Triple-A International League: Durham Bulls 5, Syracuse Chiefs (WSN) 0

So far in 2012, Jake Odorizzi has been extremely hit-or-miss, looking great in his two good games entering Monday while struggling mightily in the other two. Hopefully Odorizzi can get his season more even-keeled moving forward, but in any event, he was great versus the Chiefs. Odorizzi labored to throw 91 pitches through 5 innings, but his results were excellent as he went 5 innings allowing no runs on 4 hits, striking out 6 while walking none. Odorizzi’s strikeout to walk ratio on the season stands at an unbelievable 36-9 in 27 innings pitched, and while he needs to continue working on keeping the ball down in the zone, he has the ability to be a really good pitcher in the major leagues and soon. Frank De Los Santos and Steve Geltz finished the game for Durham, allowing just 1 hit in their 4 innings while striking out 4. Geltz walked 3 batters across 2 innings in his first appearance of the season and has walked just 2 versus 20 strikeouts in the 20.2 innings since. On the offensive side, Chris Gimenez and Leslie Anderson had big games for the Bulls, with Gimenez going 3 for 5 with a double and 2 runs scored and Anderson going 2 for 4 with 2 doubles, a walk (yay!), and a run scored, but it was Cole Figueroa who came up with a big 2-run double in the 6th to ice the game for Durham. Great to see Odorizzi and the Bulls’ arms going strong, and the lineup gave them a strong effort as well to tie together a strong game.

Double-A Southern League: Birmingham Barons (CHW) 5, Montgomery Biscuits 2

Unfortunate game in this one as Victor Mateo pitched very well before allowing a 6th inning grand slam that made all the difference in the Biscuits’ 5-2 loss. Mateo wound up going 5+ innings allowing 4 runs on 8 hits, striking out 2 while walking 2. Matt Nevarez did look great behind him, tossing two 1-hit innings striking out 2 and forcing 3 groundouts. On the offensive side, the Biscuits just managed 3 hits all game, with Kyeong Kang‘s solo home run in the 2nd inning representing the only extra-base knock. Mikie Mahtook and Robi Estrada has the other 2 hits as Montgomery had themselves an awfully hard time with Stephen McCray and the Barons and hope to get better luck next time around.

High-A Florida State League: Lakeland Flying Tigers 12, Charlotte Stone Crabs 3

Lopsided score in this one, but the Stone Crabs still had several highlights to draw from. Roberto Gomez was terrible, allowing 6 runs on 9 hits in 4 innings, and Jacob Partridge was far worse, allowing 5 runs in just 1 inning of work, but the Stone Crabs held Lakeland to just 4 runs in last 2 innings. Bruedlin Suero tossed 2 shutout innings with a strikeout and Shay Crawford later finished the game with a perfect inning in the 9th, striking out 1. The lefty Crawford has a 1.13 ERA in 8 IP so far in 2013. Then there was the Charlotte bats. This game became much more positive in the 8th inning when Richie Shaffer slammed a 2-run home run. Shaffer went 2 for 4 with his homer in the game, and he’s hitting just .213 on the season but is slowly but surely breaking out of his early-season slump. Brett Nommensen went 3 for 4 with a stolen base for Charlotte while Ryan McChesney, making his season debut, went 1 for 2. McChesney, signed by the Rays as a non-drafted free agent last year, is getting an opportunity with Luke Bailey on the DL, and good luck to him making the most of it.

Low-A Midwest League: Bowling Green Hot Rods 4, Peoria Chiefs (STL) 3 (11 innings)

Wins don’t get much better than this for the Hot Rods as they rallied to tie the game in both the 8th and 9th before winning it in the 11th. Taylor Guerrieri got the start for Bowling Green with the training wheels off for the second straight start, and this time he was dominant. Guerrieri went 5 innings allowing 2 runs on 5 hits, striking out 5 while walking 1 and managing a 9-1 groundout to flyout ratio. Guerrieri finally let up his first homer of the season in his 5th start, but the Chiefs still could not beat him. The final 6 innings of the game were pretty incredible for Bowling Green as four pitchers combined to allow just 1 run, striking out 10 in the process to give the Hot Rods 15 for the game. Reinaldo Lopez struck out the side in the 6th while Marcus Jensen tossed 2 shutout innings with 2 more K’s for the win. In terms of the run support, the Hot Rods finally got on the board in the 5th on a Tommy Coyle RBI double to make it 2-1 game, and in the 8th they finally tied it up, getting a pair of hits before Marty Gantt tied the game with a sac fly. The Chiefs went ahead in the top of the 9th, but the Hot Rods came right back with a gutsy RBI bunt single to send the game into extra innings. And in the 11th, Andrew Toles sealed the deal with a walk-off single as Bowling Green won 4-3. Toles had a huge game, going 3 for 6 with a double, an RBI, and his 11th stolen base of the season already, Coyle also went 3 for 6 with a double and an RBI, Rickard wen 2 for 3 with 3 walks, an RBI, and a run scored, and Leonardo Reginatto went 3 for 5 wtih a double and 2 runs scored. Tyler Goeddel has been out for the Hot Rods with the dreaded hamstring injury, especially devastating because he was on fire when he went down, but the Hot Rods have found a way to keep going and should only be better when he gets back.

How will the Rays replace Scott? Their options on the 40-man roster are confined to Chris Gimenez, Brandon Guyer, and Stephen Vogt, with only Vogt being a left-handed batter, and among that group, Gimenez is the easy choice. Gimenez lost the Rays’ backup catcher competition not because he played well but only because he had a minor league option remaining, and he seems to have broken through at the plate and might actually be the Rays catcher with the best chance of providing the team with decent offense. If Gimenez truly makes the team, you would expect Jose Lobaton to still be the Rays’ primary backup catcher, but the Rays will certainly get plenty of mileage out of Gimenez’s ability to play catcher plus all four corner positions. The real beneficiaries on the roster in terms of playing time, though, while Scott would be out would appear to be Sam Fuld, Ryan Roberts, and Sean Rodriguez. Fuld will replace Scott as a left-handed hitter in the lineup versus right-handed pitching, although he’ll most certainly bat 9th instead of Scott’s 5th, and while he’s not the hitter Scott is, he could make up a good portion of the difference with his speed and defense. That could happen as soon as Opening Day, when after announcing this lineup that featured Scott, the Rays could wind up going with a lineup like this.

Desmond Jennings, CF
Matt Joyce, RF
Evan Longoria, 3B
Ben Zobrist, 2B
Yunel Escobar, SS
James Loney, 1B
Kelly Johnson, DH
Jose Molina, C
Sam Fuld, LF
—
David Price, SP

Against left-handed pitching, the absence of Scott will essentially guarantee that both Roberts and Rodriguez will be in the lineup on a regular basis, with one likely at DH and the other playing first base, second base, or left field. The Rays might also take the opportunity to ease Evan Longoria back into the lineup a little more and put Roberts or Rodriguez at third base every once in a while against lefty pitching with Longoria at DH. Roberts’ situation could be especially interesting as he actually hit righties better than lefties last year and could compete with Fuld for time in that role. Putting any of Fuld, Roberts, and Rodriguez into the lineup is certainly a drop-off compared to Scott, but each of them can do a bunch of things well and will allow Joe Maddon to get creative as he hopes to make up as much as possible for what the offense will lose with Scott out.

Luke Scott starting the season on the DL especially stings after he played so well in the spring and looked primed for a huge year in the middle of the Rays’ lineup. But the good news is that the injury does not appear to be too severe as Scott could return in a little over a week and the Rays will be able to survive fine without him with several players in position to step up. This offseason, the Rays did an excellent job compiling infield depth knowing how quickly injuries can change everything. That will pay dividends immediately with multiple players emerging as options for increased playing time as the Rays look for the best way to weather the storm without Scott.

“He has a tendency of not starting quickly,” manager Joe Maddon said. “I remember we wanted to get him more at-bats because of that. We ended up needing him a couple of years ago, and he ended up doing really well. For me, it’s still important to get him out there as often as we can.”

Before yesterday’s game against the Red Sox, there was a mishap in the Rays locker room. Astro, the French bulldog of David Price who has achieved celebrity status in his own right, decided to mark Chris Gimenez‘s travel bag as his own property. Fortunately, both parties laughed off the accident, exchanging friendly tweets in regards to the situation.

Haha Astro sent a special good luck to @chrisgimenez5 ….don’t worry I cleaned up the little pee puddle… twitter.com/DAVIDprice14/s…

— David Price (@DAVIDprice14) March 17, 2013

It’s got to good luck if @astro_dpsdog pee’s on your bag right!

— Chris Gimenez (@ChrisGimenez5) March 17, 2013

He said sorry!!! RT @raysbaseball: News of the Day–Astro mistakes Chris Gimenez’s bag for fire hydrant: twitter.com/Cut4/status/31…

— David Price (@DAVIDprice14) March 17, 2013

Fernando Rodney has been one of the standouts for the Dominican Republic as they continue to make their way through he World Baseball Classic, appearing in six games and allowing only one hit in 5.1 scoreless innings. However, Maddon is unconcerned about his workload, particularly since Rodney has not thrown more than 17 pitches in any of his appearances.

“The concern is that on the back side of that, if there’s going to be a letdown in a sense, because he’s had all this adrenaline rush going on right now,” manager Joe Maddon said. “He is so into it, and rightfully so. I think that’s more of a concern than just pitching too often, the fact that you’ve pitched at such a high level.”

As the WBC ends on Tuesday, Rodney will still have plenty of time to relax and get himself ready for Opening Day, while staying sharp for the regular season.