I don’t mean unlucky like someone who didn’t win the lottery.  I mean unlucky like someone slipping in dog shit and spilling coffee all over himself.  I’ve never seen a pitcher rush a catcher, but I think it was a definite possibility tonight.  I think I even heard him mutter “You ain’t no Budde of mine.” 

The whole thing started off on a bad note for Weaver.  He gets Barty to hit a ground ball and his third baseman makes a wide throw.  Then Barty steals second.  At which point CC lays down a sweet drag bunt and there is no way Weaver is beating him to the bag.  Zobrist pounces and hits a double to right, Barty the error scores.  Weaver is a little pissed at this point, so he strikes out Longo.  However he walks Pena to load the bases.  He gets BJ looking and his catcher starts to run off the field.  Weaver quickly says “Yo Budde two outs not three.”  Weaver then breathes a sigh of relief when Pat Burrell steps up.  He thinks to himself “easy out.”  This is when his catcher Budde doesn’t catch a pitch and another run scores.  Rays fans like this Budde, Weaver not so much.

The fun doesn’t end there.  In the fifth inning Barty walks on a pitch that if it was caught might have been a strike.  You guessed it, Weaver was thrilled.  Then Carl Crawford hits a ground ball to short, except the shortstop Aybar was covering second so it gets through.  Weaver grits his teeth and keeps working.  Then his catcher Budde lets another ball get by and another run scores.  At this point Weaver is wondering if he is on candid camera.  To his credit he pitched seven innings with only one earned run.  Budde should get the loss.

As for the Rays it was great to actually see them again.  David Price did great.  I didn’t love it when he walked the eight and nine hitters but he handled it.  The bullpen was good tonight.  Anyone else find Soriano comforting.  He’s calm.

How many strikeouts are too many?  The Rays had 14 tonight.  That’s a lot of guys just sitting back down. 

I was glad to see BJ get a single, because he has looked pretty awful at the plate lately.  Good thing he is pretty awesome in center field.

Pat Burrell did not help his cause tonight.  Think anyone’s ever tried to shorten his big huge loping swing?

6 wins on this nine game road trip.  That’ll do.  Just kidding, great job boys now come on home!  Go Rays!

I got my free t-shirt.

I’m surprised there weren’t more men going for these shirts.  I know guys who have way bigger crushes on Longo than I do, and that’s say something.

The place seemed pretty empty, but then the people just kept rolling in.  22,000 is not bad for Friday night, and I would think there will be more over the weekend.  Plus wasn’t there some sort of draft going on?

So I’m not going to lie.  When Matt Garza’s other personality showed up I was squirming in my seat.  You see my mind is warped and I was starting to wonder if this was all my fault.  Did I break the streak by not being in my comfy chair at home, where I was for the first three of his awesome starts.  Then I decided to get over myself, and hope he’d snap out of it.  It turned out to be the first inning from hell.  Matt did better after that, but I don’t think he was ever feeling good out there.  Remind me to never piss him off in person.

I wish I knew if he was getting squeezed on pitches.  The Navi ejection made me think so, but it’s hard to tell without foxtrack.  Cecil seemed pretty comfortable.  Plus he looked badass in those glasses.

The Rays had quite a hole to dig out of and they just came up short.  Willy Aybar got things started with a home run, but Grant Balfour came out and gave it right back.  Mood killer.

The boys kept picking away though.  Benny doubled in Kapler to add one.  Kapler homered to add two.  He and Willy had great nights.  BJ singled to add one more.  Plus he’s awesome to watch roam centerfield.  So they are down by one, with two on and Jaso hits one hard and far but…it’s caught.  Tease.

Oh the bullpen did a good job of keeping the game within reach.  On to the bottom of the ninth, which puzzled me.  Why didn’t they pinch hit for Kapler?  Barty struck out looking.  Where was that pitch?  Looked too good to take.  Carl singled.  Which brings up Benny.  Once again, I don’t know where the pitches are but man it looked like they were close to take.  I’m surprised he wasn’t more aggressive there?  I’m not going to doubt him though since he’s pretty good at baseball. 

It was a bummer, but exciting to the end.  It’s not easy to win games when your starting pitcher is human and gives up five runs early.  Let’s hope Niemann gets back on track tomorrow.  The game is not on TV, so someone will have to let me know how he looks.  Go Rays!