Daily Archives: April 9, 2010

Through three innings, David Price was so dominant that it looked to me like he was a real threat for a no-hitter. He painted the corners with 97 mph fastballs and induced swings so late that you could hear the thud of the catcher’s mitt before you saw the barrel of the bat cross the plate.

(AP PHOTO/MIKE CARLSON)

He eventually lost a few mph on the heater as the game progressed. Alex Rodriguez and Nick Swisher got good wood on a couple of fastballs over the middle of the plate in the third and staked the Yankees a very, very brief 2-0 lead. Price quickly regrouped. He mixed in some of his other pitches and cruised into the eighth before losing the script. The Rays bullpen got the production back on track for an easy 9-3 victory.

For the first three innings, Javier Vazquez kept up his end of a potential pitching duel. He complimented an ordinary, but well-placed 89 mph fastball with impressive breaking balls and a really good looking change-up. While he clearly didn’t have the stuff of his counterpart, he looked like he would be effective for several innings. He wasn’t.

With a freshly minted lead, Vazquez walked Ben Zobrist on four pitches to lead off the bottom of the fourth. With one out and the count even at 1-1, Javy went to the gopher ball, 89 mph, perfectly located up and out over the plate… for Carlos Pena to poop on. Vazquez didn’t have much else to offer that inning, and with Marcus Thames playing left field like he was handling nuclear waste, the Rays made Javy’s assortment of previously impressive pitches look like just so much slop. Hit after hit after hit made it 5-2.

Javy’s night wasn’t done there. Somehow he was still in there in the sixth to ensure Willy Aybar’s first start of the 2010 season be a memorable one. All in all Vazquez allowed eight earned runs in five and 2/3 innings. He allowed 11 baserunners in the process of recording 17 outs. It was worse than any start in the entire 2009 season with the Braves.

When Vazquez came aboard in the winter, I anticipated a divide within the fan base. Those who put great value in advanced metrics loved the move and harbored little to no grudge for 2004. Others would just not accept the guy who etched in stone the most embarrassing choke in team sport history. I tried to come down with the smarties, but tonight, as Vazquez evaporated in the 4th, I just found myself unable to do it. I really expect nothing from this guy this year.

Anyway, as much fun as it would be to pile on Javy’s dud, the real story was Price. Cliff was all over it in the pre-game post; Wright is the key to the Rays’ season. He looks like he is ready to take a huge step forward this year. He may have dropped some weight – it was especially evident in his face. His large, sad eyes, peer out from sunken sockets under the shadow of the bill of his cap. His milk saucer ears, and long, gaunt, face with big rubber-ish features reminded me of Brad Daugherty from his UNC days.

He had his best stuff for three innings, and his b-grade issue was excellent until the eighth. He looks to be a scary opponent for a long time.

The story of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays over the last three years has been all about run prevention. In 2007, the last of their wilderness years, they allowed more runs than any team in baseball (944, 5.83 per game) and lost 96 games. That offseason they traded defensively challenged right-fielder Delmon Young for right-hander Matt Garza and slick fielding shortstop Jason Bartlett, and moved Akinori Iwamura to second base to make room for rookie Evan Longoria. Those moves, along with the mid-season acquisition of strong defensive right fielder Gabe Ross, upgraded their defense from the worst in baseball in 2007 (according to defensive efficiency) to the best in 2008, and filled a big hole in their rotation in the process. The result was that in 2008 the newly re-named Rays allowed the third fewest runs in baseball (671, 4.14 per game) and won 97 games and the American League pennant. Last year, some correction set in as the Rays fell just below the major league average by allowing 754 runs (one more than the Yankees) or 4.65 per game and finished third in the division with 84 wins.

The good news for the Rays is that, while all that was going on, their offense has developed into one of the most potent in baseball, ranking sixth in the majors with 4.96 runs scored per game last year, and there are reasons to expect a better performance from their starting rotation this year.

In 2009, Scott Kazmir and Andy Sonnanstine combined to make 38 starts for the Rays in which they posted a cumulative 6.32 ERA. This year, Kazmir is an LA Angel (and back on the DL) and Sonnanstine is being limited to long relief. Their places in the rotation have been taken by David Price, the top overall pick in the 2007 amateur draft, and Wade Davis, a third-round pick from 2004 who pitched well in a September call-up last year. I’m among those who believe that Price and Davis, both of whom are 24 this season, could be the top two arms in the Tampa rotation before long.

Price made 23 starts for the big club last year, and though he had his struggles, seven of his last 12 starts were quality, including two against the Yankees, and he went 7-3 with a 3.58 ERA over those dozen outings. There’s no doubting Price’s wicked left-handed stuff, which mixes mid-to-high 90s fastballs with sweeping curves some 20 miles per hour slower and changups and sliders, the latter being his best pitch, that split the difference.

Adding Price and Davis to Garza (26), James Shields (28), and 6-foot-9 sophomore Jeff Niemann (27) gives the Rays a strong, five-deep rotation that has the potential to compete with those of the Yankees and Red Sox despite the relative lack of star power. At the same time, Price and Davis, and to a lesser degree Niemann’s ability to follow up his strong rookie showing, are the keys to the Rays’ 2010 season.

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Zorah on the Terrace, By Henri Matisse (1912)

Since we’s in Morocco and all…

Amanda Hesser explores some recipes for a spicy organge salad, Moroccan style. Mmmm.

Malcolm McLaren, most famous for bringing us the Sex Pistols, died yesterday. He was 64.

McLaren also was the brains behind a seminial Hip Hop record in the early ’80s.

Dig the classic, Buffalo Gals:

Tonight brings the return of Javy Vazquez. Tyler Kepner has a feature on the Yankee pitcher today in the Times. I always liked rooting for Vazquez and don’t see why that should stop anytime soon.

Meanwhile, in case you hadn’t heard, umpire Joe West took some pointed shots at the Yankees and Red Sox and the operatic length of their games. Joe Girardi and Brian “Forensic Science” Cashman were mum on the topic, but Mariano Rivera was not:

“It’s incredible,” Rivera told The Post. “If he has places to go, let him do something else. What does he want us to do, swing at balls?”

…”He has a job to do. He should do his job,” Rivera said. “We don’t want to play four-hour games, but that’s what it takes. We respect and love the fans and do what we have to do, and that’s play our game.”