Baseball Labels
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March 31 may have been the very last day on which the Seattle Mariners could accept a $5 or $10 garage sale offer on the pink flamingo that was Erasmo Ramirez. The Rays threw us back a bucket of paint and airsoft parts that was itself nearly a code violation, that being Mike Montgomery. The Shout Box pointed out Erasmo's brilliant success with the Rays:
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| ROLE | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | HR | PITCHES THROWN |
| Relief, to May 11 | (Did lousy) | |||||||
| NYY 1, Rays 6 (entered rotation) | 5.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | Get this: 68 pitches |
| BRAVES 3, Rays 5 | 5.0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 80 pitches (not 100) |
| So he lost one, Oak 7-2 | 6.0 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 95 |
| ORIOLES NIL, Rays 2 | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 84 ?! WHY? |
| M's 1, Rays 2 (June 4) | 5.1 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 | A piddling 72 pitches |
| ANGELS 2, Rays 4 | 5.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 78, yet again |
| NATS 1, Rays 6 | 6.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 103. Somebody call the meat wagon |
| CLE 1 Rays 4 | 3.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | Dunno why he was pulled in the 4th |
| wow, lost his 2nd game, Felix style | 5.2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 84 |
| YANKS 1, Rays 8 second time round | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 99 |
| ASTROS 1, RAYS 3 | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 77 |
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So the Rays gave him six weeks in the bullpen to wash the Mariner off his body, and then they implemented their vision. A short little right hand Scott Bankhead who could throw 80-90 truly precise pitches, provided that you were't screaming at him to be more aggressive with the fastball.
He's throwing billions of changeups (27%) and lots of sliders, and being careful to keep batters from extending their arms. To date, the Rays have 8 lockdown starts in 10 attempts. This from a short, stubby little righty they picked out of a junk-sale bin one hour before closing.
In one of the snaps below, behold the easy stride, the early prep before dart-throw, and the general air of effort / lack thereof.
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The M's, and in fact all 30 major league organizations are very gracious when they do claim, and turn around, a Mike Montgomery. "It's just one of those things," they'll tell you, and they'll tell it to you every time. "We tried this or that with him, and it just happened to click." This places every bit of responsibility on the head case that is the player in uniform, and none of it on the people who are supposed to be coaching him. Hey, sudden question occurred. What does it mean to coach somebody, anyhow? I've never looked it up. I bet it involves taking people from point A to point B, though.
"Sometimes, guys take a while to jell," they shrug. Next question.
Yes, they take a while to jell. They take 8 years to not jell, and then they go to another org (like Gil Meche or Carlos Guillen or Erasmo Ramirez or Matt Thornton or yada yada yada) and then they take a couple of weeks to jell.
It's part of the human condition. We want to study our wins and gloss past our mistakes. We enjoy talking AT each other. We get better when we talk WITH each other.
Enjoy,
Jeff