SB Nation User Blog: Orlando Rays

Video from the first Orlando Titans practice this past Saturday, some of their drills.

Orlando Rays — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 02:18:28 -0000

Video from the first Orlando Titans practice this past Saturday, some of their drills.

NMR: new lacrosse team highlighted by 1080 the Team

Orlando Rays — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 21:26:49 -0000

NMR: new lacrosse team highlighted by 1080 the Team

Some of you may not know, but Orlando is getting a new sport: indoor lacrosse. The team is the Orlando Titans of the National Lacrosse League. The league itself is older than the AFL, and the team is relocating from New York City. The team has a playoff pedigree, and one of the brightest stars in the sport today.

That star, midfielder Casey Powell, was interviewed on Tuck and O'Neill on 1080 the Team this afternoon. The link above is to my blog, where I have some highlights.

From how he described box lacrosse, he made great comparisons to ice hockey. A lot of the rules are similar, complete with penalties and fighting (take note, Solar Bears fans). Jerry O'Neill made a big deal in the lead-up about how important Casey and his brothers are in the sport of lacrosse right now.

Tickets go on sale on Ticketmaster tomorrow, and the season begins January 8. Home games will be played at Amway Arena. Tickets are $20-35, all lower bowl, and season tickets (8 home games) start at $99.

From Tusk til Dawn

Orlando Rays — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:28:00 -0000

From Tusk til Dawn

I am forming a new blog to cover sports in Orlando other than the Magic. I will be covering the Tuskers, Predators and Titans, as well as other minor-league sports teams in the area. Come check it out. Blog and discussion forum both available.

Rays final individual statistics

Orlando Rays — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 02:36:22 -0000

A few bits of trivia on the year that was in Rays baseball, compiled from MLB.com stats...

Although his season ended nearly a month ago, Carlos Peña still won the AL home run title with 39 (tied with Mark Teixiera). Imagine if he didn't have two fingers broken...

Jason Bartlett settled into 6th in the AL with a .320 batting average. Carl Crawford had a .305 average. Ben Zobrist had a .296 average and led the team with a .943 OPS.

Carl Crawford ended up 2nd in the AL in stolen bases (60). He and B.J. Upton (42) became the first teammates in Rays history to each have at least 40 stolen bases in the same season.

Evan Longoria ended up 4th in the AL in RBI (113). He and Peña (100) are the first teammates in Rays history to each have at least 100 RBI in the same season. Also, Peña is the first Ray to have at least 30 HR and 100 RBI in each of three consecutive seasons.

Nothing special about our pitching. No starter had more than 13 wins (Jeff Niemann), no pitcher had at least 200 strikeouts (Matt Garza had 189), and our saves leader, J.P. Howell, had 17 saves, less than half our team total of 41 (T-7th in AL). We were T-3rd in the AL in holds (79), but those were even more evenly distributed--our team leader, Grant Balfour, had just 18 and was 12th in the league. We were T-2nd with 183 HR given up (the Twins and Indians did too...the Orioles gave up 218).

Rays 2010 Master Schedule Released

Orlando Rays — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:08:23 -0000

http://mlb.mlb.com/schedule/index.jsp?c_id=tb&m=4&y=2010

No times filled in yet, but we know who we face what days.

We open the season at home on Tuesday, April 6, vs. Baltimore, followed by the Yankees in the opening homestand. That is followed by a season-long ten-game road trip to Baltimore (3), Boston (4) and the White Sox (3).

Our Interleague matchups have a western flavor. We go to Houston on Memorial Day weekend (May 21-23), then in June we host Florida (6/11-13), go to Atlanta (15-17) and Florida (18-20), then host San Diego (22-24) and Arizona (25-27).

Our first visit to Target Field doesn't come until July 1 for a four-game trip to Minnesota.

Our longest homestand is 11 games, July 26-August 5, with Detroit (4), the Yankees (3) and Minnesota (4).

Our Season finale is Wednesday, September 29, again vs. Baltimore, followed by a four-game roadie to Kansas City to end the season.

We have Mondays off all June, four consecutive, and a period of four consecutive Thursdays off Aug-Sep.

For one thing, I'll be at all three Atlanta games. That's my family's timeshare week in northern Georgia.

It's all Jim Hickey's fault

Orlando Rays — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:03:25 -0000

Typically, when things go good, the manager gets the credit. When things go bad, the manager gets the blame. I've seen it happen like this everywhere. But being the outside-the-box thinker I try to be, and mindful of the lack of long outings by our starting rotation, I decided to do a little investigating.

Of course Joe Maddon would go with what's worked in the past. But it's not his fault his bullpen has been failing him.

It's Jim Hickey's fault.

I had to do a considerable amount of digging in Baseball Reference to research this. First, compare the starting pitching IP for each of teams currently in the playoff hunt, and compare them to the Rays.

Yankees: 952 IP
Red Sox: 872 1/3 IP
Rangers: 898 2/3 IP
Angels: 936 2/3 IP
Tigers: 908 1/3 IP

Rays: 840 2/3 IP

(Keep in mind the Tigers and Angels have played two fewer games than we have, and the Red Sox and Rangers have played one fewer. The Yankees have played one more than we.)

Our starters have sent the equivalent of 31 2/3 more innings to our bullpen than Boston's starters. That's about 3 1/2 games worth of extra pitching our bullpen has had to do. Our bullpen has also pitched 111 1/3 IP more innings than the Yankees. That's more than 12 games extra that our bullpen has had to pitch.

We have only three team shutouts, and 34 team saves, the fewest of any of the playoff contenders.

No wonder our bullpen has been failing in spots where normally they would work out. They're totally gassed!

Another interesting note is how many different starting pitchers have been used by each team:

Yankees: 9
Red Sox: 10
Rangers: 10
Angels: 14
Tigers: 12

Rays: 7

The correlation between starter IP and making the playoffs is strong. Last year, our starters had 1046 2/3 IP, compared to 1005 for Boston, 1014 for Anaheim and 1055 2/3 for Cleveland. (The Yankees had 1012 2/3 IP last year for their pitchers, so sometimes there's a blip. Take into account that Boston has Papelschmuck.)

In 2007, our starters only had 977 1/3 IP. So our starters sent 88 2/3 fewer IP to the bullpen between 2007 and 2008.

There is really only one person to blame: Jim Hickey. He is the one responsible for the maintenance of our pitching staff. If he gets the bullpen gassed because our starters can't go deep, then we end up floundering down the stretch, and we end up where we are now.

One can say that trading Edwin Jackson was the root of our problems, but it hasn't been one single pitcher. It's been a systemic problem. How often have our starting pitchers made it into the 8th inning?

Scott Kazmir: 1
James Shields: 10
Matt Garza: 5
David Price: 1
Jeff Niemann: 10 (incl. both CGSO)
Andy Sonnanstine: 3

Not very many deep outings. A lot that didn't make it out of the sixth either. Way too many.

The fact of the matter is, the problem is our starting pitching. It is the root of all of our problems. They have the capability: 2008 proved that. We may need new leadership.

Interesting goings-on in MLB yesterday

Orlando Rays — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 11:43:11 -0000

1) After A.J. Pierzynski's at-bat against Zack Greinke in the bottom 4th of the Royals @ White Sox game, Hawk Harrelson mentioned the rivalry between high schools they each went to: Dr. Phillips and Apopka, both in Orlando. (Nevermind the fact that Zack went to school about a decade after A.J.) Carlos Quentin immediately hit a homer off Greinke.

2) Bill Murray was spotted at the Cubs @ Padres game, apparently a guest of the Cubs front office. He was seen doing a little shimmy after Aramis Ramirez's home run in the 6th.

3) Twins @ Rangers: Pudge Rodriguez returned home to Arlington and got a standing ovation from a crowd that was underestimated by about 7,000 by the Rangers TV crew (they said 25-26k, it was 33k). He got a single on the second pitch he saw, and went 3-for-4 with a double, an RBI and a run scored.

A Winner is (Jones-)Drew

Orlando Rays — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 16:09:27 -0000

A Winner is (Jones-)Drew

SportsNation has a poll on its website under "Reggie Bush's Future" that rates the five top running backs in the 2006 NFL Draft. This includes Joseph Addai, Reggie Bush, Maurice Jones-Drew, Laurence Maroney and DeAngelo Williams.

With 17,000 votes, MJD is #1, with 48% of the vote. Williams is second with 24%. MJD won 46 states, DC and the rest of the world. (The other 4 states went to Williams.)

Reggie Bush got 9% overall, and only 15% in Louisiana and Mississippi.

As a reminder, we got MJD with the 60th overall pick (R2/28). We passed on Joseph Addai and LenDale White with our first pick to get him.

Ponson: You got knocked the F out, man!

Orlando Rays — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 16:56:40 -0000

Ponson: You got knocked the F out, man!

Two days after serving up seven runs in under 5 innings to the Rays, Aruban pitcher Sidney Ponson was designated for assignment. If he declines, will anybody ever give him a shot again?

Papi, Manny tested positive for roids in 2003 survey tests

Orlando Rays — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:39:25 -0000

Papi, Manny tested positive for roids in 2003 survey tests

This is getting ridiculous. This has to stop. Two things need to happen:

1) They need to release all 107 names. I don't care that they are "sealed". It's not fair that A-Rod, Barry, Sammy, Manny and Papi are all outed and 102 others are protected. They all have to be named.

2) The lawyers who are leaking the names must be outed and made to pay for leaking sealed data.