Arch madness, day three

The Rays look to win the third game and the series without SS Jason Bartlett, who is out of the lineup as the latest victim of a 24-hour bug that has been going through the clubhouse, working over most of the coaches as well as head athletic trainer Ron Porterfield.

Ben Zobrist, who was going to start at second with Akinori Iwamura getting a day off, will instead start at shortstop. Otherwise, not much has changed since Saturday's frustrating 9-8 10-inning loss. CF B.J. Upton, who looked like he might have hurt his left shoulder on the final play, is fine and in the lineup.

Also, at the suggestion of bench coach Dave Martinez, the Rays are wearing their blue batting practice tops.

The lineups
Rays
Iwamura, 2b
Crawford, lf
Upton, cf
Pena, 1b
Longoria, 3b
Hinske, rf
Navarro, c
Zobrist, ss
Jackson, rhp

Cards
Schumaker, cf
Miles, 2b
Pujols, 1b
Ludwick, rf
Glaus, 3b
Duncan, lf
LaRue, c
Lohse, p
Izturis, ss

Comments

[Sam]

Bodog - obviously this is your first year watching the Rays, because if you had any previous knowledge of the team then you would learn to stop freaking out about two close games. "These game played and lost in May / June may come back and bite us in the azz in Sept / Oct" - are you serious? If we are in position at the end of the season that two games in May matter then i will bow down to you but until then, let them play, these guys are young and there is a learning curve and many times with a young team that will happen on the field. Also..since you say that "I CANNOT and WILL NOT ACCEPT that". Why dont you talk to Friedman and get a position as the team motivator, we'll change your name from Bodog to Dr. Phil, or maybe Tony Robbins.

[Bodog]

Sam - Matt, it's your kind of thinking that breeds losing. I can certainly understand playing the game and getting beat by the other team, but when you beat yourself with mentally mistakes, I CANNOT and WILL NOT ACCEPT that. Matt, you are absolutely correct we can compete and beat any team on any given day that's for sure. These game played and lost in May / June may come back and bite us in the azz in Sept / Oct. We have not reached that point as a team where we can afford to give away games. When the team wins a game like the last two loses, it builds character and God knows this team needs character. Crawford's and Upton's feet are not the only part of their game - use ya freaking head!

[matt]

Thanks, Sam. Finally a voice of reason. Mental mistakes is all it was. We can compete with any team in the league.

[sam]

Everyone needs to chill out and stop trying to place the blame on someone, we lost two close games, yes we should have won them both, but sometimes it doesnt happen that way. We lost two in a row and are still 6 games over 500 and in 2nd place. Plus you guys are acting like we lost the world series we are only 1/4 thru the season. Plus, its not like we lost to the Padres, we lost two close games to the team with the second best record in the NL, in St. Louis. You all get so worked up, we win for a couple of weeks and everyone thinks that we are going to win every day. This is baseball, you can still make the playoffs in you lose 70 games! Chill out.

[Bodog]

Ed, we are 40 plus games into the season. It is high time Crawford, Upton, and Gross use that thing God put about three feet up from their azz. Crawford and Upton are making far to many MENTAL MISTAKES on the base path. I know Crawford and Upton have the green lite to steal, but damn they have to be smart about it. Crap, Gomes has the green light as well and he isn't nearly as fast as Crawford or Upton - you don't see him getting picked off. I'm pretty sure Maddon has addressed those issues with certain players and it's up to those certain players to be SMART on the base path. As far as the decision to put Reyes in - in the eight inning, I still say you are second guessing Maddon. Ludwig hit a homer off Wheeler in the 10th inning of game 2 - you face him again and pitch him the same way and he hits another homer, it that Maddon or Wheeler. To be frank, that homer didn't hurt us, we got that run back when Crawford homered. The bullpen blew it when they allowed those leadoff walks to hitters 8 @ 9, those walks came back to haunt us.

[Edgar Rivera]

Bodog, sure the coaches don't run the bases but it is the coaches responsibilty to get the players ready to play and to correct these mistakes with the players. It is the same thing over and over again. Wheeler choked for the past two days. As for Caleb, Percival has done a good job and two saves that he has blown that happens from time to time; it happens occasionally to the great closers. Reyes should had been starting the 8th inning and besides they brought him back to be the set up guy for Percival. Maddon did not see that plus the pitchers BB's came back to haunt them. That is why they lost. The Rays should had swept St. Louis.

[Caleb]

I'm sick of everyone hating on Maddon. Is it his fault that this all hyped up closer, Percival has blown two easy saves? Is it? Is it his fault Al Reyes is all blown over?

Seriously, get a grip people. The bullpen needs to start playing baseball again, NONE OF THIS is Maddon's fault. Any other coach would've done it the same way. The reason Reyes was not put in till later was because at that point you would goto Percival after Reyes to close out the game and considering Percival's recent closing disasters, I would not trust him to close out against the Cards.

[Bodog]

Edgar, the question is when will the players take responsibility. The coaches aren't running the base path. I'm pretty sure that in pre-game meetings Maddon and the base coaches go over smart base running as well as other topics. Come on Edgar, you know better - you know you don't walk ten batters in the last 4 innings and win a ball game, leadoff walks at that - 8th & 9th hitters. Come on Ed, I know you are better than that. Don't put this on Joe, those lead off walks are what killed us and it doesn't matter who started the eight - you are second guessing here. The walks were reality because each leadoff came back to bite us in the azz. Hell, you can even overlook the leadoff homerun Wheeler gave up. We got that run back when CC homered.

[Edgar Rivera]

This 5-4 loss goes to Joe Maddon. Should had started Al Reyes in the 8th instead of leaving Dan Wheeler. That was a horrible decision and Maddon fooled himself and lost the game. Plus the offense gave up in the 9th. When will the coaching staff start taking responsibilty for the team's horrible baserunning. This kind of stuff will come back to hunt you down the stretch. This team can't afford to walk the Aaron Miles and the Jason LaRue's of the world. THAT'S PATHETIC!!!

[Bodog]

This lost can be directly attributed to the bullpen. Not one of them came in and did their job, the leadoff homerun given up by Wheeler, the leadoff walks. You would have thought at least one of them would have come in and stopped the bleeding - but instead they ALL contributed to it, TERRIBLE RELIEF PITCHING these last two games, plain and simple terrible relief pitching.