These are the games that test a club's mettle: drab affairs in September against a team that, though eliminated, is playing confident baseball.
* General: After dropping their first five games of their ten-game road swing through the top three teams in the East, the D-Rays rebounded to win four of their next five against the Jays and Yanks ... Amazingly, if this season featured a 1981esque "first half/second half" system, the Rays would be in third -- five games up on the Jays, a game and a half back of the Yankees and just two games back of first-place Boston ... The last-place '05 Devil Rays, incredibly, are just the second team to take 10 games in a season from the Yankees during the Torre era. Last year's world champion Red Sox were the first ... Carl Crawford on Tampa's amazing dominance of the Yankees: "I don't have a clue about what's going on with that...But you know, I ain't mad a it" ... Delmon Young has batted .271 in 48 games with AAA Durham. Notwithstanding his promotion, he was named MVP of the AA Southern League ... B.J. Upton has committed fifty-three errors this season with Durham ... The Southwestern Michigan Devil Rays, in the Lugnuts' Midwest League, have had excellent pitching of late and are in the playoffs ... First-round pick Wade Townsend pitched six shutout innings on Sunday for Hudson Valley (A) ... Injured outfielder Rocco Baldelli went from player to player in the Rays' locker room to solicit donations for hurricane relief ... Among the rumoured free agent targets for the Rays this offseason: Esteban Loaiza, Tony Armas Jr., Joe Randa, Ricardo Rincon. Piniella would rather match young starting pitchers against back-of-the-rotation guys on other squads, while using veterans to hang with opposing aces ... Assuming, however, that Stuart Sternberg replaces Vince Naimoli as managing general partner, Piniella and GM Chuck LaMar are both sure to be shown the door ... Speaking of Naimoli, Rogers Centre security were alerted after Naimoli had a brief shouting match with Jays fans heckling the Rays on Saturday ...
* Travis Lee: His devastating dinger against Miguel Batista and the Jays on Saturday was the first two-out, two-strike, come-from-behind homer in Devil Rays history ... After Batista's first two cutters had tremendous movement, Lee was pessimistic: "I thought I was done" ... Likes the ball out over the plate ... A self-described Beach Boys (!) fan ...
* Jonny Gomes: Loves the ball up and can belt pitches chest-high or higher ... Strong hitter who can muscle out pitches in on his fists, or off the end of his bat ... Strike one is crucial because it opens up the breaking ball, which he can struggle with ... His defence? Let's say he'd make a fine DH ... Don't expect baserunning grace, either ...
* Jorge Cantu: Piniella believes that the hot-hitting Cantu will only improve with age. Why? Piniella: "Latin hitters...are not the most patient. They tend to swing. They walk less...But as you get older you learn to be a little more selective" ... Ugh ... Anyway, about that patience. Cantu's only drawn 16 walks this season, and his high month was July with 5 ... Good, steady glove at second ... Good hustle ... His strike zone can and should be expanded early in the game ...
* Danys Baez: Can still get his fastball up to 96 mph, but it doesn't have as much explosion as, say, a B.J. Ryan ... Good downward arm action. He stays away from righthanded hitters ...
* Seth McClung: Needs to locate his curve down in the zone, as he did in his stellar start on Saturday. Over his eight innings, he snapped off his curve with impunity ... When it's working, it makes his mid-90s -- but straight -- fastball seem even faster ... Needs to stay ahead in the count, because the fastball is hittable if batters can sit on it ... Tied up Adams with breaking stuff down and in, Koskie with fastballs up and in and Rios with fastballs away ... Live arm for a Tommy John survivor ...
* Joey Gathright: Virtually impossible to double up with his speed out of the batter's box ... Short, choppy swing doesn't yield much power ... A Mississippi native with some friends and family displaced by Hurricane Katrina ... In addition to car-jumping, of course, he's a former tennis enthusiast and big Andre Agassi fan ...
* Carl Crawford: Watch for the bunt single ... Goes with pitches very well and can sting low pitches to all fields ... Can get away with playing a deep left field because of his acceleration when coming in on the ball ... Intelligent defender who knows when to take risks and when not to ...
* Scott Kazmir: Counter-intuitively, he attributed his gem against the Jays last Sunday to not paying attention to his mechanics. Kazmir: "It just felt like I was cutting loose this time, not worrying too much about where my body needs to be when I make a pitch" ... Works inside and isn't afraid to stay there ... When he's rattled, he takes a long time on the mound and throws over to first far too often ... Pounds lefties with a good, hard sinker ... Very tough if he can locate his soft change ...
* Casey Fossum: Brings a slow, mid-70s curve to the table, thrown from a three-quarters arm angle. It backdoors righties rather than dropping downward, like McClung's ... Slings low-90s fastballs from the same release point ... Also throws a low-80s slider, without a lot of bite ... Has trouble keeping the ball down ...
* Joe Borowski: Has come a long way since being a 29-year-old member of the Newark Bears, thinking seriously about taking the Bayonne (N.J.) Fire Department exam ... After a sensational start to his D-Rays career, has blown leads in three of his last four outings, including Friday night against Toronto ...
* Toby Hall: Very level swing makes him a pesky hitter, but hardly the power threat he was once projected to be ... Stays down on breaking stuff effectively ... Has a cold zone on the outside corner ... Does not block the plate as well as the Rays would like ...
* Julio Lugo: Superb throwing arm at short. It's arguably the best in the AL ... Good high-ball hitter who'll drive it into the gaps ... Fine baserunner who's 32-for-40 on the basepaths ...
* Eduardo Perez: Considered to by many to be one of the kindest, most accommodating players in baseball ... "I've learned a lot from Dad," says Eduardo of his Hall of Fame father Tony ... Terry Francona said that Perez is in such a groove against lefthanded pitching that "it looks like he has four bats" ... Great plate coverage ... Murders high fastballs, but vulnerable to breaking stuff down and out of the zone ...
There are reasons to expect the Blue Jays to show some life, however. Aaron Hill should give the Jays' brass a chance to see just what their middle infield options look like for next year and beyond. Dave Bush -- and, possibly, Josh Towers -- are pitching for not-yet-assured slots in the 2006 rotation. And if Gus wants to have a shot at Rookie of the Year, he's going to need his last five starts to all be good ones.
This week's Scout features some minor league news, an acknowledged "good guy" and some unfortunate stereotyping of the sort discussed by Jordan in his last Game Report.
On to the Advance Scout!* General: After dropping their first five games of their ten-game road swing through the top three teams in the East, the D-Rays rebounded to win four of their next five against the Jays and Yanks ... Amazingly, if this season featured a 1981esque "first half/second half" system, the Rays would be in third -- five games up on the Jays, a game and a half back of the Yankees and just two games back of first-place Boston ... The last-place '05 Devil Rays, incredibly, are just the second team to take 10 games in a season from the Yankees during the Torre era. Last year's world champion Red Sox were the first ... Carl Crawford on Tampa's amazing dominance of the Yankees: "I don't have a clue about what's going on with that...But you know, I ain't mad a it" ... Delmon Young has batted .271 in 48 games with AAA Durham. Notwithstanding his promotion, he was named MVP of the AA Southern League ... B.J. Upton has committed fifty-three errors this season with Durham ... The Southwestern Michigan Devil Rays, in the Lugnuts' Midwest League, have had excellent pitching of late and are in the playoffs ... First-round pick Wade Townsend pitched six shutout innings on Sunday for Hudson Valley (A) ... Injured outfielder Rocco Baldelli went from player to player in the Rays' locker room to solicit donations for hurricane relief ... Among the rumoured free agent targets for the Rays this offseason: Esteban Loaiza, Tony Armas Jr., Joe Randa, Ricardo Rincon. Piniella would rather match young starting pitchers against back-of-the-rotation guys on other squads, while using veterans to hang with opposing aces ... Assuming, however, that Stuart Sternberg replaces Vince Naimoli as managing general partner, Piniella and GM Chuck LaMar are both sure to be shown the door ... Speaking of Naimoli, Rogers Centre security were alerted after Naimoli had a brief shouting match with Jays fans heckling the Rays on Saturday ...
* Travis Lee: His devastating dinger against Miguel Batista and the Jays on Saturday was the first two-out, two-strike, come-from-behind homer in Devil Rays history ... After Batista's first two cutters had tremendous movement, Lee was pessimistic: "I thought I was done" ... Likes the ball out over the plate ... A self-described Beach Boys (!) fan ...
* Jonny Gomes: Loves the ball up and can belt pitches chest-high or higher ... Strong hitter who can muscle out pitches in on his fists, or off the end of his bat ... Strike one is crucial because it opens up the breaking ball, which he can struggle with ... His defence? Let's say he'd make a fine DH ... Don't expect baserunning grace, either ...
* Jorge Cantu: Piniella believes that the hot-hitting Cantu will only improve with age. Why? Piniella: "Latin hitters...are not the most patient. They tend to swing. They walk less...But as you get older you learn to be a little more selective" ... Ugh ... Anyway, about that patience. Cantu's only drawn 16 walks this season, and his high month was July with 5 ... Good, steady glove at second ... Good hustle ... His strike zone can and should be expanded early in the game ...
* Danys Baez: Can still get his fastball up to 96 mph, but it doesn't have as much explosion as, say, a B.J. Ryan ... Good downward arm action. He stays away from righthanded hitters ...
* Seth McClung: Needs to locate his curve down in the zone, as he did in his stellar start on Saturday. Over his eight innings, he snapped off his curve with impunity ... When it's working, it makes his mid-90s -- but straight -- fastball seem even faster ... Needs to stay ahead in the count, because the fastball is hittable if batters can sit on it ... Tied up Adams with breaking stuff down and in, Koskie with fastballs up and in and Rios with fastballs away ... Live arm for a Tommy John survivor ...
* Joey Gathright: Virtually impossible to double up with his speed out of the batter's box ... Short, choppy swing doesn't yield much power ... A Mississippi native with some friends and family displaced by Hurricane Katrina ... In addition to car-jumping, of course, he's a former tennis enthusiast and big Andre Agassi fan ...
* Carl Crawford: Watch for the bunt single ... Goes with pitches very well and can sting low pitches to all fields ... Can get away with playing a deep left field because of his acceleration when coming in on the ball ... Intelligent defender who knows when to take risks and when not to ...
* Scott Kazmir: Counter-intuitively, he attributed his gem against the Jays last Sunday to not paying attention to his mechanics. Kazmir: "It just felt like I was cutting loose this time, not worrying too much about where my body needs to be when I make a pitch" ... Works inside and isn't afraid to stay there ... When he's rattled, he takes a long time on the mound and throws over to first far too often ... Pounds lefties with a good, hard sinker ... Very tough if he can locate his soft change ...
* Casey Fossum: Brings a slow, mid-70s curve to the table, thrown from a three-quarters arm angle. It backdoors righties rather than dropping downward, like McClung's ... Slings low-90s fastballs from the same release point ... Also throws a low-80s slider, without a lot of bite ... Has trouble keeping the ball down ...
* Joe Borowski: Has come a long way since being a 29-year-old member of the Newark Bears, thinking seriously about taking the Bayonne (N.J.) Fire Department exam ... After a sensational start to his D-Rays career, has blown leads in three of his last four outings, including Friday night against Toronto ...
* Toby Hall: Very level swing makes him a pesky hitter, but hardly the power threat he was once projected to be ... Stays down on breaking stuff effectively ... Has a cold zone on the outside corner ... Does not block the plate as well as the Rays would like ...
* Julio Lugo: Superb throwing arm at short. It's arguably the best in the AL ... Good high-ball hitter who'll drive it into the gaps ... Fine baserunner who's 32-for-40 on the basepaths ...
* Eduardo Perez: Considered to by many to be one of the kindest, most accommodating players in baseball ... "I've learned a lot from Dad," says Eduardo of his Hall of Fame father Tony ... Terry Francona said that Perez is in such a groove against lefthanded pitching that "it looks like he has four bats" ... Great plate coverage ... Murders high fastballs, but vulnerable to breaking stuff down and out of the zone ...
