Rays Colored Glasses » hank blalock

Bye, Bye, To Hank “I Tanked” Blalock

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 21:05:28 +0000

Hank Blalock was the player who was supposed to take the slack when Pat Burrell was designated for assignment, but with a very poor performance since being brought up from Durham, Blalock has also been designated for assignment. Blalock did not see the field much, hitting .254 with a home run and seven RBIs in 63 at-bats for the Rays.” Hopefully there will be a team that wants me to play for them. … I’m not sure how the designated for assignment or released thing works out, or whatever. I’ll fly back to Tampa and pack my stuff up and go be with my family in San Diego, and we’ll see if there’s another team that wants me.” DOUBT IT.

And if your wondering what Pat “the bat” Burell is doing for the San Francisco Giants, he’s doing what he was suppsoed to do here. Burrell is hitting .344 with 5 home runs and 11 RBIs in 61 at-bats. For the Rays, Burrell hit .202 with 2 home runs and 13 RBIs in 84 at-bats. Damn. I guess being a DH wasn’t Burrell’s cup of tea.

With the designation of Hank Blalock, the Rays filled in the roster with the return of Gabe Kapler off the DL. Kapler was injured with a right hip flexor strain and will return to the team tonight against the Red Sox.

Another Horrible Call Against The Rays

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 21:04:31 +0000

The Rays lost a game I believe could have ended differently, if it weren’t for another horrible call by the home plate umpire. The Rays were losing 0-3 by the sixth inning and was in the midst of their usual big inning to come back when Hank Blalock came in as a pinch hitter and hit a single to start off the inning. John Jaso was the next to follow with a double in the gap to put two runners in scoring position, putting Carl Crawford at the plate. Now, here comes the bs call that altered the momentum of the Rays inning.

Tommy Hanson, pretty much to this point, was dominating the Rays lineup threw an unexpected pass ball that went to the backstop. With Blalock on 3rd and making a slow motion run (he’s really, really slow) to the plate, he seems to have slid underneath the tag and would be the first score for the Rays. But not so fast. The umpire calls Blalock out, when it was easily apparent he was safe.”I felt like I made an aggressive baserunning play to get our team back in the game,” Blalock said. “And scoring that run, I felt like, would have given us a lot of momentum there. And the replay showed I was safe.” All I have to say is RIDICULOUS call.

Im not going to blame us losing on that single call, but it was definitely a game changer. The Rays bats were not in tact with the superb pitching by Hanson and Wade Davis again did not have any command or dominance in any of his pitches. Davis is now 5-7 with a 4.94 ERA. I dont want to count Wade out as a viable 5th starter, but its becoming known that he has been struggling this season on getting batters out. His walk to strikeout ratio is not that good. Striking out 51 and walking 30.

The Braves would end up winning this game 6-2, as the Rays scored a few runs in the 9th to get on the board; with a run scoring single by Zobrist, and a double by Navarro. The series ends tonight and lets hope Shields can shut them down to get the series victory.

Bye Bye Burrell, Hello Hank

Sat, 15 May 2010 19:35:02 +0000

I am most pleased to say that Pat Burrell has been designated for assignment today and Hank Blalock will be promoted in his place. Burrell was batting an astonishing .202 with 17 hits in 84 plate appearances and not to mention striking out 28 times. Its about time they assigned this waste of space to the minors. If Joe Maddon didn’t praise loyalty to his players, he would have been done a long time ago. Maddon talks about how great his work ethic was but what’s the point of good work ethic if it does you no good? It was time for a change and I believe anyone taking his place is an upgrade.

Hank Blalock was signed during the spring in case of this situation occuring. He is hitting .349 with five doubles, four home runs and 24 RBIs while recording a .910 OPS with the Bulls. He could also be considered Carlos Pena’s replacement if he plays well and Pena does not resign this offseason, which word around the streets is unlikely to happen. Last year, barring injuries with the Rangers, Blalock hit .234 with 25 home runs and 66 RBIs while playing first base and designated hitter.

The main reason for this happenning so quickly was the way Blalock’s contract was written. He had an out clause, meaning he could ask for his release at any point if he didn’t see his way back to the majors. It was reported if he wasn’t called up this week he would excercise his clause and then be able to sign with any other team, with the Rays getting nothing out of it. The Rays could try to trade him but I dont see the point of that. He is a viable replacement as of now and if he doesnt produce there is always someone else waiting for their chance to impress. But I personally think he will do fine sharing time at DH with Willy Aybar.