SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 2015 Vs. PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES RH Chris Archer Vs
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 2015 vs. PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES RH Chris Archer vs. RH Kevin Slowey First Pitch: 1:05 p.m. | Location: Charlotte Sports Park, Charlotte County, Fla. | TV: None | Radio: WDAE 620 AM Game No: 4 (1-1-1) | vs. AL: 1-1-0 | vs. NL: 0-0-1 | Home: 1-1-0 | Road: 0-0-1 Day 14 of Spring Training | 29 Days Until Opening Day—Monday, April 6 vs. BAL (3:10 p.m.) IRON MAN RETURNS—Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. will deliver the cer- for Charlotte County in 2014, according TODAY’S STARTING LINEUP emonial first pitch today…during the game, he will sign his latest book, Out to data supplied by the Charlotte Har- 39 Kevin Kiermaier (L) CF at Home, the fifth in his All-Stars kids series. bor Visitor and Convention Bureau…the 7 David DeJesus (L) LF Rays-Red Sox game last March 19 drew 13 Asdrubal Cabrera (S) 2B GIVING BACK TO EDUCATORS—This week, the week of spring break, is 7,852 fans, the largest crowd in the 22- 44 Rene Rivera (R) C Charlotte County Public Schools Employee Appreciation Week…the Rays year history of spring training baseball in 11 Logan Forsythe (R) 3B are offering the approximately 2,200 teachers and employees of the Char- Charlotte County. 65 Joey Butler (R) RF 68 Allan Dykstra (L) 1B lotte County Public School system free tickets to one of 3 spring training 83 Jake Elmore (R) SS games at Charlotte Sports Park: today, March 10 vs. PIT or March 12 vs. CLEAN SLATE—The Rays enter their 67 Luke Maile (R) DH TOR…Charlotte County Public School employees need only to present first season under Manager Kevin Cash, 22 Chris Archer RHP their employee identification badge at the Charlotte Sports Park box office and also with Matt Silverman at the head the day of the game to receive a free general admission ticket. of the Baseball Operations department… RAYS IN Silverman assumed his role of President, SPRING TRAINING PLAY BALL!—Today is the fourth of 31 scheduled Grapefruit League Baseball Operations on Oct 14, and he 2015 1-1-1 9,042 games, and third of 14 home games at Charlotte Sports Park…the Rays hired Cash as the fifth manager in Rays 2014 16-7-4 78,264 2013 15-17-2 90,935 also play 16 road games this spring and one home game at Tropicana Field history on Dec 5…they succeeded Joe 2012 10-16-6 87,916 (April 4 vs. DET)…this is the Rays 18th spring in the Grapefruit League and , whose Maddon Andrew Friedman 2011 15-14-2 95,859 and seventh calling Charlotte Sports Park home…the 2014 Rays recorded nine years together made them the lon- 2010 20-8-2 97,971 the best spring record in the majors at 16-7-4 (.696), their third Grapefruit gest-tenured manager/GM pairing in base- 2009 15-16-1 103,255 League title in a span of seven seasons ball…Cash is the youngest current manag- 2008 18-8-2 54,960 (also 2008, 2010)…since becoming the BEST RECORDS, MLB, er or head coach in the major four sports; 2007 10-19-2 79,044 Rays in 2008, the team has recorded at SPRING TRAINING, 2008-15 Celtics head coach Brad Stevens (38) is 2006 13-16-1 70,756 least 15 wins in six out of seven spring train- LA Angels 126-90 .583 the runner-up…on Opening Day, Cash (at 2005 13-16 61,261 ings…they never achieved this in 10 springs Kansas City 125-90 .581 37 years, 120 days) will be the youngest 2004 11-8 43,916 Detroit 125-93 .573 2003 8-19-3 51,324 as the Devil Rays…the Rays have compiled manager in MLB since ARI A.J. Hinch, Tampa Bay 110-87 .558 2002 10-16-1 49,043 a 110-87 (.558) spring record during this who debuted on May 8, 2009 (34y, 358d). St. Louis 110-90 .550 2001 12-15-1 57,081 span, 4th best in the majors (see chart). 2000 14-17 67,089 COBB GETS OPENING DAY NOD—On 1999 14-14-1 59,230 ROLL CALL—The Rays have invited 64 players to major league camp, af- Wednesday, Manager Kevin Cash an- 1998 12-18 66,781 ter the signing of non-roster invite RH Jim Miller this week…all except RH nounced that RH Alex Cobb will start Total 227-245-29 1,224,087 Alex Colome (visa issues) have reported…this group includes 32 pitchers, Opening Day (April 6 vs. BAL), and will be 7 catchers (including C/DH John Jaso), 15 infielders and 10 outfielders. followed in the rotation by RH Chris Archer, LH Drew Smyly and RH Jake Ê RH Grant Balfour returned to Australia to be with his father, David Odorizzi…this will mark the 13th straight season the Rays Opening Day Balfour, who is battling pancreatic cancer. starter has been age 30 or younger…the only Opening Day starter over age Ê Major league camp includes players coming from six different coun- 30 in Rays history was 31-year-old Tanyon Sturtze in 2002. tries—the U.S., Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Australia, Colombia Ê The Rays have 11 starting pitchers on their 40-man roster, and Cobb and South Korea—as well as Puerto Rico and Hawaii. is the eldest at 27 years, 5 months…he’s followed in age by RH Na- than Karns (27y, 3m), RH Chris Archer (26), RH Alex Colome (26), RAYS vs. PHILLIES—Today is the first of four games between the Rays LH Drew Smyly (25), LH Matt Moore (25), RH Matt Andriese (25), and Phillies, and the only contest at Charlotte Sports Park…the Rays visit LH Grayson Garvin (25), RH Jake Odorizzi (24), RH Burch Smith Clearwater on March 13, March 17 and April 2…last spring the Rays won (24) and LH Enny Romero (24). their only bout with the Phillies, 6-1, at home on March 3…the Rays did not make any trips to Bright House Field in 2014. NAMETAGS NEEDED—Eleven players on the 40-man roster were not in Ê The clubs will meet July 20-22 at Citizens Bank Park, their first meet- the organization when the Rays opened spring training camp last year on ing since June 23-24, 2012, when the Rays won 2 of 3 games in Feb 15, and eight have joined the organization since the end of the 2014 Philly—including a doubleheader sweep on June 24…the Rays are regular season…32 of the 40 players on the current roster made their Rays 14-7 (.667) all-time against the Phillies in the regular season, tied for debut in 2012 or later. their best mark against any opponent (6-3 vs. Cubs, 6-3 vs. Brew- Ê New Faces on the 40-man Roster (8) ers)…they are 6-3 at Tropicana Field and 8-4 in Philadelphia. Signed as Free Agent (2): INF Asdrubal Cabrera, RH Ernesto Frieri Acquired in Trades (6): RH Jose Dominguez, C/DH John Jaso, RH YESTERDAY—The Rays played 10 innings to a 1-1 tie with the Pirates in Kevin Jepsen, C Rene Rivera, RH Burch Smith, OF Steven Souza Jr. Bradenton…both teams scored in the 8th inning—the Rays on a homer by Ê Key Losses (10) LF Corey Brown and the Pirates on a throwing error on a pickoff attempt by Released (1): C Jose Molina. C Justin O’Conner…LF Desmond Jennings went 2-for-3…in his spring Traded (9): SS Yunel Escobar, C Ryan Hanigan, RH Jeremy Hellick- debut, starter RH Alex Cobb went 2 innings (1-H, 2-SO) and threw 17 of 23 son, OF Matt Joyce, OF Wil Myers, RH Joel Peralta, LH Cesar Ra- pitches for strikes…LH Everett Teaford and LH Grayson Garvin followed mos, INF/OF Sean Rodriguez, INF/OF Ben Zobrist. with 2 scoreless frames each. HOT STOVE THURSDAY—Hitting coach Derek Shelton will be one of two OUTLAW IN CENTER—In 2014, OF Kevin Kiermaier was one of three guests on this week’s edition of the Hot Stove radio show, airing on WDAE finalists for the Rawlings AL Gold Glove Award for right field, alongside LAA 620 AM from 7 to 8 p.m. on Thursday live from Hooters (1360 Tamiami Kole Calhoun and winner BAL Nick Markakis…among all major leaguers, Trail, Port Charlotte, FL 33948)…hosts Dave Wills and Andy Freed will be he was one of three rookies chosen as a Gold Glove finalist along with out- joined by Neil Solondz. fielders CINBilly Hamilton and BOS Jackie Bradley Jr. Ê Kiermaier collected 10 HR and 8 3B in his rookie campaign, num- RAYS ON THE RADIO—Today is the second of 9 games this spring airing bers reached by only one other Rays rookie: Rocco Baldelli (11-HR, on the Rays Radio Network…10 additional games are airing on MLB.com… 8-3B) in 2003…besides those two, the only other AL rookie to reach broadcasters Andy Freed and Dave Wills are entering their 11th season those marks was LAA Mike Trout (30-HR, 8-3B) in 2012. together in the Rays booth…among all 30 major league broadcast teams, only three have a longer tenured radio broadcast duo: DON’T RUN ON RENE—In 2014 with the Padres, C Rene Rivera led all Ê Tigers—Dan Dickerson & Jim Price entering 13th season together major league catchers with 29 runners caught stealing and ranked 4th with Ê Orioles—Joe Angel & Fred Manfra entering 12th season together a 33.3 pct.