A Spring Training record!
Congrats to the Tampa Bay Rays. After beating the Minnesota Twins today 10-3, they have now won 19 games this season in the Grapefruit league, a record.
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Ben Zobrist continued his torrid pace this Spring, by going 3-3 with 2 doubles and 4 runs driven in. Zobrist is batting .375 this Spring.
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Carlos Pena continued to get on track rising the batting average to .174 with a 1-2 day a run scored and a walk.
Sean Rodriguez continued his push to make the final roster. He went 3-3 scoring 2 runs and driving in one. He is hitting at a blistering pace of .467 this Spring. This team is going to score some runs this year folks.
One player not hitting so well, and might just find himself on the outside looking in is Hank Blalock.
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Blalock, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Rays as a possible insurance policy with Pat Burrell’s weak offensive showing last year, is making some noise about being sent down to AAA Durham. The Rays have until after their game on Friday to make a decision on what to do with Hank, otherwise he becomes a free agent.
Hank, I’d suggest to take the assignment to Durham, because you door wasn’t exactly getting beaten down prior to the Rays signing you to a minor league contract.
Updated Public Service announcement
It’s time Rays fans to dig in. The regular season is about to start as Spring Training is winding down, this will be my last article regarding Rob Duca. but I put his photo up on the net every year because as he writes columns about how horrible SW Florida is, I believe it in the public interest for those of you who work in the service industry need to know who your customers might be, it’s a cross I bear, I know so many in the service industry. I’m just trying to give a heads up on the cheap ones.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
ATTENTION LEE COUNTY FOOD SERVICE PERSONS
The above photo is of Rob Duca, a “journalist” for the Cape Cod Times newspaper, which in circulation numbers means he basically writes for the a newspaper no larger than the Observer newspapers which are thrown on our local driveways once a week.
Everyone in the service industry needs to become aware of his face and his name. I’ll bring this up again on the blog as we get closer to the spring training season after the first of the year. His face and his words will be circulated to all the service industry folks I know in various locations throughout Lee County this Spring Training.
This individual is a lapdog for the Red Sox and during the offseason, wrote a column about how “gritty” Fort Myers is. How horrible Ft Myers is, “requires traveling on the busiest street in Ft Myers, Imagine an airport runway-flat and straight-with and endless stretch of fast-food shops, pawn shops, tattoo parlors, strip malls and seedy motels. That’s Cleveland Avenue, and that’s pretty much Fort Myers.”
Rob Duca couldn’t sing enough praises for the Red Sox moving from Ft Myers up to Sarasota, referring to Sarasota as “Swanky Sarasota” He obviously dislikes Ft Myers terribly.
He wrote his column about how bad Ft Myers was as he was on his way to the Bell Tower Shops to eat at Blue Pointe Oyster Bar and Grill to eat a high end meal. So, you servers out there, be on the lookout for this man come late January, early February, no doubt he will be hitting the high end locales in Ft. Myers on the expense account of the Cape Cod Times, and without a doubt telling you waitresses and bartenders how important he is as a member of the “national” media. He despises Ft Myers and dislikes Florida in general. DO NOT GET SUCKED IN WITH HIS BULLSHIT WHILE HE IS HERE. I’ll revisit this post again just before spring training.
Rob Duca should simply stay home if Ft Myers was so miserable last spring training.
Hey Rob, do you want to see a picture of your teams last chance at a World Series?
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More Rob Duca
This was written from my personal blog in 2008. Mr Duca has hammered the Rays, and hammered the town the Red Sox hold spring training in. In much to my disgust, my hometown has agreed to build a new facility for the Red Sox which is supposed to be a mirror image of Fenway Park. Isn’t that just FANTASTIC!
Rob Duca is a chicken shit reporter
Regular readers of my blog in the Ft Myers region will recognize this name. You know the reporter from the 347th largest media market in America, Cape Cod. Boston Red Sox kool-aid drinking fan, err excuse me, unbiased journalist for the media giant, the Cape Cod Times. I’m not a journalist, and I’m biased and proud of it.
Mr Duca got caught up in the possibility of the Red Sox voiding their contract with the city of Ft Myers and moving, in his words, to “swanky Sarasota”. Well, last week, Sarasota said they don’t have the money to build the Red Sox’s newest spring training shrine. Interesting that this team went 80 plus years without a championship and now feel like they can dictate to communities what they want as if they a perennial champions. NOT THIS YEAR! Take your 72 piece a game bubble gum chewing manager and find him a dentist in the offseason for God’s sake.
Mr Duca referred to my hometown as, “the main road resembles an airport runway, flat and straight-with an endless stretch of fast-food restaurants, tattoo parlors, strip malls and seedy motels. That’s US41 and that’s pretty much Fort Myers.” Of course he wrote this opinion of Ft Myers while he was driving to dinner at the Blue Pointe Oyster Bar and Grill at the Bell Tower Shops 2 miles from my house. You won’t walk out of the restaurant without a 50.00 per person tab, but who cares, he writes it off to expenses to the journalistic pillar known as the Cape Cod Times for his time spent here in “gritty” Ft Myers on his “expense” account. Reporters come here to cover both the Twins and the Red Sox and “reporters” always try to impress the local bartenders by informing them they are with the “National Media”. Please. I’ve seen your picture Duca. Go back to the hotel room and watch HBO.
Piss off Mr Duca. I know lots of folks in the service industry here in Gritty Ft Myers and I think we should start a letter writing campaign in the area to tell your editors that you really don’t like this area and in this economic downturn you should stay the hell home this spring training if you find Ft Myers so offensive. Shovel snow in March instead of applying sunscreen. You can write about the Rays and the “Dreadful Trop” to your minions of liberal fans drinking the Red Sox kool-aid, but you never once responded to my emails when I confronted you with your accusations about my hometown. And to that, you are chicken shit. You are nothing more than a Boston Globe wannabe or an ESPN groupie.
Well, get your popcorn ready sonny, Wednesday night, 8pm, the FOX network you can watch the American League Champion Tampa Bay Rays take the field for game 1 of the World Series. Oh, how stupid of me. You’ll probably be putting new anti-freeze in the car and adding some home heating oil to the homestead. Yeah, it’s chilly here to. We just finally got to turn off the air conditioning after 4 months and I had to get a sweatshirt out tonight, it was 86 today but we might dip down on the mercury to 64 tonight.
Buck Foston, again
The Rays made the trip down to Ft Myers and played under the lights tonight at the City of Palms park. [picappgallerysingle id="8213276"]
P Jeff Niemann threw 6 shutout innings and recorded 6 strikeouts versus the Evil Empire Red Sox.
Jason Bartlett had 2 hits, 3B Evan Longoria had a HR, and the Tampa Bay Rays tied their alltime record Grapefruit League win total at 18 games for the Spring Training season.
Everything seems to be clicking along fine for the Rays this Spring Training as we are less than a week away from the start of the regular season. The Rays are stacked this year, and need to make a run with Carl Crawford and Carlos Pena still on the squad, next year’s roster will be very different.
To my Red Sox Fans, and especially to my good friend Rob Duca, writer for the 487th largest paper in America, The Cape Cod Times who wrote about how miserable his experience was in Ft Myers while covering the Red Sox Spring Training in 2008. Yeah the traffic is still bad in season Rob, but where have you been? I check in on the Cape Cod Times. You didn’t come last year and this year I wonder if you still write for the paper. Karma is really a bitch isn’t it.
Rob Duca, in case you missed this after you tried to portray my hometown as trailer trash, tattoo parlors and strip malls, this would be the celebration the Rays had after beating down the Red Sox in the ALCS and advancing to the World Series.
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Here’s another one in case you missed the first,
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And one more just for nostalgia,
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Sorry you hated your visit here to Ft Myers so much during Spring Training in 2008, but I can’t seem to remember you, or seeing any post of yours ever returning here since 2008 when you made your outrageous statements. And personally, I hope you were at home and got one of those massive snowfalls and had 30 inches dumped on your house while we were down in Florida flats fishing and catching redfish.
Way to go Tampa Bay! Break the record tomorrow.
Rays keep rolling
The Tampa Bay Rays have increased their Grapefruit League season record to 16-7 with another win over the Pirates today in Port Charlotte, 8-2.
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2B Ben Zobrist was only a double away from hitting for the cycle today as he went 3-4 and driving in 3. Zobrist is hitting at a .349 clip this Spring Training.
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Carlos Pena continued to find his groove after hitting his second home run in the Grapefruit League and is keeping his batting average climbing.
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Super utility man Sean Rodriguez is going to be difficult to keep off the final Rays roster. He went 3-3 today and is hitting the ball at a .453 pace along with 16 RBI’s.
Matt Garza turned in a nice outing pitching 7 innings and surrendering only 1 earned run. Garza is 1-1 in Spring Training with a 2.73 ERA.
