Tampa Bay Days-Growing Stars

[taiwangm]

June Review
Rays: 58-25 (.699 wpct) First Place
June: 19-9 (.679 wpct)

AL East:
TBR 58-25
NYY 50-35, 9GB
BOS 47-35, 10.5GB
TOR 45-38, 13GB
BAL 31-52, 27GB

[taiwangm]

James Shields now leads the MLB in wins.

Tampa Bay Swept Boston in High Scorers
July 2, 2008: TB 4 - 2 BOS
James Shields (11-4) vs. Josh Beckett (5-8)
Poor Beckett went for quality, but he didn't get any support. James Shields pitched 7 innings and gave up one run.
W: James Shields (12-4)
SV: Troy Percival (30)
*Troy still leads the MLB in saves, while the second, Billy Wagner, is now 29.
*Ben Sheets is the second pitcher in MLB to reach double-digit wins.

July 3, 2008: TB 11 - 10 BOS
Andy Sonnanstine (9-5) vs. Daisuke Matsuzaka (9-4)
Andy Sonnanstine surprisingly threw more walks than Matsuzaka, but allowed less runs tha the other.
After 5 innings we were in lead, 4-3. In the sixth, Dioner Navarro homered Mike Timlin, the 4th this season.
We added 4 back-to-back doubles in the seventh and led 11-3, while J.P. Howell was homered by the Greek God in the bottom.
Howell was to blame---he surrendered 7 runs and made the situation harder, with only 11-10 lead. Fortunately, Percival managed to hold the game.
W: Andy Sonnanstine (10-5)
SV: Troy Percival (31)

July 4, 2008: TB 10 - 7 BOS
Matt Garza (5-4) vs. Tim Wakefield (7-2)
Matt allowed 6 runs in the first inning, but we scored as much runs over the knuckleballer.
Both starters were sent back to the dugout in the fourth, leaving a 6-6 tie.
We won the bullpen race as Jonny Gomes and B.J. Upton both homered.
W: Dan Wheeler (5-0)

Star of the series: Carlos Pena, 5-for-9, hit for a cycle in this series (not a game though), drawing 4 BBs and compiled 5 RBIs.

[taiwangm]

Akinori Iwamura is among several Rays player to hit homers recently, including a double-homer game.

Rays atop AL East Leading 11 Games before Break
July 5, 2008: CLE 10 - 7 TB
C.C. Sabathia (6-7) vs. Edwin Jackson (6-5)
The Tribe owns a lineup full of power threats now---let's see them, from the leadoff:
CF Grady Sizemore, SS Johnny Peralta, C Victor Martinez, DH Travis Hafner, RF Barry Bonds (woo...)
1B Ryan Garko, LF Jack Cust, 3B Casey Blake and 2B Josh Barfield.
Those names seem powerful, but the fact is they combine for 95 homers so far---we have 103. In addition, they lack speed (only leadoff man and the 9th can run) while we feature speed.

Four Rays hitters hit exactly a cycle in the 1st inning to score 3.
Edwin Jackson allowed 5 and was pulled early. J.P. Howell did fan 6 in his 3.1 innings, but was scored 3 times.
Akinori Iwamura homered twice tonight, now having double-digit homeruns.
L: Edwin Jackson (6-6)

July 6, 2008: CLE 4 - 7 TB
Fausto Carmona (5-6) vs. Scott Kazmir (9-1)
Eyes are watching if Kazmir reaches 11 straight.
In mogul, it's not that the starter will do better if the team support him earlier, fortunately, as we couldn't get anything from sinkerballer Carmona in the first 2 innings.
We scored 1 in the third. In the next inning, Andre Ethier and Jason Bartlett homered.
But after 5 inning, Kazmir had had 133 balls pitched and already 3 runs allowed. It's time. I decided to change pitcher rather than to bust him.
It didn't prevent him from reaching double-digit wins, as we score 7 from the 3rd to the 5th.

W: Scott Kazmir (10-1)
SV: Troy Percival (32)
*Grady Sizemore faced Trever Miller 4 times this year---it was K, K, K and K.

July 7, 2008: CLE 6 - 4 TB
Cliff Lee (7-5) vs. James Shields (12-4)
Remember, Any Cliff Lee in the mogul earlier than 2009 is not the Cliff Lee in the real world. He's still strong though, having a 3.87 ERA now, but not 2.87.
Shields was back-to-back homered by Sizemore and Peralta in the third, but with Navarro, Upton and Pena all homering, we tied it to 4-4 in the bottom.
Shields couldn't reach 13-win before the All-star break as he allowed 5 runs in 5.1 innings.
L: James Shields (12-5)

Star of the series: Carl Crawford, hitting 8-for-18 with a double, 2 triples, 3 runs and 3 RBI.

[taiwangm]

During The Break
Rays: 62-27 (.697 wpct) First Place

AL East:
TBR 62-27
NYY 52-39, 11GB
BOS 49-39, 12.5GB
TOR 50-40, 12.5GB
BAL 35-55, 27.5GB

Batting: (Do not include pitchers)

First	Last	G	AVG	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	BB	K	SB	CS	R	RBI	SLG	OBP	OPS
Evan	Longoria89	0.284 	345	98	18	3	9	27	86	13	6	48	53	0.432 	0.341 	0.773 
Akinori	Iwamura	88	0.287 	355	102	13	2	10	43	72	14	3	56	56	0.420 	0.368 	0.788 
Andre	Ethier	87	0.332 	316	105	26	7	15	27	48	2	3	53	57	0.601 	0.394 	0.995 
Jason	Bartlett85	0.255 	294	75	18	5	7	20	45	15	12	40	38	0.422 	0.320 	0.742 
Carl	Crawford85	0.313 	358	112	25	11	5	16	48	35	11	63	48	0.486 	0.349 	0.835 
Jonny	Gomes	85	0.247 	288	71	9	2	22	25	76	8	0	53	54	0.521 	0.315 	0.836 
Carlos	Pena	83	0.300 	313	94	9	2	22	44	82	0	1	63	72	0.553 	0.397 	0.950 
B.J.	Upton	83	0.237 	333	79	15	6	15	45	78	21	9	64	48	0.453 	0.330 	0.783 
Dioner	Navarro	82	0.247 	267	66	10	1	5	20	43	1	0	29	34	0.348 	0.304 	0.652 
Shawn	Riggans	47	0.178 	45	8	2	0	0	1	12	0	0	2	7	0.222 	0.213 	0.435 
Willy	Aybar	47	0.230 	74	17	2	1	0	9	17	2	1	9	5	0.284 	0.313 	0.597 
Fernando Perez	32	0.071 	28	2	0	0	0	4	7	7	0	6	1	0.071 	0.188 	0.259 
Cliff	Floyd	31	0.171 	76	13	2	1	1	7	16	2	0	9	7	0.263 	0.250 	0.513 
Ben	Zobrist	14	0.053 	19	1	1	0	0	2	4	0	0	2	0	0.105 	0.182 	0.287 
Justin	Ruggiano7	0.100 	10	1	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	1	0.100 	0.100 	0.200

Rankings-Team:
Average: .265 (9th AL, 14th MLB)
Homeruns: 110 (4th AL, 7th MLB)
On base: .328 (10th AL, 14th MLB)
Slugging: .444 (3rd AL, 5th MLB)
OPS: .772 (4th AL, 7th MLB)
Runs/G: 5.48 (3rd AL, 4th MLB)
Steals: 120 (1st AL, 1st MLB)

Rankings-Individual: (AL Only)
Average: Andre Ethier 7th (.332)
Doubles: Andre Ethier 10th (26)
Extra Base Hits: Andre Ethier 2nd (48)
Hits: Carl Crawford 10th (112)
Homeruns: Carlos Pena & Jonny Gomes tie-5th (22)
Slugging: Andre Ethier 3rd (.601) Carlos Pena 7th (.553)
OPS: Andre Ethier 4th (0.995) Carlos Pena 10th (0.950)
RBIs: Carlos Pena 4th (72)
Runs: B.J. Upton 9th (64)
Steals: Carl Crawford 2nd (35) B.J. Upton 4th (21) Jason Bartlett 8th (15) Akinori Iwamura 9th (14)

[taiwangm]

Pitching:

First	Last	IP	ERA	G	GS	W	L	SV	K	BB	R/9
James	Shields	131.0 	2.89 	20	20	12	5	0	97	36	10.51 
A. Sonnanstine	107.2 	4.35 	17	17	10	5	0	69	29	11.28 
Edwin	Jackson	97.0 	3.99 	18	17	6	6	0	68	39	12.90 
Matt	Garza	74.2 	4.82 	14	14	5	4	0	46	25	13.26 
J.P.	Howell	66.2 	5.67 	31	5	2	4	0	58	38	15.26 
Scott	Kazmir	66.1 	2.71 	11	11	10	1	0	67	23	9.90 
Trever	Miller	50.1 	2.86 	59	0	4	0	0	49	23	10.55 
Dan	Wheeler	47.1 	1.52 	45	0	5	0	2	46	16	8.37 
Gary	Glover	44.1 	4.87 	31	0	2	0	0	37	19	14.41 
Al	Reyes	43.0 	3.77 	40	0	3	0	1	43	15	9.63 
Troy	Percival36.2 	2.70 	43	0	0	1	32	33	14	10.80 
Jason	Hammel	28.1 	2.86 	5	5	3	1	0	22	10	10.48

Rankings-Team: (Pitching & Defense)
ERA: 3.70 (1st AL, 4th MLB)
Defense Average: .713 (1st AL, 3rd MLB)
Quality Start Percent: 56.2% (1st AL, 4th MLB)
Runs Allowed Per Game: 3.93 (1st AL, 3rd MLB)

Rankings-Individual (AL Only, Pitching & Defense)
DICE: Andy Sonnanstine 9th (3.85)
ERA: James Shields 2nd (2.89)
Innings: James Shields 1st (131.0)
Runners Thrown Out: Dioner Navarro 1st (22)
Saves: Troy Percival 1st (32)
Strikeoues: James Shields 4th (97)
Wins: James Shields 1st (12) Scott Kazmir & Andy Sonnanstine tie-2nd (10)

[taiwangm]

2008 Home Run Showdown

FIRST ROUND (10 Outs)

PLAYER                          HOMERS
Adam Dunn (CIN)                      8
Mark Teixeira (ATL)                  7
Frank Thomas (TOR)                   7
Jason Giambi (NYY)                   6
Luke Scott (BAL)                     5
Carlos Pena (TBR)                    5
Prince Fielder (MIL)                 4
Matt Holliday (COL)                  4
Alex Rodriguez (NYY)                 3
Brad Hawpe (COL)                     1

SECOND ROUND (5 Outs)

PLAYER                          HOMERS
Adam Dunn (CIN)                      4
Mark Teixeira (ATL)                  3
Frank Thomas (TOR)                   2
Jason Giambi (NYY)                   2

FINAL ROUND (5 Outs)

PLAYER                          HOMERS
MARK TEIXEIRA (ATL)                  2
Adam Dunn (CIN)                      1

     WINNER: Mark Teixeira

[taiwangm]

2008 All Star Game

 National League at  American League
July 10, 2008

                     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 +  R  H  E
National League (NL) 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0    5 12  0
American League (AL) 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 1 0    4  9  1

                     ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
R. Weeks (2B)         5  1  0  1  1  1  0  0    .283
 J. Santana (P)       0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
 B. Wagner (P)        0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
 T. Saito (P)         0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
D. Wright (3B)        5  1  0  1  0  0  1  0    .328
M. Holliday (LF)      5  2  0  1  1  1  0  0    .307
M. Teixeira (1B)      4  2  0  0  0  0  0  0    .302
P. Fielder (DH)       3  1  0  0  0  1  2  0    .287
 A. Dunn (P)          1  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .280
B. Hawpe (RF)         4  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .292
 L. Berkman (P)       0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .324
C. Hart (CF)          3  1  0  1  1  1  1  0    .354
 A. Jones (P)         1  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .309
S. Drew (SS)          4  3  0  1  1  1  0  0    .305
G. Soto (C)           4  1  0  0  0  0  0  0    .251
TOTALS               39 12  0  5  4  5  4  0

   2B:  G. Soto, M. Holliday, P. Fielder
   HR:  R. Weeks, S. Drew, C. Hart, M. Holliday
   GIDP:  G. Soto

                   ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
        J. Peavy  5.0  6  0  1  2  2  5  95   1.77
      J. Santana  3.0  3  1  1  2  2  3  60   2.68
       B. Wagner  0.2  0  0  0  0  0  1   7   2.65
        T. Saito  0.1  0  0  0  0  0  0   1   2.30
          TOTALS  9.0  9  1  2  4  4  9 163

                     ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
C. Granderson (CF)    4  1  0  0  0  0  3  0    .306
 S. Kazmir (P)        0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
 B. Colon (P)         0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
B. Abreu (RF)         3  1  1  1  0  0  1  0    .310
M. Cabrera (DH)       4  1  0  0  0  0  0  0    .355
A. Rodriguez (3B)     4  1  0  1  1  2  1  0    .311
J. Posada (C)         4  2  0  0  0  0  1  0    .285
J. Giambi (1B)        2  0  0  0  0  0  1  0    .255
 V. Guerrero (P)      2  0  0  0  0  0  1  0    .321
H. Matsui (LF)        2  1  0  1  0  0  0  0    .332
 D. Lee (P)           1  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .308
 L. Scott (P)         1  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .275
D. Jeter (SS)         1  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .346
 D. Ortiz (P)         3  1  0  1  1  2  1  0    .302
P. Polanco (2B)       4  1  0  0  0  0  0  0    .351
TOTALS               35  9  1  4  2  4  9  0

   2B:  H. Matsui, C. Granderson, M. Cabrera
   HR:  A. Rodriguez, D. Ortiz
   GIDP:  M. Cabrera

                   ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
      J. Vazquez  2.1  4  0  3  3  3  1  48   3.38
       S. Kazmir  2.2  4  0  0  1  1  2  67   2.71
        B. Colon  4.0  4  0  1  1  1  1  53   3.08
          TOTALS  9.0 12  0  4  5  5  4 168

     WP: J. Peavy
     LP: J. Vazquez
     SV: T. Saito

     Temperature: 62F
     Wind: 6 MPH (in from left)
     Attendance: 47,116
     Time: 3:10

[taiwangm]

Around the league
(June 1 ~ July 11)

Trades:
Jun 5: Florida sent 1B Mike Jacobs to San Diego for a pitcher in the minors.

Jun 18: O's sent SP Daniel Cabrera to the Cubs for pitchers Kevin Hart, Donald Veal and Sean Gallagher, all unproven rookies.

Jun 21: O's sent 2B Brian Roberts to the Mariners for C Rob Johnson, 3B Matt Mangini and top prospect OF Michael Saunders.

Jun 23: Florida sent RP Renyel Pinto to Detroit for AAA-class players 1B Jeff Larish and OF Matt Joyce.

Jun 28: Houston Astros sent closer Jose Valverde to Cleveland in exchange for prospect starter Scott Lewis.

July 4: Reds sent SP Bronson Arroyo to Toronto, getting 3 minor pitching prospects in return, including Brett Cecil.

Contracts:
Extension contracts signed players in this period:
Kelly Johnson (ATL)
Orlando Hudson (ARI)
Rickie Weeks (MIL)
Chone Figgins (LAA)
Garrett Atkins (COL)
Brandon Lyon (ARI)
Jeff Francoeur (ATL)
Huston Street (OAK)
these names won't be in the hot stove this year.

Major Injuries:
Jun 2: Yankee RP Latroy Hawkins suffered severed knee ligament to miss 9 months.
Jun 7: John Smoltz had wrist stress fracture to miss 5 weeks.
Jun 17: White Sox 1B Paul Konerko broke his fibula to miss 2 months.
Jun 23: White Sox lose another player as Nick Swisher had fractured skull and would miss 8 weeks.

Milestones:
Jun 1: Bobby Abreu stole his 300th base. He bought the base after the game and took it home.
Jun 8: Rays speedster Crawford also stole his 300th. In contrast, Crawford said: "300 is only 300. It's not 500, 600 or 700."
Jun 9: A-Rod had a memorable 4-HR game. (NYY 20-4 LAA)
Jun 21: Greg Maddux won his 350th game.
Jun 25: Cards' closer Jason Isringhausen saved a game for the 300th time.
Jul 1: Miguel Tejeda hit for a cycle.
Jul 3: Richie Sexson, the Seattle 1B, belted his 300th career homer.
Jul 5: A pair of veterans stroke 2500th hits: Jim Thome and Frank Thomas.

Big Names Retirements:
Jun 1: Fromer All-star slugger Bret Boone called it a career. He last appeared in the Majors in 2005, though.
Jun 18: One-time 21-game winner Russ Ortiz retired. His carrer was marred by injury since 2005.
Jul 1: Chan Ho Park, the former Korean Dodgers hurler retired. However, he was remembered by Rangers. lol