Rays blast Yankees, Is McCarver stable?
One day after a very emotional game in New York, the Tampa Bay Rays took it to the New York Yankess on a Nationally broacast Fox feature game, beating them 10-5. Rays P Jeff Niemann threw 6.1 strong innings after having to leave his last start early with back issues.
The Rays bats were on fire and no one was hotter than 1B Carlos Pena who went 4-5, driving in three with a double and home run.
Sunday’s game will feature a spectacular pitching matchup with the Rays send AL win leader David Price 12-4 2.42) to the mound against the ageless one, Andy Pettitte (11-2 2.70) for the Yankees. Both pitchers pitched in the All Star game earlier this week.
I now have to address something that was said during Staurdays broadcast by Tim McCarver. I do not like McCarver as an announcer. In the booth, McCarver is to baseball what Joe Thiesman is to football for me. In the top of the 4th inning, McCarver was discussing the Yankees organization and how they have been addressing the passing of George Steinbrenner and former announcer Bob Sheppard.
McCarver goes into another of his long winded rants and mentions that one man who has been absent from the events this week has been Joe Torre. In McCarver’s mind, the Yankees are treating Torre the same way that Nazi Germany or Communist Russia treated generals they had shot, they simply airbrushed them out of photographs. You can listen for yourself in case you missed it.
Has this man lost his mind? The Yankees front office is comparable to two regimes responsible for the death of tens of millions of people? It really is time for Fox to replace him in the booth with someone who is mentally stable. McCarver rambled aimlessly on Saturday, several times losing his place in conversation, he seemed confused at times.
We get it. Networks like to fill the booths up with ex-jocks to give their insight into the game we are watching. Some are better than others, some annoy the hell out of me, and then some even recognize when it’s time to go. Quite frankly Tim, perhaps you should head to the studio, record another album or two and leave the baseball world alone.
Yankees? PLEASE. Rays in a smackdown!
The Tampa Bay rays traveled up to Gotham to take on the New York Yankees Wednesday night. The tone was set with 1 pitch, 1 hit and a homerun in the first inning to SS Jason Barlett. There was no looking back from there. The Rays beat A.J. Burnett like a rented mule, lighting him up for 6 earned runs, 9 hits and 4 walks in 6.2 innings pitched. New York plated 4 late in the 9th off Sonnanstine, but this game was not that close. Joaquin Benoit is quickly becoming a serious force in the pen.
Here’s a quick photo of Burnett waving to the adoring New York fans as he was pulled from the game after serving up virtual batting practice.
Evan Longoria had a hot bat tonight for the good guys, going 3-4 with 2 RBI’s. C John Jaso really got back on track with a 3-4 performance and he added a walk, 2 RBI’s and 2 runs scored. Tampa was sluggish last week with the bats, but some Yankee pitching was all it took to get the bats catching fire. Tonight, the Rays had 15 hits and 5 walks. Just for good measure, Tampa added 6 stolen bases.
Rays starter Wade Davis was tough as well. While he did only record 5.2 innings, he had 7 strikeouts and 60% of his pitches went for strikes. Davis did give up 7 hits and 2 earned runs, but the Yankees came into the game leading in many offensive categories.
In a nutshell, Tampa had their way with New York tonight. I watched the game on the Florida Sunshine network, I couldn’t stomach the ESPN crew making excuses for their beloved Yankees. Joe Morgan was likely drinking by the 6th inning. It will be a rough day on Thursday at the ESPN studios in Bristol, CT. At least their beloved Red Sox eked out a 3-2 win tonight, but black arm bands and a somber mood will be the work format tomorrow.
James Shields takes on Andy “Goat Eyes” Pettitte tonight, can New York withstand yet another smackdown? Who cares if they can withstand it, come on Tampa, administer it!
Look out Evil Empire-Here Comes Tampa
The Tampa Bay Rays completed a two game sweep of the Cleveland Indians yesterday with a 6-2 victory in which David Price got his 6th win, Price now leads the AL in victories. Price pitched 6 innings and over 65% of his pitches went for strikes. Price recorded 5 strikeouts and lowered his ERA to 1.81.Ironically, heading into the 2 game series the Rays possessed a 31-65 record against Cleveland, the worst against any team in the AL.A huge shoutout for the crowd at the Trop yesterday. 17,093 during a Tuesday afternoon 1pm game is great. Looking around the league, Baltimore only drew 9700, Oakland 10,512 and Florida drew 13,289. I watched a portion of the Florida Marlins game and I’d have to investigate how the Marlins record attendance because there was no way there were 13,000 people in seats.
