Rays, Red Sox ready to roll

The Rays and Red Sox are preparing for the opener of the big three-game series at the Trop, with first place in the balance.

CF B.J. Upton (strained left quad) remains sidelined for the Rays, so rookie Fernando Perez is again in centerfield, and playing his first game at the Trop.

Otherwise, the lineups are pretty much as expected.

RAYS
Iwamura, 2b
Bartlett, ss
Pena, 1b
Longoria, 3b
Floyd, dh
Navarro, c
Hinske, lf
Gross, rf
Perez, cf
Kazmir, p

SOX
Crisp, cf
Pedroia, 2b
Ortiz, dh
Youkilis, 1b
Lowell, 3b
Bay, lf
Lowrie, ss
Varitek, c
Ellsbury, rf
Matsuzaka, p

Comments

[The Gambler]

Price may be the best starter on the team!!!!! Jim Hickey does not know how to get a pitcher ready for a game. Kazmar is his own person, doesn't want to listen to anyone but himself, could be a great pitcher but needs to get help. I watched Kazmar warm up, 10 feet away, Kaz was calling the shots and Hickey was nothing more than a puppet in Kaz's mind. Kaz was not focused for this game.

[Boston Herald]

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Hurricane Ike forced Major League Baseball to send the Houston Astros and Chicago Cubs to Milwaukee to play a couple of neutral-site games.

Now it’s time for MLB to take care of another disaster: The so-called Tampa-St. Petersburg “baseball market.”

Seriously, if the plucky, exciting Tampa Bay Rays make the playoffs, shouldn’t their games be moved to a place where fans actually care about the product?

Please correct my math if I am wrong.

Paid attendance - 29,770

percentage of those in attendance Red Sox fans - 50%

number of Rays fans in the Trop for the first game of the biggest series in the history of the franchise - 15,000

Has there ever been, in the HISTORY OF MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL a mid September series between two division front runners where less than 20k fans have shown up to root for the home team?? Ever??

Then again, this is the same first place team that on a number of nights this year has had the LOWEST ATTENDANCE of any game in baseball.

When will people admit that Florida is about football??

All people want here is the hot sun, an $8.00 beer, and cheesy girls wearing halters showing off their store bought rack while guys beat each other up on the field. Baseball is a thinking persons game and we all know about the brain power in this market.

[Bradley]

Have faith in our team,they've battled back all year and will yet again magic number is 7 not a stretch! GO RAYS we beleive in you!

[Boston Dan]

Sweet Caroline....
So GOOD, so GOOD, so GOOD!!
Bad luck to play our song at the juice box last series. Payback is a .....

Boston Dan

[robert]

Warren - great point. Who will be the main starters in the playoffs..a lot still depends on what happens the next two weeks. Picking three will be tough especially if Kazmir and Garza continue to struggle in September. I would pitch Price on 5 days rest against the Twins at home this week and see how he performs.

[tvwatcher]

29,000 fans and half of them are wearing red. I will round up and say 15,000 or so Ray fans bothered to show up for the first game of a mid September series for first place and the edge to win the AL east.

I love the argument "We have been so bad for so long it will take a while for the fans to show up" HUH HUH?? The Rays are in first place now. They have an exciting team. Isn't that good enough?? Do they need to be in first place for a couple more years until fans decide to show up??

I have news for everyone. The Rays are either going to get a new stadium closer to Tampa or they will be playing in another city within 5 years. A season for the ages and no won shows up. Amazing.

[Warren]

Hey - we win the next 2 games - and all will be right with the world!

But - I'd hate to be in Maddon's place choosing 3 pitchers for a 5-game series from our 5. He'll catch a ton of heat no matter what he does with Kaz!

[Helene]

Thursday night and Friday night attendance against the Twinkies might indeed be pretty sad. Wish I could go, but budget and work schedule dictates I have to choose only one day and it's gotta be Sunday. I expect we'll draw really well on the weekend, actually.

Oh, and Anonymous @10:46 was me. Forgot to sign. ;)

[Tallahassee Mike]

You know why there's an attendance problem? Because all the college kids are at school! I went to so many games this summer and I'm dying to be there, but it's a four hour drive away. The Tampa Bay area has a significant 18-24 demographic that's not there for 9 months of the year.

[rayalan]

I am embarassed and mad at the Tampa Bay area people for the "piss poor" attendance tonight. Only 29,000 tonight or so with half of them dressed in red is a travesty. We do not deserve a team. I have been to over 60 home games so I can say this. We are going to be laughed at when
Boston leaves town and we play Minnesotea in front of 15,000 at most.

[rayalan]

I am embarassed and mad at the Tampa Bay area people for the "piss poor" attendance tonight. Only 29,000 tonight or so with half of them dressed in red is a travesty. We do not deserve a team. I have been to over 60 home games so I can say this. We are going to be laughed at when
Boston leaves town and we play Minnesotea in front of 15,000 at most.

[Sox Luva]

This board sounds like a typical Yankees board for the past 7 years. Get use to it. The Sox are the World Champs and they've come down to Tampa to hand you second place on a platter!

Enjoy first place for the last night you'll be sitting there!

See if you can "man-up as the wild card and try not no embarrass yourselves when you play the AL West Champs. Try to take them to five to poop them out so Boston has any easy sweep.......as usual!!!!

[LP]

I was at the game tonight and I saw ZERO fire or emotion from our guys, they did not play with any sense of urgency...I was embarassed by their showing...Playoff atmosphere? It was like being in the library in there, if the library was filled with a buch of DB Red Sox fans!! The only way they recover from this game is to win the next two, if not, they're done!!

TRY PLAYING LIKE YOU GIVE A S*** TOMORROW!!

[Slappy]

So, Jeffy, you're now the Board Nanny? Up yours, pally. I'll post what I want when I want.

Gah. NOT a good time for our starting pitchers to lose their mojo and our manager to temporarily misplace his brain.

Dude, Maddon: 7-1 was NOT an insurmountable deficit. I understand wanting to rest the bullpen studs, but this wasn't the time to bring in the AAA kid. Why not Hammel, our experienced mop up guy, that actually pitched pretty darn well against Boston in that last game?

Kaz, Maddon, Rays, I still love ya, still have hope we can win the East, yadda yadda yadda. I'm just grumpy right now.

Positives? Ummmm...Salas looked sharp. Dan Johnson played impressive D at first. Ruggiano finally looks like he's getting a clue at the plate. Ummmm....

[robert]

Bad loss but at least Twins lost again so magic number is 7 for playoffs. Beat the Sox...Go Rays.

[rocky]

It is not the end of the world Rays fans. This team has bounced back all year and will continue to do so. It will be that much sweeter when we take the next two and push the Red Sox (and their fans) out of town down 2 games again.

[Steve]

Kazmir looked terrible. Shields and Garza are our big-game pitchers, not Kazmir.

I always thought fans put Kazmir on a pedistal and he was too up on himself. Shields is the ace of our staff. Garza shows a lot of promise and I'm thrilled to see more of David Price. I realize Kazmir is young, but he's an ace. I can't remember him making past 6 innings this year.

What happened with Longoria tonight? I saw he had an AB and that was it. Did he get hurt?

[Jessica]

I just came home and was listening to the radio in the car, what the hell happened with the pitching tonight? Was it someone's birthday on the Red Sox that Kaz was gift wrapping home runs for them?

[Jim Hickey]

Guys I suck I haven't really done anything since Ive been here I obviously don't know how to get my guys prepared for a game because i have never played a single game in the big leagues. Will someone please fire me? I really suck........ you guys are all clowns 1 game and the season over the only thing that matters is Minnesota and Chicago lost..... Tomorrow is a new day and I still suck and need to be fired.

[Edgar]

here are the list of guys off the Rays list next year

Jason Hammel
Jonny Gomes
Mitch Talbot
Trever Miller
Andy Sonnanstine/Edwin Jackson
Troy Percival
Ben Zobrist
Eric Hinske
Juan Salas
oh yeah new hitting coach

2009 Tampa Bay Rays roster
C Dioner Navarro
1B Carlos Pena
2B Aki Iwamura
SS Jason Barlett
3B Evan Longoria
LF Carl Crawford
CF BJ Upton
RF Justin Ruggiano/Gabe Gross*
DH Rocco Baldelli
Bench
Willy Aybar
Fernando Perez
Cliff Floyd
Dan Johnson
Shawn Riggans

Pitching Staff
SP Scott Kazmir
SP James Shields
SP Matt Garza
SP David Price
SP Edwin Jackson/Andy Sonnanstine#

Relievers
RP JP Howell
RP Chad Bradford
RP Dan Wheeler
RP Grant Balfour
RP Free Agent*
RP Free agent*

# pending on who get more value
*Acquire free agent

waiting in the wings:
SS Reid Brignac,RP Dale Thayer,SP Wade Davis,SP Jeremy Hellickson,C John Jaso

[David]

It's all the fans fault, if they would show support this wouldn't happen!!

[RaysFan]

This is all Percy's fault. He sucks.

[Typical Post 2]

They should fire Maddon and Henderson and Hickey tonight too. Why?

Because they suck!

[TypicalPostOnThisBlog]

The Rays suck. They suck. They're not even going to make the playoffs, because they suck so bad in their suckness.

[billy]

For JeffC--like you haven't ever posted about things you faulted on this team. C'mon give us all a break with your phantom attempt of "being the voice of reason"..Call it like you see it and tell it as it is and what most of the posts have been tonight is the truth. True, true, true--they HAVE been in the lead, still are and that in itself is an amazing accomplishment considering the nucleus of fringe players they have. But, lets not attempt to excuse the present version of the Rays and their inadaquacies. If they win the division--FREAKIN GREAT!!!! If they make the play-offs, equally GREAT. As they say, pictures don't lie..

[Johnny]

12-1.
Gee we sure need a new stadium now.
Let's spend 1/2 billion dollars on a stadium. The economy is doing great,
teachers and police are taking cuts.
But the goobers of St. Pete must have a new stadium..
SMART MOVE

[kazmiroholic]

this is why it was crucial to win all those games we should have won joe maddon- we should have had a 7 game lead coming into this series - point 2 I guess joe thinks he has a playoff birth wrapped up - by sun they will very close to losing there playoff spot- minnesota is pretty tough- oh well - this will be 4 winsin there last 13 games what a shame- well thanks for excitement this year point 3 why everyone things we will be in a pennant race every year from now on is beyond me - they are still in the division of 100 to 200 milion dollar teams

[Edgar]

The Rays are showing no heart and playing for the wild card. Maddon is accountable for this. The hitting with RISP is beyond terrible. Not only Maddon is part of the blame; hitting Steve Henderson should get some heat as well for a erratic offense. Sure, the home plate umpire in the first inning had horrible calls with balls and strikes but they have to find ways to get out of them. Settling for the wild card by squeaking by is not good enough. This is getting out of hand.

[tbird]

Erase Talbot off the list for future Rays starters as this kid is very hittable. His pitches have no location and his breaking ball is so telegraphed that Gomes could hit him--oops, I'll retract that. The Rays DO have an abundance of decent pitchers that othr teams could use and methinks the off season could be great for some beneficial wheeling and dealing..

[JeffC]

To all the negative posters on this blog tonight - have you been Rays fans prior to this year? Do you remember even as far back as last year? Look at the Rays record at this point last year, look at their place in the standings, look at ERA, Bullpen ERA. Defensive proficiency.

And you rip this team? They have played poorle lately, there's no disguising that, but sheesh.

What a bunch of whiners.

[Dave]

Someone tell the Rays pitching that this isn't the Allstar break and they aren't serving em up for the home run derby. Ugh...

[JeffC]

Tony - MADDON HAS CONCEDED THIS GAME.

That's the point. Smart managers don't burn through their bullpen when the game is out of reach.

[JeffC]

Slappy - since you don't care any more, do us all a favor, and STOP posting on these blogs. Thanks. Much appreciated.

Carol - When exactly have the Rays had a "gigantic" lead in the division?

Any intelligent posts out there? 9=8, where are you??

[Ray]

This team is utter rubbish. Talk about choke. Heads should roll over this.

[Tony]

I'm sure Maddon has conceded this game. Why else would he bring in an unproven AAA pitcher in a pennant race.

[zeke]

When none other than Varitek blasts one off you, you know you are bad and not fooling anyone. For Kaz, this isn't anything new as it has been this entire season and hardly ever getting past the 5th inning pitch wise. He is regressing and certainly not the pitcher he was the past two years. If he is a head case, get someone who works in that field to help him. He has the arm and the talent so it should be fixable. Until that time, this team can't rely on him as the ace of the staff, not with any confidence.

[Slappy]

I really don't care at this point - the Angels will beat the living snot out of Baston in the playoffs. Which the Rays will likely be watching from the comfort of their own couches. Pathetic performance out of our "ace" when we needed him to rise to the occasion.

I wonder if the Mets still want him?

[Tony]

The umpires strike zone has been all over the place. That one that Ortiz hit was a bomb and it rattled Kazmir good. The previous poster was right though. Kazmir is not the ace of the staff and shouldn't be billed as such. There is no ace. There is no pitcher on the staff that stands out. Regarding Red Sox fans at the Trop. Of course there are going to be alot of them there. Many places in the Bay area are considered "Little New England towns". Not many Rays fans in other parts of the country.

[Amanda]

Just a quick amusing anecdote. I just turned the game on tv (I was listening on the radio before). For a split second, my Tivo gave this description of the programming: COMEDY. It immediately switched to the correct description (I guess the show on before was a comedy), but I have to wonder if somebody somewhere knew something...

[Cindi]

I couldn't agree more. Shields is the ace; Kaz is turning into a real head case. When he stops thinking about it and just throws he does so much better. I would rather see Sonny out there tonight. For the playoffs our starters should be Shields, Garza and Price. Tonight has been just God awful.

[john]

This game is going nowhere.
Get your tickets for the Angels-Maybe.

[Matt]

Kazmir is quickly turning into a left handed version of Edwin Jackson. Sorry the ace of this staff is Shields.

[BB]

What is the pregame routine for the Rays' pitchers? How many times have they given up runs early in the game? Tonight it was Kaz's turn, giving up 4 in the first inning. Something needs to be changed so they are ready for the start of the game. It's difficult to always be playing catch-up.

[scottmcgrane]

"I'm just not there yet, my basics are a little off, my delivery and mechanics are not where I want them but they are coming around"..Yesireee Bob, only 15 games left in regular season play and we're still looking to fix our "Ace's" mechanics. Whoever is calling the shots on this team had best take a long look at Kazmir's recent (past month) performances and realize there is a problem Houston. a team's "ace" with the championship on the line, doesn't tank it in the very first inning, especially by walking the first two hitters. Perhaps showing some trust in Price yesterday will allow Price to become the "ace" quicker than he had hoped. Disappointing to say the least, regardless if we bounce back or not..

[Scott]

Embarrassing.. All those Sox fans there tonight. Its gotta be 50/50.

[Carol]

This is where the Rays give it up. I'm not a Sox fan, just a realist. The Rays won't hold on to first place. It's a place they've never been so they haven't learned how to live with it. The Sox know how to win when there is lots of pressure - the Rays don't. They have barely held on to a gigantic lead they've had all year. They will NOT finish in first place - second, at best. Everyone has been hitting Kazmir as if he's a Little League pitcher.