Dave had a rocky start giving up four solo shots, but fought hard and got better as the game wore. He even admitted after the game he made a couple of bad pitches on the long balls, but the Blue Jays have good power. Of course, Jose Bautista hit one. He kills us and gets David a pretty good bit, but Dave kept getting better and went seven, gave up four runs, threw 98 pitches 68 for strikes with 30 balls, which is another excellent ratio. He gave up seven hits, walked one and K’d five. Rays down 4-1 after three, but scored two in sixth, two in eighth and two in ninth. Longo, Zorilla, Kelly Johnson and awesome new right fielder Wil (way his first name is spelled). Myers went deep, Wil was three-for-five with a homer, a double and a single. He came up from the minors in late June, and has been a highly touted prospect we got from the KC Royals in the offseason, and he’s going to be a stud in right field. He already is playing pretty very well. Longo (Evan Longoria) hit a monster bomb; looked like 450 feet in the upper deck of the Skydome or whatever they call it up there.. Evan worked on his game during the All-Star break. He’s had plantar fasciitis, which is like having a rock lodged in your foot all the time and is very painful, but Evan seems to be a lot better and that’s a good sign. His hard work during the break in Tampa will probably pay off because he’s one of the premier players in the majors, if he can stay healthy. We had a couple of players out tonight. Shortstop Yuni Escobar was out with a thigh strain and first baseman James Loney was at home in Tampa with his wife and new born baby. Love this win. Came back and showed resilience and Dave showed a lot of resilience. Play Blue Jays tomorrow in Toronto at 1:07 PM ET/12:07 CT. Rays at 56-41 two and a half back of BoSox which are 58-38.
Bucs lost to the Reds at Cincy tonight, 5-3, Just struck out too much. We K’d t0 times. Starling Marte, who’s hitting .292 and is a good player for us but strikes out way too much for a leadoff hitter, had two hits but K’d three times. Pedro was o-for-4 with a K. We were down 5-0 and made a game of it, but lost 5-3. Hope my fear of Pedro’s hitting being hurt by the home run derby won’t come to fruition.
Braves beat White Sox, 6-4. Braves 55-42, six games up on Nats, which lost tonight to the resurgent Dodgers, 3-2. Mike Minor pitches Sunday vs. White Sox at 2:10 PM ET/1:10 CT on Fox Sports South which is not the same network as Sportsouth. Mike goes against Jose Quintana of ChiSox, who is 4-2 with a 3.72 ERA. Mike now 9-4 with a 3.02 ERA with 26 walks and 115 strikeouts. Excellent numbers there.
Prates two back of Cards, which beat the Padres tonight, 9-6. Picked the Rays over the Nationals in the series on my blog in April, so there’s no looking back. Really like the Rays, the Bosox, the Rangers and the A’s right now in the AL, and like the Cards, Braves, Bucs and Reds in NL. Starting to think the Nats aren’t going to get it together.
Brandt with a rough day today at the Open. Shot 79 (+8) and is five over for the tourney after shooting 69 yesterday on the Par-71 Muirfield course. The Mechanic leads it. That would be 49-year old Miguel Angel Jimenez, He’s @-3. It’s interesting because Darren Clarke, then 42, won in 2011, and Ernie Els, a 42-year old last year, won last year’s Open. Maybe the late 40-something player can win it. Some big names in the mix. I picked Phil because of his preparation for the tournament and his victory last week at the Scottish Open. He’s @ +1. This course has been brutalizing a lot of players. Rory finished +12 for two days. He’s done. Tiger at -2 and right there.
The greens are as hard as a 20-year old blacktop, and the winds make hitting shots and putting problematic. Ian Poulter tweeted that all 18 needed was a windmill and a clown nose. Kind of funny, but these guys are pretty frustrated. 15 was very tough today. Phil had some comments that the course should be set up so the best players can win. That may happen anyway. Should be fun the next two days.
Nothing happening in bball recruiting. We’ve got some four-stars and a five-star interested. Really need to close some deals. Freshman class set for baseball. Good class. Not number one class in the country, but that’s pretty hard to do three years in a row. Solid, talented class though. Should be pretty stellar in baseball. We should be very good in bball too this upcoming season led by Kedren, Rod, Kyle and Dai-Jon. And we need to recruit well for ’14. Will keep you posted on any hardcourt developments.
Will get you an update on our key minor guys and Sonny next week. Just checked on Sonny. Went two innings tonight in middle relief, gave up one hit, no runs with one walk and three K’s. Excellent. Unfortunately for Sonny and his team, they’re losing to the Angels 4-0 in the bottom of the 8th. The A’s may want to seriously think about making Sonny a starter. He’s ready. Ryan Flaherty didn’t play for the O’s tonight. Will keep tabs on him.
Gotta start thinking about the Bears as well coming up. I’m looking for a big season from Jay this year. Think he’s settled down in his personal life, he’s focused and looking for the Lombardi Trophy. Hope Earl can play a big part too.