Why do we coach kids?

To quote coach Don Meyer from this video, "I love to see how a team can improve, and kids can improve, so that's why I coach. I mean, there's nothing better than that, I mean, that's, that's uh (with tears welling up), it just eats you up inside how lucky you can be coaching kids."

Wow, what a video. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.



Until next time,
- Steve

Records that may never be broken

Johnny Vander Meer. Who is that you ask? Well, he holds a record that for all intents and purposes, may never broken. In the Major Leagues that is. You see, in 1938, Johnny threw a no-hitter against the Boston Braves, then 4 days later, he threw another no-hitter against the Brooklyn Dodgers. He is the only major leaguer to throw consecutive no-hitters.

Why do I bring this up? Well, there is a high school player here in the Tampa area that just threw his fourth straight no-hitter. His name is Patrick Schuster and he plays for Mitchell High School. Of course, in high school, there are often inflated batting averages, miniscule ERA's, crazy strike out totals, etc. However, 4 no-hitters in a row must be a national record, right? No so fast, the national prep record is 6 no-hitters in a row. Mitchell will be going for the record as the district playoffs start soon. Good luck to him.

What do you think about other records that may never be broken? Here's a quick list I came up with:

1. Ty Cobb's career batting average of .367
2. UCLA winning 7 consecutive NCAA men's basketball titles
3. New York Yankees total of 26 World Series titles
4. Wilt Chamberlain's total of 100 points in one NBA game
5. Byron Nelson's 11 straight wins in PGA tournaments
   

Can you think of any more?

Until next time,
- Steve

Susan Boyle - if you haven't seen this yet

No words can describe this...


EMBED-Susan Boyle Stuns Crowd with Epic Singing - Watch more free videos

How about this lineup tweak?

Maybe this is why I wouldn't be a good MLB manager. I would try to tweak things too much, but this just seems obvious to me, what about you?

Put Bartlett in the leadoff spot and Aki 2nd. I think Upton is pressing too much in the leadoff spot. he has a couple of hits, and 2 of them are surprise bunts down the 3rd base line. Bartlett is a machine right now and I always thought Aki was probably better number 2 hitter than leadoff anyway.

As for the game last night, fun too watch. Finally saw those resilient Rays from last year that refuse to lose.

We will be at Saturday night and Sunday afternoon's game, so it should be a great weekend!

Until next time,
- Steve

Don't panic Rays Fans

Interesting blurb from an article on TBO.com today by Joe Henderson. Here's a link to the entire article. Joe certainly has his own plan for the bullpen woes, you can find his thoughts in the article.. but he also ended with the following:

"But as we contemplate and fret over this and this, there's one other number worth keeping in mind. One year ago today, Wheeler was the losing pitcher in a 6-5 setback at Minnesota. The loss dropped the Rays 6-9 overall, last place in the American League East. Things didn't turn out so badly, did they?"

So, step in from the balcony, don't jump yet... everything will be okay.

Until next time,
- Steve

My scheme to fix the Rays' Bullpen Woes

Okay, so after taking a look at some stats and some recent highlights, the bullpen is letting us down a little bit, wouldn't you agree?

I don't think you have to pressure your brain too hard based on the picture to the left to figure out one part of my plan... Percival has to go. While I love what he stands for, since his leg injury last year, he doesn't have the leg power and drive to throw the heat past hitters any more. In his heyday, and even at the beginning of last year, he was in the low to mid 90's with his fastball, but most importantly, he had movement. Today, he hit 91 twice on the gun, but they were flat pitches. Now, you might counter that today Mariano Rivera wasn't even hitting 90 on the gun, but he is throwing almost exclusively a cutter which has tons of movement.

Anyway, here's the plan:

1. Percival to AAA or release him
2. Sonnanstine to middle or long relief
3. Balfour to closer
4. Price comes up from AAA and becomes the 5th starter.

I think some of you may have a gripe regarding Balfour as the closer, and it may be well founded as he has also struggled a little bit. In comparison though, you have to believe that Balfour has a better chance of becoming a lights out closer than Percival does. If Balfour doesn't work out, then go to a closer by committee, anything, I trust Maddon to make the right moves here. I suppose you could even let Price close to keep his innings down, a la Joba Chamberlain, but look at the trouble Joba has had converting back to a starter.

Now, if I might, a little sour grapes. I was one of the few people who was not happy about the Jackson for Joyce trade. I think Jackson could have still helped this team. Joyce just doesn't strike me as a player who was going to get much playing time. Especially now that they have sent him to the minors. So, the Rays effectively gave up Jackson, who tied for the team lead in wins last year and arguably had some of the best stuff on the staff for a AAA player. Okay, I'll step down off my soapbox now.


Closing thoughts today - I think the AL East teams are going to beat up on each other the entire season. Much more than last year. I don't expect the Red Sox to stay in the cellar, and I don't expect the Blue Jays and Orioles to stay at the top. It's going to be tight the entire season, which is why, if the Rays need to make a move, they should do it early because a game or 2 lost in April, might show up at the end of the season.

Until next time,
- Steve

Longoria out for 2 days

Just saw this on mlb.com... Longoria to reportedly miss two games.

Apparently he is headed home to California to deal with a private family issue. Full story can be found by clicking on this link.

Hope all is well with the family Evan...

Until next time,
- Steve

Well, that sort of stinks doesn't it?

While it was nice to see Garza come back and throw a very solid game after a rough 1st inning, what in the world happened to our bullpen? That was not the Dan Wheeler we knew from last year. It was funny actually, I was all set to record the bottom of the ninth because our son Cade had to go to bed. I just knew they could come back and get a couple of runs in the bottom of the ninth to tie or win the game. But then, alas, Wheeler gave up a few hits and runs. I still hit record for the bottom of the 9th, just because our son was so mad he couldn't stay up and watch the ending. Then, 3 straight strike outs, Upton, Crawford and Longoria, Sheesh.

Maybe we were lulled into a false sense of security after last year that the relievers would always hold the opponents and as soon as we hit the bottom of the 9th, this team would deliver some magic?

I am still very happy with the team, except for one area... strikeouts at the plate. There is only one team in the bigs with more strikeouts than the Rays total of 72. That's the Indians with 79. Also, the Rays are tied with the Nationals at 72. Granted, the Rays have the 4th highest batting average in the majors after 8 games, but they are averaging 9 K's / game, a little too high in my book.

I fully expect Sonnanstine to pitch a gem this afternoon and for the Rays to take 2 of 3 from the evil empire.

Until next time,
- Steve

Aaaaahhh, the home opener...

Hi everyone,

If you didn't get a chance to make it to the Trop last night, I hope you watched on tv. The raising of the banners was very moving. The military presence throughout the banner ceremony was something to see, especially the military rappelling down from the rafters while the banners were being raised. The national anthem being played by local jazz prodigy B.K. Jackson. Old Glory taking up the entire outfield. What a night, and that's before any baseball was evening being played.

As the game began, the Rays set the tone early and often by taking walks, laying down bunts, stealing bases, hitting homers, playing defense and generally just playing baseball the "Rays Way." A couple of key points from the game in my opinion were Scott Kazmir getting a 2nd strong outing in a row with a low pitch count and the return of B.J. Upton. I am sure there are not many other centerfielders in the game that could have made the catch that B.J. did early in the game on the long drive by Xavier Nady. Click here for a link to the video on MLB.com.

In addition, Carlos Pena is certainly breaking out of his early little slump. He had 3 hits and 6 RBI's last night. The Rays also used the home field advantage last night. There were several plays where the ball just seemed to bounce the Ray's way, including 2 towering infield pop ups that were misplayed by the Yankees as the ball got up into the roof at the Trop.

Now, to look at this from another angle, while the Rays won 15-5, the Yankees were not at full force. I have no idea what is wrong with Chien-Ming Wang, but this is certainly not the same player who won 19 games two seasons in a row and was 8-2 before his injury last year. He is obviously not fully recovered as of yet. Also, the Yankees spending spree on Mark Texiera got a big scare with his left wrist injury and absence from the lineup. Reports are, however, that an MRI showed that it's not too serious. Even though they weren't at full strength, any win against the Yankees feels good... especially when you have 9 runs against them by the end of the 2nd inning!

To wrap up, all in all, a great home opener, lots of action, looking forward to tonights game when Matt Garza will be facing A.J. Burnett.

Until next time,
- Steve