Tampa Tribune Rays beat writer Marc Lancaster answers your questions about the Tampa Bay Rays. Please send us your questions for the next session by clicking here.
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Q: For us non-baseball freaks, what does the “magic number” reported on the evening news mean? last night is was 3/10
—Charles Drotar, Englewood
A: It’s the total number of wins by the Rays and losses by the teams behind them necessary for the Rays to clinch the playoffs and division title. So, three Rays wins/Twins losses get them in the playoffs and 10 Rays wins/Red Sox losses give them the division title.
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Q: I am amazed how the Tampa Bay Rays are playing this year. They are certainly going to the playoffs. My question is: Why don’t they wear a uniform displaying “Tampa Bay” when they are on the road?
—Antonio E Cifuentes, Tampa
A: They decided to go with “Rays” both home and away this season as a way to market the new brand (sans-Devil) and uniforms. They may put Tampa Bay back on the road unis in the future.
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Q: What happened to Kazmir [Monday] night? Being from Boston, I was expecting a great battle and the poor kid crumbled. I have nothing but respect for Kazmir as a player and would love to have another arm like his in our rotation or in the bullpen. Was he sick? He looked green at one point during the night….thanks!
—Cameron, Boston
A: Green? Well, Kazmir said after the game he felt like he was jet-lagged, so that may have been it. He obviously didn’t have it Monday, which certainly could be considered the worst start of his career. He has never been beaten up like that before, and all the Rays can hope is that he’s able to shake it off as an aberration and get back on track before the playoffs.
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Q: I thought Birkins looked good in his time with the Rays. Can you tell me why he was released?
—Keith Craig, Tampa
A: Birkins wasn’t going to be in the mix as a lefty in this bullpen with J.P. Howell and Trever Miller on hand (not to mention David Price, for the short term). With that in mind, Birkins – who at 28 is past his prospect days – was a relatively easy choice to go from Durham when the Rays needed a 40-man roster spot.
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Q: Will the fact that evan longoria has been on the DL for so long affect his chances at being named ‘rookie of the year’?
—elaine quinlan, zephyrhills
A: I think it would be a bigger issue if someone else had come out of nowhere in the interim, but that hasn’t really been the case. The combination of Longoria’s all-around play at the plate and in the field, and the fact that he has done it all in an everyday role for a team that’s going to be in the playoffs puts him over the top, in my opinion.
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Q: the last figurine to be given out is Percival - WHY? when games were advertised the last figurine was to be as voted by fans - i cant believe Percival was the choice - i believe there is a lot of politicing going on with him being Maddon’s buddy - whwhy not Aybar, Gross or Longoria - surely much more deserved.
—bart stancampiano, lutz
A: Bart, I’m not privy to the results and I’m not one to dismiss all conspiracy theories out of hand – you never know about the ol’ grassy knoll – but I can assure that would be at or very near the bottom of the list of things on Maddon’s mind.
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Q: How long do Rays fans and players have to suffer through watching “The train wreck” that is Troy Percival trying to “close” out games? {It seems to me what he is really doing is opening them.} When will Maddon give up on this experiment?
—Kerry Bender, Tampa
A: Percival’s latest bout with back troubles has allowed Maddon to slide Dan Wheeler into that spot for the time being. We’ll see if he sticks with that alignment in the final week and into the playoffs. Obviously, there are few sure things in that gig – as Wheeler showed Thursday night – but it will be tough for Maddon to slot Percival back into the ninth inning until he proves he can handle the workload.
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Q: If the Rays would try putting the umpires bad calls on the Jumbo-tron and repeating them a couple of times, then after awhile the umps would be a little sharper in their calls, maybe.
—Dave Griggs, Lutz
A: Um, yeah. MLB doesn’t generally encourage team behavior that might incite fans to heap further abuse upon the umpires, and I can’t say I disagree with them. In the grand scheme, the umpires really do have an outstanding record of getting split-second calls correct. None of us are perfect at our jobs.
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Q: As a former Tampa Native, I am still a huge fan of the Rays. Figures I move and they get good 
... But what is your take on the team really moving to Tampa? I mean the way I see it, you would have more corporations buying box seats and seat licensing deals that way. And you would see more business meetings at a game . You know that local business trying to win over a client type thing…
I never thought the drive was bad, but I will admit that there were better things to do closer by in Tampa then having to drive all the way out there. The games were always great, but there was just no justification for the drive.
Granted now there is… GO RAYS!!!!
—David, Texas
A: I don’t think many would dispute that the fan base would be larger if the Rays could find a way to put a stadium in Hillsborough County, but it’s far more complicated than that. Then again, there are plenty of big-league parks that are more difficult to get to, traffic-wise, that bring in far more fans than the Trop, so that alone isn’t a blanket excuse.
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Q: why can’t we eliminate Upton, Percival, & Hammel and get a winning team????
—ron kurlander, Sarasota
A: Scoreboard, Ron.
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Posted by Jim Dodd, Port Richey on 09/22 at 08:59 AM
Come on Marc!! Ask about the road uniforms!!! Why settle for “may” bring it back in the future!! We are “one team?” Geez!!
Posted by Jeff Reed, Seminole on 09/20 at 11:39 PM
Hey Marc,
Why don’t you ask about those road uniforms and get to the bottom of that? I sure would like to know why Tampa Bay isn’t on them and won’t be anytime soon?
Posted by H.B. Gonzalez, Tampa on 09/20 at 10:09 AM
Both Shields (215) and Kazmir (206.2) had more than 200 innings last year. It’s not that they pitch too much, they don’t pitch enough, like most of today’s pitchers. For example, at age 22, Bob Feller pitched 343 innings with 28 complete games, pitched in relief 4 times, and led the AL with 25 Wins, starting every fourth day with no DH. Kazmir was not allowed to pitch last September and Shields had a strict 100 pitch limit for his two starts. We’ll see how that plays out this October.
Posted by Jack O'Neill, East Lake on 09/19 at 05:29 PM
As far as the road uniforms are concerned, I share Antonio’s disappointment. Are we “one team”? If we are the “Tampa Bay” Rays, then why isn’t normal decorum followed on the road? Yes, only 3 other teams have it, but come on?! This is something I implore is addressed and corrected ASAP!
Posted by Ick, Brandon on 09/19 at 03:08 PM
Kevin-
I think the pitchers are starting to feel the innings pitched, particularly Shields. All five have gone all year pretty much. All have well over 150 innings pitched, and I don’t think any of them have ever even pitched 200 innings total before, so that may be it. If we weren’t in such a tight division race, I feel we would be resting pitchers more and using the minor league arms. But we want the East.
Robert - Jaso is the backup catcher while Riggans is down. They brought him up when the roster expanded.
Posted by Kevin Bruning, Sarasota on 09/19 at 12:35 PM
In the Rays last 6 games, the opposing team has scored first and in four of the last 5 games the scores have come in the first inning 4, 4, 2 and 3. Why are the Rays starting pitchers struggling so much lately to get going?
Posted by Robert Marino, Sarasota on 09/19 at 10:13 AM
We all know that Navarro has hammy problems and Riggins is on DL and Navarro needs a days rest. Who would replace Navarro if he get’s hurt? Zobrist?
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Posted by thomas schiro, springhill fa on 09/23 at 03:02 PM
why does joe maddon continue to bat upton in the second slot. look at his stats he strikes more times with men in scoring position. barlett should bat second he can handel the bat much better. h has to make this change to win .