Going into yesterdays game vs the Reds, Jason Hammel and Jeff Niemann seemed to still be battling for the 5th and final starting spot that will eventually be manned by David Price anyway.  Niemann got shelled in his last outing, and Hammel himself has had some ho-hum games his last few starts.  Yesterday though, Hammel pitched a real nice game in his last start of the spring. 
5.0 IP, 2 H, 0R, 0ER, 1BB, 4K 
I still personally feel that Niemann’s updside is worth giving him the 5th spot in the rotation and would wind up putting Hammel in the long relief/spot [...]

Well, the decision has finally been made about David Price starting the season with the Rays. Price was sent back to Triple A Durham tonight ending any speculation of him being the 5th starter for the start of the season.
“It’s just, I don’t know, I haven’t really thought about it a whole lot right now,” Price said. “Probably a couple of days, I’ll have some feelings about it, but right now it kinda stings a little bit.”
Personally, I could not imagine being sent  back to Triple A after knowing how much success I had while being in the playoffs. Price [...]

With Spring Training two weeks from being complete I wanted to reiterate how excited I am for this 2009 baseball season to begin.  The Rays made an obvious huge step last season in making it to the World Series, and I see no way in which were not in competition for the AL East title again this year.  
The main thing that has me so stoked for this year is how good I think our starting pitching can be.  With all of our starters and potential starters other than Andy Sonnanstine having pitched at least 2 games in the Spring, [...]

I would not want to be Joe Maddon at this point in Spring Training or would I? The Rays this Spring Training have proven how deep their pitching staff actually goes. There are 4 good pitchers that I believe are the front runners for the 5th pitcher in the starting rotation.
Jeff Neiman, David Price, Wade Davis and Carlos Hernandez have all shown great promise for the Rays as a possible 5th starter. Lets just take a  look on what has been going on this fine Spring season and you tell me what you like?
Neiman – 2 Wins, ERA 1.00, 5 [...]

Yesterday Troy Percival threw a solid 42 pitch bullpen and seems to be ready to start the year as he did the last one. Although his fastball wasn’t overpowering, it did stay consistent in the lower 90’s and his command was good.
Percy still has yet to face any batters this spring training so lets just hope when he does his command and consistency is up to par as stated.  He is to make his first outing this Thursday against the Phillies.
It would be nice if  Percival could have a  full healthy season and end up with over 30 saves but [...]

It wasn’t technically a perfect inning, but Rays reliever JP Howell pitched a 10 pitch, 6 strike, 1 walk, 0 H 8th inning vs those stinking Canadian nationals today in the USA’s first game of the World Baseball Classic.  
Kevin Youkilis, Adam Dunn and Brian McCann homered for USA.  Shane Victorino and Derek Jeter also had two hits a piece.  
The pitching was rather shaky with Jake Peavy giving up two runs, and Joel Hanrahan, Scott Shields and JJ Putz each giving up a run a piece in the relief effort.  Putz came in to close the game, and almost [...]

Since our very first entry onto this website we have been talking about the showdown between Wade Davis and Jeff Niemann for the right to possibly lock down the final pitching spot.  Davis has pitched two superb games, allowing 0 runs so far.  Jeff Niemann got his 2nd start of the Spring today and once again was electric. 
Jeff Niemann – 3IP, 2H, 1ER, 5K, 1BB
The lineup also saw a few more regulars in it today as we beat up on the Astros 12-2 capped off by a 10 run 3rd inning.  
Jason Bartlett was 3 for 3 with 2 runs, [...]

In his 2nd start of the Spring, in beautiful Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter Florida, Wade Davis made his 2nd succesful start.  
Wade Davis – 3.2 IP, 1H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 1K
That is Davis’s 2nd consecutive scoreless outing of the Spring.  
The other 5 pitchers who pitched for us today all are long shots to make the team, but held Davis’s lead in route to an 8 to 5 victory vs the Cardinals.  
Evan Longoria moved his spring average to .556 with 2 doubles and a walk.   The only other potential starter in the lineup, Gabe Gross went 1 [...]

I know it is hard to get worked up over Spring Training pitching performances, especially still being in the first week of Spring games.  This is the time of the year that guys who have no bidness being on MLB rosters, get a chance to shine.  It’s the time when guys who are 19 and are most likely destined to be back in High A or AA get to show their stuff.  
For the Rays though, this is an important time.  We have currently have a real abundance of pitching, namely starting pitchers who we aren’t sure whether they should [...]