Ricky Nolasco vs. Edwin Jackson

There's no way the Marlins can give their father fans another loss, right? Not on Father's Day!

Today's matchup is an interesting one. The Fish have had success against Edwin Jackson in the past, but there's a quick lesson to be learned; all previous impressions of the Rays go out the window. Jackson has had a productive year, mixing in his dominant stuff with more poise and maturity. He also seems to perform best at home and in day games (Fish Stripes tells us)...yikes.

Fortunately, the sparkling-of-late Ricky Nolasco will combat him. Nolasco needs to be a streak-stopper here. Win today and the series is salvaged, at least to some degree. Get swept and the Marlins are in a whirl of trouble.

Look for Dan Uggla, who recently became a father for the second time, to pull out of his slump today. Just a gut instinct.

Later Hammel

In case any one out there has actually listened to my podcast then what I'm about to write won't come as much of a surprise, but for those of you with a life I'll try to make this short and sweet. I've had a bit of a conspiracy theory involving the Rays that dates back to the end of spring training, and basically it goes as follows.

The only real problem about having so much raw, untapped talent is that it's hard to single out who's in and who's out as quickly as you would want. And this formula becomes even more difficult when these fringe players are out of options, and just happen to be good enough that you can't cut them out right. So what do you do? Well if you're the Rays you send down the players with options even if they are the best player (Longoria). And you put a guaranteed starter on the DL even if he's not that hurt (Kazmir). All of this was done just to try to get a few extra weeks to evaluate the talent that's left.

Now for the last few weeks with the team playing quite well management has been almost hoping for a bad outing just to help them make there minds up. And now that Kazmir is coming back time is running out fast. Well last night Jason Hammel gave them the excuse they needed. After giving up three runs and putting a lot of base runners on, Maddon had no choice but to pull him after only going 2 2/3 innings. Now we will go over the reasons why Hammel has drawn the unlucky chamber in this game of Rays Roulette. Kaz, Sheilds, and Garza are absolute locks which leads only two starting positions and with success of Sonny and the hard on they have for Jackson the chances of the starting five changing is slim to nill.

And with the bullpen playing out of their minds the only changes that will be made is dropping Birkins for Reyes, but even Birkins is playing well, unless of course they release Reyes and keep Hammel but I just don't see that happening. And if you look to the bench Haynes is the one they might move but then you have to take in to consideration what to do when Aybar and Zobrist are healthy. Now all of this is of course is speculation but no matter how you look at it Hammel's days are numbered, and it's not because he can't cut, but because he's on a team with too much talent.

RAYS FORECAST, NOT TOO SONNY

Last night Andy Sonnanstine was absolutely awful giving up six runs in two and a third innings. Now when it comes to Sonny's popularity fans are pretty much split down the middle. Those who like hard throwing, flashy guys seem to dislike him where control/Maddux fans are more on the band wagon. Myself, I would lean more toward the latter.

Now usually one bad outing does not warrant a trip to the gallows, but if I was Andy I would be plenty worried, and here's why. One of the only reasons Jackson and Hammel (especially Hammel) both broke with the team after spring training was that they were both fresh out of options. As I've mentioned in previous articles Hammel is pitching to save his job and if there is one thing that helps his cause it is someone else faltering, and after two decent starts he is definitely on the right path. Jackson wasn't exactly on the hot seat and after his fast start this year most doubts about him have been erased, at least for now.

Now Jeff Neimann still has an option left but if he can put together a string of quality starts like he had on Sunday, Maddon would be crazy to send him back down. And to make matters worst for Andy within the next two weeks both Kazmir and Garza will be coming off the DL which means the team will have to make room for them both. Now I don't believe he is numero uno on the chopping block but if he does anything close to this last performance on his next start you might here the sharpening of the career clever. Now there is the possibly of moving him to the pen and dropping someone like Reyes who as of now is clearly the weakest link out there.

Now I know the season is early and this rant comes off as a bit pessimistic, but if the Rays are seriously committed to winning, they can not use the regular as an extended spring training session, and they must start putting the best product they have out on the field on a regular basis. As for me, I'm hopping there are Sonny'er days ahead.

For E Jax, It's About Time.

How do you finish high school with a sub 5 ERA, have more control issues than Mitch Vaughn, and still become a high draft prick, easy, just throw consistently in the mid 90's. For the past three seasons Edwin Jackson has been trying to prove to the world and himself that he can be the big league pitcher that GM's have been drooling over since the first time he took the mound. Yet, this year more then ever had to be the season to put up or shut up. Since he was first claimed by the Dodger's all you kept hearing about was this kids potential, how, if he could just hit his spots the sky was the limit. Well I don't know if it's experience, the fact that the Rays are starting anew, or maybe it is because he is out of options. Regardless of the reason E-Jax has come out of his corner swinging hard to start the season. Granted it has only been two starts but for the first time we are seeing a glimpse of what Rays fans every where were dying to see, the flame throwing bad ass that this organization desperately needs. In his first two games Jackson has gone 14 innings, giving up only seven hits, surrendered only one run. It's great to see him get off to such a great start and hopefully this is the confidence boost Edwin needs to help carry this team out of the cellar.

Rays v. Mariners, series recap

The Tampa Bay Rays managed to salvage game 3 of their series with the Mariners, winning it 7-0. An outstanding performance by the 24 year old Edwin Jackson. He allowed just 2 hits through 8 innings of work.

Couple of side-notes and thoughts... the game started today at 12:40 p.m. eastern time. Thats a 9:40 a.m. local time start for the folks from Seattle. Who schedules these things? It's hard not to think that this might have had somethng to do with the M's struggling so mightily on offense today, when they scored 6 and 7 runs in the first 2 games.

Also, according to the Tampa Tribune, Rays outfielder Cliff Floyd (and former Marlin hero) is scheduled to have surgery to repair a knee injury suffered during a game in New York. He is scheduled to miss 4-6 weeks.

Home Opener for the team formerly known as the Devil Rays

For the first time in their young history the Tampa Bay Rays have sold out their home opener before the day of the game. Tonight they will face the Seattle Mariners in what is a new beginning of sorts.

If you don't follow the Rays yet, you still have time to jump on the newly formed bandwagon. They are young, have new unis, and are exciting to watch. For the last couple of years the Rays have been able to hit, but their pitching has always fallen off. This year, I think they are a bit deeper.

Let's take a more in depth look at their staff:

1. Scott Kazmir - For the last couple of years Kazmir has developed into one of the premier pitchers in the game. He throws hard and has great breaking stuff as well. Last year he led the league is strikeouts and is only 24! The question has and always will be, can he stay healthy?
   
2. James Shields - This guy may be the best pitcher you have never heard of. This righty is only 26 years old and is only playing in his second full year in the majors. He is nasty on the mound and is currently anchoring the staff. If you get a chance this year watch him play because he is going to be around for a while.
   
3. Matt Garza - The Rays acquired him in the trade for Delmon Young in the offseason and this was a very good move. He has a great late moving sinker, a nice tight slider, and overall has four above average pitches. Like the rest of the staff he is only 24 years old.
   
4. Andy Sonnanstine/Edwin Jackson/Josh Hammel - The rest of the staff is occupied by these young arms. Sonnanstine is only 25, Jackson is 24, and Hammel is 25. Jackson is the biggest name of these three, as there has been much hype around him for a while. He has great stuff when he is on, but the guy is as erratic as it gets. If he could ever get his act together and be consistent this staff would be good for a long time.