Lancelot’s Cardinals @ Trophobic Rays 7/1-7/3

[Tobywan]

Probables

Westbrook VS Davis

McClellan VS Niemann

Lohse VS Hellickson


Another major leaguer is coming home but not because he has ever been a member of the Rays but because he grew up in Tampa. Tony La Russa makes a return to the area where he still has family and friends. He played ball as a kid with Lou Piniella another local boy.

The Cardinals have only made played one regular season series at the Trop when they swept the Devil Rays in 2005, the Rays visited STL in 2008 and lost the series 2-1.

Cards are coming off a sweep of the Orioles and the Rays lost 2 of 3 from the Reds.

Berkman has come back to life this season, he had struggled a bit recently but had 2 homers and 3 ribbies in the finale against the O’s. Evan Longoria had a stellar road trip but outside of the walk off homer on Tuesday has been anything but at home. Hitting just .195 with 6 RBIs at the Trop.

Tonight’s match-ups…

Westbrook’s start was pushed back from Wed. to give him extra rest. He pitched well in the first two months but struggled in June. He has a 5.57 ERA in 6 starts, but has had a bit of past success against the Rays. Davis has won his last 3 starts including a 7 inning, one run win against the Astros.

The Johnny D hit watch…
With a single on Wed., he tied Hall of Famer Ted Williams for 71st on baseball's all-time hits list, with 2,654.

I am going to the game tomorrow, it is “Turn Back The Clock”.. since the Rays don’t have a long history , at times they reach waaaaaay back for some old time jerseys from local Tampa/St Pete clubs. They decided on the Tampa Cigar Smokers for this game, BUT decided to “alter” the jersey just a bit. Their stance is trying to honor a past tradition/culture of the area yet be a bit PC and true to their local campaigns against tobacco and for cancer prevention and awareness by altering the jersey a tad. There has been some controversy with many editorials and letters in the local papers not appreciating the Rays “alterations”, the kicker is the Rays have a Cuesta Ray Cigar bar inside Tropicana Field.

Promos for this weekend…

Friday


Saturday


Original jersey

All kids. All Sunday.
DJ Kitty puppet

The Wiggles

[Tobywan]

Line ups


Cardinals

Theriot SS
Jay RF
Holliday DH
Berkman LF
Freese 3B
Rasmus CF
Molina C
Hamilton 1B
Schumaker 2B

Rays

Damon DH
Zobrist 2B
Longoria 3B
Joyce RF
Upton CF
Kotchman 1B
Jaso C
Fuld LF
Brignac SS

[Tobywan]

Theriot pops out to right in foul territory.
Jay grounds out to first.
Holliday robbed of a hit from SUPER SAMMY!

[Tobywan]

Damon chops out to second.
Zobrist bounces out to second.
Longoria lines out to right.

[Tobywan]

Berkman rips a double into center.
Freese lines a single into right, Berkman to third.
Rasmus grounds out to second, Berkman scores, Freese to second.
Molina singles into center, Freese rounds for home, the throw not in time, Molina to second.
Hamilton walks.
Schumaker pops it high near the net, Jaso reaches into the camera well and grabs it.
Theriot taps back to the mound, out at first.

Cards strike first 2-0.

[Tobywan]

Joyce out swinging.
Upton out looking.
Kotchman takes a walk.
Jaso rips a single past the diving Schumaker, Kotch to third.
Fuld grounds to second, Jaso forced out.

[Tobywan]

Jay flies out to center.
Holliday lines hard to left, Fuld plays the carom, throw not in time, double.
Berkman grounds out 1-3.
Freese grounds out to short.

[Tobywan]

Brignac down swinging.
Damon pops to short.
Zobrist walks.
Longoria walks.
Joyce down swinging.

[Tobywan]

Onto the 4th.
Rasmus lines out to center.
Molina flies out to center.
Hamilton grounds out to third.

[Tobywan]

Upton singles to right.
Kotch grounds out to third, Upton moves to second.
Jaso grounds to short, Upton to third.
Fuld called out on strikes, Sam is NOT happy.

Cards lead 2-0.

[Tobywan]

Schumaker shoots a single into center.
Theriot grounds a single past short, Schumaker to second.
Jay out swinging.
Holliday pops to short.
Berkman flies out to left.

[Tobywan]

Brignac flies out to center.
Damon out swinging.
Zobrist popped out to short.

[Tobywan]

Freese grounds out to second.
Rasmus 3 strikes called.
Molina grounds to short.

[Tobywan]

Longoria out looking.
Joyce shoots one off of Westbrook, he recovers, throw to first for the out.
Upton lines out to center.


Onto the 7th.

[Tobywan]

Hamilton down on strikes.
Schumaker flies out to left.
Theriot flies out to center.

Time to stretch.