Rays Have Great Year; Now for the Playoffs

Click on Image for a larger view

 

Congratulations to the Tampa Bay Rays for a terrific year. Also one of the weirdest years in baseball history. But the game itself has not changed ... much. So let's see what happens beginning Tuesday.

It's Official — No Bulls Baseball This Year

Well, it happened. We knew it would, but it still hurts to know that we will not be going to the DBAP to watch the Bulls this year.

Several players we watched last year are on the Rays' 40-man and the new 60-man "pool", and we'll probably see some baseball. But no Bulls, no baseball in Bull City.

Press release here (with terrific video by Mike Birling); N&O article here; thinkpiece out of St Petersburg here, snippet on the 60 pool here.

Memorial Day — 2024

Bald eagle on veteran's grave, Fort Snelling National Cemetery. Photo by Frank Gilk, Minneapolis Star Tribune. Stories by Jon Tevlin June 25 and August 10, 2011.

The Young Dead Soldiers Do Not Speak

     Nevertheless they are heard in the still houses: who has not heard them? 

     They have a silence that speaks for them at night and when the clock counts. 

     They say, We were young. We have died. Remember us. 

     They say, We have done what we could but until it is finished it is not done. 

     They say, We have given our lives but until it is finished no one can know what our lives gave. 

     They say, Our deaths are not ours: they are yours: they will mean what you make them. 

     They say, Whether our lives and our deaths were for peace and a new hope or for nothing we cannot say, it is you who must say this. 

     They say, We leave you our deaths: Give them their meaning: give them an end to the war and a true peace: give them a victory that ends the war and a peace afterwards: give them their meaning.

     
     We were young, they say. We have died; Remember us. 

— Archibald MacLeish

Netting!

I was not a fan of the new netting when it was first installed, but, having dodged a bat more than once, I thought it was OK. And there was the problem of inattentive adults with small children seating them with their backs to the field on the top of the dugout...

This just makes sense. Must be outrageously expensive though ...

https://www.milb.com/durham/news/durham-bulls-to-extend-dbap-protective-netting/c-312767622?fbclid=IwAR0GkYBdkQssS3q6s5mb7U_AJYLJwq6A8m9xIq1fnltWoupCIEu6WEr-Dok

Pitchers and Catchers Report on Wednesday

Time is getting close ...

https://www.mlb.com/rays/news/rays-2020-spring-training-faqs

The hardest part of Spring Training is that it’s a different type of baseball than what we’re used to seeing. It’s a gradual buildup toward opening day, individuals are focused on themselves, not as much on who they’re facing.
With that context, here are some key areas to focus on and also what not to pay attention to over the next six weeks. Here’s the most important thing to ignore:

https://raysradio.mlblogs.com/rays-spring-training-what-are-we-looking-for-and-what-to-ignore-55d8b64e483e

An Exciting Wild Card Run

The Bulls' parent club, the Tampa Bay Rays, is having a terrific season. Four games left and things are all tangled up.

Durham Bulls Swept; Season Ends

The game started out well enough. On the field were a bunch of familiar faces:

• Former Bull Blake Snell, pitching for the Bulls and having a couple of good innings.
• Former Bull Andrew Velazquez, playing shortstop for the Columbus Clippers who went 1 for 4 and scored a run.
• Former Bull Dioner Navarro, playing catcher for the Clippers, who went 0 for 2 with a walk.
• Former Bull Mitch Talbot, who was the Clippers starting pitcher and went 4 2/3 innings and gave up a bunch of walks and one run, but also got out of a bases-loaded mess in the 2nd inning and left the game allowing just one run.

On the Bulls side, not so many familiar faces. In fact, only two starters were in the Bulls opening day lineup, Jake Cronenworth and Nathan Lukes. (Andrew Velazquez was on that lineup as well)

The takeaway was that Columbus was simply a better team. Better pitching—although the Bulls' Aaron Slegers did a fine job for 3 innings, he got hammered for the next two. Better hitting—the Clippers hit a ton of home runs over the three games, 3 last night and a bunch at the two games in Columbus. If not better defense, then pretty darn good.

The Bulls left 14 baserunners on base, but that's been a feature for much of the year.

Now, let's not forget that this is a team that got into the playoffs for us, the fans, and did it under very difficult circumstances.

And they provided us with a ton of fun over the year.

I'll do my usual charts in a couple of days. And I'll miss being at the DBAP. Just wish I were going tonight.

Enjoy the winter!