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Tampa Bay Sports Blog

Blog dedicated to Tampa Bay area major sports news and opinions.

Entries Tagged ‘Dioner Navarro’

Five moves the Rays should make.

    In the spirit of trying to keep up with the goings on of the hot stove league I’ve decided to look at the possibilities and suggest five moves the Rays should make to improve their team. I will try to be as realistic as I can be while trying to view things from both [...]

Rays avoid an embarrassing sweep at home.

The Rays ended the madness tonight and got away with a 7-5 win to avoid being swept by the retirement home bandits. They had a big inning in the second in which they scored 5 runs on hits by Gross, Aki and Aybar and things looked back to normal on the mound and in the [...]

Some Rays rambling.

   Listening to Ron and Ian today they did an interview with Joe Maddon which was pretty good. The only thing Maddon said that I don’t agree with is that BJ Upton hustles “all the time” and that he never has mental lapses. Are you kidding me? Does he think we all listen to the [...]

Percy needs a day off and so do I!

   This series with the Cubs has been the most fun to watch of any of the series this year. The Rays have showcased over the last couple days how far they’ve come. They hit Carlos Zambrano, which I didn’t expect them to do, and they have played phenomenal defense. All the stars are aligned [...]

TFC bet is on, Pena’s put on D.L.

   Two things today. It appears that 1B Carlos Pena broke his finger in his first at bat yesterday and, even though he went on to homer and double, has found himself on the 15 day disabled list. I think this could work out well for Carlos and the Rays. If he can take this [...]

Let’s relax with the praise of ‘the fat catcher’.

   This is getting out of control now. I know everyone out there is happy with the production of the fat catcher so far this year, but let’s all relax and just appreciate what he’s done. I’m not going to try to lie and say that he hasn’t improved or performed beyond expectations, he has. [...]

Rays win again, time to give props.

   The Rays shut out another team tonight behind some nice pitching and defense. The defense is the main reason for the improvement of the pitching staff this year in my opinion and it’s time I gave some guys props for the work they’ve put in.

   Matt Garza is almost as unpredictable as Edwin Jackson [...]

Rays still cruising, Yankees fans should be ashamed.

   The Rays kept things rolling by defeating the Yanks 7-1 in the first game of a four game series. The Matt Garza we were sold on in the trade showed up last night getting ground balls and keeping hitters off balance all night. I think we would all like to see him get the [...]

Rays bad again in loss to Sox.

   James Shields took the hill and looked bad from the first pitch tonight. These things happen. Shields is a good pitcher and this is just something that happens to all pitchers from time to time. The bullpen is starting to come down to earth as Howell and Dohman both gave up runs. Anyone who [...]

The Rays defense IS better.

   Let me give it to myself before I get shell shocked by Rays Index and the rest of them. Jason Bartlett is better than Brendan Harris. I judged Bartlett too quick and I have to retract my earlier statements. In the first few weeks of the season I was so unimpressed by the play [...]

Rays in a big one with the Sox.

   What a huge night for the Rays and their fans. Rays Index wrote today about how big this series actually is for the Rays and I’m in complete agreement on this. This series with Boston is a show a prove opportunity for the Rays. This is huge not just for the fans, who finally get [...]

Rays sweep Orlando series.

   The Rays are now 6-0 in Disney’s Wide World of Sports Stadium and have gotten back to the .500 mark. There was some sketchy play on the field (Dioner Navarro) but the Rays overcame it behind Evan Longoria and Carl Crawford to finish off the Toronto Blue Jays. Surprisingly Troy Percival was used for [...]

The Rays keep winning in Orlando.

   If the Rays keep this up the ownership group may look at a new ballpark in Orlando instead. Just kidding (hopefully). Shields pitched well, Longoria homered, Navarro made a nice return and Eric Hinske had a good time bashing his former team. I’m of course speaking literally here as Hinske darn near hit for the cycle [...]

Rays injuries pile up, announcement coming.

   The Rays have experienced a multitude of injuries so far yet the newest could hurt badly. In last nights game Carlos Pena left with what is being called ‘hamstring tightness’ and this scares all Rays fans. Pena is off to a good start power-wise and is a great defensive first baseman. If he goes [...]

Rays have more problems than we thought.

   Let’s do some catching up on a busy week where my family kept me busy.  I know it’s early in the season but it appears the Rays have more problems than expected. First off it’s quickly looking like swapping Brendan Harris for Jason Bartlett was a huge mistake. Harris was average defensively but made [...]

Good Rays…

   On Friday and Saturday the Rays looked like the team everyone was hoping to see. Andy Sonnanstine pitched well Friday and the new bullpen didn’t have to do much as the Rays exploded for seven runs in the eigth inning to put down the vaunted Yankees at home. Dioner Navarro was hurt, in the [...]

Rays open season strong.

   The Rays started their season nicely today with a 6-2 victory in Baltimore. Granted the Orioles aren’t going to make much noise this year but in a place where the Rays have struggled to win over the years, it all helps. James Shields got through an uncharacteristically wild first inning and got through seven [...]

Bone to pick with DRaysBay.

   Obviously by reading what I do here I’m a fan of DRaysBay and I think they do a great job at what they do. I have a problem with some of their opinions in a recent interview now though. They did a nice Q & A with Keith Law of ESPN regarding the status [...]

Rays report- Weekend wrap-up, Kazmir headed to DL?

   The Rays won all their games over the weekend (including a ‘nice’ game with the yanks). I sincerely hope this trend continues into the regular season as the Rays aren’t stranding runners, getting decent pitching and playing great defense. Anyway there are some things to watch.

   According to the Rays official site Scott Kazmir [...]