Rays v BoSox: OF Thompson acquired from Phillies Triple A

Posted May 16, 2012 by Roger Mooney

Updated May 16, 2012 at 05:14 PM

ROGER MOONEY
ST. PETERSBURG The Rays acquired OF Rich Thompson today in a swap with the Phillies for minor league OF Kyle Hudson. He has not reached the Trop but is listed on the lineup card as a bench player.

A career minor leaguer, Thompson has spent 13 days in professional baseball and had one at-bat with the Royals in 2004. He grounded into a double play.

No word on who has been set down, but Brandon Guyer’s name was not on the card.

Joe Maddon said he couldn’t talk about it when he just met with the media but did say the team will have an announcement at 5:50 or 6, which means Thompson is on his way to the Trop.

Thompson is known for his speed. He was hitting .307 for Triple A Lehigh Valley this season.

The Rays begin an eight-game homestand tonight with the Boston Red Sox, winners of five straight.

Jeremy Hellickson (3-0, 2.95) faces Clay Buchholz (4-1, 8.31).

Here is the Rays lineup:
Zobrist RF
Upton CF
Joyce LF
Peña 1B
Scott DH
Rodriguez 3B
Rhymes 2B
Molina C
Johnson SS
—
Hellickson P

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Rocha named Tampa Catholic girls hoops coach

Posted May 16, 2012 by Rick Harmon

Updated May 16, 2012 at 05:16 PM

Ridgewood girls basketball coach Matthew Rocha has been named to the same position at Tampa Catholic, principal Thomas J. Reidy announced Wednesday.

“Coach Rocha attended Catholic high school, is an expert in the sport of basketball, and has great passion for the game,” Reidy said. “His values as a coach and educator match well with Tampa Catholic’s traditions of ‘Faith, Excellence & Family.’ I welcome him to the TC family.” 

Rocha, a Jacksonville native attended Bishop Kenny High School and began his coaching career at the Jacksonville school. In two years at Ridgewood, Rocha compiled a 34-20 record.

Tampa Catholic won back-to-back state titles in 2010 and 2011. Last season, The Crusaders went 20-11 and advanced to the Class 3A region finals. Rocha will have three starters returning from that team.

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Another Fulmer heads to Ridgewood

Posted May 16, 2012 by Andy Villamarzo

Updated May 16, 2012 at 11:42 AM

Former Hudson quarterback Will Fulmer has officially enrolled at Ridgewood, he said via text early this morning.

Fulmer, who played at Gulf his first two years of high school before going back to Hudson, his home school, after his father, Jay Fulmer, was forced to resign his coaching position at Gulf prior to the 2010 season.

Will only played two games last season for the Cobras, before an ankle injury in the second game against Clearwater Central Catholic derailed the remainder of his junior campaign. Through two games, Fulmer completed 2-of-14 passes for 22 yards and rushed for 38 yards.

When Jay Fulmer was hired as head coach at Ridgewood, it was expected Will would follow but he couldn’t officially enroll until Jay was teaching at the school. With the move, Will will have the opportunity to play his first varsity season under his father and that’s something that means a lot to the both.

“I’m just extremely happy he’s here,” Jay Fulmer said. “It just really means a lot to me that I can get to coach my son in his senior season. I think he will be a great addition to the team.”

Andy Villamarzo can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or follow him on Twitter at @andyvillamarzo.

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Oddsmakers unimpressed by new-look Bucs

Posted May 16, 2012 by Ira Kaufman

Updated May 16, 2012 at 11:45 AM

BY IRA KAUFMAN

TAMPA—Despite a dynamic offseason makeover, the Buccaneers have apparently failed to make much of an impression on the oddsmakers.

Tampa Bay hired a new head coach (Greg Schiano), assembled a new staff and added a half-dozen potential new starters in free agency and the draft, but the over/under win total for the Bucs in 2012 is 5.5, according to BetOnline, an offshore oddsmaker which has tabbed the Bucs as prohibitive underdogs to win the NFC South for the first time since 2007.

Despite being rocked by the Bountygate scandal, the Saints are tabbed to win 11 games and repeat as division champions. The over/under win total for Atlanta is 9 and Carolina is listed at 8.5.

The only clubs with a lower predicted over-under win total than Tampa Bay for the upcoming season are Cleveland and Jacksonville, both listed at 5.

Cantor Gaming, which runs several Las Vegas sportsbooks, recently released its point spreads for every NFL game from Week 1 through Week 16 and the Bucs are favored only twice. The Panthers are listed as 3-point favorites at Raymond James Stadium in the regular-season opener.

According to Cantor Gaming, the Bucs are favored by 1 point at home against Washington in Week 4 and by 2.5 points at home against the Rams in Week 16. The Week 6 matchup vs. Kansas City in Tampa is rated as even.

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Rays 4, Jays 3: Notes from the final night on the road

Posted May 15, 2012 by Roger Mooney

Updated May 15, 2012 at 11:34 PM

ROGER MOONEY
TORONTO The Rays won again Tuesday, but that was nearly a given since the victory improved their record this season during the final game of a series to 9-3.

That’s also the Rays record in one-run games.

The Rays open a two-game series tonight against the Red Sox with a share of first place in the AL East. The Red Sox sit at the bottom of the division, 5 ½ games back of the co-leading Rays and Orioles but riding a five-game winning streak.

Here’s a look back on the final night of the road trip, a 4-3, come-from-behind win in Toronto that gave the Rays a sweep of the two-game series and extended their winning streak to three …

—The Rays are now 5-9 when trailing after six innings and 18-0 when leading after the seventh and eighth innings. They have 11 come-from-behind wins.

—Closer Fernando Rodney is a perfect 11-for-11 in save opportunities after throwing a perfect ninth inning Tuesday.

—In case you’re wondering, the team record for consecutive saves to start the season is 16, set by Al Reyes in 2007 and tied by Rafael Soriano in 2010.

—Elliot Johnson started for the seventh straight game, the most consecutive starts at the big league level for the infielder. He had two hits to extend his hitting streak to a career-best seven games. He’s batting .500 during the streak with two home runs, three doubles and seven RBIs.

—Since Evan Longoria went down with his partially torn left hamstring, the Rays have used five players at third base – Sean Rodriguez, Jeff Keppinger, Will Rhymes, Chris Gimenez and Johnson. During their time at the hot corner, they are a combined 16-for-53 (.302) with two homers, eight RBI, three doubles and three walks.

—Ben Zobrist was 3-for-5 with two doubles and an RBI. During the three-game winning streak Zobrist is 7-for-13 with two home runs, three doubles, five RBI and four walks. During the eight-game road trip, Zobrist was 11-for-30 (.367) with a .513 on-base percentage, a .974 slugging percentage, two home runs, five RBI, nine walks and six runs.

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Coming Thursday

Posted May 15, 2012 by Rick Harmon

Updated May 15, 2012 at 08:38 PM

Jesuit continues its quest for its fourth state baseball championship when the Tigers face Plantation American Heritage on Thursday at 4 p.m.

Join prep writer Rick Harmon and other Jesuit fans live from Digital Domain Park in Port St. Lucie with live coverage.

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Armwood’s McQuay earns Vanguard Award

Posted May 15, 2012 by Bill Ward

Updated May 15, 2012 at 08:08 PM

Vanguard Attorneys, a Tampa law firm, announced Tuesday that Armwood rising senior strong safety Leon McQuay III is the Vanguard Award winner for April.

Vanguard will present $1,000 to the Armwood athletic program during the school’s morning show Wednesday. Besides being a standout football, basketball and track athlete, McQuay is an honors student and also volunteered for the Temple Terrace youth football camp.

Each month, the Vanguard Award selection committee recognizes a Hillsborough County prep athlete for their contributions in their sport, the classroom and community. The winning student’s school athletic program receives $1,000.

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Panini flexes creative muscle with Cooperstown Baseball

Posted May 15, 2012 by Bob D'Angelo

Updated May 15, 2012 at 09:41 PM

When Panini America signed a multiyear trading card agreement with the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in February, it was a coup. But it also presented some challenges. Panini got the players, but the team logos were still off-limits due to Major League Baseball’s exclusive licensing agreement with Topps.

So it was up to Panini’s team to stretch its creative muscles and come up with something compelling.

After stealing a few peeks at the pictures of some of the cards for the late July release of Panini’s 2012 Cooperstown Baseball, I think they are going to succeed.

I love sets like these. I love cards that depict the greatest players of all time, especially when their presentation has been well thought out.

As you can tell from the photos included in this post, logos are either cropped out of photos (as in the Stan Musial shot) or mostly well hidden (the Ty Cobb card is an example, although you can tell the photo was taken from his days with the Philadelphia Athletics since the top part of the “A” is slightly visible under his left arm).

A hobby box of Cooperstown Baseball will contain 24 packs and there will be a 200-card base set —  including 20 short printed color tint cards —  that will pay tribute to the players enshrined at the Hall, plus some cards about the museum itself. If you’ve ever made the trip to Cooperstown (I did five years ago and could have stayed hours longer than I did), then you know that it is a special place. The exhibits alone are breathtaking.

Every hobby box will yield at least one Cooperstown Signatures autograph card, two commemorative Class Patches, three Bronze History cards, three Crystal Collection parallels, a pair of Voices of Summer inserts, two Induction inserts and two Credentials inserts.

Also, Panini will reward one fan with a trip to the Hall of Fame. That is the biggest prize from this set. But the special cards in the box look to be, well, special.

Famed Cuts will feature cut signatures from players like Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Dizzy Dean, Harmon Killebrew and Sandy Koufax. The Famous Moments inserts will showcase the memorabilia (and men who wore it or used it) that was part of a key event in baseball history. The Carl Yastrzemski photo included in this post is an example of that.

Class Patches will honor members who were inducted into the Hall during a particular year, while Credentials has a press pass look to it as it details a player’s statistics that made him worthy of Hall of Fame induction.

The thrill of pulling a Hall of Famer’s autograph is certainly exciting —  sure, every signature is not going to be in the Babe Ruth-Willie Mays-Ty Cobb-Henry Aaron neighborhood —  but I’d just as easily be pleased with a Warren Spahn or Eddie Collins autograph, or even a George Sisler or Ernie Banks signature. Heck, they’re all Hall of Famers. And that neighborhood is pretty exclusive.

 

 

 

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Panini previews 2012 Elite football

Posted May 15, 2012 by Bob D'Angelo

Updated May 15, 2012 at 06:24 PM

Panini America previewed its 2012 Elite Football set on Monday, as the early July release date is fast approaching.

A 20-pack hobby box will contain two autographs, two relic cards, four rookie cards and (varying on the box) six or seven inserts or parallel cards.

The rookie cards will be a good draw, and Panini is going with youth as Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III are prominently featured on the box top.

Rookies will get good play on Elite autograph cards, too. The Rookie Inscriptions inserts will feature an on-card autograph from one of the top 36 players selected in this year’s NFL draft. Plus, Panini said the cards will feature the top 2012 draft picks in their NFL uniforms.

Base Rookie Cards will be numbered to 999, while autographed and die-cut parallels will be numbered to 699 or fewer.

While Elite is playing up rookies this season, that doesn’t mean NFL veterans and retired star are being ignored.

Passing the Torch autograph cards will be numbered to 25 or less and will combine players like Dan Marino and Drew Brees, Emmitt Smith and DeMarco Murray, and Cam Newton and Robert Griffin III. The last pairing begs the question: has Newton really been in the league long enough to be “passing the torch”? Oh well, it’s marketing, I get it. But it seemed like a curious pairing under those guidelines.

Back to the Future memorabilia cards will be numbered to 199 or less and will showcase players like Doak Walker, Dan Fouts, Otto Graham, Ted Hendricks, Don Meredith and Bob Hayes.

Another relic subset (that’s the jersey swatches, not the players …) is Throwback Threads. These cards also will be numbered to 199 or less and will feature combos like Rocket Ismail and Jerry Rice, Marshall Faulk and Steven Jackson, and Jay Novacek and Jason Witten. There also will be autograph versions from this subset.

  Panini gets defensive with The Hit List subset. This will contain memorabilia cards numbered to 199 or less showcasing defensive stars like Clay Matthews, Aldon Smith and Jason Babin.

And the Prime Numbers subset will contain relic cards of some of the NFL’s most productive players, like Calvin Johnson Jr., Eli Manning and Maurice Jones-Drew. They will be numbered to 299 or less.

So it looks like a nice mixture of cards will be hitting the shelves come July. That variety will be a nice lure, and so will the possibility of pulling some of the hottest rookies from the draft.

 

 

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Rays @ Jays: Looking for 3rd straight win and a .500 road trip

Posted May 15, 2012 by Roger Mooney

Updated May 15, 2012 at 04:47 PM

ROGER MOONEY
TORONTO The Rays are trying to end this eight-game road trip with three straight wins.

David Price (5-2, 2.98) looks to remain undefeated at Rogers Centre. He’s 4-0 in five starts.

A win and the Rays complete the trip through New York, Baltimore and Toronto with a .500 record and no less than a tie with the Orioles for first place.

Here is the Rays lineup:

Zobrist RF
Upton CF
Joyce LF
Peña 1B
Scott DH
Rodriguez 3B
Rhymes 2B
Molina C
Johnson SS
—
Price P

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