And on the 7th day.....Jose Altuve rested, only appearing as a defensive replacement in a 3-2 Astros loss to Pittsburgh.

Neil Ramirez obviously loves his mother very much, to the point of being distracted by Mother's Day and giving up 7 ER in 3.1 IP, 6 hits, 3 BB, 4 K and giving up a HR.

Profar hits again, and so does OT.

Happy Mother's Day! Happy Mother's Day! Happy Mother's Day!

Wow, that was embarrassing - the Yankees took the Rays out behind the woodshed and just abused them, outscoring them 45-12 in the last three games of the series.      Just embarrassing.

Also, I told you so on Elijah Dukes.    I said it all last year, and the year before, and no one here listened, and they all said Delmon was the problem, and look now.      

Is Theo on crack?  I'm starting to think that they shouldn't have resigned him after he walked out in a gorilla suit.    

Other than the Wily Mo Pena / Arroyo deal, all of his trades this year have been terrible.    Trading away Shoppach for Bard and then having to trade Bard away for Mirabelli because Bard couldn't catch a knuckler was just ridiculous.   Then trading for Javy Lopez, who can't catch a fastball?  Do the Sox even have scouts?    I'm not saying that Matt Kemp would be terrible, but the Sox would have to be giving up Crisp or Ellsbury or something else to make it even remotely even.    Why even waste time asking for something ludicrous like that.

The age of Delmon is nigh!   It should not have taken this long, and I think the delay has hurt him developmentally, but there's a lot of buzz about Delmon being called up this week, possibly today.   If you guys are paying attention every main page post should be about Delmon this week.   Prepare for some Delmonic possession!

Toady Witt gets the call.      Sycophants everywhere rejoice!    I guess he deserves it though, with 36 apples polished, 99 boots licked, a .289 noses browned average, and a team leading .937 glad handing average.    Pretty soon, Maddon will have very shiny white sneakers when he rides his stationary bike - which will be disinfected and wiped down immediately after he is done.    

All I'm saying is look for some big huge posts from me soon if this is true!    I'm gonna have diarrhea of the keyboard following Mr. Franchise, noting his every move and nuance.   I cannot wait the debut day - I am literally on pins and needles.   Delmon, your time is nigh!    Time to show how awesome you are and frighten the rest of the American League.

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/08/05/Rays/Rays_sit_oft_troubled.shtml

No one at Durham wants him around.    He fought with the manager, a coach, a teammate, and the people running the Durham team don't want him back.    Dukes is a cancer.   I've been saying that since the beginning.    

If the Rays are smart, they deal him and concentrate on finding a place for Joel Guzman.

So it seems like the Devil Rays tried to block the Red Sox trade of Adam Stern for Javy Lopez by claiming Stern.    Does the Devil Rays Front Office feel like they have too few OF's in the minors?   Why would they claim Adam Stern, who has to fall behind numerous guys in the majors and minors?

I guess the popular theory is that they were pissed that the Red Sox asked Julio Lugo's agent whether he'd play second base.    How can you be pissed off at that after the Alfonso Soriano debacle this Spring?   It's ridiculous that the Rays would block this sort of due diligence - and it's harmful for both the team they were negotiating with (Red Sox) and the player (Julio Lugo) they were tring to trade.

Terrible job, Devil Rays Front Office.   Terrible job.

What do you all think of Delmon's comments (other than him being right)?    It seems pretty weak to me to accuse B.J. Upton of having a sense of entitlement given that he's succeeding a third straight season offensively in AAA and the reason that he's not up now is that management wasn't smart enough to switch his position earlier in the year.

You can't keep kids down forever.    At some time they have to play.

4-5, 4 RBI, 2 doubles.    His average is up to .374.   All of you haters out there are going to be sorry for doubting him.   He is the real deal and you are smoking crack if you think that he's struggling just because he hasn't been hitting homers.    He is starting to drive the ball and the longballs will come.    His numbers now are a solid improvement over his stint in AAA last season.

Delmon, 3-3, HR, 4 RBI, drives in half of Durham's runs.   His average is up to .356 and rising.    I know all of you haters are gonna be all "but he only has one home run...".     Listen up, chumps - we all know the power is there.    He's flashing the average and the speed at the moment.     The Rays gotta get him up in September so that he can play next year.      I know it has been a disappointing year for him but he cannot be denied.

"Panic on the streets of Durham
Panic on the streets of Birmingham
Kill the Umpire"

I can't believe Delmon got 50 games.  This is ridiculous.  Similar actions get 5-10 game suspensions, yet because of an umpire strike and management's need to keep up their bargaining position, he gets a 50 game suspension?

Ridiculous.   An absolute travesty of justice.

The MLBPA should appeal,appeal,appeal.  I want to see Gene Orza smote Commissioner Mobley.

How long does it take to set a punishment on Delmon?

I feel like Delmon probably is going to get a lighter sentence than many are asking for.   I think the delay in his punishment being set is to let things blow over because the commissioner's office knows that whatever they mete out will be appealed.   They know they won't be able to get away with a heavy sentence because there is no precedence in the history of baseball for more than a 30 game suspension.   If they wait till things blow over, the reaction against whatever is set will be less.

However, the delay has me really frustrated.   I feel like Vanessa on the episode of the Cosby Show where she goes to Baltimore to see the Wretched and their tickets get stolen and she gets in trouble because she tells her parents that she was going to Janet's house.   Vanessa comes home and her parents won't set a punishment even though she asks for one and the Huxtables make her go to bed feeling all guilty and dreading what her punishment will be in the morning.  

So I've watched the video a number of times.   Delmon is called out on an obvious ball, stands there for a while, walks off, and then, after he is out of the frame, a bat flies and hits the umpire.

Did Delmon really throw the bat?    The video doesn't prove that.    So the obvious question here is, since there's no proof Delmon threw the bat, can they really suspend him?    Could there have been a second bat thrower in the on-deck circle - Dukes maybe?   Dukes got into an argument later with coaches - maybe because he was the actual bat thrower?

As Johnny Cochrane used to say "If it's not on the tape, he must escape."

I read over on another site that the Delmon Young tape was played on the Today show this morning.   Did anyone see it?  

If that's true, UmpGate is getting bigger om terms of press and I think it increases the number of games that Delmon has to sit out.   Any guesses as to how many games he sits?   At first based on the precedents (Bradley/Alcantara/Alomar/etc), I thought it was going to be 10 games, but now I'm not so sure.

So it'll be a while till he's up, but he should still be called up.   Maybe in the meantime they can call up B.J. for now.     Wigginton isn't going to hit like Chris Shelton for too much longer.

Don't really know what else to say here.   Anyone else seen any video of this?    Someone has to have a link somewhere.

Have you ever watched 2nd graders play soccer - where none of them play their position and they all just chase the ball?     With the Madden overshift, that's just about what the Devil Rays looked like in the OF last night against David Ortiz.    And Ortiz went 2-5.    

What's the solution to this nonsense?   Bring up B.J. and Delmon.    With B.J.'s incredible range, he would get to more balls hit by Ortiz, although he may have trouble with one hit right at him.    And Delmon, well he's just Delmon.   There's no need to put 15 guys in right field when you have Delmon Young out there.    Delmon makes Chuck Norris look weak.

Russell Branyan is hitting .214.   However, Delmon Young is hitting .368, drew a walk last night, and is stealing bases at an unreal clip.

Oh yeah, and B.J. Upton has a .381 OBP.

Call up the kids!  Just do it!  These roleplayer guys stink!  Nick Green and Russell Branyan are dead to me, and Maddon will be too unless he calls up Young and Upton soon.

There is no way that Russel Branyan should playing RF.    He went 0-4 with 2 K's.     He is taking rightful AB's away from Delmon Young.     Does anyone think he has better "plate discipline" than Young?   Or is a better defensive RF?    You should not be starting over Delmon if your name rhymes with "Funyan".

In other news, Nick Green went 1-4 and continued to block B.J. Upton.      He's hitting .143, it's time to bail on him.

As a new feature for draysbay.com, I will be calling out anyone and everyone who is slowing or stopping Delmon Young from claiming his rightful place on the Devil Rays.

Damon Hollins went 0-3 opening day, and I am calling him out.   If you're going to go 0-3, you're of no use, and your spot should be taken by Delmon Young.   This Hollins character didn't even bat a quarter last year, and if you want to complain about plate discipline, Hollins has none.

Also someone known as "L. Ordaz" went 0-2.    I have no idea who this "Ordaz" person is, whether he is real or fictional, or whether he's just Tony Graffanino in disguise, kind of like the time Garth Brooks released that album as his alter ego.      I do know that this Ordaz character is taking AB's that could go to BJ Upton though, and I do not like that.    

Let it be known that "L. Ordaz" and Damon Hollins are on notice.