Taking all three games would have been an excellent way to bounce back from being swept for the first time. Why didn't it happen? I blame myself....
As it happens, I was in the house for the Monday and Tuesday games. They turned out well, and I was thinking that I might as well head down and take in the finale as well. Seeing as how I was going to write about the Devil Rays series and all. But I was feeling kind of sore and tired and decided to stay home. I apologize, humbly and profusely.
Although I do blame Carl Crawford as well. Damn, but he can play ball....
It was irritating, though. The Jays were three innings away from their first series sweep of the season. Alas, Schoeneweis, Frasor, and Speier allowed five runs over the last three innings, and the offense frittered away all kinds of opportunities to tie the game. In the seventh, the Jays put runners on first and third with one out, but Overbay hit into a double play to end the threat. In the eighth, still trailing by a run, the first two batters reached but Johnson, Rios, and Wells couldn't cash anyone in.
Liam and I took advantage of $2 Tuesday to see Doc work. On our way there, Liam asked me just how many games I've seen at the old ball yard over the years. My best guess was somewhere between 400 and 500; this, however, was the first time I'd actually seen a game from the stands since the pre-2005 renovation. What was especially interesting to me was this - they've really improved the sound. I remember everything over the public address system sounding distorted and garbled, and it generally still sounds that way in the press box. But seated up in 537, everything sounded clear and crisp. I was amazed, I couldn't get over it, I wouldn't shut up about it. Has anyone else noticed this?
I made a point of noting how the Toronto shortstops were positioning themselves - I recall someone wondering about that a couple of weeks back. There's a white chalk line that arches around the back of the infield. Julio Lugo generally played on the line, sometimes a step closer. Russ Adams was generally a step closer than that. And John McDonald plays very deep, about two steps deeper than the chalk line.
Tampa's win, along with the Orioles loss, moves them into a tie for fourth with the Orioles behind the three Beasts of the East. Tampa is going to finish fourth this season, and they are going to lose fewer than 90 games for the first time in their history. All of which I foretold, of course, but naturally it interests me to see what has worked out for them and what hasn't.
The best thing Tampa Bay has going for them is Scott Kazmir, of course. The kid has arrived - 7-2, 2.39 with 67 Ks in 64 innings more or less speaks for itself - and right now he's the man I would have start the All Star Game. He's been so good I don't even feel the need to look at his insane high school numbers anymore. And meanwhile, the New York Mets are looking desperately for starting pitching. I mean, actually giving starts to Jose Lima is just about as desperate as one can get. Kazmir for Zambrano has a chance to be one of those trades that is going to be remembered as long as people play baseball.
Kazmir is basically carrying the team on his back. Our old friend Lurch has been pitching pretty well, although he's been a little lucky on balls in play so far this year and probably can't keep it up. I think Seth McClung is a keeper, and he managed to string together a few fine starts earlier this year. He's still in the process of establishing himself in the league, and he's as inconsistent as Ted Lilly.
The Devil Rays have had some huge infield problems. Second baseman Jorge Cantu, who drove in 117 runs last year, has missed 31 of the first 47 games. That's bad news. Shortstop Julio Lugo has also missed almost a month's worth of games, which is also bad news because his replacement for much of that time was Tomas Perez.
One of the things I was wondering about rookie manager Joe Maddon was whether he would be able to resist the temptation to put one of his real fast guys in the leadoff spot, whether he would recognize that Julio Lugo was quite obviously the man best suited to hit first. The good news is that Maddon did recognize this - each of Lugo's at bats this year has come as the leadoff hitter. The bad news is that Lugo has completely forgotten how to take a walk - he has walked just once in 18 games this year, after drawing 61 BB in 2005. Very strange.
There's more bad news. The two corner infielders are hitting .195 and .167 and have driven in 18 runs between them. This is simply inexplicable, and at the Tuesday game, Liam and I were discussing the possibility that Aubrey Huff and Josh Towers had somehow switched bodies - Towers was pitching like Huff and Huff was hitting like Towers. It would explain many things, after all. But this too shall almost certainly pass. Travis Lee turns 31 on Friday, and Aubrey Huff doesn't turn 30 until later this year. It seems exceedingly probably that both of these men will hit at a level much closer to that they've already established for themselves.
The good news is that Ty Wigginton needs just one more homer to match his own career high - he has 11 already, and who saw that coming? Wigginton played poorly enough this spring to miss his chance to claim the third base job, and pretty much forced the Devil Rays to move Huff over to the hot corner.
One of the other reasons moving Huff back to the infield made sense was that the Devil Rays have lots of outfielders already on hand, and the organization's best prospect is an outfielder and he was believed to be beating on the door. The Delmon Young express has hit a roadblock, however, and I would think there's now a pretty good chance we won't see him in the majors at all this season. Rocco Baldelli hasn't played an inning in the outfield at any level since 2004 - he DHed exclusively this spring - he hurt his hamstring the day before he was going to make his outfield debut. He began his rehab assignment this week by going 2-4 as Durham's DH. Sooner or later, he will be roaming the Tampa outfield again, but it has taken quite a while.
And while that Carl Crawford can sure play ball, he's been off to something of a slow start. Wednesday night's magnificent performance did bump his batting average some 30 points however.
The offense has had one bright spot. Jonny Gomes is going to strike out 150 times, which makes you wonder if he can keep his BAVG in the .280 range where he has it so far. But he's got an excellent chance to hit 40 HRs, drive in 120 runs, and draw 75 walks, and if he does all of those things you don't mind if he hits .240. As a hitter, he's Troy Glaus. As an outfielder... well, Glaus would be better. Gomes is simply hilarious out there. He takes the strangest routes to the ball I have ever seen, and you really need to see him play in person to appreciate it. He changes direction at least three times on every ball hit to him. It's amazing to see...
The other semi-bright spot has been catcher Toby Hall, of whom I spoke somewhat harshly back in the spring:
Hall is not very good. He's a big strong guy, who looks like he ought to be a good hitter, but he's terrible. He makes pretty decent contact, but has no power and hacks at everything, resulting in a bountiful number of GDPs. He doesn't throw particularly well, and any evidence that he's good at working with pitchers is extremely hard to find. If there was one team in the majors that should have taken a run at Bengie Molina, it was the Devil Rays...
Hall hasn't been great by any stretch of the imagination, but last night's blast means he's hit more homers in 2006 than he did in 2005. Hall is the only guy on this team who is truly playing better than expected, with the possible exception of Gomes and Kazmir - and certainly, there are lots of people who are not at all by surprised by either Gomes or Kazmir. I know I'm not.
So - very little has gone right for Tampa. The middle infield has been crippled by injury. The corner infielders have lost the ability to hit. Baldelli and Young haven't made a major league appearance in 2006.
But they've now drawn even with Baltimore, and they will - I promise - leave the Orioles in the dust. The bottom feeding days are over.