Tampa Bay Rays | Larry Brown Sports

Super Sam Fuld Super Hero Cape Replaces Manny Ramirez Bobblehead Day

April 13, 2011 By Steve DelVecchio Leave a Comment

The way Manny Ramirez left the game of baseball is a disgrace. How someone could be stupid enough to fail a drug test twice — especially when it’s well-known that the league has cracked down on testing — is beyond me. Then again, we’re talking about Manny Ramirez. Manny retired from baseball as a cheat and a quitter, but that’s not the real tragedy.

The most devastating aspect of Ramirez’s abrupt departure from the Rays is that he took Manny Ramirez bobblehead night away from the fans in Tampa. Naturally, the team has to give something away on a scheduled giveaway night, so they made a move to the bullpen. The image to the right is what the Rays will be giving away on May 29 — a Super Sam Fuld Super Hero Cape. Wow.

Fuld looks like he could have a good year with the Rays. He’s off to a hot start, batting .313, and is exciting to watch on the base paths with six steals already. That being said, he’s 29 years old so I doubt he’s the next Ted Williams. In fact, even if it were Ted Williams super hero cape giveaway night the idea would still be lame.

I hope there aren’t any fans out there who bought a ticket for May 29 solely to get their hands on a Manny bobblehead. If so, they’ll likely demand their money back when they catch wind of the replacement.

Filed Under: Baseball, Swag Tagged With: Sam Fuld, Tampa Bay Rays

Tampa Bay Rays New Body Suit Mascot Sunny Just an April Fool’s Joke

April 1, 2011 By Larry Brown Leave a Comment

The Tampa Bay Rays played an April Fool’s joke on their fans for the season opener at the Trop on Friday, announcing that mascot Raymond had retired. The Rays then announced that a new mascot named “Sunny” was taking over, and they let loose the body-suited man who freaked out the fans:

No surprise for anyone whose April Fool’s radar was on high alert that this turned out to be a hoax. Body suit Sunny was funny for a night, but I think far too many people would have missed the antics of Raymond, which include fun stuff like this and this. However, no one can argue that Sunny didn’t do his job of getting the fans going:

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Filed Under: Baseball Tagged With: Mascots, Rays Mascot, Tampa Bay Rays

Tampa Bay Rays 2011 MLB Preview: Back to Square One

March 7, 2011 By Derrick Holdridge 1 Comment

Previewing the 2011 MLB season, we’ve already named the Phillies, Yankees, and Red Sox the top World Series favorites. We’ve already looked at the NL Central and NL East and this week we will analyze the AL East teams not based in New York or Boston, starting with the Tampa Bay Rays; Tuesday: Toronto Blue Jays.

The Rebuilders: Tampa Bay Rays

Off-Season Moves: This off-season was one that dramatically changed the makeup of this team. The Rays lost left fielder Carl Crawford, first baseman Carlos Pena, and closer Rafael Soriano to free agency. Those three were “replaced” by outfielders Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez (both pictured at left), first baseman Casey Kotchman and rightie Kyle Farnsworth, none of whom represents anything other than a downgrade. The Rays also traded away shortstop Jason Bartlett and right-hander Matt Garza, each for a number of players who likely won’t factor much into this season.

Strengths: Despite losing Garza (15-10, 3.91), the rotation looks to be the strongest aspect of this year’s Rays. Leftie David Price (19-6, 2.72, pictured below) is the staff ace and a bona fide superstar. Price will likely be followed by righties James Shields (13-15, 5.18), Jeff Niemann (12-8, 4.39), Wade Davis (12-10, 4.07) and Jeremy Hellickson (4-0, 3.47). That rotation doesn’t have a single player over the age of 30 and an average age of 25.6. Those five had a combined 3.96 ERA last season, which would have been good for 12th in the majors and first in the division.

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Filed Under: Baseball Tagged With: 2011 MLB Preview, Tampa Bay Rays

Rays Trade Matt Garza to Cubs

January 7, 2011 By Steve DelVecchio Leave a Comment

As expected, the fire sale continued on Friday for the Tampa Bay Rays. In an offseason where the Red Sox have made enormous strides and the Yankees are essentially the same team that won a championship two seasons ago, Tampa Bay has all but given up on contending in the AL East. The Rays fell further behind for the immediate future on Friday when they agreed to trade ace Matt Garza to the Chicago Cubs for a package of minor league prospects. If you recall, Garza tossed a no-hitter back in July and finished the 2010 season 15-10 with a 3.91 ERA.

Tampa Bay has already let Carl Crawford and Carlos Pena walk and closer Rafael Soriano won’t be returning either. They traded shortstop Jason Barlett — who had become a fan favorite amongst the handful of loyal Rays fans — to the Padres. Evan Longoria and B.J. Upton remain with the team, but we can only wonder how long it will be before the Rays start fielding trade offers for the two young studs.

The bottom line is the Rays have become a franchise that needs to either change locations or accept their position as perennial bottom-feeders in the AL East. Sure, a three-year span where their prospects have an impact and are still under team control could arise again, but unless they find a way to fill the stands they’ll never be able to sustain a talented roster. Pending a few more trades before the season begins, Tampa Bay will likely revert to the form we grew used to before 2008 came along.

Filed Under: Baseball Tagged With: Chicago Cubs, Matt Garza, Tampa Bay Rays

Tampa Bay Rays’ Reid Brignac Does the Dougie (Video)

September 29, 2010 By Steve DelVecchio Leave a Comment

The Tampa Bay Rays clinched a postseason berth last night and decided to do what any athlete would do when they’re happy about something — the “Dougie Dance.” Braylon Edwards Dougied on Darius Butler after he caught a touchdown pass against the Patriots and did it again on Sunday night against the Dolphins. So what if he was benched for the first quarter of the game because he was arrested for a DUI? The Dougie can’t be controlled.

To this point, I’ve never been truly uncomfortable watching someone do the Dougie. That just changed. Check out the Reid Brignac Dougie video, courtesy of The Big Lead via TampaBay.com:

Filed Under: Everything Else, YouTubeage Tagged With: dougie dance, Reid Brignac, Tampa Bay Rays

MLB Playoff Preview: American League

September 22, 2010 By Alan Hull Leave a Comment

The National League playoff picture has yet to become clear, with only the Cincinnati Reds and the Philadelphia Phillies looking comfortably ahead of their division rivals. As such, we’ll take a look at the strengths and weaknesses of the American League powerhouse teams where the playoff picture is more clear.

The truth is, predicting who will win the World Series, even when picking from eight teams, is a crap shoot at best. The five and seven game series can easily go either way and the better teams, as proven by the 162-game schedule, rarely have any significant advantages over such a short span.

A few points of particular interest, when looking at playoff contenders, are their strengths or weaknesses in the secret sauce categories. During the eight team, Wild Card-era of baseball, teams that have had the most success have three things in common: strikeout pitchers, good team defense and a good closer (all of these are adjusted for ballpark and competition and all that junk).

Each win in the playoffs is that much more valuable, so closers often get extended for two and even three innings while good defenses keep games close. Good offensive teams do not have a significant edge in the playoffs because they face more power pitching and rarely get to see number four or five starters.

So how do the American League teams stack up? Let’s find out:

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Filed Under: Baseball Tagged With: Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers

Tampa Bay Rays Sport Funky Golf Outfits

September 21, 2010 By Larry Brown Leave a Comment

Aside from their stellar play on the field, the Tampa Bay Rays have become known for their strange clothing choices. Inspired by manager Joe Maddon, the team has themed road trips.

They’ve had a hockey road trip where they all wore hockey jerseys, they did a Western road trip with cowboy outfits, and my personal favorite was the snazzy BRayzers they debuted.

Well the Rays just finished up a six-game home stretch on Sunday and flew out for a huge series with the Yankees in New York. You figure the Rays would be all business and completely serious heading into the monstrous series, but the team actually was living lighter with a Lacoste-type attitude.

As I found out from Big League Stew via SI Hot Clicks, the boys from Tampa decided to sport golfing/country club outfits. I guess it’s just Halloween every month for Tampa Bay. Too bad the lax attitude didn’t help them on Monday night.

Filed Under: Baseball Tagged With: Tampa Bay Rays