Elijah Dukes Released

Our once troubled asset who we “gave away” to the Nationals for since-released Glenn Gibson is now unemployed himself after the Nationals released him this morning. I only bring this up because it reminds me of one of my all-time favorite father-son stories from a baseball game. My good long-time friend, Bob, took his son to a baseball game in Virginia early in the 2008 season – I will let him tell the rest of the story:

So, I took my 4 year old, Marcus, to the High-A ball Potomac Nats v. Winston-Salem Warthogs game last night. We grabbed a couple of dogs before the game, watched Elijah Dukes in the batting cage behind the stands (him & LoDuca are doing their injury rehab games with the P-Nats), played with some of the stuff they have there. Being a coolish school night, the stadium was empty– probably about 300 people, so everything yelled from the stands could be heard by the whole “crowd”, the press box, the players, etc.

Well, Marcus was really into the game and screaming his head off– “Let’s Go Nats!”, “Good pitching Zim!”, “Strike him out!”, “Hit a homerun!”. Since he was just about the only kid at the game, all the older folks in the stands were in love with him, the announcer was playing the “Charge!” call just so he would scream it out, etc. Everything he did was met with approval from everyone around him, which of course made him do it more.

Well, about the fifth inning he asks if he should be rooting for both teams, and I tell him that we’re rooting for the home team, just like in the song. He asked me how to tell which was the home team, so I told him the home team are the guys in white. Mistake. Big, serious mistake.

Elijah Dukes steps up to the plate next. Well, as Dukes gets set, Marcus screams out, as loud as he can, “We’re only rooting for the white guys!”. The entire Stadium froze and looked over at us– and I mean the players on the field, the base coaches, the umpires, everyone. Dukes steps away from the plate and glares at us– we’re two rows up just on the 1B side of the plate, so about 20 feet from him and I’m screaming “No, Marco, the guys with the white uniforms, we’re only rooting for the guys in the white uniforms!” Well, after a moment of shock the crowd starts laughing thank god, and even Dukes cracked a smile and shook his head while John Ely cracked up on the mound.

And I have a few more gray hairs this morning.

Ah, the innocence of children.

When Mentioning Rocco Baldelli Is Inappropriate

Does that title make no sense to you? If so, watch the trailer of Fantasyland in the clip below. Fantasyland the Documentary launches this coming Friday and is a documentary done on a friend of mine, Jed Latkin, that was spun off the great book of the same title done by Sam Walker. Jed was selected to be a “regular guy” to come in and play in the AL Tout Wars Fantasy Baseball league that includes the likes of Ron Shandler, Lawr Michaels, Matthew Berry, Jeff Erickson, Mike Siano, and somehow, me. The film follows Jed from start to finish throughout the season and how it takes over his life that includes the birth of his twins and his job on Wall St. My advance copies of the film are hopefully in my inbox at home today – if you see someone in a UCF hat in the film, that’s me. I was not in the league the year they did this draft but I was the guy on the floor operating the computer-driven draft board.

If you are interested in winning a copy of Fantasyland, leave a comment in the comments section with your prediction of the Rays 2010 win-loss totals and I will randomly select a winner from the group.

Tags: Fantasyland

Fernando Perez – Short Film Star

Outside Appreciation

It is always nice to hear outsiders praise what the Rays do as we fans can often fall into the trap of thinking every thing our organization does is great. Jordan over at OriolesProspects.com compares how his Orioles handle pitching prospects compared to how the Rays have done it in recent years and develops a case of Rays envy. I agree with him but I don’t think that will be too problematic for the Orioles much longer as Andy McPhail and company are doing a stellar job at righting the the Orioles ship.

Tags: David Price, Jeremy Hellickson, Wade Davis

Shields Named Opening Day Starter

Starter James Shields will pitch opening day for the third consecutive year. The Rays are set to face Baltimore at home. Shields along with Matt Garza, David Price, Jeff Niemann, and Wade Davis all appear healthy and performing well in spring training and should continue into the season. Shields has to be the ace of the staff and be consistent at the top of the rotation in order to help the Rays regain the AL East title.

More Pictures!

Our friend, Michael G. Baron, has returned with more images from Rays camp. He was at the Marlins/Rays tilt yesterday and added some more great shots that include the image above.  Click here to check out his full gallery of Rays-related images from this spring or click here to view as a slide show.

Tags: photographs, Spring Training

Spring Training Updates

It has been a busy day but most of the news is good. The Rays took both split squad games today: a conventional 4-1 win over the Jays and a softball like 16-15 game against the Pirates that was played in 50 mph wind gusts with sustained 25-30 mph winds. Ignore all pitching stats from that game because they are u-g-l-y. For those counting at home, that gives the Rays a 9 game winning streak in the Grapefruit League putting them atop the Grapefruit League standings. It bears repeating – they did this in 2008 too. Other news:

• Andy Sonnanstine looked great in four innings against the Blue Jays today. That said, the lineup was filled with reserve types including former Ray Joey Gathright hitting leadoff.
• Dioner Navarro left the game with a bruised thumb after getting pegged on a pick-off attempt.  Marc Topkin reports the x-rays were inconclusive and that he will be re-evaluated.
• Matt Joyce has come up with an elbow strain and is also being monitored.  Given the club is likely to carry 12 pitchers and 13 bats, missing playing time would hurt Joyce’s chances of breaking camp with the big league club.
• Desmond Jennings is done in the Grapefruit League. The strained wrist punched his ticket to minor league camp a little earlier than people planned but it is the best thing for him right now
• David Price’s incident with the bat yesterday did not do any major damage and he is scheduled to make his next start.
• Tim Beckham, Jacob McGee, and Nevin Ashley have also been sent down to minor league camp. No surprises there.
• Pat Burrell homered today – his first homer since September 15th of last year and helped end an ugly 1 for 13 start to Spring Training.
• Rafael Soriano will make his Rays debut in a game against the Twins next Wednesday while J.P. Howell will wait until the next day to pitch against the Yankees according to mlb.com’s Bill Chastain.

Tags: Andy Sonnanstine, Desmond Jennings, Dioner Navarro, Matt Joyce, Pat Burrell, Rafael Soriano, Spring Training

Rays Add International Signee

Recent Cuban defector Leslie Anderson has inked a four year deal with the Rays. Visit this site which offers a great breakdown and even some video about the newest member of the organization.

He apparently has the skills to play both centerfield and first base and is a very polished hitter. I’ve said in the past – the moves the Rays tend to make are the ones that come out of nowhere. This one certainly fits that description.

Tags: Leslie Anderson

Radio Appearance – March 11th

I will be making my first appearance in the Orlando radio market to discuss Rays today at 5:05 ET with The Sports Rx on 740 AM. You can tune in live by clicking on the show logo above or by going to the 740 website. Wish me luck!

**Update** – here is the archive of my segment on the show for those who were not able to tune in.

Tags: 740 AM, Orlando, radio appearance

Shut Up and Put Up

The Rays are off to an excellent start in Spring Training. Sean Rodriguez is hitting everything in sight, Jeremy Hellickson is striking out everything in sight, and the club is on a seven game winning streak after defeating the Red Sox (again) today in Fort Myers.  If not for the great start, the focus on the Rays right now would be on the troublesome comment from the incumbent DH Pat Burrell and his possible platoon partner, Hank Blalock. This past Saturday, as the Rays took the field in Clearwater against the Phillies, Burrell gave an interview in which he lamented playing DH and desiring to play more outfield because he felt bored in games both by the lack of action on the field and the lack of action in the stands. He heaped tons of praise onto the Phillies fanbase – the same one that ironically booed him through most of his many abysmal slumps that seemed to be cured only by visiting Shea Stadium to destroy Mets pitching. The session gave the impression of an exit interview one would give a company after they’ve been laid off, not one that would come from a guy who is being paid $9m to step up to the plate 4-5 times a game. Those sour comments were then followed by newly signed Hank Blalock whose first comments when talking to the media as a member of the Rays organization was that he was here, “because I had no other opportunities.”

Blalock was given a softball question by the media that he could have easily replied to with one of the many cliches that we hear from baseball players. “I’m appreciative of the opportunity that the Rays have given me to make the club and giving me the flexibility to request a trade or release should an opportunity with better playing time arise,” would have been a great response to the question. Here is a major league veteran who has been little more than replacement level talent the past few seasons pulling a page straight out of the Milton Bradley Public Relations manual. Blalock’s comments did not sit well with the fanbase from the comments I saw online and they certainly could not have sat well with players in camp such as Rodriguez, Reid Brignac, and Matt Joyce who are busting their asses to claim what appears to be two final roster spots as it is unlikely all three can avoid a AAA assignment. Blalock walks into camp expecting a position, and the only way that will happen is if Willy Aybar’s wrist injury is more serious than the initial reports and he starts the season on the disabled list.

The Rays brought in Blalock with the hopes he could make the club and serve as a backup to Carlos Pena and primarly work in a platoon with Burrell at DH. I do not think they expected for Blalock to platoon in both splits and attitude with Burrell. Both players are major league vets that have had success in their careers but are both coming off sub-par seasons and need to be showing the fanbase and their teammates that they have come to play in 2010 rather than speak with a sense of entitlement or longing for another location. This is not the 2004 Devil Rays that were out of contention before the season began that played in front of crowds only slightly bigger than the one that gathers at the Flea Market off Hillsborough Avenue on the weekends. Please shut up and just put up the numbers you are being paid to produce and show some veteran leadership rather than whining about your current lot in baseball. In a state that has a 13-17% unemployment rate, we are not very tolerant of millionaires whining playing a kids game.

Tags: Hank Blalock, Pat Burrell