Who would have guessed at the start of the season that the Jays would be more looking forward to an August series in Anaheim than to the subsequent three-gamer in St. Petersburg?
Indeed, the Rays are a much hotter club than the Angels at the moment, and are fresh off their incredibly frustrating three-game sweep at the Dome last week. They proved to be a pesky opponent for a team playing meaningful baseball this weekend, too, as they took one of three from the Royals and nearly took a second.
To make matters worse, Joe Kennedy pitches on Wednesday. Heading into his start, however, Kennedy's back is smarting from a SkyDome slip-and-fall and his pride is smarting from repeated shellackings on the mound. Plus, he's got some kid named Halladay as his opposing number. Folks, if your Toronto Blue Jays are ever going to beat Cross-Body Joe, Wednesday's the day!
In other action this week, Lidle and Hendrickson get second chances to beat the not-quite-dynamic duo of Zambrano and Sosa after they each failed to do so last week.
On to the Advance Scout!
* The Devil Rays extended their winning streak to four on Friday night in Kansas City, but then dropped the next two in tight affairs ... Looking back on the Rays' winning month, Lou Piniella described his team's play as "awfully competitive baseball...These kids are starting to gain a little confidence" ... Travis Lee gave credit for the recent success to the skipper: "The difference between this year and last year is that we might have given up [last year] after blowing [the] lead. We don't do that this year with Lou on our tails. He won't let us do that" ... The most recent winning streak did not, however, send Piniella back to the hair salon: "No stylist. I'm styled out" ... Damian Rolls on the Jays: "It's one thing to sweep a team that's not that good, but to sweep a team like this, it's outstanding" ... The Rays are an impressive 22-24 against the mighty AL East ...
* The Rays had a nine-game team homer streak snapped on Saturday -- it was a franchise best ...
* But Tampa's more about speed than power: The Rays lead the AL in both steals (96) and, impressively, stolen base percentage (76.8%) ... Put another way, the Rays have 11 more caught stealings than the Jays -- and 76 more steals ... The D-Rays also lead the majors with 124 infield hits ...
* Jeff Liefer has only played once since his key homer on Wednesday, going 0-for-4 in Kansas City ... After his shot off Lidle, Liefer was ecstatic: "You want to contribute to a win. Luckily, I was able to step off a plane and do it today" ... Liefer accepted his demotion --after a brief stint with the Rays following his waiver-wire acquisition -- in stride: "I agreed with [Piniella] 100 percent and I needed to get at-bats" ... Liefer's wife delivered their son Cade seven weeks prematurely in June ... Mom and baby are doing well but have had to stay within range of their doctor in Durham, where Liefer was stationed at the time ...
* With four doubles and two home runs in his last eight games, Lee's numbers on the year are up to 283/359/466, with a 43/59 BB/K ... Lee had three hits, including a homer, and drove in four on Friday night ... Lee hit .344 in July ... Piniella: "I think he's taking pitches better and taking more aggressive swings" ...
* Damian Rolls is on a ro -- um, a hitting streak, going .375 over his eight-gamer ... Count Rolls among the disappointed D-Rays after Piniella fulfilled his pledge to dye his hair with mere streaks of blond. Rolls: "I wanted him to dye it completely...I didn't know he was going to get streaks, or we would have had him get red" ...
* Tonight, Victor Zambrano tries to defeat Cory Lidle again. Zambrano was decent on Wednesday, and is now 7-3 since returning from the minors in late May ... He's regained his confidence, and Piniella said that his ability to relax on the mound has finally made him "a legitimate major-league starter" ...
* Jesus Colome has struggled mightily with his control all season, but recently he's issued only one free pass in his last seven appearances ...
* Rocco Baldelli had his 10-game hitting streak snapped at the hands of Jimmy Gobble and Kansas City in yesterday's 2-0 loss ...
* Tomorrow night, Jorge Sosa tries to take another decision from Mark Hendrickson ... The Jays could only push across two runners of the three hits and five walks Sosa gave up in 5 1/3 innings last Thursday ... Piniella said that he wanted a "hard" 105 pitches out of Sosa on Thursday ... He got 108 and a big lead out of Sosa's start ...
* Julio Lugo is 6 for his last 15 (.400) ...
* Lance Carter has converted his last six save opportunities, but has in fact been rather shaky of late ...
* Carl Crawford did some good leadoff-type things over the weekend, going 6-for-14 (.429) at Kauffman while stealing 5 bases in 5 attempts over the weekend ... He now leads the AL in steals with 33 ... His 32nd steal broke Jason Tyner's club record ... Piniella on Crawford's 33/6 SB/CS ratio: "He likes to run. And I like to see him run...[H]e is getting so good he can steal on pitchouts" ...
* Brandon Backe was brilliant in long relief on Friday, going four shutout innings while allowing only one hit ... It was his first major-league win ... Backe earned a beer shower from his teammates in the locker room ...
* 20-year-old righty Chad Gaudin made his big-league debut on Friday ... He's the youngest Devil Ray in history, and the youngest pitcher currently in the bigs -- even younger than Jeremy Bonderman ... Gaudin, who walked in a run: "My heart was racing 1000 miles per minute" ... He is older, however, than both Jose Reyes and Miguel Cabrera ...
* Young rookie lefthander Mark Malaska coughed up a lead and took the loss on Saturday ... Piniella: "We're pitching a lot of young kids and the inexperience shows...[You] get two strikes on a hitter and you make too [many] good pitches. Make the hitter chase something" ...
* Yet another "young kid," 23-year-old lefty Jon Switzer, made his big-league debut in long relief on Saturday ... He was touched up not once, not twice, but thrice in 2 2/3 innings, including a Carlos Beltran solo shot ... Switzer was called up from AA Orlando, and pitched at Kauffman Stadium before he ever saw an AAA stadium ... Veteran righty Al Levine was traded to the Royals for $200,000 and, more importantly, the clearing of a roster space for Switzer ...
* Aubrey Huff's 59th RBI on Saturday tied his career best ...
* Thursday's opponent, Joe Kennedy, against the Blue Jays: 2-0 ... Thursday's opponent, Joe Kennedy, against the rest of the world: 1-8, with only a Comerica Park shutout to show for himself ... Kennedy was blasted in one-plus inning on Friday night, giving up two homers, two singles and three walks ... He left the game with upper-back soreness, but presumably wouldn't miss the Toronto start for the world ... Kennedy's back injury appears to be as weird as any: He volunteered to go get Rocco Baldelli from the clubhouse to be a defensive replacement on Thursday -- and he slipped on the wet SkyDome dugout steps ...
* Terry Shumpert, currently on the DL, signed with the Rays in part because of his managerial aspirations -- he wanted to learn from Sweet Lou ... Jim Leyland first inspired him to think about managing ... Piniella had "high praise" for Shumpert's influence on young players -- and when asked about Shumpert's managerial and/or coaching prospects, said "Whenever he's ready, I think he'll get the opportunity" ...
* B.J. Upton, the second-overall pick from 2002, has been promoted to AA Orlando ... The nineteen-year-old was hitting .302 with 22 doubles, 6 triples, 7 home runs and 38 steals for Charleston of the Sally League ...
* Piniella plans on resting Crawford and Baldelli, especially in hot weather -- given that neither has played into September in their career ...
* Lou on Josh Hamilton: "[T]his would've been a wonderful opportunity this year for him to get a good look and see...So it's going to be delayed a year. But he's still in our plans, believe me. He's got a lot of talent" ...
* The St. Petersburg Times says that Jim Bowden-to-Tampa Bay is "unlikely" ...
Probable Batting Orders
vs. LH
7 Crawford
4 Perez
8 Baldelli
DH Huff
2 Hall
3 Lee
9 Rolls
5 Sandberg
6 Lugo
vs. RH
7 Crawford
4 Anderson/Perez
9 Huff
8 Baldelli
3 Lee
9 Rolls
5 Liefer
2 Hall/Valentin
6 Lugo
Pitching Probables
Monday: RH Zambrano vs. Lidle
Tuesday: RH Sosa vs. Hendrickson
Wednesday: LH Kennedy vs. Halladay
Bullpen Usage
Long: Gaudin R, Switzer L
Short: Malaska L, Backe R
Setup: Harper R, Colome R
Closer: Carter R
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