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	<title>Tampa Bay Sports Blog &#187; J.P. Howell</title>
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	<link>http://tampabaysportsblog.com</link>
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		<title>Five moves the Rays should make.</title>
		<link>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/five-moves-the-rays-should-make/</link>
		<comments>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/five-moves-the-rays-should-make/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:57:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Scott Brannelly</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tampa Bay Rays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Akinori Iwamura]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Andrew Friedman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Andy Sonnanstine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ben Zobrist]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BJ Upton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Boston Red Sox]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brandon Lyon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brian Fuentes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carl Crawford]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carlos Guillen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carlos Pena]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chad Bradford]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dan Wheeler]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[David Price]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dioner Navarro]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Edwin Jackson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Elijah Dukes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Evan Longoria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Francisco Rodriguez]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gabe Gross]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gary Sheffield]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Grant Balfour]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[J.P. Howell]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[James Shields]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jason Bartlett]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jason Hammel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jeff Niemann]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Joe Beimel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Joe Maddon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jonny Gomes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Los Angeles Dodgers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Magglio Ordonez]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matt Garza]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Miguel Cabrera]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mitch Talbot]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pat Burrell]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Philadelphia Phillies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reid Brignac]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rocco Baldelli]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Scott Kazmir]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Shawn Riggans]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Trever Miller]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Willy Aybar]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tampabaysportsblog.com/?p=371</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[    In the spirit of trying to keep up with the goings on of the hot stove league I&#8217;ve decided to look at the possibilities and suggest five moves the Rays should make to improve their team. I will try to be as realistic as I can be while trying to view things from both sides. Let&#8217;s roll with it and see how it goes. Sign Joe Beimel: Starting slow and sounding as simple as possible, I know, but the addition of Beimel as Trever Millers replacement would be a huge upgrade to an already good bullpen. Beimel has done very well in the last few years with the Dodgers and, as a type B free agent, there would be no draft picks lost. Beimel could legitimately be used in more situations than just the lefty on lefty matchups if needed, but would be the ideal guy to slot in with Howell, Balfour and Wheeler in shutting teams down from the seventh inning on. There is a lot of competition out there for Beimel but I think it could be done. Re-sign Rocco Baldelli: One of those sentimental moves I think both sides would go for. The only problem that [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Rays season over, sigh.</title>
		<link>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/rays-season-over-sigh/</link>
		<comments>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/rays-season-over-sigh/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 07 Nov 2008 18:36:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Scott Brannelly</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tampa Bay Rays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Akinori Iwamura]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Al Reyes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Andy Sonnanstine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ben Zobrist]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BJ Upton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carl Crawford]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carlos Pena]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chad Bradford]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cliff Floyd]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dan Wheeler]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[David Price]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Eric Hinske]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Evan Longoria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fernando Perez]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gabe Gross]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gary Glover]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Grant Balfour]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[J.P. Howell]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[James Shields]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jason Bartlett]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jason Hammel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jeff Niemann]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jonny Gomes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Juan Salas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kurt Birkins]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matt Garza]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mitch Talbot]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nathan Haynes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rocco Baldelli]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Scott Dohman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Scott Kazmir]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Shawn Riggans]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Trevor Miller]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Troy Percival]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Willy Aybar]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tampabaysportsblog.com/?p=336</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[   Time to wrap up the Rays season. What a season we had here, never saw this coming. I thought, the same as everyone else, the Rays would improve but not to this extent. Let&#8217;s wrap it up&#8230; The defense: The most dramatically improved thing on this team was the defense. The arrival of Jason Bartlett and Evan Longoria made this into the best left side defense in baseball. I was skeptical of Bartlett in the beginning (no need to bring my stupidity there again) as he had some unexplained throwing errors early but recovered to have a great season (should&#8217;ve got the gold glove over Young in my opinion). Longo was great defensively from day one and that&#8217;s that. Aki transitioned nicely over to second and Pena (won gold glove) was phenomenal. Having Pena at the corner saved Barty and Longo at least 5 errors a piece. Navarro&#8217;s improvement behind the plate was far and away the most amazing difference I saw. He was such a different player all around this year that I want to compare images from last season to see if this is the same guy. Unreal! Crawford and Upton were very good and have the [...]]]></description>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Rays have best record in MLB!</title>
		<link>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/rays-have-best-record-in-mlb/</link>
		<comments>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/rays-have-best-record-in-mlb/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 27 May 2008 19:29:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Scott Brannelly</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tampa Bay Rays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Al Reyes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dan Wheeler]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Eric Hinske]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gabe Gross]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gary Glover]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[J.P. Howell]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jonny Gomes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Juan Salas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Troy Percival]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tampabaysportsblog.com/?p=217</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[   Who would&#8217;ve thought that as late as Memorial Day, your Tampa Bay Rays have the best record in baseball? Not just the A.L. East or even the A.L., but in all of Major League Baseball. This is crazy! I would&#8217;ve never thought it but its&#8217; here. This has prompted me to start looking at certain scenarios for the Rays continuous contention throughout.    It might be time for the Rays to start targeting positions to improve on. First place to start for me would be RF. I think that the trio of Hinske, Gomes and Gross have done an adequate enough job but if the Rays want to compete for a playoff spot they are going to need to improve here. Depending on the asking prices of course, I would like them to start looking at guys like Jason Bay and Andre Ethier. The Rays looked at Ethier in the off season and seem to have a good working relationship with the Dodgers so maybe start there.    They are also going to need a couple more pitchers. If you wanna get crazy, let&#8217;s go ahead and do it, I would keep an eye on the Brewers situation, namely Ben Sheets. If the [...]]]></description>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Rays win again, time to give props.</title>
		<link>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/rays-win-again-time-to-give-props/</link>
		<comments>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/rays-win-again-time-to-give-props/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 24 May 2008 03:40:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Scott Brannelly</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tampa Bay Rays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Akinori Iwamura]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dan Wheeler]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dioner Navarro]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Edwin Jackson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[J.P. Howell]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jason Bartlett]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matt Garza]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Troy Percival]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tampabaysportsblog.com/?p=215</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[   The Rays shut out another team tonight behind some nice pitching and defense. The defense is the main reason for the improvement of the pitching staff this year in my opinion and it&#8217;s time I gave some guys props for the work they&#8217;ve put in.    Matt Garza is almost as unpredictable as Edwin Jackson but he continues to put up solid performances when needed. He threw seven plus innings of shutout ball tonight and since coming off of the DL has been good. He is 3-1 in 36.1 innings with an ERA of 2.99 since his short DL stint and the team is 6-2 in his starts during that time. He has walked 15 and struckout 14 in that span which is troublesome but he&#8217;s getting it done.    Troy Percival is holding up better than I expected. I thought that, given his injury history and age, that Percy would have a hard time being a full time closer again but he&#8217;s doing it. Troy has saved 14 games so far and he appears to be all that was advertised. The games he&#8217;s given up don&#8217;t seem to effect him the next time out and he&#8217;s taking control of the bullpen. You can probably attribute [...]]]></description>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Rays still need work.</title>
		<link>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/rays-still-need-work/</link>
		<comments>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/rays-still-need-work/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 21 May 2008 00:14:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Scott Brannelly</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tampa Bay Rays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Andy Sonnanstine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BJ Upton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carl Crawford]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carlos Pena]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dan Wheeler]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gary Glover]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[J.P. Howell]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tampabaysportsblog.com/?p=212</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[    After a weekend series in St. Louis there are still some problems that need immediate attention. The baserunning is terrible. There are still way too many mistakes being made on the basepaths that are unforgivable. There is no excuse for the mistakes that are being made. It would be one thing if they were just being over aggressive sometimes or the occasional blunder but these are little league mistakes. These are things guys should know by the time they&#8217;re in high school much less the major leagues. I&#8217;m tired of hearing what a great &#8220;teacher of kids&#8221; when these guys are making little league mistakes. This needs to be fixed. Still too many strikeouts! They are second in the A.L. in strikeouts and it is aggravating. I know I keep beating a dead horse here but it is so frustrating to watch guys take so many good pitches and leave themselves in horrible hitters counts. If someone could possibly teach B.J. Upton to cut down his swing with two strikes or even teach him it&#8217;s ok to swing at a fastball down the middle early in the count it wouldn&#8217;t be near as bad. Carlos Pena needs to flatten [...]]]></description>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Rays bad again in loss to Sox.</title>
		<link>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/rays-bad-again-in-loss-to-sox/</link>
		<comments>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/rays-bad-again-in-loss-to-sox/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 04 May 2008 02:21:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Scott Brannelly</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tampa Bay Rays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Akinori Iwamura]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dioner Navarro]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gabe Gross]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[J.P. Howell]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[James Shields]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jonny Gomes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Justin Ruggiano]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nathan Haynes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Scott Dohman]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tampabaysportsblog.com/?p=189</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[   James Shields took the hill and looked bad from the first pitch tonight. These things happen. Shields is a good pitcher and this is just something that happens to all pitchers from time to time. The bullpen is starting to come down to earth as Howell and Dohman both gave up runs. Anyone who thought this team would finish the season with the best bullpen was crazy anyway. It was a bad night all around and there does need to be some changes made soon. I&#8217;m sick of watching Dioner Navarro act like he&#8217;s sitting on a bar stool behind the plate and not even attempting to move sideways or even drop down to block wild pitches. You can visually see each and every pitcher on the staff working to keep the ball down and in doing so they are ALL bouncing more pitches to the plate than normal. When you are having your pitchers do this the catcher must be aware and REACT accordingly. The fat catcher is a statue behind the plate and it&#8217;s getting worse. He will no longer be referred to by his given name on this site as the fat catcher has earned his [...]]]></description>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Bone to pick with DRaysBay.</title>
		<link>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/bone-to-pick-with-draysbay/</link>
		<comments>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/bone-to-pick-with-draysbay/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:08:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Scott Brannelly</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tampa Bay Rays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Akinori Iwamura]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Al Reyes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Andy Sonnanstine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BJ Upton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carl Crawford]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carlos Pena]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dioner Navarro]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Edwin Jackson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Evan Longoria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[J.P. Howell]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jason Hammel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matt Garza]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tampabaysportsblog.com/2008/03/24/bone-to-pick-with-draysbay/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[   Obviously by reading what I do here I&#8217;m a fan of DRaysBay and I think they do a great job at what they do. I have a problem with some of their opinions in a recent interview now though. They did a nice Q &#38; A with Keith Law of ESPN regarding the status of the Rays and after reading that I have a problem with some of their opinions. First off I&#8217;m in agreement with them regarding Evan Longoria in thinking that he should be the Rays opening day third baseman. I think the Rays are stupid here because it appears that they want to send Longoria down to delay his free-agency a year by bringing him up later. This is correct in theory and I understand the financial responsibilities involved in doing this but what everyone doesn&#8217;t seem to understand, including the Rays, is that even if the Rays send Longoria down to delay his arbitration eligibility a year he still can qualify as a &#8216;super 2 &#8216; player. If Longoria is half the player we think he is he will qualify as a super 2 and this is all meaningless then because he will then be [...]]]></description>
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