Rays News for 5/14

[Giambino]

Cramp dooms Jays
May 14
Toronto Star: "What should have been the third out instead became an RBI single as Carl Crawford trotted home from third on the play. 'I made the pitch I needed to get the weak ground ball,' a downcast Tallet said after the 2-1 loss."

Second-Guessing Gibbons
May 14
Toronto Sun: " It didn't add up for the Blue Jays -- either the final score or the move by Blue Jays manager John Gibbons. In dropping a 2-1 decision to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays yesterday afternoon at the Rogers Centre, the Jays wasted a splendid start by Shaun Marcum, who no-hit the Rays through six innings. "

Baldelli Remains Leadoff Despite Slump
May 14
Tampa Tribune: "Even when Rocco Baldelli finally put a ball in play Sunday, hitting a hard liner to first base in the eighth inning, it didn't work out for him."

Maddon to be patient with reeling Baldelli
May 14
St. Petersburg Times: "Rocco Baldelli finished the team's six-game road trip with another hitless day, his personal slump continuing to pile up, but Rays manager Joe Maddon said he will give his centerfielder the opportunity to work out his struggles and not move him from the leadoff spot."

Seo much for struggling
May 14
Toronto Sun: " Tampa Bay Devil Rays pitcher Jae Seo was a regular Seo Young yesterday. Which is interesting, because he hasn't exactly burned up the American League the past two seasons. "

Rays Refuse To Use Minor Talent As Major Band-Aid
May 14
Tampa Tribune: "In years past, Devil Rays reliever Brian Stokes would not have had the chance to give up five winning runs in the first six weeks of the season. After one or two major-league blowups in April, he would have been shipped to the minors and replaced by another young, hard-throwing pitcher who might have had a couple of weeks' success at Triple-A Durham or even Double-A Montgomery."

Litsch caps rapid rise with callup to Toronto
May 14
St. Petersburg Times: "As a Devil Rays bat boy in 2001-02, former Dixie Hollins High star Jesse Litsch got to see what life in the major leagues was like. Now he'll experience it."