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May 18, 2023Liked by Jeffrey Bellone

So....I went to the game and left in the top of the 9th. A sacrifice had to be made. You’re welcome, everyone.

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May 18, 2023Liked by Jeffrey Bellone

the ONE TIME I go to bed early...

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May 18, 2023Liked by Jeffrey Bellone

I bet everyone's coffee taste just a little bit better this morning.

Great win for our boys! Let's hope this is the spark they need to start playing consistent winning baseball.

As for the catching situation, why is our FO so enamored with Gary Sanchez? For a FO that uses defense as an excuse to hold each one of our prospects down they don't seem to care about Sanchez' deficiencies behind the plate....Almost like they were creating something that wasn't there...

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May 18, 2023Liked by Jeffrey Bellone

In memory of Yogi (whoes grand-daughter helped put together a film on his life - coming out soon) "its not over till its over#

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Spark that starts the fire?

Or a false dawn?

Let's hope it's the former.

Great job as always JB.

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May 18, 2023·edited May 18, 2023

Momentum is as real as the next day's starter. I'm glad it's not David Peterson.

Sending down Alvarez would be criminally dumb. I'm sorry to read it considered here.

Yes on all the great things last night: Senga, Vientos, Alvarez, Alonso.

Lost in this was, I think, one of the most egregiously bad managerial moves I've seen in a long time.

6th inning and the Devil Rays, up 1-0, bring in RHP Kelly in relief. McNeil crushes a ball for an out in the gap; Lindor smashes a hard single to RF; Alonso grounds out to 2B, while McNeil advances to second base. Pham due up is 1-1 w/ a walk. So Buck brings in Vogelbach to PH, despite the fact the Rays have a LHP warming up in the pen! How did they not anticipate the next move?

Vogelbach can't hit LHP, as we know. He is completely overmatched and undressed by Diekman. Vogelbach takes three called strikes. Brutal, non-competitive AB and a non-sensical move by Buck. He effectively forced the Rays to remove a struggling pitcher in order to achieve a horrendous matchup.

For today's lineup I'd go with: Baty at 3B, Pete at DH (under the weather), Vientos at 1B, Escobar at 2B, McNeil in RF (Marte hit on hand last night and he could take a day off).

Note: Vientos ripped that HR against a tough sidearming RH pitcher. If Buck forces Vientos & Baty into a platoon I'll lose my mind a little bit.

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Re getting AB’s for Vientos against righties. They could also put Baty in LF and Vientos at 3B while having Vogelbach DH. That might be a bit adventurous defensively but it’s probably our best lineup against a RHP at the moment.

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Last night could have been the turning point. Time will tell. Hopefully Buck rides the hot hands with the lineup today and plays the kids, although I could see sitting Alvarez with a day game after a night game.

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zac gallen needs to hit a bird with a fastball in game instead of a warm up pitch and maybe we don't wait until the late innings to it homers...

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It’s almost like the veterans won the game in the 9th only after the kids showed them how it’s done in the previous innings with their blasts. It’s not that simple, but I like the narrative.

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Key AB last night: Canha's 7th inning HBP. He took that one for the team and Vientos cracked his game-tying HR. To me, everything stemmed from that AB. He went to the plate knowing he had to get on base and did. Prior to that, everyone who went up there with a specific job failed to do so (especially Lindor and Alonso - someone has to order them NOT to swing at the first pitch all the time). The comeback started there. "It's the little things."

So, should I take the 7 train to Citi and root them on?

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