Short in Extras

I really dislike Tropicana Field.  It was built on a coal gasification plant site, and though St. Petersburg spent a lot of money to remove the toxic chemicals, I think somehow the toxicity remains.  A toxicity of spirit. It seems more like a airport hanger than a place were baseball should be played.  I don't understand how the stadiums rules are as such that it can turn a routine fly out into a homer, especially one like the BJ Upton homer witnessed in the first game. It had plenty of height, but it had none of the distance required for a homer. If anything, it should just be a ground rule double if it hits any of those rings. The homer did give us the gift of this Colby Rasmus interview.

The Rays are a fun team, with a lot of young talent and a neat manager (who does fun things like put Carlos Pena in the leadoff spot. Why? Cause he's Joe Maddon, that's why.) Bottom line, when a team is this exciting, they deserve a better place to play. A place that doesn't feature a "Mountain Dew Extreme Zone."  I also hate it because the Jays show up there to get their asses kicked.

Watching Kyle Drabek pitch the opener, I'm still not quite sure how that game was won. I can see how the Jays won that game, given that the Jays had the timely hits and the Rays caught whatever sickness the Jays had last week, where the infield completely loses the ability to make routine plays. I still can't quite believe Drabek picked up the win, given how messy he was. There was also full on tomato time in the face department.

The next two games were disappointing. I didn't watch any of the Romero start and I haven't even watched any of the highlights. I will say that I am impressed that the Jays tied it after being down.


I'm so pleased Lawrie has screwed up in the age of Twitter, so we can all sit around and pick at it. He might not be a rookie in the official sense, but that's what Lawrie is. He's going to learn. It might be ugly sometimes, but he's going to learn.

Maybe I'm used to dramatic people, but I didn't even think the original incident with Miller was that over the top. Lawrie shouldn't throw stuff, but the whole incident lasted about 20 seconds.  Perhaps we should see the fact that Lawrie didn't throw anything when he approached the ump this time as a step in the right direction.  The actual call was a little confusing at first, but seeing the replay repeatedly, it was  definitely within the umpire's discretion to assume Lawrie was headed to third.  The bigger problem to me is what Lawrie said happened afterward.

Umpires shouldn't be evaluating baggage when they are making calls. If the umpire is asked for clarification, it shouldn't be hard to say,"You're out because you didn't touch second on the way back." No need to say, "Don't argue with me" because the previous statement settles it.

What's that, Bill Miller?

"When the player is under stress or the team is struggling, and something doesn't go their way, they're going to lash out. ... It's our job to make sure the players stay in the game."

Everyone should keep focus on the play that's happening, not what happened a week ago. But John Farrell is right, the onus is on the players to keep their nose to the grind stone, and not make umpire drama. That's likely what Mr. John was saying when he had a chat with Lawrie in the dugout.

As for Lawrie's all out style of play. I think it makes games entertaining, it fires his team up and I think we should enjoy the show while we can. The lethargy brought on by disappointed hopes and dreams will settle in eventually.

Barry Davis' interview with Encarnacion is finally airing Thursday. In this clip, Davis asks EE about being booed last season and even mentions "E5".

There better be some smiles in this interview, because in this clip, that is some full on "Sad Panda." Encarnacion did hit a 2 run homer today. El Jefe. El fuerte.