Tampa Bay Roundup: May 1st, 2004
Record: 9-13, .409, 4th AL East
Home Record: 6-5, .545
Road Record: 3-8, .273
1 Run Games Record: 2 Wins, 6 Losses
X-Innings Record: 0 Wins, 2 Losses
Record vs LHP: 1 Wins, 3 Losses
Record vs RHP: 8 Wins, 10 Losses
Payroll: $29,621,000 (28th)
Fan Interest: 7/100 (30th)
Batting AVG: .290 (7th)
Homeruns: 26 (T-17th)
Walks: 73 (22nd)
Stolen Bases: 35 (3rd)
Runs Scored: 122 (T-12th)
Pitching ERA: 5.38 (24th)
Opponents AVG: .281 (21st)
HRs Allowed: 22 (2nd)
Walks Allowed: 87 (T-19th)
Runs Allowed: 128 (23rd)
The Devil Rays ended the month of April on a down note, dropping their third straight, 5-4 to the Oakland A's. Similar to most other efforts during the first month of the season, Tampa's bat supplied plenty of offense, but the starters were the unfortunate victims of poor bullpen that was unable to keep runners from crossing home plate.
Carl Crawford and Rocco Baldelli have played above anyone's expectations, leading the club in most every offensive category.
Code:
Avg. HR RBIs SB OBP OPS
C Toby Hall .231 1 8 0 .364 .603
1B Tino Martinez .240 2 5 0 .349 .716
2B Damian Rolls .231 0 5 2 .322 .649
3B Geoff Blum .275 1 9 0 .344 .744
SS Julio Lugo .337 3 11 2 .367 .849
Avg. HR RBIs SB OBP OPS
RF Jose Cruz .274 4 15 3 .349 .883
CF Rocco Baldelli .354 4 17 17 .394 .925
LF Carl Crawford .352 2 15 14 .379 .917
DH Aubrey Huff .263 3 15 0 .372 .822
Avg. HR RBIs SB OBP OPS
BN Brook Fordyce .364 1 4 0 .364 1.091
BN Fred McGriff .412 1 3 0 .474 1.062
BN Greg Colbrunn .111 0 1 0 .238 .349
BN Rey Sanchez .222 0 2 0 .222 .444
BN Eduardo Perez .316 3 9 0 .381 1.013
ERA W L SV OAVG WHIP
SP Jeff Suppan 5.40 1 3 0 .313 1.60
SP Jeremi Gonzalez 5.28 3 1 0 .228 1.28
SP Victor Zambrano 6.98 1 2 0 .278 1.92
SP Mark Hendrickson 2.86 2 0 0 .283 1.24
SP Todd Ritchie 3.38 1 1 0 .232 1.06
ERA W L SV OAVG WHIP
MR Al Reyes 2.79 0 1 2 .194 0.93
MR Trever Miller 6.17 0 1 2 .244 1.37
MR Chad Gaudin 1.93 0 0 0 .316 2.25
MR Travis Harper 4.82 1 0 0 .296 1.50
MR Lance Carter 4.15 0 1 0 .265 1.38
CL Danys Baez 9.26 0 2 5 .327 2.06
GM Chuck LaMar on changes: “Let me first say, No season is over in April! We don’t expect our bullpen to continue this path. Eventually, they will figure this out back there and get themselves in order. If not, they’ll lose their jobs. I’m trying to give Lou the best club I can, and I know his frustrations are gonna get the better of him sooner rather than later, but we are committed to a philosophy here finally and we will see it through. If we can make moves, like adding guys like Suppan, that don’t change our course, we will. I don't want to be a seller in this market, I'd like for us to be buyers. We have enough young prospects in our system, we need guys that are ready now or are damn close. Unless I get blown away, I won't be having a selling off any of our core.”
Manager Lou Pinella on the pitching problems: “Obviously, I’m tired of running our starters our there knowing that no matter what they do, the bullpen is gonna screw us. I’ve talked with the front office and we are gonna look at new opportunities. Right now, Baez is out as closer. I can’t trust him to get guys out. Once he shows that he can do it again, we’ll give him chances. We still have a shot, if we right this ship now, of doing something special. Getting out of the basement was our realistic goal, but now, with a playing field very level, we think we can do that one better and be in contention. We've lost two games in which we've scored 7 runs, another with 9 and one with 12. That shouldn't happen if you expect to be taken serious.”
Pinella on hitting: "Well, when you hit .290 as a team, you expect to win, and right now, we ain't. Aubrey has come hot of late (last 5 games: .429, HR, 5 RBIs) as has [Geoff] Blum (.412, 2 RBIs), but for the season both are batting below .300; not want we wanted for them. Those guys are almost as important as Rocco and Carl are right now. We need them to make contact to drive in the clutch runs. Our on-base percentage in .351, best in our division and we have scored more runs than anyone but the Yankees in the East. We should be winning games! But no, most guys aren't getting the clutch hits we need."
April Prospect Highlight:
Name: Melvin E. Upton
Nickname: B.J.
Birthday: Aug. 21, 1984 (19)
Height/Weight: 6'3"/170
Position : Shortstop
Current Team: Orlando (AA)
Bats/Throws: R/R
Drafted: 2002. 1st round, 2nd overall.
"Of course, the pride of our system is B.J. Upton. As much as he could produce in the lineup, we won't rush him like he might ahve done in the past. In 22 games at Double-A Montgomery, he's shown progress, but not enough to get moved up to Durham just yet. We will keep an eye on his advancement at the plate, which is behind where he should be. People forget, this kid is only 19 and has years ahead of him in a Devil Rays uniform." - Cam Bonifay,
Director of Player Development and Scouting
"B.J. Upton has an abundance of talent, and he will develop into a very good shortstop in the near future. He has the talent to be one of the best baserunners in the league, a guy most managers will allow to steal at will. He should project nicely into a one-two spot in the lineup for this club, between Crawford and Baldelli in 2005." -
Rival A.L. East scout
B.J. Upton during 2004 Spring Training with Devil Rays.
2004 statistics with Orlando (AA)
Code:
G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K SB AVG OBP SLG OPS
22 90 27 4 0 1 6 12 3 19 7 .300 .323 .378 .700