The Creation of a Legend

In tomorrow’s (Sunday’s) print version of the St. Pete Times there will be a long-form article on Sam Fuld and his rise to the Major Leagues. Lucky for us they’ve already released it online. It gives some background on Fuld’s family, his high school and college days, and puts them in context with his ups and downs so far this year. My favorite part, obviously, is his special game in Boston on April 11, or what I sometimes refer to as “Super Sam’s Super Cycle”:

During batting practice before the game, Fuld saw Barbin, the assistant baseball coach who remembered all those nighttime swings in the cage in the winter. Fuld jogged over.

“Look,” Fuld said, holding out his hands. “I’m shaking.”

His family went to their seats in Section 21, behind home plate, up under the stadium’s second-deck overhang, and his sister Annie thought: God, please let him just get one hit.

Fuld came up in the first and flied out to right. He came up in the second inning and hit a home run down the right-field line. Teammate Johnny Damon was waiting at home plate. “Hey,” the veteran Damon told him, “wave to your parents.” On his way back to the dugout, Fuld looked over his left shoulder, up at Section 21.

Then he came up in the fourth and doubled to left. He came up in the sixth and tripled to center. Sarah looked at Annie. Annie looked at her parents. “The whole night,” Annie would say later, “we just kept saying, ‘I can’t believe this is happening.’ ” A single, and Fuld would hit for what in baseball is called the cycle, meaning a single, a double, a triple and a home run, all by the same player in the same game. It is a rare accomplishment.

Fuld came up in the seventh and flied out to left. He came up in the ninth, one more try, and he lined an outside fastball into the left-field corner. Damon and Price, his teammates in the dugout, had the same thought: Stop at first.

Down in West Palm Beach, Jim Munsey, Fuld’s agent, whose sons played with Fuld when they were teenagers, was watching the game at his house on his 54-inch TV. Up in Exeter, Dennehy, his old high school coach, saw the ball leave his bat. At Fenway, in Section 21, the Fuld family watched the ball rattle up against the green wall.

They all had the same thought.

No way he’s stopping at first.

“I just assumed,” his mother would say, “he would go as far as he could.”

Fuld sprinted to first. Then he did what he does. He kept going.

I know that feel-good stories like these pop up around the league every so often and dot the landscape of baseball’s history. But that doesn’t make them any less interesting or meaningful. Indeed, they always seem to validate why we pay attention to this silly game in the first place.

Rays Above .500

With the 8-2 win last night against the Twins, Tampa Bay has moved to 12-11 which marks the first time they’ve been above .500 for the season. A far cry from that 1-8 start, isn’t it? Pretty balanced play from all four aspects – the rotation, the bullpen, the offense, and the defense – has propelled the Rays in their turnaround, though the superlative effort of the starting rotation shines through the most.

Several times over that stretch of games Rays’ starting pitchers have gone at least 7 strong, eating innings like nobody’s business and not letting the bullpen to join in on the fun much. The prime example of this has been Mr. James Shields, who pitched back-to-back complete games, one of which was a shut-out, giving up 4 hits in each of the games and only allowing one run total in 18 innings of work.

Welcome back, James.

Bruins win! but sox lose

GOODBYE HABS. Enjoy your offseason poutine. Such is life… bitches! I had been holding my breath for 3 hours watching the Bruins game, but during commercial breaks I saw enough of the Sox game to wonder what is going on with them

Too many defensive breakdowns tonight led to unnecessary pitches by Beckett which turned into 3 runs. Unacceptable. In little league they teach outfielders how to call off the infielder. It’s not hard, you just scream “I GOT IT.” Bucholz was shaky last night giving up 3 runs on 12, yes 12, hits. Beckett wasn’t much better tonight.

The offense continues to be plagued stranding runners in scoring position. This must stop. On a brighter side, Francona essentially announced Jed Lowrie as the Sox starting shortstop, replacing the ineffective Marco Scutaro.

Read about it here: http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/red-sox/post/_/id/10312/tito-all-but-ordains-lowrie-as-starter

Good for Lowrie, the kid has been through a lot of injuries with wrist problems, mono last season and getting stuck behind subpar and overpaid fielders. Let’s see what the kid can do!

Drop us a line about either the Bruins or the Sox.

Old friend Carl Everett arrested

Former Red Sox centerfielder and umpire-headbutting extraordinaire Carl Everett has been arrested in Lutz, Florida for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon by putting a handgun to his wife’s head. He seems to have a head fetish. He’s also been charged with tampering with a witness. Glad to see retirement has been treating Carl well. Stay in jail Carl.

Oh what a night

Welcome to the Easter edition of The Baseball Buffoons.

While many of us (myself included) were glued to the 2 OT Bruins game last night (CA-REEEY, CA-REEEY), the Red Sox continued their impressive turnaround. I watched enough of the Sox game during the Bruins intermission’s to see that they were doing well, but it wasn’t until about the 5th inning that I could give them my full attention.

After calling for Dice-K to be traded 2 weeks ago, I’ve been shocked with how he’s pitched. In his last 2 starts, that’s the number of hits he’s allowed: 2. His breaking stuff has been excellent and he’s consistently locating his fastball.

Crawford is showing signs of breaking out of his beginning of the season funk, going 2 for 4 last night with an RBI. Let’s hope this continues.

The area that I’m most concerned with now is catching. Have the Sox lost confidence in Saltalamacchia? It seems that way because Varitek has been catching a lot more games than an over-the-hill backup catcher normally would/should. Varitek’s offense is anemic, but the Sox seem more than willing to let that go as long as the pitching staff is doing better. And they have been since he’s been catching more. This is certainly an area to keep an eye on as the season progresses.

Portland Sea Dogs Time

As the current owner of a Portland Sea Dogs Press Pass, I will be bringing you updates and opinions on the Sea Dogs, the AA team for the Red Sox.

This mid-week, the Dogs (5-7) took on the New Britain Rock Cats(7-6), an affiliate of the Minnesota Twins.

Notes:

– Will Middlebrooks is a stud.  he’s got the tools to make it and the looks to be a playboy in Boston (ala Jacoby).  Last night he was up and down, making a great catch on a liner well above his head, but also misplaying a grounder later in the game.  Here’s his scouting report from SoxProspects.com where he is rated #13:

“Excellent five-tool athlete. Great baseball frame with very quick wrists. Open stance, holds his hands high above his head. Has had some struggles with pitch recognition, but has made ample strides, reducing his strikeout rates. Getting the bat on the ball is still a concern. Slowly improving his previous tendency to over-pull the ball. Still very inconsistent. High power potential, but only average present power. Above-average speed for a third baseman. In the field, Middlebrooks is an excellent third baseman. Reliable glove, a rocket arm, and above-average range. Played both shortstop and third base in high school – the Sox initially thought of utilizing Middlebrooks as a short, but he has strictly played third as a pro. Hard worker.”

– Ryan Lavarnway C/DH runs like a funny and slow old man.  He is however, a potential impact player on offense and the #12 rated prospect at SoxProspects.com

– Seth Garrison P is one of my favorite players for both his name (mine) and age (two months older than me).  He was on last night with two K’s to get out of a jam.

More on Hadlock Field and the ‘Sea Dogs Experience’ soon…

.500

Last night the Rays continued their hot streak by defeating the Chicago White Sox 4-1. This brings Tampa Bay’s record to 9-9. While a .500 mark is the definition of average and not usually something to write home about, it currently is remarkable considering the Rays were 1-8 after playing half the games they’ve played so far this season, and that included starting the year off 0-6. Since then, they’ve gone on a tear, winning 8 of 9 in the second half of the games they’ve played. ESPN notes that:

“Tampa Bay (9-9) became just the second team since 1900 — joining the 1991 Seattle Mariners — to reach .500 in April after starting the season with a six-game losing streak.”

Being only the second team to accomplish a certain feat in over a century, not too shabby eh? Plus, Tampa Bay is doing this with some of reserve players logging more playing time than was originally planned. On Opening Day, Tampa Bay was planning on having Evan Longoria and Manny Ramirez knocking the ball all over the place in the 3 and 4 spots and bringing in some runs. Instead, Longo will basically miss the month of April and Manny will miss the rest of his career, leaving characters like Sam Fuld and Felipe Lopez to fill in their shoes. Johnny Damon and Dan Johnson have also sat the past few games with various injuries, yielding some playing time to Casey Kotchman, Elliot Johnson, and Sean Rodriguez.

The rotation has really been pulling things along the last few games, with each starter trying to outdo the guy who threw before him (and if you missed James Shields dominating performance the other night, that’s your loss as he was in peak form for the 4-hit, 9 K CG). Oh, and don’t forget about the revamped bullpen that everyone was discounting but which actually is running a 2.72 ERA right now, by my calculations.  And that’s with Jake McGee doing badly. However, feel free to disregard this point about the bullpen due to the Law of Small Sample Size.

Tonight’s game against the Chi Sox will see the Rays going for the sweep, and a season series victory over Chicago as this will be the last game played between the two teams for the rest of the season.

Update: Rob Neyer over at Baseball Nation seemed to have the Rays’ bullpen on the mind last night too, and it appears my ERA calculations were a bit high:

With two perfect innings Wednesday night against the White Sox, Tampa Bay’s relievers lowered their group ERA to 2.57, the lowest in the American League.

Yes, just like last year.

This testifies to a number of things. For instance, the unreliability of statistics in April. Or perhaps the acumen of Tampa Bay’s front office, which hardly needs more testaments. And we might spare some credit for Joe Maddon, who just doesn’t seem to care who’s in the bullpen.

I am compelled, by duty if not honor, to mention a caveat. To this point, the Rays’ relievers have not been as dominant as last year’s. Yes, the ERA is lower. But last year’s bullpen struck out 7.8 hitters per nine innings, with a 2.6 strikeout-to-walk ratio; the figures for this year’s bullpen are just 6.2 and 1.9.

Old Man Damon Strikes Again

As I said before, Johnny Damon’s 37 years just makes him way too old to continue playing baseball well, and I’m afraid his body just can’t take it anymore. I mean, two walk-off hits in the same series? 5 straight game-winning RBI in a row? How are the Rays supposed to use that to their advantage?

But seriously though, that 5 straight game-winning RBI stat is a bit misleading. The “game-winning” status is put on a hit when it brings in a run that gives that team the lead, and it could happen at any moment of the game if that team doesn’t relinquish the lead. This is why Damon’s 5-game streak includes such game-winning hits as a two-run single in the 6th inning of a 5-2 victory against Minnesota, and a home run on the very first pitch of the game in a 16-5 victory against Boston.

In other news, last night also marked the 2nd time in the same series against the Rays that Joe Nathan blew a save opportunity. That kid better get his stuff under control ASAP or he’s running high risk of some serious consequences, such as being dropped from my Yahoo! fantasy team.

Anyway, here’s to hoping Damon continues his hot hitting today. Sundays mean day games! Be on the lookout for a Hellboy sighting at 1:40

Genius? Or super-genius?

Out of the countless crazy ideas on the internet, this seems the most plausible in terms of ability to implement and in getting away with speeding.

Adrian Gonzalez contract

Numerous news outlets are reporting that the Red Sox and Adrian Gonzalez agreed to a 7 year, $154 million contract. That’s $22 million per season. I think this is a good deal, and given that he still has tremendous upside offensively and is excellent defensively. He’s been one of the bright spots offensively and his defense so far has been solid. Hopefully he can follow through and live up to this contract. I think he can and will. In other news, Red Sox- Blue Jays tonight with the boys of summer looking to get back on track.

WALK IT OFF

– I only saw the last few innings of this game, but I’m telling you guys, Johnny Damon’s 37 year-old body is just too old. He can’t play anymore. I mean look at him, hitting walk-off home-runs in extra innings. It’s just pathetic to watch.

– The Legend of Sam Fuld again played a key role in the win. His single to get on base right ahead of Damon means his efforts gave Damon an “extra inning walk-off” instead of just a “solo shot to tie it in the 10th.” It’s the little things, and the Legend grows…

– Matt Joyce with a clutch hit in the bottom of the ninth to bring in two runs and tie the game also played a critical role in creating an opportunity to win it in the first place, so kudos to him. Let’s hope this is the start of Joyce breaking out of his slump too.

– Pretty good game by both starting pitchers. It’s a shame Pavano throws 8 shutout and doesn’t get a win, let alone a decision. And Shields only giving up 2 runs (and no homers!) over 7 is pretty commendable too, though no decision for him either. Oh well. Blackburn v Davis coming up tonight.

TONIGHT!

If you’re looking for baseball analysis from me (Lee) tonight, you won’t find any. I’ve got a fever, and the only prescription is…. MORE BRUINS! Not more cowbell, as is usually the case.

Beat those french-canadian bastards

Lefty battle!

Tonight finds the Sox and Rays throwing arguably their best pitchers: Jon Lester and David Price. They seem to be cut from a similar mold: both lefties with overpowering fastballs and excellent off-speed pitches.

As a sox fan, I appreciate the talents of David Price, but I will never forget that he is the reason the Sox didn’t go to the World Series in 2008 (if you’ll remember, he stonewalled the Sox in Game 7 of the 2008 ALCS). The Red Sox will need to bring it tonight if they want to be successful against him.

Jon Lester looks to build momentum against a Rays team that was unstoppable offensively last night. If the Sox are to start digging their way out of this 2-8 start to the season, it falls on Lester to begin the process.

Thoughts from last night’s game and the future

3 quick thoughts from last night’s game:

– Dice K needs to be traded or released. Immediately. Last night was the definitive proof that he can’t make it in the American League East. Does he have the talent to be a major league pitcher? Yes. Last year he almost no-hit the Phillies, so the stuff is there. But he isn’t made for the pressure of Boston. Maybe he’d be suited better to Seattle if the Sox can eat at least half of his salary. Please check out the article by Peter Abraham today for better articulated thoughts: http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/2011/04/the_time_has_co.html?p1=News_links

-Curt Young needs to go. The new pitching coach must be fired at some point soon if this terrible pitching continues. Ultimately he is responsible for the pre-game preparations, including gameplanning a pitching strategy. He’s failing.

-Catching sucks. The catching is terrible. I’m beginning to wish the Sox signed a Molina.

Adventures in Irony

ESPN writers sure have a knack for publishing ironic articles. Yesterday before the Rays/Sox game, I read a piece that David Schoenfield wrote titled, “These Rays in big, big trouble.” It included the following:

As miserable as the Red Sox have played so far, at least they can look at a lineup that includes Adrian Gonzalez, Kevin Youkilis, Carl Crawford, Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz and know — eventually — they’re going to score a lot of runs.

The fans of the Tampa Bay Rays, however, are staring down a lineup that includes Triple-A veteran Dan Johnson hitting cleanup, Cubs castoff Sam Fuld hitting leadoff and 37-year-old Johnny Damon trying to hold off the cruelties of age.

It should be obvious that the team he thinks has a way better offense scored 5 runs last night (which is fairly average), while the team he thinks has a way worse offense scored 16 (which is fairly average x 3). Anyway, I already told you that “Cubs castoff Sam Fuld” consciously declined a cycle tonight while also knocking in three runs and scoring another two himself. Old Man Damon went 3-5 with three RBI and two runs.

As for “Triple-A veteran Dan Johnson,” I would like to point out that he has hit 52 home runs in 1252 career at-bats (at the Major League level, not AAA) for a 24.07 AB/HR ratio. Notable players who have a worse ratio:

• Adrian Beltre
• Vernon Wells
• Kevin Youkilis
• Grady Sizemore
• Raul Ibanez
• Al Kaline
• Harold Baines
• Carl Yastrzemski
• Miguel Tejada
• Rogers Hornsby
• Bobby Abreu
• Victor Martinez
• Jorge Cantu
• Robinson Cano
• Ivan Rodriguez
• Brandon Inge
• George Brett
• Nick Markakis
• Joe Morgan
• Jackie Robinson
• Joe Mauer
• Michael Young
• Roberto Clemente

Rays/Sox Recap

The first game of the season between the Red Sox and the Rays was quite a doozy. A 16-5 final score means it was  way more interesting for Rays fans than Sox fans, to say the least, and it indicates the Rays offense is back on track. Several notes from this game:

• Sam Fuld was in full beast mode last night. Final line: 4-6, 3 R, 3 RBI, 1 HR, 1 3B, 2 2B, falling a single short of the cycle. He also made another sick diving catch, which is becoming a regular thing now. Make no mistake though, Fuld could have legitimately had that cycle, he just chose not to because he’s straight bad-ass. He entered the 9th needing a single, and when he laced one down the left field line he secured it…except, he decided not to stop at first and instead went straight on to second, apparently feeling his cycle would have been cheapened/illegitimate if he simply took first and didn’t try and get everything he could out of the hit. Ladies and gentlemen, this boy’s got integrity (an irrelevant push for an extra base in the 9th inning of a 16-5 game notwithstanding).
• Dice-K tried to take advantage of the Rays and their .163 BA by throwing strikes instead of “nibbling at the strike zone,” as Rays announcer Dewayne Staats liked to put it. Instead, the Rays took advantage of Dice-K. Johnny Damon started it off by smacking the very first pitch out over the right-field wall. Then the rest of the Rays opened up in the 2nd inning, seemingly hitting every ball thrown at them to push across 6 runs before the Sox could record the first out. Daisuke’s final line: 7 ER on 8 hits (2 for bombs) with 2 walks in 2 IP, with only 2 K. Ouch.
• Wakefield was brought in to start the 3rd inning, but it’s not like he did much better: 5 ER on 7 hits in 3 1/3 IP. Alfredo Aceves was Boston’s star pitcher of the night, putting almost 3 innings in the books without giving up any runs! Former Ray Dan Wheeler then closed things out for the Sox by giving up 4 ER on 5 hits in only 1 inning. I almost shed a tear for you, Wheels. Almost.
• Baseball Tonight said every Ray raised his batting average tonight, except for Dan Johnson. It’s OK though, I know he’ll hit at least one bomb this series.
• I didn’t really notice any awkwardness between Carl Crawford and the Rays during his first game against his former team. However, I was watching to see if he would accidentally walk into the Rays’ dugout after a plate appearance or between innings. Unfortunately, to my knowledge that didn’t happen. We’ll see what transpires the first game Carl plays back in Tampa.
• Hellickson pitched pretty well tonight, allowing only 2 runs on 5 hits in 5 1/3 innings, though he only got one strikeout. He also gave 5 walks, which is odd for him. This oddity can be verified by checking out his Strikezone Plot:

Notice the 13 balls (green squares) that home plate umpire Tim Tschida called that were within the strike zone. Hellboy had an unusually small zone to deal with, and this is why he had an unusually high number of walks.

Anyway, tonight’s game should be the exact opposite of last night’s game as David Price faces up against Jon Lester. Pitcher’s duel here we come!

Under the Authority Vested in the Major League Manager

I seriously love Joe Maddon. There is no other coach like him. 99% of the time he’s smooth, suave, quirky, and quoting literature and whatnot, but every so often the other 1% shows up and stuff like this happens. It’s probably happened before, but I don’t recall personally ever seeing a manager try and eject an entire umpire crew.

The clip above doesn’t show the play that drew Maddon’s ire, but here’s the extended MLB video of the play that I couldn’t embed here because the list of sites from which we can embed videos is a very limited selection. Dan Johnson was originally called safe at first on a close play due to Gavin Floyd bobbling the ball, causing Ozzie Guillen to come out and protest. When the call was overturned by an ump who had a far-away view and Johnson was called out, this prompted Maddon to waltz out of dugout whilst uttering phrases like, “That’s %#&@-ing bull$#!&,” “That’s %#&@-ing wrong,” and “That’s a %#&@-ing crock!” I didn’t realize Maddon knew about those kinds of words.

It should be noted that Maddon and the Rays previously had a problem with this umpire crew back in 2008, also versus the White Sox, in which A.J. Pierzynski barreled into Willy Aybar during a rundown in extra innings, was called safe, and then promptly scored the winning run.

Maddon on the incidents:

“A lot of things happen in Chicago,” Maddon said. “It goes back to the Roaring Twenties. And it’s in present day, we just happen to be the culprits right now.”

Sure, Joe, just blame it on Prohibition.

There we go

Last night’s game was a vast improvement over any of the games the Sox have played this season, including their win on Friday. Friday’s game was won on emotion, tonight’s on emotion and execution.

Beckett looked like the Beckett we became used to seeing in 2007 when he dominated. 8 strong innings and 10 strikeouts. His fastball had great life and his curveball was devastating. Even when it went as a ball, it routinely froze the righties batting for the Yankees last night. He looked far more comfortable with ‘Tek behind the plate, so perhaps ‘Tek can catch for him every start. Beckett essentially said this after the game: “‘Tek and I were really clicking. We do that a lot.”

What hasn’t been said about Pedroia? Going into the weekend he said he was going to rake the ball and the he went out and did so. He was the catalyst for the weekend’s offense, finishing up by getting on base 5 times last night. Laser show showed up and delivered.

The new Sunday Night Baseball crew is slightly better than Jon Miller and Joe Morgan, but barely. I wanted to reach through my tv and punch Bobby Valentine in the face. I know Boston is a beautiful city and Fenway is a baseball mecca. I’m from here, I know all about it. The play-by-play guy kept calling Pedroia “that little guy.” Everyone knows he’s small. We also all know that he’s been a Rookie of the Year and an MVP. Shut up with the small talk. Orel Hershiser was refreshing, and I’m glad he pointed out that Manny quit on every team he ever played for. Someone in the national media finally had to call him out. I’m glad it was a hall of famer.

With an eye to tonight’s game against the Rays, let’s hear what you thought about last night’s game.

Buffon Of The Day: Porn Heist

In Lincoln, Nebraska (where else) a family just got a little bit weirder.  20-year-old Nathaniel Atkinson was arrested for robbery at an adult store – where his SISTER worked.  He claims that he did it because he is addicted to gambling and his sister never recognized him – he wore a mask and socks on his hands (where he got the socks from I don’t want to know.

This bozo was caught while robbing another guy that he met on Craigslist and was sentenced t0 16-32 months in prison.

RAYS WIN!!!

Manny who? The offense finally got back on track and scored 9 runs IN AN ENTIRE GAME, which is more than they scored in the first 6 games combined. They accomplished this feat, and the win, via a monsterously clutch 3-run blast by the legend that is Dan Johnson. Between his epic blasts against the Red Sox and other teams over the past few years, I’m pretty sure Dan Johnson is more clutch thank Kobe. Yeah, I said it.

Fenway home opener

.

Yesterday is the day that Sox fans have been waiting for. Especially with the way the season started, the return to Fenway provided new hope for fans and players who were beginning to look down-in-the-mouth. There’s new grass in the infield: this is significant because Pedroia had been an outspoken critic of the old infield grass… I guess it wasn’t like the grass Bill Murray used in CaddyShack: 2:04 into the clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrcgjMJmvNg

John Lackey again proved that he sucks, but luckily for him Phil Hughes was equally bad. Who saw Bartolo Colon pitching that well? It’s almost too bad that he got the loss and lackey the win because it was clear that Colon was the best pitcher yesterday. With the offense showing life, I think that the pressure for them to hit will lessen and offensively they’ll look more like the team we were expecting. Pedroia said pre-game that he was going to rake the ball, and then he backed it up. Laser Show.

The bullpen was excellent yesterday, even call-up Alredo Aceves (former New York Bastard pitcher). Jenks-Bard-Pabelbon showed that the the late innings of the ballgame might be too late for teams to try and make up ground on the Sox this year. I was pleased with Bard’s bounce back performance after his shaky outing in Cleveland where he matched his career high in losses (2).

The boys are right back at it today at 1:10, but I’ll be needing the Picture-in-Picture option with the Bruins playing at 1:00. What a sports day.

Buffoon Of The Day

In Martin County, Florida last week, police saw a black, four door Ford that was swerving.  When police stopped the car, they found a drunk woman, NUDE, who looked like she’d been crying.

46-year-old Charlene Johnson of Okeechobee, Florida was arrested for driving under the influence after it was found that her BAC was twice the limit.  Inside her Ford, police also found 46.5 grams of marijuana and several prescription pills. Why the nudity?  Johnson told police that her and her boyfriend had just been a fight, which made her strip as she left his home.  Weird.

Meatloaf: Crazier Than Busey

Meatloafs man boobs were shaking like a Bat Out Of Hell last night on Celebrity Apprentice. He had to be restrained from going after space cadet Gary Busey! The censors had to Take The Words Right Out Of His Mouth and replace them with beeps about 40 times. It’s crazy vs. crazy on prime time!!!

2011 Rays Primer

Ever since their 1998 inauguration the Rays have held a very special place in my heart. I grew up only an hour or so away from Tampa/St. Pete and was thrilled to have a major league team so close (the Braves played several hours away, and does anyone really care about the Florida Marlins and whatever they’re doing in Miami?). There is no doubt I suffered through several embarrassing seasons, but I did not waver. I steadfastly stood by their side as I watched fellow 1998-inaugural-Diamondbacks win the World Series within 3 years, and as the Marlins completely dismantled their team and still won another World Series within a few years, all before the Tampa Bay Devil Rays learned how to stop pooping their pants and eating their boogers for breakfast (two things I’m still working on).

Finally, of course, the Rays’ time came. 2008 was the most glorious year, and few fans of other teams know what it’s like to have their team go from a bottom feeder to battling on the grandest stage in less than a year. The bandwagon grew as August turned to September and September turned to October, but those of us who still wince when we hear the phrase, “The Hit Show,” knew who the true fans were.

But 2008 is gone, and 2011 is upon us. The banner-waving Rays teams of the past few years ago have largely been taken apart for financial reasons. Even though I knew it was coming, I shed a few tears when Carl Crawford left. Pena’s gone. Garza. Bartlett. Iwamura. Edwin. Balfour. Wheels. And even though they were only with us for one year, Joaquin Benoit and Rafael Soriano left a deep mark, and I’ll miss the fear their glares instilled in opposing batters (I challenge you to find a better set-up/closer duo in the entire league last year).

2011 brings challenges to Tampa Bay. The numerous personnel losses meant there would be several new faces. The entire bullpen had to be replaced, but I believe Andrew Friedman and the rest of the front office did an admirable job of picking up some guys from trades and free agency, and promoting others from the farm, to fill it with what should be a solid staff. Will it put up as good of numbers as the pens of the past few years? We shall see, but from what I’ve seen over spring training it appears they’re gradually putting their stuff together.

Many people believe the Rays are at a big disadvantage because they think Crawford and Pena can’t easily be replaced. While that may be true, I think the Rays’ front office made possibly the greatest deals of the season by bringing in former Red Sox Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez for around $7.5 million total. Damon may not have the same production at the plate as Crawford does, and not nearly the same value defensively in left field, he’s still got something left in the tank and has been performing pretty well so far this spring. Meanwhile, Ramirez has also been showing he’s still got plenty left, and he fills a hole in the DH spot, a spot that Tampa has had severe problems filling over the past several years. Much skepticism has surrounded Manny since he joined Tampa over 1) if he has anything left in the tank, 2) if he will gel well with Joe Maddon and the rest of the team, and 3) if he will get bored halfway through the season, become lazy, and be benched. Valid skepticism to be sure, but if spring training is any indication, Manny will prove all the haters wrong. He’s been playing very well; Maddon and the rest of the guys already love him; and he has a newfound passion for the game, because as he says, he’s “got something to prove.” Indeed, on multiple occasions already Manny has requested to travel and play in games he and other starters weren’t regularly scheduled to play in. Does that smack of laziness to you? [Now that Manny has retired, all of that is now invalid. That’s what I get for scheduling posts to publish after breaking news occurs.]

There are other new faces, too. Position players like outfielder Sam Fuld (gained in the Garza trade) and Zobrist-esque utility man Eliot Johnson worked hard and have earned themselves a spot on the roster.  Look for relief pitcher Jake McGee, promoted from AAA this season, to wow some people. I don’t expect newly-acquired Kyle Farnsworth to proclaim domain over the closer role, but he should be able to hold his own until the Iceman, J.P. Howell, takes over in a month or so after recovering from surgery and missing all of last season. Dan Johnson will take over Pena’s spot at first base, and while he may be a “new” face to outsiders because he hasn’t had much playing time, within the Rays system and among the Rays faithful he is already a legend for his clutch pinch-hit bombs against the Red Sox. He may not be on par with the Gold-Gloved Pena defensively, but it will be very difficult for Johnson not to surpass Pena’s sub-par batting average, and he certainly has the ability to mash just as many homers.

But perhaps the main reason why the Rays have just as much chance to win the A.L. East as they have over the past few years is because the rotation is pretty much the same, if not better, than those past years. Sure, we lost Garza, who threw the first no-hitter in Tampa Bay history. But the rest of the highly-effective staff of 2010 still remains:

1)David Price, a perennial Cy Young contender

2)James Shields, who gives up home runs like nobody’s business, but is the “old man” on the staff at 28 and can still get the job done

3)Jeff Niemann, who faded over the second half of the season, but can still be an intimidating force

4)Wade Davis, who started off fairly slow but picked it up and played extremely well over the second half of the season (and who the front office just signed to a long-term deal, which should indicate how valuable the Rays feel he is)

In addition to those four enters Jeremy Hellickson, MLB’s top prospect on almost every top-prospect list in existence. He should easily be able to replace Garza’s production, if not surpass it. HellBoy was called up last year and promptly dominated, going 4-0 with numerous K’s. He’s got great control of his stuff and has only continued to work on it over the offseason.

Almost everybody is counting the Rays out this year, but it will be to their own chagrin. You can take my word as a rabid Rays fan with a grain of salt, but don’t be surprised if I’m right. If I’m wrong…well, then I’ll just be another baseball buffoon.

Breaking: Manny Ramirez Retires

In what is obviously the big baseball story of the day, Manny Ramirez has decided to retire. Here’s the MLB statement on the matter:

“Major League Baseball recently notified Manny Ramirez of an issue under Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment program. Rather than continue with the process under the program, Ramirez has informed MLB that he is retiring as an active player. If Ramirez seeks reinstatement in the future, the process under the drug program will be completed. MLB will not have any further comment on this matter.”

Michael Schmidt of the New York Times reports that people with knowledge of the matter said Manny has tested positive for a PED during spring training (though the MLB has not stated he has tested positive), and Manny has thus chosen to retire instead of taking a 100-game suspension.

As a Rays fan, this is obviously even bigger news to me than to general baseball fans. Manny was supposed to fill our DH hole reasonably well, and we got him at the bargain barrel price of $2 million. He had started off the season mired in a slump, but he did have a great spring training (though apparently we now know why). Plus, Manny wouldn’t have stayed in that slump for much longer, as he would soon regress back to the mean (i.e. his hitting would improve back to his normal line).

This is a blow to an already spotty start for the 0-6 Rays who also won’t have Longoria back for another couple weeks. Losing your 3 and 4 hitters at the same time is tough to overcome, but I think the game-plan now is to move Johnny Damon to the DH spot and put either Sam Fuld, who’s been excelling so far this season, or top prospect Desmond Jennings into the LF position. Neither of those two are as good offensively as Manny is, but you do what you can. The Rays have also promoted 1B Casey Kotchman to fill Manny’s vacated spot on the roster.