Rays Round-up: Josh Freeman edition

The Rays have the Gabes and now the Bucs have the Joshes.  If you missed it yesterday, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers traded up to get Kansas QB Josh Freeman.  For me, it was a sad day in the history of the Tampa Bay sports.  The Bucs seem to have returned to the legacy left behind by Richard Williamson.

What does this have to do with the Rays?  Not much, except I would've rather seen them get a victory to improve my mood.  Of course, it was TV blackout day and we couldn't watch what was going on without going to Oakland and getting tickets.  But, from what I heard on the radio I didn't miss much.  Another run-of-the-mill lefty terrorizing Rays' hitters.  Garza having control problems. And a new problem: The inability to mount a comeback.  Like I said before, I'm not ready to push the panic button.  A West Coast road trip is never easy.  I would consider a .500 record when they return to St. Pete a bonus. I'm anxious to see how they're going to play against the Red Sox.

Here's a look at today's Ray's Round-up.  As always, my comments in italics.

-The Oakland Tribune highlights Jason Giambi's homer as part of the catalyst for the A's breaking their 5 game losing streak.   Uhhg... the Rays should wipe the mat with these guys every day of the week.  I really think they need to win today's game.

-Maddon defends his decision to hold back the starters in Spring Training.  I'm not really that upset about the pitcher's spring training workload.  Yes, they are making some mistakes. But, if the Rays offense would produce a little more consistently those mistakes would not be magnified. 

-Rise of the Rays breaks down the numbers against today's lefty of the day Dan Eveland.  I would really like to add a win in my Steve Carlton Syndrome counter today.  This is the perfect pitcher to break out of the lefty slump with.

-Rays the Stakes has a poll asking which announcer you like better Kevin Kennedy or Brian Anderson.  I really liked Brian Anderson when he filled in last year... for about 2 games. His analysis and anecdotes seem to get repetitive after that. I think it's mostly because he's inexperienced, but I think he can grow into the roll. Maybe Kennedy is only here for the short term and they're giving Anderson some practice.  I think the producers must like him too. He was an AFLAC trivia answer and then they showed footage of Griffey going yard on him.  As for Kennedy, his experience still makes him my choice.

-The Rays Party has a new poll to rank the Rays versus the rest of MLB.  Honestly, so early in the season, it's really hard to get a good sample of what a team looks like compared to the rest of MLB.  So, I went the easy way out and ranked them by their record.  Of course, being a homer I kicked it up a couple of places. :)