Twins:

Denard Span CF

Ben Revere RF

Joe Mauer C

Josh Willingham DH

Justin Morneau 1B

Ryan Doumit LF

Alexi Casilla 2B

Brian Dozier SS

Jamey Carroll 3B

(Scott Diamond P)

 

Rays:

Jennings LF

Upton CF

Zobrist RF

Longoria DH

Keppinger 3B

Pena 1B

Roberts 2B

Rodriguez SS

Lobaton C

(Shields P)

Batting 10th and Catching Drew Butera

Dougout box seats for $15!!! I love rain

Is Doumit in LF? (You've got two catchers listed)

Hah, RotoWorld didn't get the lineups right... I'll see if I can't find another source.

Yep, Doumit is in left, Bollinger's tweet.

Good God. Just walk Jennings.

Damn, already trailing.

Pavano scheduled to pitch for Ft Myers today (3 innings) followed by Gibson (2-3 innings) rained out, with an offday Monday.....cannot catch a break. Dont think we'll see Carl before Sept.....more Blackburn

Morneau......finished, lol!!!

Huge glove save by Diamond!!!....Ken Dryden would be proud!

I'm not big on bunting but that was a pretty nice attempt by Revere.

Big Canadian started out 8-80 off lefties.....20-50 since with .500slgg

Since July 1 (before today) 32gms .....43/128 (.336BAve w/.523slgg) 5hr 21rbi

finishes strong.....can we get something good for him this offseason???

The Rays are a small market team yet always seem to have better pitching than the Twins.

 

Is this a matter of better scouting, better player development or something else?

The Rays are a small market team yet always seem to have better pitching than the Twins.

 

Is this a matter of better scouting, better player development or something else?

The Rays are a great organization and have done a fantastic job at almost every level.

 

But remember that their success is recent. They had a decade of picking in the top five every season. During that same period, the Twins rarely drafted higher than 15th. I'm not discounting the Rays' success but the real test will be their player development on the guys they draft when they had to pick 20th or later in the draft every June. Since Price was taken with the first overall pick in 2007, Tampa Bay has not had a drafted player contribute to their major league team. Not entirely unexpected but still something to consider.

The Rays are a small market team yet always seem to have better pitching than the Twins.

 

Is this a matter of better scouting, better player development or something else?

they've also focused on it...their regular lineup hasnt always been the greatest. Pieced the lineup together for the most part over their run....Crawford/Longo are/were ALL Stars, but other than that Madden has shown his brilliance by putting pieces together.

The Rays are a small market team yet always seem to have better pitching than the Twins.

 

Is this a matter of better scouting, better player development or something else?

Yes.

The Rays are a small market team yet always seem to have better pitching than the Twins.

 

Is this a matter of better scouting, better player development or something else?

they've also focused on it...their regular lineup hasnt always been the greatest. Pieced the lineup together for the most part over their run....Crawford/Longo are/were ALL Stars, but other than that Madden has shown his brilliance by putting pieces together.

 

But...but...managers make virtually no difference to the W-L record.../s(n)arc

The Rays are a small market team yet always seem to have better pitching than the Twins.

 

Is this a matter of better scouting, better player development or something else?

 

The Rays are a great organization and have done a fantastic job at almost every level.

 

But remember that their success is recent. They had a decade of picking in the top five every season. During that same period, the Twins rarely drafted higher than 15th. I'm not discounting the Rays' success but the real test will be their player development on the guys they draft when they had to pick 20th or later in the draft every June. Since Price was taken with the first overall pick in 2007, Tampa Bay has not had a drafted player contribute to their major league team. Not entirely unexpected but still something to consider.

 

I think it was the TV guys who mentioned coming into this series that the Rays take pride in developing their own and that they were on a streak of 234 consecutive games starting their own signed players.

Why did Span leave the game?

Sac fly anyone????

I love this site. Every question yields good answers. Thanks, guys.

Span out with shoulder injury.

Span out with shoulder injury.

Did it look serious?

I love this site. Every question yields good answers. Thanks, guys.

I was sarcastic in my response to your question, but it can't be emphasized enough how good the Rays are at what they do. They play in a horrible park in a horribly indifferent to baseball (finished last, or next to last, in attendance in 7 of the last 10 years) market while trying to compete in the best division in baseball- and have put together a pretty decent track record in the W-L department despite what they're up against. As I've said for years, raiding their scouting/player development departments for talent should be as much a priority as finding players.

Span out with shoulder injury.

 

Did it look serious?

 

No, it looked a little clumsy. How many watching the play immediately thought: "Span day-to-day for 10 days and then, Parmelee gets the call-up"?

I love this site. Every question yields good answers. Thanks, guys.

 

I was sarcastic in my response to your question, but it can't be emphasized enough how good the Rays are at what they do. They play in a horrible park in a horribly indifferent to baseball (finished last, or next to last, in attendance in 7 of the last 10 years) market while trying to compete in the best division in baseball- and have put together a pretty decent track record in the W-L department despite what they're up against. As I've said for years, raiding their scouting/player development departments for talent should be as much a priority as finding players.

 

Understood. And, jokin, I have learned a lot from your posts and am sympathetic with why you are sometimes sarcastic.

 

Also, I have been wondering the same thing. Why not try to hire some of their scouting and development guys? If there was ever a time to consider some new blood,this seems like it. I would think that for a fraction of the $3 million that was spent on Marquis, the Twins could bring in people with proven track records for teams that built through the draft and through player development.

 

New blood brings new ideas and insights. Also, the cost seems minimal compared to the benefit of home-growing a pitching staff that is similar that that of the Rays and the Athletics, who seem to be able to consistently grow starters who are above average. I would think that this would appeal to the Pohlads' desire to be economically efficient. Each home grown starter who pitches for 5 years in the majors would eliminate the need for a Marquis or a Pavano for 5 years.

I would really like to win this in the 10th. My dog needs a walk and my wife wants to go for a swim. And a loss will result in further baseball related depression. C'mon Alex.

Oh my stars...

Oh my stars...

That inning totally sucked.