Bleacher Report - Articles by Christopher Owen

In UEFA Cup the Racists* Have It: Zenit St. Petersburg Defeats Rangers F.C., 2-0

Christopher Owen — Wed, 14 May 2008 11:24:29 -0400

*I am in no way insinuating that any member or employee of Zenit St. Petersburg Football Club is racist, or racially inclined. I am referring to the openly racist fans, as described by Dick Advocaat in his interview.

Let us be clear from the start:

I am not a Rangers fan.

I have little interest in the SPL (Scottish Premier League)

And I am incensed.

Not because Rangers lost, but because the most racially slanted football club in Europe (that I know of) was firstly allowed to compete in UEFA's second largest tournament, and then went on to win the event.

And their racist fans were singing all the way, the men taking their shirts off to proudly display that they too, were white.

Their celebrating was of little doing by Zenit themselves, moreover Rangers not showing up to play, unable to hold on to the ball, sitting deep and absorbing what Zenit threw at them.

The first half proved to be an entirely one sided affair with Zenit taking all the possession, but doing little to nothing with it.

Both Rangers and Zenit were lucky not to give away penalties, both for handballs, Rangers nearly called in the first half, Zenit in the second.

The second half was more balanced, with Rangers having more possession and chances, but, alas, the goal that broke Scottish hearts came on 73 minutes, with a clever through ball splitting the Rangers' defence.

Rangers' response was non-forthcoming, changing formations to go 4-3-3, which ended up looking more like big-clump-small-clump chasing the ball around.

With virtually no defensive players left on the field, Zenit scored their second in the 93rd minute to finally crush Rangers' attempts at a comeback, sending their already delirious fans to a place of mad joy:

Their prized all white team had won UEFA's second biggest prize.

So why am I so incensed? Because it's not due to a Rangers' loss. It's that UEFA has just lain down and forgotten all it's been preaching about racism in football.

I'm sure most people have seen over the past few years, UEFA's campaign of "Kick Racism Out of Football," but I can't but help feel, UEFA just undid all their hard work by allowing Zenit to compete.

Anyone who can be bothered to look, and even those who aren't are well aware that coach Advocaat will not sign any non-white players because the fans do not tolerate them. And UEFA is allowing these fans' team to compete why?

Because now, you have every Zenit St. Petersburg fan running around, convinced that they're all white bigoted strategy is the right one, where in the world today, it is not, nor should it be tolerated as such.

Congratulations to UEFA on failing the ethnically diverse, and good people in general, and commiserations to Rangers.

Better luck next year.

Both of you.

Manchester City Woes: The Curse Of the Rich, Stupid Owner

Christopher Owen — Sun, 04 May 2008 04:37:51 -0400

It was the summer of 2007, and I was working nights at my local supermarket stacking shelves. In the cafeteria, the day staff would leave the day's newspapers strewn about the tables, allowing us night crew a form of mild stimulation.

It was in one of these papers that I first learned Manchester City, my beloved Manchester City, was being bought by former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shiniwatra.

I was on top of the world.

Money was coming to City.

I almost wish it had stayed where it damn well was.

In the time that followed the announcement was made that Sven Goran Eriksson would be taking the reins as manager—he promptly spent £48 million (near enough $100 million) of the new owner's money, giving Manchester City a whole new look.

And it was fantastic.

City began the season strongly, having their best start in over half a century.

The inevitable decline came, however, not once did they ever drop into the bottom half of the table. That has not occurred since City returned to the top flight in 2003.

So now the season is winding down.

City are guaranteed to finish no lower than ninth.

The future is bright, with Sven now knowing his team well can make further adjustments over the off season.

Oh yeah, one more thing...

He's getting fired.

What?

When I learnt of this little tidbit I took a step back and began to think. I thought about it for about a week.

It just doesn't make sense.

What does make sense is this:

The rich owners in the EPL are generally idiots.

Another case in point: Roman Abramovich.

After firing Jose Mourinho following a clash of two mighty egos, Avram Grant was promoted to the top spot.

He proceeded to better Mourinho's record, has brought out the best in his team who have been playing better football and still have the League's longest unbeaten-at-home record.

Rumour is however:

He's getting fired too.

Excuse me? Isn't this all slightly ridiculous?

Well, no not really. It's more rather... moronic.

At the other end of the spectrum is Mohammed Al Fayed, Fulham's infamous owner. For years Fulham have struggled, while showing great spirit, and fighting off relegation for a few years, with this year's best escape just one result away.

As for Fayed?

Well, he wrongly fired Chris Coleman, then Lawrie Sanchez, and I would not be at all surprised to see Roy Hodgson go at the end of this year.

Oh, and all those managers have had pretty much no money to spend, leading to relegation battles and bottom-half finishes ever since they came up from the Championship in 2001.

There's an important lesson that only a couple of the mega-rich owners have learnt, and that is this:

Stay out of it.

Don't interfere with your manager, don't question his decisions, (This means you too Mr. Steinbrenner) and enjoy what your money has bought you.

Leave the running of the club to the manager and keep your ego in check. You may have run a mega-huge business, or even a country. But this is football.

And you know nothing about it.

Tampa Bay Rays: The Return of Scott Kazmir and B.J. Upton

Christopher Owen — Sun, 04 May 2008 03:01:04 -0400

Scott Kazmir will take to the mound in Boston today, making his first start since his elbow strain put him out of commission in spring training.

The AL strikeout king returns after an extended rehab course, with management opting to play it safe with it being the start of the season, as opposed to rushing him back into the rotation and possibly causing problems later on.

Kazmir's return to the rotation behind James Shields meant one member of the rotation would be made redundant.

That was Jason Hammel, who was demoted to the bullpen due to Al Reyes remaining on the DL for longer than expected.

Reyes, who had a Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI), taken on Friday was diagnosed with tendinitis.

Tendinitis is the inflammation of the tendons or muscle tissue around a joint and is usually the result of overuse. The standard cure is rest, which allows the tendons to heal.

B.J. Upton, after his left shoulder strain, is also rumoured to be returning to the lineup after missing three games. The injury was the same as the one suffered in 2006, for which he also missed three games.

Upton said he was surprised that the injury occurred so early in the season. He expressed hope that this would be the only time it would appear.

The AL East: Good, Great, and Best of All

Christopher Owen — Thu, 01 May 2008 05:46:46 -0400

Up till last year The AL East was a two horse race: The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox would take turns heading up the division, battling it out through the year for the top spot, with the other invariably taking the AL wild card.

This year is rather different.

Sure, the Red Sox are still atop the division this morning, but two teams are only one game back.

And neither of them are the Yankees.

Sure, I hear you say "But it's only the start of May, this isn't going to last." But I disagree.

I see more than enough signs that show, this year, is no two horse race.

It's not all improvements from the recent outsiders either. Some of this is due to trials and tribulations, most notably of which is with the Yankess.

The Roger Clemens debacle is documented more than enough than to require me to describe it to you here, but what I will say is that it's not helping the Yankees one bit, in fact I would reason to bet it's hanging over them like a pall.

Unfortunately for the Yankees, that's not the end of their issues (although they all wish it were). Their starting pitching has been far from stellar with only Chien-Ming Wang showing any kind of form. Part of this is due to what their division rivals the Rays suffered from in 2007: Inconsistent young pitchers.

However the Yankees are the Yankees, and will not be kept down for long (they're currently 14-15, three games back)

The Yankees two saving graces are thus: They have one of the most powerful offences in baseball today, with power hitters coming out their ears (in fact, there are so many they've run out of places to put them all)

Oh yeah, and when you play them, it's not a nine inning game.

It's seven.

Thank Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera for that one.

The Red Sox, on the other hand, have no such pitching woes.

Daisuke Matsuzaka, Tim Wakefield, Josh Beckett, and Clay Buchholz form what is quite possibly the most solid starting rotation in all of the Major Leagues. However, despite this, they have allowed 130 runs up to this point, third in the American League behind New York (133) and Detroit (148).

The offence though, is firing on all cylinders, even with David Ortiz's early slump, having batted in 136 runs, again third in the American League, this time behind Los Angeles (140) and Detroit (142).

Look for the run differential of the Sox to grow with time—for now it is a mere +6, but not far from now I expect it to reach far grander proportions.

The Baltimore Orioles have been the surprise so far, holding the lead in the division for 15 days—with all indications in the off-season that 2008 was all about rebuilding.

I would wager there are more than a few teams wondering..exactly how a rebuilding season starts off with a winning April, one game back of the division lead.

The Orioles numbers may not be as impressive as the others in the AL East, but they've made what they've done count—they are 7-2 in games decided by only one run, and 1-0 in their only extra innings game (1 game pending).

That and their pitching is also rather good. This was a surprise to many (yours truly included) after trading away Eric Bedard, but they managed to get it all together and have a strong rotation and excellent bullpen.

However, trouble may loom for the O's as they have yet to face the Red Sox and have played the Yankees only once (taking the series 2-1). Also, after today's conclusion versus the Tampa Bay Rays they travel to Los Angeles to take on the AL West Leading Angels.

It will be in this stretch that Baltimore either proves themselves as contenders, or, pretenders, but keep in mind:

They didn't lead the division for over two weeks by chance.

And finally Tampa Bay (Let's face it, Toronto aren't much of anything right now bar Roy Halladay).

I know there are people out there that thought the idea of the Rays becoming competitive was all smoke.

Bad news folks.

They're here.

With yet another solid rotation that is soon to welcome back the 2007 AL strike out king Scott Kazmir and an offence that has always been the plus point of the team, the all new all improved 2008 Rays are for real.

The biggest improvement for the Rays undoubtedly has been it's pitching, with the bullpen going from a Major League worst to a Major League best over the off-season, and the starting rotation being defined by the young talent that struggled so much in 2007, most notably Andy Sonnanstine and Edwin Jackson.

And there's more to come on that front too: Jeff Niemann pitched twice in the absence of Matt Garza and showed what he is capable of, and the world has yet to be introduced to David Price, one of the most touted prospects in baseball.

So what does all this mean?

The AL East is good.

Really Good.

In all it's safe to say that there is more talent in this one division than any other in the American League.

And it's going to be great fun to watch, because now, it's not only Red Sox—Yankees match ups that matter in the deciding of the division.

It's all of them.

Rays-Red Sox: Akinori Iwamura Lifts Tampa Bay Past Boston

Christopher Owen — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 16:26:39 -0400

Edwin Jackson took to the mound for the middle game of three versus the Red Sox with the Rays fresh off their 11 inning walk-off win the night before. The Rays were looking to extend their winning streak to 5 games.

Through 7 and 2/3 innings an awfully tense game looked likely to go the way of the Red Sox thanks to an outstanding pitching performance from Clay Buchholz. That all changed when Akinori Iwamura connected on a pitch up in the zone, sending it deep over the right field wall giving the Rays a 2-1 lead they would not surrender.

This brought the Rays’ win streak to five games, and leaves them just a single game out of first which is held by the Sox-a deficit the Rays can overturn should they win Sunday, when James Shields goes up against Josh Beckett.

The Rays offence had been held to a single hit-a double in the forth by B.J. Upton before the pinch hit single by Dioner Navarro. This was followed by Akinori Iwamura’s first home run of the year, timely struck to right field, ruining Buchholtz otherwise, spectacular outing.

The biggest question going into the game, was, not if the Rays could pull off another win on the trot, but which of the two Edwin Jacksons would take the mound. That question was answered when, after 7 innings of work, he left the game to eventually receive a no-decision allowing just the one run, and lowering his E.R.A. to 3.86.

Jackson began by giving up two infield singles either side of a double play before striking out Manny Ramirez while looking strong with good control manifested by his pounding of the strike zone.

Clay Buchholz didn’t have quite as good a start, giving up back-to-back walks with two outs while running up a pitch count over 20. That would be no indicator, however, as Buchholz dug in for 6 more innings of one hit baseball before watching Navarro’s single and Iwamura’s home run to spoil what was a brilliant outing from the 23 year old pitcher.

Jackson continued well through his 7 innings allowing a respectable 5 hits and 3 walks, while striking out 4. This was all aided by a brilliant defence which turned 2 double plays in the game, with outstanding defensive plays from Jason Bartlett turning a good play for an out, Evan Longoria preventing an extra base hit, a diving stop by Carlos Pena to prevent another hit for extra bases while getting the out.

Jackson’s strong outing was backed up by the infallible bullpen. Trever Miller, Scott Dohmann and Troy Percival combined for two innings, giving up nothing but a walk, while racking up a strike out apiece. Percival came in rather abruptly following the Rays’ turn of fortunes, going from a losing to a winning situation that was highly unexpected, but pitched like the professional he is to put the Sox’s final batters down in order with his strike out coming on the final out.

All this defence came on the back of many brilliant defensive plays the night prior highlighted by two clutch double plays and diving catches by B.J. Upton and Carl Crawford.

In all it was a shame for Buchholtz to take the loss after a truly masterful performance, but one team had to win, and tonight, that team was the Tampa Bay Rays.

Rays-Blue Jays: Disney Magic Works as Tampa Bay Defeats Toronto

Christopher Owen — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 03:32:00 -0400

The Rays came together in true team spirit for a come from behind win in front of a crowd of just over 8,200 at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex Tuesday night.

Eric Hinske was a single away from hitting for the cycle as James Sheilds delivered 5 strong innings after a shaky two inning start leading to 3 runs, only one earned. The game was a huge posotive for the Rays, who, for once, strung multiple hits together for a strong offensive showing.

The game began amidst little fanfare, with Sheilds surrendering a leadoff single to Matt Stairs, Stairs extending his hitting streak to 10 games.

Then followed a rather farce-like top of the second. Sheilds walked the first two batters, and what followed was disastrous. A ground ball was shot straight to Eric Hinske, and, instead of a double play, Hinske bobbled the ball. Sheilds had made his way to first for the out, however, Hinske, in a rush of blood to the head pitched the ball well wide of Sheilds for the first error of the play. Following the wide pitch Navarro raced from home to back up the missed throw, prompting Lyle Overbay to leave third and head for home. Sheilds was already on his way to the plate, beating Overbay there, but was unable to hold onto the pass from Navarro, allowing Overbay to slide under Sheilds' defence of the plate.

In all, only two errors were charged, to Hinske (throw) and Sheilds (Fielding).

An infield ground ball resulted in the second run of the inning, after which Sheilds escaped having thrown 40 pitches through the first two innings, with only 23 for strikes.

The Rays countered promptly, just as well, with heads hanging after the horrors that occurred. Evan Longoria began the charge with his second home run of the year to just right of center field. Hinske followed with his first of three hits, knocking a double into the gap in right center field. Navarro continued the comeback with a bouncer into center just out of reach of the second baseman and shortstop, driving Hinske in to level the scores at 2-2

Sheilds settled well after his shakey start, allowing only two more runs (one on a home run by Vernon Wells), striking out five batters in total and not walking another batter for his last five innings. In all Sheilds was only tagged for two earned runs, lowering his ERA to 3.30.

The Offensive momentum continued in the bottom of the fourth, with Hinske (thanks to third base coaching from the crowd) hitting an easy triple thanks to the ball becoming lodged in the right field corner. Navarro followed with his second single of the game scoring Hinske and tying the game at 3-3. Haynes followed with a walk off a good pitcher-batter battle, which was in turn followed by Jason Bartlett's only hit of the game (a single) scoring Navarro.

All that remained was for Hinske to rock a solo home run to lead off the sixth, leaving him a single away from a cycle.

The bullpen delivered another solid finish following Sheilds' 109 pitches. Wheeler and Percival completed a perfect inning each with Percival getting a strike out. Percival has yet to surrender a run this year and has a perfect 0.00 ERA (Wheeler is not far behind with an ERA of 1.80)

Other Notes: Dan Johnson made his first appearance in the Tampa Bullpen and was all smiles.

The Rays return to Disney tonight for the second game of the series. First pitch 7:10.

Tampa Bay Rays: Bats Dormant, Jackson Wanting

Christopher Owen — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 10:29:18 -0400

Edwin Jackson had the dream start to the season: two wins, an ERA not heard of in the same sentence as his name the year prior, and all the control in the world.

Oh how time will change anything. Or rather, what young talent will do. One night after Andy Sonnanstine's shutout performance, Edwin Jackson took the mound looking to build on the momentum delivered to him from night past.

With a 2-1 record and an ERA at 2.48 you couldn't help but hope that his trip up at the Bronx was a one off, and the all mighty, all controlling Jackson would return in body and in mind to deliver a strong start from which the offence would take it's cue, delivering many hits and runs in fairytale fashion to which the crowd would be overjoyed with and *pause* no.

Jackson struggled from the outset, giving a solo shot up to Jim Thome in the first, allowing another run in the third, and three more in the fifth before being pulled in favour of Gary Glover (Jackson would be held responsible for one more run after Glover surrendered a hit to his first batter)

Control was non-existent through his 4 and 1/3 innings of work, failing to find the strike zone with his off speed pitches, and surrendering 7 hits when he did find the zone. In all Jackson was responsible for 10 base-runners, Glover for one in the fifth, (hit) and two in the sixth (bases on balls and a hit), Miller for one in the seventh (hit) and Percival for one in the ninth (hit). Wheeler pitched a perfect eighth.

The offence, once more, failed to deliver, managing only four hits and drawing not a single walk. No base-runner got beyond first, with the entire side looking as impotent as the Rays' bullpen did year prior. Things must change, as they should have been changing over the past week.

On a positive note, once again, the bullpen was solid: Over 4 and 2/3 innings of work they surrendered three hits, one walk, and allowed no runs. The pregame ERA of the bullpen was at 2.93, and will now be lower still.

Not to blow my own horn, but I would like to point out that Jason Bartlett got the shove tonight in favour of Elliot Johnson. Unfortunately, it would appear Bartlett was not the problem, but rather, the short-stop position is cursed. Johnson went 0 for 3 with an error. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Should no improvements be forthcoming I would wager that Ben Zobrist will be given a shot upon his return.

And finally, credit to the White Sox, who one night after being three hit rebounded in true professional style, with solid hitting, and two excellent pitching performances from John Danks and Boone Logan, combining themselves for a shutout with four hits and no walks.

The Rays have a day off now, with time to prepare for the 'visiting' Toronto Blue Jays at Disney's Wide World of Sport Complex.

Go Rays!

Rays-White Sox: Spectacular Sonnanstine Shuts out Chicago

Christopher Owen — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 01:21:25 -0400

Andy Sonnanstine showed last night exactly what the image change for the once Tampa Bay Devil Rays was all about, because, after nine innings of three hit, one walk pitching, it certainly didn't look like the same team.

Andy's performance wasn't luck either: he had fantastic control all night. Other the singular walk issued in the eighth inning, he pounded the strike zone for 77 of his 106 pitches.

He also showed great prowess, setting up his fastball with his off-speed pitches time and time again, with lots of ground balls which in turn led to two double plays. The White Sox did not get a base runner past second.

And of course, no pitcher is complete without a solid defense behind him. Sonnanstine had a flawless Rays fielding team backing him up, turning two (nearly three) double plays to end innings.

A leaping Evan Longoria saved a base hit in the eighth and the super-speedy outfield made hard catches look easy thanks to their unearthly velocity.

And of course, the bread and butter of a defense: an error-less infield. They made some excellent plays on the run, bare-handed, and they never once made Eric Hinske do anything out of the ordinary.

Despite all this, the offense still appeared to have its problems. This may sound shocking due to its 12 hits and five runs, but looking at it from a different perspective:

-Four of the five runs came with two outs

-Including the two bases-on-balls the Rays had 14 base-runners. Obviously enough, only five of them made it home. This may have been in part to the lack of base running.

For a team that is quite possibly the quickest in the Major League, only one base was stolen-and that was by Jonny Gomes (Not the name you'd think of first)

Normally I wouldn't make an issue out of this type of offensive production, but it has been an unerring theme for the Rays this year, and it has to stop. The young Rays starters are capable of putting in brilliant performances, like last night, but they've also had not so brilliant performances, like the night before.

The offense cannot rely on its pitching to get it through every game. It has to do its part when the pitching is a little off if the Rays are to break that mythical figure of 70 wins in a season, or if they're to break an even more mythical figure of .500 for the season.

It has come to my attention that some Rays are happier than others. It shows through the effort every player puts in to their everyday tasks. Case in point: Carl Crawford versus Jonny Gomes-both got caught napping at first base by Mark Buehrle and found themselves in rundowns.

Crawford cut once (changed direction) before giving up and running into the tag. Gomes, on the other hand cut twice made a diving lunge for second base, and wound up with his second stolen base of the season.

It's things like this that will make the difference between winning and losing tight games. Those who want to succeed will do everything they can to do so. I would hope that every member of the Rays organization is willing to do what it takes to succeed, instead of just wanting to.

This includes paying attention. Gomes and Crawford both got caught too far off first, not paying attention to the pitcher's movements.

And B.J. Upton? He might have gone 3 for 4 with an RBI, but even he had a mind lapse and overran third, which resulted in him being tagged too.

All in all it was a good night for the Rays, but all the success of the defense merely highlighted the problems on offense which shouldn't be, and need to be eradicated in double quick time.

When that happens, look out, because the Rays are for real.

Tampa Bay Devil Rays: Dissolve Against White Sox, Sum Up Season so Far

Christopher Owen — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 05:00:53 -0400

Not literally that is-they were still there, they just weren't the Rays that we've been seeing glimpses of this year (the Rays that we were expecting after topping the Major League in Spring Training).

They were the Rays that everyone is getting rather tired of, the Rays that seem brilliantly able at doing the impossible-for instance loading the bases with no outs, and not being able to drive in one single run (a big thank you goes out to the less than impressive Jason Bartlett for that one)

The offence wasn't all bad though; after all they churned out seven hits, and drew three walks, but only produced two runs. This has been the story so far-there have been enough hits, but not enough that count (RBI's).

So, despite getting ten men on base, only two of them made it all the way around the diamond.

This was even after Evan Longoria's mistake-recovery/good luck, when he shot off third base after a bunt, but found himself in a rundown between third and home. With some good cutting he managed to beat out the third baseman, catcher and hurrying second baseman and make it safely back to third, with Gomes on second.

DiFelice went to first on a rather professional HBP, which drew Haynes who popped out, and Bartlett who got his first of two GIDP's.

This gave little support to Jeff Niemann, who had performed well over the first two innings, but then lost control, which, combined with errors led to eight runs to his name through just 3 and 1/3 innings, but only 5 earned.

Then, the highlight of the Rays' year so far, the bullpen, stepped in, and between Chris Birkins and Scott Dohmann put down 5 and 2/3 innings of one run baseball. Granted, the nine run deficit looked hard to overcome, but, on a different day this would have been the performance that gave the offence a real chance to win the game.

And that's what the bullpen has been doing this year, putting in solid relief appearances, between Dohmann, Wheeler, Miller, Howell, Percival, Glover and now Birkins.

The only exception seems to have been Al Reyes, holding the highest ERA of all the bullpen pitchers, and now on the 15 day DL after getting into a bar fight on his birthday (that's not the official reason you'll hear, but its not too hard to connect the dots)

And that was the Rays White Sox, the only thing not mentioned was what was quite possibly the longest home run ever hit in Tropicana Field by Jim Thome, hit to right field and rebounding off the C ring catwalk-had the catwalk not gotten in the way that ball may have quite possibly made a hole in the wall behind the right field seats!

Go Rays!

Tampa Bay Rays So Far: Bad Managing, Under-Performing

Christopher Owen — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 02:58:37 -0400

Seventeen games in, and things are looking far from rosy for dear old Joe Maddon.

Hampered by injuries (the toll is currently 10 on the DL) and bad decisions, the Rays have gone 7-10 in what would appear to be another good 'ole Rays season, one that their weary fans, including me, are getting rather bored of.

The blame shouldn't be directed solely at Maddon, though. A sputtering offense has a grand total of 87 runs in 17 games, averaging out to 830 runs for the whole year.

Now, for another team, this may not be too bad. But for the Rays, the offense is meant to be their trump card. In a team that has little in the way of consistent pitching, there is little else to get excited about. We all got tired of getting excited about 'the future' midway through last year.

However, the buck stops here. In this case, 'here' is Joe Maddon. Allow me to review what has been going on thanks to Mr. Maddon.

The big story of the year was the trade that said goodbye to Delmon Young and Brendan Harris and hello to Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett.

Problem of the matter is, shortly after saying hello to Mr Garza, everyone promptly said goodbye as he went on the 15-day DL with a pre-existing injury woe.

As for Jason, well, the less said about his performance so far, the less it will hurt for all the suffering Rays fans.

So, resulting from Scott Kazmir and Matt Garza being on the DL, four of the pitchers in starting rotation are inconsistent youngsters whose performances are very unpredicatable.

Oh yeah, James Shields looks like he's one of them. So make that five of five.

The best looking pitcher of the lot is Edwin Jackson, who has followed on from his strong finish to 2007, directing his immense arm power to something that roughly constitutes the strike zone on a regular basis (2-1, 2.84 ERA).

Incredibly enough, the best looking part of the Rays organization this year is—shock—the bullpen. But even those guys have been made to look bad by Joe Maddon.

His poor replacement decisions have led to more than one loss. Prime example: the April 12 loss to the Orioles at home.

After Howell pitched a perfect eighth inning, he was inexplicably replaced by Miller (remember here, Howell used to be a starter and is more than capable of pitching two innings). He deserves credit for pitching perfectly for two-thirds of the ninth before being replaced by Wheeler, who got the final out for the Rays.

But this was after he gave up the game-winning solo homerun.

This type of scenario has occured on more than one occasion, and it leads to the question: Exactly what is Joe Maddon doing?

And don't get me wrong, I'm not putting down Dan Wheeler. He's been one of many breaths of fresh air in the Rays' bullpen—a good reliever who has done some good work in what is still a young season.

What I'm complaining about is that when a pitcher has gotten in his groove and has pitched some very good baseball, Maddon yanks him for no good reason.

And no, replacing a pitcher for another who may be better "matched," whether it be due to numbers or left/right handedness, is not a good reason.

A starter isn't replaced the first time they come up against someone with good numbers on them, or when someone who hits well against whichever arm is being pitched from.

Unless the pitcher has a truly awful record against the on-deck man, he should not be replaced either. Goodness knows, it would have still had the Rays on a winning season.

Having bashed on an underperforming Rays' organization for whatever reasons for ages, things can't help but look good for the future.

Yes, we've all heard it before, but with the DL starting to reduce in numbers and confidence high, the rest of the season should be above the standard set so far.

Carl Crawford may not be hitting what he should, but he will, because well, let's face it, he's Carl Crawford (.295 lifetime, .253 through 2008 and on course for 18 homeruns this year). If that's not enough look at it like this, he will be hitting what he should long before David Ortiz will be hitting what he should be.

The only parameter left is fielding. Errors over the last few games have been costly, leading to three unearned runs last night alone.

Jason Bartlett needs to get his act together (four errors in the last seven games, hitting a paltry .203), or he will be replaced by either a healthy Ben Zobrist, or a promising Elliot Johnson who will be eager to prove himself after making the team as a non-roster invitee.

To conclude: Maddon needs to get it together, the pitching needs to get consistent, the young lineup needs to keep its collective head, but the offense should take care of itself with a short DL.

Go Rays!