I was worried that Petey might struggle a little bit after participating in the home run contest at the All-Star game. It was awesome to watch him do that and hit six out, which was very respectable. He also got in the game late. I was proud of him. He did struggle some at the plate over the weekend at Cincy, but did he ever get it together last night against the Washington Nationals. Pedro went two-for-four with a single and a long one, his 25th of the year, a solo shot, and posted his 63rd RBI. Bucs beat the Nationals 5-1 for their second victory in a row over the Nats. Neil Walker, our talented second baseman, got off the DL and back in the lineup last night, which is awesome news for us. We have almost a .600 winning percentage with Neil in the lineup and we’re under .500 when he’s not. El Toro batting cleanup now, and I believe he’s going to get on one of his tears, which hopefully will last the rest of the season. That would be a real boost to the Bucs’ offense. Some tough news happened Monday Night. Jason Grilli, our star closer who had converted 30 of 31 save opportunities, came out of the game Monday Night; and it looked pretty bad. He had to take himself out and Grilli is a tough one now. The injury looked like the one T.j. Pecoraro suffered a couple of years ago for VU in the SEC tournament. T.J. hurt his arm and had Tommy John surgery. It looked like the same thing. Fortunately for now, it’s just a forearm strain. Jason is on the 15-day DL and might be out for a while. Dave Price did the same thing in May and was out about two months, so that puts Grilli back in mid to late September. Just want him back healthy. He’s one of the guys who is the heart and soul of out team along with center fielder Andrew McCutchen, catcher Russell Martin, Pedro and Neil. Hopefully, Jason can get back to full health and be ready for a mid-September push. Fortunately, the Pirates have one of the best bullpens in the majors and Mark Melancon, who was also an All-Star like Jason, will take over the closer duties in Jason’s absence. Mark can get it done. He’s been an excellent middle reliever and came in last night and got the Nats up and down in order to close out the game. He’s a stud too. Bucs now 59-39, 1 1/2 back of the Cards, who are 60-37 in the NL Central. Bucs are three up on the Reds for the top spot in the Wild Card Standings. That’s important because the wild card playoff is a one game, single elimination, and the leader in the standings at the end of the regular season hosts the second place team for the right to advance in the playoffs. The winner of that game would not have any home field advantage after that, but it would be a best of seven series and definitely attainable.
DP on the hill tonight for the Rays. Dave now 4-5 with a 4.03 ERA. He’s 1-1 with a 3.63 ERA in his last three starts, but the reason his ERA is higher in those three is because he gave up four early runs @Toronto last Friday Night. But he battled back and got the W in that game, giving up seven hits, four earned, with one walk and five K’s. Dave threw 98 pitches with 68 for strikes and 30 balls. The guy just throws strikes. He’s a strike throwing machine. Dave faces Felix Doubront of the Red Sox tonight. Rays beat the Sox Monday Night behind a two-hit beauty by 24-year old Matt Moore. Matt, in his second year as a starter, is awesome. He moved to 14-3 on the season. Matt was an all-star also. Dave was the first guy out of the dugout to give Matt a congratulatory hand shake and shoulder bump. The starting pitchers, after one of the starting pitchers goes a complete game, all get together near the mound and give it a jump and shoulder bump when one of them gets the complete game win. It’s pretty funny. Dave now has 15 walks on the season and 72 K’s. He was injured for two months, so that’s why his strikeouts are not out the roof. Rays now 59-42, 1.5 back of Sox, who are 61-43. Rays are two games ahead of the Orioles in first place in the wild card. Rays have Sox tonight and tomorrow night at Fenway to finish off a four game set. If they can get both they’ll be a 1/2 game in front of the Sox in the AL East. We lost last night, 6-2, and I thought Joe Maddon kind of mailed it in. He put in his B pitchers from the bullpen with us trailing 3-2. I know Joe’s theory is to save his key arms out of the pen for the rest of the season, so he wanted to see if the backup guys could get them out in the eighth and try to win it in the ninth. That is probably good strategy, so I’m good with it. If we can win these next two, we’ll be in first.
A pretty funny thing happened last night at Fenway (Boston). Stuart Sternberg, the Rays’ principal owner, was at the ballpark in the stands and Todd Kalas (TK), our excellent Rays on-field reporter and postgame guy interviewed Stu. Stu is a cool guy no doubt, definitely a dude at about 54, and does he ever love his Rays. Stu has made a ton of money on Wall Street, but he’s just one of the guys to everybody in the Rays organization. It’s pretty cool. At the end of the interview, TK was asking Stu a question and Stu brought up his flip phone to make a point. TK said at end of the intereview, “Love Stu’s flip phone. That’s just how he rolls.” The Rays are the most fun organization maybe in sports and it starts at the top with Stu and Andrew Friedman, who is the executive vice president and general manager. They’re both incredible baseball minds, but just regular dudes to the guys in the organization. They’re a lot of fun.
Mike Minor pitches Friday for the Bravos against the Cards in a key series. Mike is 9-5 with a 2.98 ERA. Mike has 28 walks on the season and 123 K’s. Pretty astounding numbers. Something about Dave and Mike; they just throw strikes. That’s got to be the cardinal rule for pitchers. If you are a major league pitcher and can throw strikes and locate them you should excel. Dave and Mike have that down. Mike lost his last outing to the ChiSox, 3-1, but pitched a nice game, going eight, a complete game on the road when you’re behind, allowing three runs, two earned, with two walks and eight strikeouts. Braves lost two of three from the White Sox over the weekend and are 1-1 in their series with the Mets this week. Gotta get the bats going again. Braves still in good shape in the NL East at 56-44; seven up on the Phillies.
Sonny Gray has now pitched four innings for the A’s and has given up two hits, no runs, with 1 walk and six strikeouts. Sonny pitching very well. In his last outing versus the Angels last Friday Night, he went two, gave up one hit, no runs, with one walk and three K’s. Sonny can really mow’em down with that active fastball, and his stellar changeup and curve. I wish they’d give him a shot in the starting rotation. He’s ready. A’s lost to Astros last night, 5-4, but the Rangers also lost to the Yanks 5-4. Yanks are hanging tough without A-Rod, Jeter, Tex and Curtis Granderson. A’s three up on the Rangers in AL West. Should be a stellar finish in the West. I picked the Rays to win it all this season. Hopefully that’ll work out.
OK, so some more awesome news coming out of West End. Grant Haley, a cornerback/running back/kick-punt returner out of the Lovett School in Atlanta, has committed. Grant is the.17th commit and the third from Georgia, joining running back Dallas Rivers and defensive back Bryce Lewis.
Watched film on Grant. Love this guy. I don’t know where we should put him. He is an awesome running back capable of taking it to the house any time, and he can flat out play some defense. Grant is 5’10”, 180 and runs a 4.5, but looking at his film, he looks like a 4.45 on the field. You’re not going to catch him if he gets in the open field. As junior at the Lovett School, a very fine private school in Atlanta, Grant posted seven interceptions and 40 tackles on defense, and 1,431 all-purpose yards on offense including 18 receptions for 495 and three scores, and 536 yards and six touchdowns on the ground. He is a fantastic punt and kick returner too. Saw him break two kickoffs and a punt on film. He had three touchdowns on kickoff returns–one had to be for 100–and one score on a punt return. Grant is rated a 5.6 three-star by Rivals and an 88 three-star by 247 sports. We’ve got a really good football player here. Grant looks like he could be bumped to a four-star before it’s over. Chose us over Florida. South Carolina and Arkansas also offered him.
Will give you the rundown on DP and Pedro tomorrow.