How many times in your entire life can you remember a major league manager missing a game because he was sick?

I am sure it has happened a few times in history, but it is so rare, that I honestly can't think of a single case. Last night Yankees manager Joe Girardi missed the Yankees-Rays game because of an "upper respiratory infection" which in my book sounds a awful lot like a "common cold".

Is it a coincidence that Girardi was ill on the night in which the Yankees and Rays were to meet for the first regular season contest since the bench-clearing incident in spring training? Maybe...

Is it also a coincidence that Girardi got a cough on the same day that Shelley Duncan and Melky Cabrera had their 3-game suspensions reduced by a game without even an appeal hearing with Major League Baseball?

Or is it more likely that Major League Baseball agreed to reduce the suspensions of Cabrera and Duncan, if in return, Girardi would serve a one game suspension himself?

Remember, it was Girardi's comments to the media immediately following the Elliot Johnson home plate collision that led to the bad blood in the first place.

So, if Girardi was suspended for one game after-the-fact, why not just make an official announcement? Simple. Major League Baseball does not want to set a precedent in which other teams try to negotiate the reduction of suspensions for on-field incidents.

Please keep in mind that there is absolutely no evidence for any of this. Just a series of really strange coincidences involving the most powerful organization in sports. But in the end, I find it really hard to believe that Joe Girardi would miss just his third game as Yankees manager because he had a "cold".

Tampa Bay Devil Dogs (16 days until opening day)

DRG here again to cover my Devil Dogs while The Prof is covering competitive sledding in Canada...

Yesterday: Tampa Bay Rays 8, Blue Jays 4. I know it is only spring training but it is a nice feeling to see the Rays with a winning record after 14 games (10-3-1) and in first place without haveing to turn the newspaper upside down.

• The Good: Evan Longoria hit his second home run of the spring, a 2-run shot in the 8th. John Rodriguez was 2-3 with 2 singles and 2 RBI in his bid for the 4th outfielder spot. Grant Balfour faced 6 batters, retiring 5 and walking 1, while striking out 3. Balfour is fighting for the final bullpen spot.
• The Bad: Edwin Jackson had his second straight tough start and now is fighting for a roster spot that once looked fairly secure. 4 runs in 5 innings is bad enough, but 4 walks and no strike outs is exactly what Joe Maddon is not looking for.
• The Telling: Will Aybar got the start at third base as Maddon continues to alternate Aybar and Longoria on a regular basis. Eric Hinske played first base as he tries to convince Maddon he can be a utility player. Hector Gimenez caught the second-half of the game and now has received more playing time (17 innings) in the spring than Josh Paul (11) and Mike DiFelice (16). Shawn Riggans is going to make the team.
  

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA...

• The Prof got some serious airtime on ESPN.com yesterday as Rob Neyer debated Prof's recent post exploring the impact of Barry Bonds. [ESPN]
• Consider that yesterday Jayson Stark of ESPN.com debated the worst team in baseball, and the Rays were not even considered. Baby Steps. Stark does mention that as part of Troy Percival's contract, the Rays provided him with a 1970 Chavelle that "runs like crap", which is OK, because he and his dad restore classic automobiles. [ESPN]
• Hugging Harold Reynolds is jumping on the Rays bandwagon, which is starting to move forward with a head of steam. And yes we welcome you with open arms. Although it is tempered a bit by the news that HHR loves the Phillies. Considering the general disdain for all things Philadelphia amongst Tampa Bay fans, we are willing to overlook it this one time. [Hugging Harold Reynolds]
• For those that are curious, Delmon Young is 10-28 (.357). In typical Young fashion, 8 of the 10 hits are singles. In non-typical Young fashion he has 2 walks and only 3 strikeouts. He does have 1 home run.
• Joe Girardi still won't admonish Shelley Duncan but it sure sounds like he teammates will behind closed doors. [New York Post]

"A lot of veteran guys have talked to him," Johnny Damon told The Post yesterday. "We are telling him to keep playing hard, but keep the spikes down and the shoulders in (when sliding). This way people see you are playing hard, but no one can question you."

• Jonny Gomes will appeal his 2 game suspension. [The Heater]
• Most in the Rays clubhouse agreed that Jonny Gomes' suspension and Shelley Duncan's suspension were too similar considering what occurred. [Herald-Tribune]
  
• Andy Cannizaro returned to the Rays after missing time with a recurring back problem. His return hurts the chances of Elliot Johnson making the squad as the backup shortstop. [Tampa Bay Rays]
  
• Yesterday The Prof wrote about when we can expect the All-Star game to be held in St. Pete. Now comes word that they Rays have bid on the 2010 All-Star game. I have to imagine this is just a formality for the Rays as everybody expects the Angels to get the game. The Rays may want to just familiarize themselves with the process and possibly receive some feedback on their proposal to better utilize in the future. [LA Times]
• In keeping with the All-Star theme, last July The Serous Tip predicted that Florida would not host the All-Star game until at least 2016 noting that the AL parks get the game in the even years. Between this report and Prof's assessment, we can expect a Tampa Bay Rays hosted all-star game in 2016 or 2018. [The Serious Tip]
• A blogger talks to one of Andrew Freidman's assistants about fantasy baseball advice? OK. [Sports Judge]
• In light of recent events, The Cape Cod News wonders why baserunners are allowed to intentionally collide with catchers. [Cape Cod News]

Tampa Bay Rays (17 days until Opening Day)

With the Rays proposed stadium starting to feel like it could become a reality, we got to wondering when the new stadium might host a Major League All-Star game. The Rays are one of only three franchises that have never hosted the mid-summer classic, with the other two being the D-Back and the Marlins.

There have been 10 new stadiums opened in MLB since 1999. Of those stadiums, seven have already hosted an all-star game. Of the three new fields not to have hosted an all-star game yet, all three cities (Philly, San Diego, Cincinnati) have hosted the game in the last 20 years.

Including the Nats' new stadium this year and the Rays' new park in 2012, there are seven new stadiums scheduled to be opened in the next five years. The Yankees will host the game this year in the final year of Yankee Stadium so it will be a while for their new park. That leaves six parks that appear to be in line to host the all-star game.

According to the Biz of Baseball, the Angels will host in 2010, with the D-Backs following in 2011 and the Royals renovated stadium in 2012. Biz of Baseball is predicting the Mets new park to host in 2013. If this is true, 2014 will be the earliest the other five stadiums can host the game. 2026 seems like a logical year for the Nationals' which would coincide with the 250th birthday of our nation.

Therefore if the Rays do indeed land a new stadium along the St. Pete waterfront, we can most likely expect the Major League Baseball all-star game to come to St. Pete for the first time as early as 2014 and no later than 2017.

2008-2013: Here's the locations for the All-Star Game [Biz of Baseball]

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA...

• Jonny Gomes, Shirley Duncan and Melky Cabrera were each suspended for their roles in the rest bench-clearing incident. Gomes was hit with a 2-game suspension, while Duncan and Cabrera will sit out the first three games of teh regular season. Cabrera's suspension comes as a surprise as he was not mentioned in any reports immediately after the incident. Word on the street is that Cabrera hit or punched Evan Longoria in the back of the head. [Fox Sports]
  
• Because of the recent bad blood between the Rays and the Yankees, Joe Maddon has altered the team's travel schedule. Maddon was originally schedule to attend the team's split-squad game on Saturday in Orlando, but will now go to Tampa where the rest of the squad is facing the Yankees. Jonny Gomes will no longer be part of the group going to Tampa. [Tampa Bay Rays]
  
• John Romanoof the St. Pete Times comes down pretty hard on Joe Girardi for being a hypocrite. [St. Pete Times]

The New York manager continues to tap dance his way around questions concerning Shelley Duncan's spikes-high slide into Rays second baseman Akinori Iwamura...Girardi tried to avoid the topic after Wednesday's game, and then again 24 hours later. He said he still hasn't seen a replay, despite video on ESPN, numerous newspaper Web sites and several YouTube posts....What's disturbing here is that Girardi didn't feel the need to wait before criticizing Johnson and Rays manager Joe Maddon last week. Back then, he used words like "disheartening" and "scary" and "uncalled for."

• Rays of Light debates the merits of signing Kenny Lofton to replace Rocco Baldelli. [Rays of Light]
• Jayson Stark of ESPN.com looks at how Troy Percival went from semi-retired to signing a 2-year contract with the Rays and becoming their clubhouse leader and mentor to David Price. [ESPN]

...first, you need to understand that this isn't only a story about Troy Percival, the pitcher. This is just as much about Troy Percival, as unique a member of the human species as you'll ever run across in this life.

• St. Pete Times' writers look closer at a sponsorship agreement the Rays had with a local financier that went bankrupt. The Rays are now suing the group. [St. Pete Times]
  

Tampa Bay Rays (19 days until Opening Day)

Yesterday: Tampa Bay Rays 7, Twins 1. Joe Maddon and Jim Hickey is starting to let their starters stretch it out early this year. James Shields worked 5 scoreless innings, giving up 4 hits and 1 walk. His last inning was his strongest with his only 1-2-3 frame. Elliot Johnson has not let all the media hoopla get to me or his poor 2007 campaign. Johnson led off going 3-5 with his first home run and his 3rd stolen base. He is now 9-18 in the spring with 3 walks. And people thought we were crazy to keep his name so high on our list of prospects...Willy Aybar started at third and went 2-2 with a double. Some kid named Evan Longoria hit his first spring home run. Eric Hinske saw time at first in his effort to show Joe Maddon he can be a utility player. Joel Guzman started in left field but later moved to third base. Dioner Navarro hit his first spring home run.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA...

• After pitching a perfect ninth inning, David Price was sent to the minors along with Jae Kuk Ryu and Justin Ruggiano. Ruggiano's demotion is a bit surprising considering the unknown status of Rocco Baldelli. The move leaves non-roster invitees Jon Weber, Eric Hinske and John Rodriguez as the only in-house options to be the Rays' fourth outfielder. The Trib also quotes Ben Zobrist as saying he will be ready for opening day and that he will be 100%. [Tampa Tribune]
• David Price says there is no doubt in his mind that he is ready. He also feels that the clubhouse knows he is ready also but acknowledges that the team has a plan for him and a process that needs to be followed. Don Zimmer noted that Price's first appearance was as impressive as it gets. [Tampa Bay Rays]

"To me, where are you going to see anything better the whole spring than that one inning?" Zimmer said. "I don't care if you're 17 years old or if you're 77 years old -- that was thrilling. Strike, strike, strike, strike, and low, and breaking balls. It's easy to say they didn't have their regular lineup in there. That, to me, has got nothing to do with it. It's where he was throwing it."

• Andrew Friedman spoke at length yesterday about Rocco Baldelli noting that he does not have a good feel of the situation and will not be proactive in looking for a replacement until they know for certain that Rocco cannot play. [Herald-Tribune]
• Joe Girardi says there will be no bad blood when the Rays play the Yankees after last weekend's home plate collision. Girardi seems to have changed his tune a bit after hearing so many big names side with the Rays (incl. Lou Piniella and Mike Scioscia). Girardi now says that he thinks there was enough plate left exposed for Elliot Johnson to slide into home around the catcher. [Newsday]

Girardi said he had not told his catchers to leave some extra plate open in case of any Rays sliding into home... "I thought there was plate open the other day, and it still happened," Girardi said.

• Anaheim Angels All the Way, who previously used their CHONE projections to predict that the Rays will win 89 games this year, now looks at those results a little closer. The biggest difference will be from the pitching staff and the defense as the Rays are projected to allow 200 fewer runs in 2008. Of course, the Rays could throw out 9 guys off the street and allow about 50 fewer than the 2007 Rays. [Anaheim Angels all the Way]
• SI.com profiles the Rays proposed stadium. One question that recently pooped into our heads about the new stadium...When the "roof" is closed, it seems that the tunnel effect could produce very strong wind currents inside the stadium. This could lead to some very low-scoring games as we would think most of the wind would come from the bay. [SI.com]
  

Yesterday we participated in a little back-and-forth with My Baseball Bias, a Yankees blog, about the Elliot Johnson/Francisco Cervelli collision from the past weekend.

You can read the entire exchange HERE. We have included a few snippets below...

MBB: ...Young guys are out there playing hard trying to make an impression which I’m all for. But does running over a catcher late in a spring training game constitute a “nice hard-ball play” as Joe Maddon called it, or sheer stupidity? The game was an exhibition where the standings are meaningless. If the Rays goal is to win the Grapefruit League, then yes, I can understand it. But with Johnson’s collision coming only days after Carl Crawford ran over Houston catcher Humberto Quintero, you would think that Maddon would have at least reminded his players that these games don’t really count and to use caution. Instead, Maddon seems to be telling his team - bully the bully, take-no-prisoners and worry what happens later. If that’s his philosophy, I think it could lead to unforeseen consequences, especially if the Rays don’t live up to the hype that’s being placed upon them in ‘08...

RI:Let me remind everybody…this was not a “dirty” play. This was not an illegal play. Yankees fans are upset because a player was playing hard. On the surface…do you know how silly that sounds? I know you are upset a guy got hurt, but geez…all he did was make a normal everyday baseball play. He was playing hard. Nobody threw a pitch at somebody’s head. Nobody slide into second with spikes raised. It was a clean play...

For a team that does not have the birthright to buy an all-star for every position, winning takes a little more than just filling out a lineup card. It is a mentality. To steal the words from my co-writer, DRG, If the Rays are going to compete in the AL East against teams that think the playoffs are just handed to them on a silver platter their attitude needs to change, The Rays could put their collective tails between their legs and accept losing or they can stand up to the bullies. With some drunk in the right field bleachers screaming “Get him a body bag, yeaaahhh!”, Daniel LaRusso just punched the Cobra Kai in the nose, and it sure sounds like the Cobra Kai would rather cry about it than fight back.

MBB: I like the fact that Maddon is trying to instill a new “mentality” in the Rays after losing the clubhouse a bit last year when he had trouble controlling the now departed Delmon Young and hoodlum Elijah Dukes. He has an obligation to get his team to believe in themselves and compete hard everyday. I just think telling your players it’s okay to run over an opposing team’s catcher is careless, especially when the end game doesn’t mean much in the spring. All you do is risk injury to both players and for a young and promising team like the Rays, I’m surprised Maddon is advocating it.

---------------

To add one thought that was not included in the exchange, let us say that from a philosophical point-of-view, we wouldn't advocate running over catchers in spring training, but we also don't see it as a dirty play. When we first heard that Crawford had run over an Astros' catcher our first reaction was, "what is he thinking? We can't afford to have CC get hurt in the spring". Obviously this was less of a concern with Johnson as he does not figure into the Rays immediate plans. So maybe we are being hypocritical. We are OK with that.

The Cervelli/Johnson Incident: Rays Index talks with My Baseball Bias [My Baseball Bias]

It is not just spring training for the guys playing in the 9th inning of a spring game.

For those that missed, and we don't know how you could, the Rays' Elliot Johnson, a second base prospect, collided with the Yankees Francisco Cervelli, a reserve catcher in the 9th inning of yesterday's game at Legends Field. The collision resulted in a broken bone for Cervelli.

Joe Girardi, the Yankees new skipper was the first to chime in.

During the season, I’m all for it. It happens in the season.” But, he added, “In spring training, I don’t believe in it...I’m all for playing hard, but I don’t think it’s the time where you run over a catcher.”

Cervelli on the other hand had no problem with the play.

“It’s part of the game,” said Cervelli, who turned 22 on Thursday and played last season at Class A Tampa. “It’s O.K.”

Former Yankees bench coach Don Zimmer said that Girardi's comments "stunk" noting that Girardi is a former catcher and knows how the game is played.

"Then when I pick up the paper this morning, I was dumbfounded. He blocked the plate. What happens if our man slides in with the plate being blocked and breaks his leg? ... I am surprised the way Girardi said what he did. The plate was blocked, and our guy bowled him over. That's the way to play the game. I mean, I'm talking about a guy who is like a son to me. But I can't believe he went after it the way he did, because that's not Joe Girardi -- and being a catcher on top of that."

Zim is absolutely correct. Not surprisingly the Yankees Blogosphere is doing what they do best...whining.

But Elliot Johnson was unnecessarily rough coming home and broke Francisco Cervelli. Turd. It's freaking Spring Training. There's no need to barrel someone over.

Here is the problem with that statement: For the guys that are playing in the 9th inning of a spring training game, this is their regular season. These are players that are most likely not making the team, that are fighting for jobs and trying to make an impression on the coaches and front office. You absolutely CANNOT ask them to dial it down for the sake of somebody might get hurt.

Get over it. Go out and buy yourself another AAA catcher. Personally I love the intensity being shown by the Rays in spring training. The Rays compete in the toughest division in baseball with two of the best teams in baseball. The Rays could put their collective tails between their legs and accept losing or they can stand up to the bullies.

The 2008 Tampa Bay Rays have chosen to punch the bully right in the nose and I love it.

Girardi Says Collision At Plate Is Uncalled For [New York Times]
Rays' Zimmer weighs in on collision [Tampa Bay Rays]
Freaking Devil Rays [Joblog Chamberlain]