Durham 7, Charlotte 1. Jeff Niemann may have used the motivation of Mitch Talbot's promotion to fuel his best start of the year, a complete game effort in which he allowed 1 run while striking out 12 and walking only 1 batter. Niemann threw 107 pitches, 74 for strikes...Justin Ruggiano was 3-4 with 2 solo home runs, his 6th and 7th...Dan Johnson added his 12th home run...Reid Brignac was 2-4 and struck out twice.

Mississippi 6, Montgomery 4. Jeremy Hellickson's second double-A start went much better than his first, giving up 2 runs in 4 innings. He struck out 3 without walking a batter and gave up 5 hits including a home run...Chris Nowak drove in 2 with 2 doubles in 4 at bats.

Palm Beach 11, Vero Beach 2 (gm 1). Ryan Morse gave up 9 runs (5 earned) in 3 innings. He gave up 7 hits and 4 walks...Wade Townsend came off the DL and pitched 1 perfect inning in relief...The D-Rays made 5 errors in the 7 inning contest and managed only 3 hits including a solo home run from Ryan Royster his 5th.

Vero Beach 4, Palm Beach 3 (gm 2). Chuck Tiffany made his second straight start working 4 innings and allowing 3 unearned runs. He struck out 4 and walked 2.

Hickory 3, Columbus 2. Jason Ragan pitched 5 scoreless innings for Columbus...Chase Fontaine finished 2-5 with his 1st home run, a solo shot...Maiko Loyola was 2-4 with a triple and 2 stolen bases. He now has 33 steals on the season, which is 3rd most in the SALy.

Batavia 12, Hudson Valley 0.

Princeton 9, Bluefield 5.

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM...

• The Durham Bulls had 4 players named to the IL Al-Star team including Reid Brignac, Chris Richard, Jeremy Cummings and Dale Thayer. [Durham Bulls]
  
• 6 members of the Montgomery Biscuits were named to the SL South All-Star squad. The players include Wade Davis, Jakes McGee, James Houser, Gaby Martinez, Rashad Eldridge and John Jaso. Jaso will be making his second straight appearance on the team, something we assume doesn't happen very often. McGee will obviously not be able to participate due to his injury. Also, Gaby Martinez will not make the game due to a personal matter. [Biscuits' Batter]
  

Rochester 9, Durham 4. Mitch Talbot picked up his first loss since April, dropping to 6-4. He was 5-0 in his previous 8 starts. He gave up 7 runs (6 earned) in 5.1 innings...5 different Bulls had 2 hits apiece including Fernando Perez, who also stole his 18th base...Joel Guzman and Reid Brignac were each 1-4. Brignac had 2 errors, only his 6th and 7th on the year.

Montgomery 4, Mobile 2 (gm 1). Jake McGee struggled with his control, walking 5, throwing a wild pitch and giving up 5 hits in just 4.1 innings. He struck out 3 and allowed 2 runs...Ryan Reid, struck out 3 and walked 1 in 2 scoreless innings for his first AA save...Ronnie Merrill was 2-4 with his 10th double and 2 RBI and Matt Spring added 2 hits in 3 at bats.

Mobile 3, Montgomery 1 (gm 2). Mike Prochaska started, going 5 innings and giving up 3 runs (2 earned)...Rashad Eldridge went 2-4, accounting for half of the Biscuits hits.

Vero Beach @ Fort Myers (ppd.)

Savannah 2, Columbus 1. Austin Hinkle gave up a walk and 2 straight singles with 1 out in the bottom of the 9th, the last of which drove in the winning run...Alex Cobb started, striking out 6 and walking just 1 in 6 innings. He gave up 1 run on 4 hits...The Catfish managed only 3 hits, all singles.

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM...

• ESPN has a feature article on Durham Bulls' manager Charlie Montoyo and his families struggles with the health of their 8-month old son Alex. [ESPN]
• Chris Richard of the Bulls and Ryan Reid, recently promoted to the Biscuits, were named player and pitcher of the month for the Rays minor league system. [St. Pete Times]
  

Durham 2, Scranton WB 0. With Jeff Niemann getting the call to Tampa Bay, Kevin Lynn made his first start for the Bulls and posted a strange line. In 4.2 innings, he only allowed 1 hit and no runs, but he did walk 4...Grant Balfour pitched the final 3 innings for the save. He did not give up a hit, only walking 1...Fernando Perez drove in both runs with a double in the 5th...Reid Brignac did not play.

Carolina 9, Montgomery 2. Mike Wlodarczyk got knocked around for 5 runs in 4.1 innings...Wade Townsend pitched a perfect 8th with a strikeout...The Biscuits had 11 hits and 3 walks but managed only 2 runs, with 1 coming from Erold Andrus with a solo home run as the first batter of the game.

Savannah 11, Columbus 7. Jeremy Hall struck out 5 in 5 innings, allowing 2 runs but the bullpen would allow 9 runs in the final 2 innings...4 Catfish had 2 hits apiece including Stephen Vogt who had a double and a triple and drove in 3.

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM...

• Baseball America talks to Rays pitching coordinator Dick Bosman about Jeremy Hellickson. Hellickson is the Rays 8th best prospect on our Meta-Analysis of top prospects. Bosman says that Hellickson came to camp bettered prepared than he did in years past, noting that Hellian is at a point this year that he did not reach until June or July a year ago. [Baseball America]

"He’s starting to figure out what spring training is about," Rays pitching coordinator Dick Bosman said. "He’s finally figuring out that winter time is when you get stronger and you prepare for spring training, so that when you go to spring training, you prepare for the season. And the last couple years before this one, he kind of used spring training and extended spring to get ready for the year. This year he has responded very well."

• The Herald-Sun interviews the Bulls' Chris Richard who is in his 14th pro season. [Herald-Sun]
  

Devil Rays (66-96)
Recondite Baseball recently did a little research on a simple pitching statistic and unwittingly may have stumbled upon one of the main reasons that the Rays pitching has been so awful and in turn, why the Devil Rays have been so bad.

Since the year 2000 (encompassing all but two of the seasons in which the Devil Rays have been in existence), there have been 347 pitchers that are still active and have thrown 200+ innings. Of these pitchers, 39 have thrown less than 60.0% strikes for their career.

The amazing part? Six (6!) of these pitchers (15.4%) currently pitch, or have pitched*, for the Devil Rays.

2. Victor Zambrano - 57.4%
7. Seth McClung - 58.6%
26. Jesus Colome - 59.6%
27. Dewon Brazelton - 59.6%
36. Jay Witasick - 59.8%
37. Edwin Jackson - 59.9%

If Penn State is "Linebacker U.", the Tampa Bay Devil Rays are "Pitchers that can't throw strikes U." Just remember...It is not the home run that kills the ball club. It is the walk given up to the batter before the home run. Or in the case of most of these pitchers, the walksss.

Seeing these numbers, it is easy to understand why so many Rays fans have taken to Andy Sonnanstine so strongly. The Duke is not going to blow any batters away, but at least he is going to make the hitter beat him. At the other end of the spectrum for the Rays is Edwin Jackson. Nobody denies that Nuke has a major league fastball, but questions still remain if he can develop a second (and third) pitch and if he will ever be able to consistently pound the strike zone. When a pitcher throws 97-98, he does not need to have the ball on the black with every pitch, but he does need to be close. If not, enough batters will wait him out and take the walk, and more often than not, when Jackson does throw a strike, it will be of the 400-foot variety.

Pitchers and quarterbacks have many things in common, but the most important thing is that the most difficult thing to teach them is accuracy. It is easier to tweak a pitchers mechanics and add a few inches to their fastball than it is to help them find the strike zone. This is why it was so perplexing when the Mets pitching coach Rick Peterson said he could fix Victor Zambrano in "10 minutes".

The Rays and their fans already have too much experience with pitchers that cannot throw strikes. If Edwin Jackson can't be "fixed" his career as a major league starting pitcher may be short-lived.

*In several of these cases we use the term "pitched" very loosely...cough, cough, Dewon, cough, Brazelbum, cough, cough

Strike Percentage, Active Players with 200+ Innings Pitched [Recondite Baseball]

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA...

• Andrew Friedman emphasized that the Rays do have some flexibility when it comes to the 2008 payroll. In our 2008 40-man roster projection, we see the opening day payroll at approximately $36 million, which would be about a 25% increase over 2007. It is difficult to tell exactly how much "flexibility" is dependent on the 2008 salaries of Scott Kazmir and Carlos Pena, both of whom are arbitration eligible. [TBO]

“If the right player comes along, whether it be in a trade or as a free agent, that puts us over by a million dollars or two million dollars what our upper limit is, we’ll view that kind of independent of anything else,” said Friedman. “But you also have to factor in that as you do that, you’re just depleting what you can do the next year and the next year. All this money is fungible and it all will go into keeping our own players. It just gets to roster flexibility and how important it is for a lower-revenue team.”

• MILB is counting down the top 50 prospects. Reid Brignac is the first Rays' farmhand on the list at #32. [MILB]

He spent all of 2007 in the Southern League and while the overall numbers weren't as good as in the previous year, there's still a lot to like about the young shortstop. Though his batting average suffered -- largely because of a two-month slump -- he still had 52 extra-base hits and stole 15 bases. Perhaps more impressively, his defense improved greatly, and questions about his ability to remain a shortstop have subsided. Winning two titles in as many years with Montgomery certainly doesn't hurt, either.

• The Rays will officially unveil their plans for a new stadium today at Al Lang Field. Governor Charlie Crist will be on hand for the ceremony. [Bradenton Herald]
  
• The Rays re-signed outfielders Chris Richard and Jon Weber to minor league contracts. Both players were with Durham in 2007. The Rays also confirmed the signing of catcher Hector Gimenez, also to a minor league deal. [tampabay.com]
• Beyond the Boxscore compares Akinori Iwamura's first season with the Devil Rays with his career averages from Japan. Surprisingly, the numbers are very consistent, except of course for the home run totals. [Beyond the Boxscore]
  

Scottsdale 7, Peo Javelinas 6 (10 inn.).
Evan Longoria has completed his tour of duty in the Arizona Fall League as he will now join Team USA as they compete in the World Cup in Chinese Taipei. Reid Brignac was the only Devil Ray in action yesterday, going 0-5 with an RBI ground out. He is now 5-42 (.119). After posting what were certainly disappointing numbers for the young shortstop this past season (.260-17-81, .760 OPS), one has to wonder if the AFL is doing more harm than good. It may be time to shut Brignac down for the year and let him get away from the game a little while, clear his head and then start preparing for 2008. Of course, the flip-side of the argument is that a young player needs to learn how to fight his way out of slumps, and the Cajun God of Baseball must be feeling rather mortal these days.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA...

• Just to show exactly how vague the definition is of "Comeback Player of the Year", one of the NL nominees for the players association version of the award is Josh Hamilton, who only had a handful of games above single-A prior to this season. [Cincinnati Enquirer]
• Oh, and this just in...Josh Hamilton was kept on the Reds roster for the entire season and is now a permanent member of the Cincinnati ballclub. Of course we knew that back in March when Hamilton hit a game-winning 500-foot home run in one of his first spring training games.
  
• Chris Richard of the Durham Bulls, has started a regular off-season diary for the Bulls website. His most recent piece is on the use of human growth hormone from a player's perspective. One point we disagree about with Richard is the perception of some fans. While there is an element of the fanbase that doesn't care (a group that we believe is growing because the story is tiresome), we doubt there are many fans that think the use of performance enhancers is good because it produces players that "hit a ball 500 ft. and throw 100 mph." Hitting 100 on the gun and blasting a tape-measure shot are specials feats in baseball because they are rare. Otherwise, as fans we do understand the frustration that must come from doing it the right way and having to compete for jobs with players that are cheating. But...and this is a Rosie O'Donnell BUT...we do not understand why the players and the players association do not take a more active role and we do not understand why their "hands are tied in politics". [Durham Bulls]
• DRays Bay is reporting that Jae Seo and Tim Corcoran have been granted free agency. No surprise as both players were removed from the 40-man roster this past season. [DRays Bay]