"Hey babe, I think this needs a little more cooking,"
Strawberry seemed preoccupied in her mind about something.
"Never mind, I'll take care of it,"
"What's that baby?" she cried.
Yet so was I.
"Nothing darling,"
I put the chicken back onto the grill and closed the top. I slithered my way out back to be greeted by the chickens that run around Ybor and lit a cigarette. The summer sky looked amazing and I sat down in the chair, slumped back and became introverted.
If there's one thing I've learned from the Rays since The Post-Maddon Era, it would be never to fully invest into them the second half. Let's take a peek...in 2015 at The All-Star Break they were one game over .500 then fell off the second half. They held first place for quite sometime until falling off the second half. A lot of this can be pointed to Archer's success that first half that year. Let's not even touch 2016. What a nightmare of a season. Dating back to 2017 at the All-Star Break they were a handful of games over .500 after taking 3-4 from The Boston Red Sox prior to the break...then fell off the second half. The offense dried up, that bullpen surely went to waste and they disbanded the whole group after that season. Fast forwarding to the present...
It's been a pretty insane first half. Who would have thought coming off that awful start after an amazing Opening Day comeback win, all of the trades of Denard Span and Alex Colome, call ups of Willy Adames and Jake Bauers that this team would finish the first half with a winning record? Seems ludicrous right?
I looked to the sky and exhale...
I was a little hurt when they traded Denard Span because it seemed the guy really enjoyed playing here for the short stint and was a really nice lead off hitter but let's be real, he was never part of the future rolling forward. The call up of Jake Bauers was inevitable as Brad Miller's play time was diminishing and his lack of defense just continued to hurt. Wilson Ramos has been nothing short but sheer greatness. The Buffalo is having another career year and it will interesting to see how his career plays out with The Rays. Losing him to the DL is a bummer but this could keep him here longer and perhaps the Rays actually make a run? One cannot imagine the front office to be active the deadline as The Red Sox and Yankees are run away trains. Seems better they just run out there with what he have, have the kids get more play time, nurture their skills and trade off Eovaldi and Hech to clubs in dire need of a premier shortstop and solid 2/3 starter. Perhaps Eovaldi was tilting his pitches in Minnesota to stay a Ray? The bullpen use has been downright insane. The fact this team out-matches other teams on the regular and tends to piss them off only seems to solidify the fact the Rays have an interesting strategy with what little resources they have makes it interesting. It could be said that baseball is 90% pitching/defense but when you lack the resources to compete against bigger clubs, why not use an edge? Look at the shift baby...
Chris Archer has had a horrid half and one not really worth mentioning. As much as I love the dude, is this the decline of Archer? His third wipe out pitch has never come to fruition and with all of these arms in the system, the ability to only give you 4.0 IP, it makes you wonder what his future holds? It's funny, I see him very similar to how Odorizzi's 2017 season was last year. What a bummer The Rays lost Anthony Banda to TJ because he really is fun to watch! Diego Castillo has been absolutely incredible to watch! in eighteen games the guy owns a 2.57 ERA. Jose Alvarado has been struggling a bit and his inability to command the zone has been frustrating at moments. Really love what we're seeing from Ryan Yarbrough, Wilmer Font, Yonny Chirinos, Ryne Stanek, Hunter Wood, and Sergio Romo. Adam Kolarek scares me. Johnny Venters has been really fun to watch too. Feel good brotha. Is it me or is Matt Duffy slightly better at 3B than Evan Longoria? Nice to see him out there everyday and making solid plays. D-Rob has been a Gold Glover caliber player along with finding his stroke. It's nice to see this team manufacturing runs as opposed to hitting one home run after another. Cron loves striking out but damn homeboy has some pop. Carlos Gomez is entertaining. Joey Wendle has been a sleeper on this team. Amazing when a part time dude gets full time play what happens with them. LoFo anyone? Kiermaier seems to be taking a different AB approach and Mallex owns my heart (cannot say anything less of him). Blake Snell has finally solidified himself as the staff ace. There is no question in this. He was snubbed at first for not being an All-Star but that changed. What's different this year about Blake is his ability to use all four of his pitches and command that fastball better. He reminds me slightly of Matty Moore. His effective wildness makes it interesting. Some of the swing and miss he gets on his pitches, it makes you wonder what the batters see out of his hand?
I was wrong about Kevin Cash too, the guy really is a solid manager. He earned my heart yesterday when yelling at Escobar for that pitch in. This second half will probably consist of more call ups and demotions. Could we see Kean Wong, Ian Gibaut, Colin Poche and Justin Williams sooner rather than later? The fact Willy Adames was sent down makes a lot of sense. The kid is a shortstop and with Hech here, he will get very little play time. Might as well let him get more reps in Durham and keep working at shortstop there. The future looks brighter and brighter...
"The fucking chicken is burning!" she yells.
"Er,"
I opened the top and found a charred chicken (a quarter pound of it to be precise).
"Let's go to Church's Chicken,"
So we did.
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