Cardinals vs Rays (3-19-2009, Spring Training)

the season after the improbable year begins with spring training in a new home in Charlotte County Florida where a sea of blue has greeted the Rays at every home game last year a dream turned reality this year a dream continued Ray baseball coming up next this afternoon we greet you from Charlotte Sports Park in Fort Charlotte Florida for grapefruit League Baseball as the defending American League champion Tampa Bay Rays play host to the St Louis Cardinals hi again everybody and welcome to an af

ternoon of R's baseball as they continue their spring training schedule on Dwayne stats great to have you with us again this year here and I'm very pleased to have next to me Brian Anderson Brian we're going to see a lot more of you on The Telecast this year yes you are getting to pull double duty again can't wait it's going to be a lot of fun you know this ball Club a sensational year last year in many ways a storybook season for the Rays they have come to Camp determined confident and very bus

inesslike well they got a taste of it last year this is a team that exceeded expectations went to the postseason won the division got a taste of that postseason baseball and they come into camp this year with the attitude of unfinished business they want to go back and do it right this time and win it the third man on our crew again this year Todd Callis truly a man of the people and that's where we'll find him right now Todd D it seems like it's lunchtime right about now I'll have my steak sand

wich with mushrooms I'm just kidding hey look at the line this is all these people getting ready for food before the ball game and behind me your favorite beverage the Tiki Bar we're out here Beyond left center field best part about the Tiki Bar you've got your favorite beverage you can grab food right here here you can watch the game from the tiki bar and of course they have television screens they can watch us or there's some NCAA basketball if they you know in between Innings and want to chec

k out what's going on in hoops a lot going on on this beautiful day here in Port Charlotte here's what's in store on our first telecast of 2009 we're going to discuss who's going to be the fifth starter for the Rays this season it could be a very interesting battle down to the wire and also we will take you around the Charlotte Sports Park and show you all the refurbishments that they have made here in the last 24 months and as well we're gonna talk to Joe Madden the manager and the Executive Vi

ce President of baseball operations Andrew Freedman we are ready for baseball on this beautiful day in Fort Charlotte it has been Paradise in spring training this 2009 spring we'll be back with the Cardinals and the Rays right here on sunsports welcome back to Fort Charlotte Florida Charlotte Sports Park beautiful afternoon for baseball scattered white clouds about the Ray's taking on the St Louis Cardinals a quick look at Tony larose's starting lineup Brenda Ryan will lead off at second Rick AN

S in there followed by Ryan Ludwick Breeze Molina Craig down the middle Joe matths at left Brian Bon at third and Tyler green will be the short stop Scott Casmir on the hill for the Rays making his third spring outing he made starts against Minnesota and one against the cin Reds last year 12 and8 covering 27 starts and a 3.49 earned run average first pitch of the afternoon and it's taken down and Away by Brendan Ryan the second baseman one ball no strikes there the strike the count is one and on

e Scott Casmir last year a little over 100 in 50 innings for the Rays there's a chopper headed toward short a nice play by Brak to his left the throw to first skips away from Richard over there and Ryan quickly around second he's going to go for third and he is in there ahead of the throw some Hustle by Ryan on the shly hit ball to the left of Brin that's here's the ground ball here great play get it the throw is a little bit short off of Chris Richard then I actually think it hit Brendan Ryan b

all bounced up went off of Ryan kicked out into short right field Richard's got a long way to run and Ryan had a full head of steam he was able to turn two and get into third base yeah and Bion he had the advantage of having that play right in front of him after he kicked the ball into short right field he turned on the afterburners and finds himself at third with nobody out and just like that Casmir facing a scoring Opportunity by St Louis here's Rick anke pitch covered up by Riggins a ball to

no strike good block there by Riggins pitchers love to know that with a runner on third base they can still use all their pitches and if they have to make a pitch obviously that's not the situation you would want to throw a ball in the dirt but you know that your catcher is going to be back there working for you pitch is wide two balls and no strikes well it's a shame that play didn't work out better for Brak because he he did a nice job of getting the ball ranging to his left two and one he's a

good athlete he he's long armed long lanky guy good lateral movement was able to get to that uh like I said get to that ball and just threw the ball in the dirt and then a situation where you can do everything right Riggins can be down there backing it up and the ball kicks out in the right field that will Square the count two and two Brian last year and really for the better part of his young career pitch count has been the issue for Scott Casmir and he opens camp with an idea of Trying to min

imize his pitch count and Pitch deeper into games yeah that was a problem for him last year and you know it seemed to be almost turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy it's something that that was talked about in the media it was brought up to him numerous times and one of those things that it became a focus of his he went out there and instead of and there he's just a little bit wide ball for to anel instead of just going out there and and pitching you know he was worried about that pitch count

and had that little clicker run in his mind while he's out there and it was tough for him to ever get on track and be as effective as he can be well you're a a former pitcher and you spend a lot of time with the these pitchers here and and your role with a club and uh assisting Jim Hickey I guess it does get to a point where sometimes he makes more of an issue of it than it ordinarily should be well that's the problem with some some athletes get in their own head and start to think a little bit

too much here's Ryan Ludwick showing some of his power with a drive deep to left there's a prevailing wind out there and that didn't need any help as Ludwick hits it out and the Cardinals take a three to nothing lead very inauspicious start here for Cass Ludwick was a real find for the Cardinals and has realized his power potential still in a St Louis uniform and it was on display with that shot to left well after the walk to anel looked like Cass was coming in with a change up there and just le

ft it up and out over the plate and lewick put a great swing on it and with the wind blown out to left that was a no doubter fast ball in to the designated hitter David Reese that pitch in off the plate one thing we've noticed about this beautiful new ballpark here is that there is a prevailing wind to left and back toward the left field corner it has been windy almost every day we've been down here since it started about a month and every day someone's remarking about the breeze and you're righ

t it's always moving in the same direction shot into left and Riano is there to take care of this line drive that's the first out here in the first inning after the Cardinals have put up three take a quick look at the Rays defense Riano zis and gross left to right in the Outfield andoria Brak on the left side of the infield Kennedy and Richard right side at second and first with Shawn Riggins catching Yer Molina the pitch is down a ball no strikes this not the complete lineup the Rays will put o

ut there day in and day out when the regular season begins but the defense was such a big part of the ray success story last year well you know you can talk about the pitching all you want and the pitching certainly was tremendous but you got to be able to catch the ball too and and that's why you take that good pitching and put that together with airtight defense and uh you know that that's one part of the equation of being able to go out and and win ball games you you get any kind of offensive

output you're going to be a very good team and they showed that last year three and one well I think it's especially true I I think you have to protect your pitching all the time but it's especially true if you're trying to filter young pitching into the major leagues and the ray defense was so good like last year this one skips Down the Line pass Longoria Riano to make the pickup and he'll hold Molina to a single and a ball up that left field line good job by Riano to get down there and hold M

olina at first base that was a Do or Die type of play for Longo ground ball headed down the line he's kind of Caught no man's land tries the backand On The Run just skips over his glove but Riano does a nice job of hustling down the corner and keeping it to a single here's Allan Craig playing first base he lifts it toward the right field line Gabe gross will run out of room as it slices foul and out of play Craig hit 22 home runs in the minor League's last year played third base normally speakin

g with Albert phols at first there's not a big future for a young first baseman on the St Louis Club one and one to count Monon larusa like most managers values versatility so Craig is playing across the diamond today takes a strike it's one and two Casmir trying to work his way through the top of the first the Cardinals have struck for three have a man at first with one out Ludwick hit the Home Run he hit 37 home runs last year Molina at first the count remains one and two you start to see a li

ttle bit of what played Cass last year which is the longer Innings the pitch count starts to go up a lot of foul balls sitting at 23 pitches right now and count like to get a double play ball right here pretty close pitch right there and Craig checks that runs the count to 2-2 after coming with a couple of heaters little back door slider there I think because he with Riggins having to reach for it there a chop down to third takes a big hop to the left of loran through well without that big hop t

here was a chance to turn a double play but when it took that last hop it skipped right past lorian to left for a base hit when it rains it pours and this is a good move here by Sha Riggins heading out to the mound and give Cass a little bit of a breather here this has been a uh not the way that you want to start a ball game tough play to with the first hitter and then the walk and and the Home Run and things are starting to snowball so this is a nice time to try to go out there give Cass a litt

le bit of a breather get him refocused not something you see very often is two ground balls getting by Longo bad hop or not so the Cardinals have another threat cmir 25 pitches here's Joe Mather Ms played The Outfield and third base Comes Out Swinging takes a big cut and fouls it away Cardinals really feel they have an abundance of talent in the Outfield so there's some great competition in their camp in that department pitch popped up left side B Yak makes the grab so on the infield pop two gon

e and the number eight hitter the third baseman Brian Bon steps in down at second Molina Craig at first three runs three hits an error and a walk in the inning it's inside one ball no strikes one of the other tests in this kind of a situation Brian is to limit the damage yes very important you know for a pitcher you can't control everything and sometimes there'll be some plays made behind you that uh you know that guys normally make and for some reason don't and you're going to get into some Tro

ublesome situations but yeah you want to try to keep the Crooked numbers off the scoreboard and that's why uh you know you've got to be a self coach out there and it it helps when like your catcher comes out and tries to you know talk you down off the roof but you've got to be able to do that yourself and and like you said limit the damage and live to fight another day because you know these are the type of games where you know you can hold them to to three runs here in the first and then get on

a nice roll let the offense chip away you can stay in this game and and pick up a win and a bouncer down to brinjac so the force play at second ends the first but on one swing of the bat for Brian Ludwick the Cardinal score three they have three and the rays are coming in head There's A View From The Tiki Bar looking back in toward the grand stand we go to the bottom of the first let's take a look at Joe Madden's lineup for the race Justin Riano leads it off Adam Kennedy and then Evan Longoria

Pat burs in there's the DH bro Zas Richard Riggins and binjak to round out the lineup for the ray they'll be facing right-hander Joel Pino he has had a good spring and the first pitch to Rian is a strike see his numbers from last year first season as a cardinal 25 starts seven and seven record spent some time on the DL deep short green sets up and throws and it's Dugout at first base by Craig to retire Riano Cardinals traditionally have been a solid Club in terms terms of defense and fundamental

s their defense today ma and Keel and Lugi in the Outfield Bon green left side of the infield Ryan and Craig on the right side Molina very good behind the plate catching Pino and here's Adam Kennedy former Cardinal in Camp with the Rays one ball no strikes this went down k something of a a victim interestingly enough of the Outfield Surplus the Cardinals have as Tony larusa decided to move skip schwacher into play second base a position that he really had never played but they wanted to get all

of The Talented outfielders into the lineup in one way or another and L's answer to that was to make a second baseman out of shoeer and so Adam Kennedy found himself looking Tony larusa you know has been known to think outside the box a little bit and you have a a glut of outfielders and all of a sudden you find a guy like Adam Kennedy a known product over at second base that uh you know found himself you know released and looking for work so it was a nice pickup by Andrew and obviously Joe Madd

en knows him very well to bring him over here and they've been testing his versatility playing him over at third base as well as in the middle in field speaking of Andrew Freedman we'll have an opportunity to hear from him later this afternoon we're looking at around the sixth inning two2 the count on away Kennedy The Hitter and Evan Longoria will be next Pino has not given up an earned run this spring in 10 Innings of work just one unearned run surrendered all spring Pino throughout his career

has alternately been effective and it has battled physical challenges this one line foul so Kennedy extends his advat this next pitch from Pino will be the 10th of the atat see he's over 500 in his career 72 and 67 and a base hit there's a very good veteran at bat Kennedy singles on the 10th pitch of the inat well that's what you're going to get out of a guy like Adam Kennedy worked the count saw a lot of pitches obviously as a hitter the more pitches you see up there in an at bat you're going t

o get comfortable and here on the 11th pit gets a curveball he able to stay right on it put a good swing on it line it out into right field tremendous job especially out of that number two hole now Evan Longoria one strike the cap Evan trying to get a couple of those runs back right there and as we saw rather quickly last year he has that capability 27 home runs last year and won this spring a one-1 count brvs come into this game with 10 spring wins they're 10 and seven the Cardinals are 12 and

six chop left side green with a quick move to second on his toss and over to First Ryan turns the double play 643 and out on the double play ball we've gone through an inning this afternoon in for Charlotte 3 nothing St Louis R baseball on sunsports brought to you by waste management for all your spring cleaning needs visit waste management at dumpster.com today for Everyday Collection to Environmental Protection think green think Waste Management we go to the second inning a beautiful ukic sett

ing here in for Charlotte Tyler green will lead it off in the second inning the number nine hitter at a short stop for the Cardinals Casmir pitches a strike Scott trying to get down to business after a 31 pitch first inning liner in left and that's going to be in for a base hit it just doesn't look right now that uh Cass has a good feel for his off speed pitches able to get uh strike one there obviously you can see Rigo wants the ball down and Cass just kind of slows up leaves that ball up and o

ut over the plate where Tyler green could getes hands of extended Jim Hickey charting the pitches there from The Dugout Casmir worked four Innings his last time out and came away from that pretty satisfied this one is too low to Ryan of all no strikes you know in kez's first outing this spring he came out first inning a six- pitch inning and he came off the field so I mean this look in his eye like I I didn't know I was capable of that you usually he's halfway through the first hitter and uh you

know he realized I think a little bit there started to click with him that hey I can go out there pound the strike zone get some cheap early outs and allow myself to to get deep into a ball game this is uh is one of those reminders that you don't want to have him have and I would imagine Brian it's difficult for a pitcher who's addressing this issue ground ball a double play ball Kennedy Bren yak and back to Richard for the double play 463 that will limit your pitch count right there number Ric

k fast ball away there right what he wants him to do pop it over to Kennedy to brinette great turn there for the double play but you know and he could have had one in the first inning you know he has to remember that uh you know outside of a couple hanging off speed pitches is you know they've hit the ball on the ground and he's had an opportunity to get some outs and Keel takes a first pitch strike and that's the point I was going to ask you about it's difficult for a pitcher who actually knows

that if he pitches you hear the term pitch to contact if he does that he's got a chance to have some low pitch count Innings and then when you run into an inning as he did in the first it's a mental challenge then to convince yourself to continue to do that you that's that's absolutely right and that's why you know he needs to be uh you know that needs to be something that he buys into that he convinces himself that I'm going to continue to go out and do this because I know it will work over th

e long run that's where you know Jim Hickey comes in Joe Madden uh you know even in my dual role myself you just keep reiterating that to him you know and I think for Cass it starts with you know he's got a good fastball that he's able to come in on righties with and and limit the extension that they get his slider should be a better pitch for him this year because the elbow feels so good and an Keel goes down to get this one and boy does he get it that is fair and out of here a one-w pitch and

an Keel hits his first home run of the spring to make it four to nothing well hopefully be it'll be a better pitch when the game start to count right here another one onew breaking ball just never gets there number 47 Ryan l and a great swing there by ankel you know when those balls come out you know a hanging slider looks like a cement mixer it stays up in the zone there's no movement on it and good hitters see it well Ludwick hit one out his first time one strike the count to him so a couple o

f St Louis home runs and the Cardinals have a four-run lead two strikes and that's been the problem today it just doesn't look like Cass is finishing his off speed pitches whether it be change up or slider losing arm speed Ludwick with a big swing and a miss to retire the side first strike out for Casmir he's touched for a run on the Home Run bottom of the second coming 4 nothing St Louis beautiful Thursday in Port Charlotte Cardinals leading four to nothing this is another area of the boardwalk

right above the right field wall Rick ano's home run didn't come far from hitting us here from here we can see sugar bear how are you Bobby row Scott kiry two of our favorite people right there good to see you guys back for another year how's Port Charlotte everything good beautiful he he uh as as good a clubhouse as sugar bear is Bobby Ramos there's another great Clubhouse guy that just joined the team here this year guys Pat Burl his numbers are phenomenal what he can do is a right-and bad bu

t what he can do in the clubhouse adds a little more to the team as well yeah I think you're right about that and his uh acclamation to this club after uh coming over from the Phillies was uh was pretty quick he's got the Instant Respect Factor you know he he's done it for numerous years going out being a productive hitter see here starting back you know 1998 leaving college first pick eight consecutive 20 plus home run Seasons that's pretty impressive and obviously a world champion so you know

you step into the clubhouse with those credentials he's called out on strikes and I tell you another guy who's happy he's here and he will help him a lot is Evan longor without a doubt both you know I think Pat is gonna be you know huge for me as far as you know a power eating right-hander in the lineup and somebody for me to talk to you know because um guys are probably going to be approaching him like they would me or you know vice versa and so it'll give me a guy to talk to in The Dugout as f

ar as you know maybe he has a lot more bats against the guy than I do I can you know talk to him about how this guy's you know approached him in the past and um just try to gain some knowledge with that yeah I think just his presence takes a little of the pressure off Evan Longoria to add another right-handed bat in that lineup with power and I think especially true because Lori is a young hitter they sometimes attempt to take on more of the burden than they should and I think Pat Burl's presenc

e is a very good move for that reason alone well you think last year uh Eric hiny spent a lot of time with with Evan longor and Evans spent a lot of time picking his brain talking about hitting things to look for and and here hiny was a you know was a left-handed bat and so while he's able to offer a lot of insight to Evan and a lot of ideas now with it coming from a guy who's you know just Evan said it best you know similar style of hitter similar size um you know that's just a a great addition

and and and great for Evan to feed off of that obviously something that he already recognizes Gabe gross up there with a count full three and two and obviously it also helps bringing Pat Burl into this lineup when last year the struggling against you know left-handed pitching well there's something Panero has not done a lot of this spring is give up walks only the second of the spring and it's a one out pass drawn by Gabe gross here's Ben zest the Ben in center field today in this spring as he

did last year he's played all over the place is down Ben when the Rays acquired him he was in the minor leagues with the Houston organization as a short stop and he can play just about about anywhere you'd ask him to play now one and one the count well the Rays you mentioned hsky he was such a a a great influence on this club last year Cliff Floyd a couple of key veterans have moved on and the Rays have done a great job I think of adding some more veteran presence like Burl and like Gabe kapler

and on top of that the point you mentioned they beefed up the right side of the lineup That was the left-handed pitching tended to give this team fits last year and to left Mather on the move and he can only get a glove on it is going to roll to the fence gross will be waved home by Foley the throw headed to the plate is not in time into to Second zist and the Razer on the board it'ss four to one no doubt from Tom Foley down there at third he was waving gr home here zis gets a pitch away from hi

m puts a real good swing on it stays behind the swing drives the ball the opposite way just off the glove of Mather and like you said Tom fulley waving Home Gross trying to jump start this offense here's Chris Richard pitch a little high that's the first earned run this spring given up by Pino as the rays are on the board that line drive doubled by zist a pretty good example of why he was so effective last year for the Rays offensively he showed up last year just stronger than he'd ever been bef

ore that was a point of emphasis for him coming into the season last year and it paid off offensively sharply hit and that one skips past cig into right field zist heads to the the plate and the Rays have their second run of the inning second run of the afternoon it's 4-2 sharply hit ball there by Chris Richard and today is not a good day to be an infielder bad hops yeah well first base turned into the hot corner on that one hit by Richard and it's skipped by Craig here's sha Riggins so a walk a

double and a single and the Raz are on the board with a pair Cardinal scored three in the first got another one in the second and the Rays have two up here in the bottom of the second Pitch drops low one and0 one ball one strike look out a broken bat and the ground ball to short thrown into right field by Green Richard will go to Third and into second base goes Riggins then throw from Green right over the head of Ryan a broken bat and the barrel end of that bat headed to the left of the screen

and back toward the stands pitch gets in there on Rigo shatters the bat tried to make an off balance throw there Tyler green and just launches it keeping with the theme of the day with the infielders so the Rays now have been at second and third fielder's choice and an error and here's Reed brinjac lifts it into short left bther coming in green out Mather makes the catch and the runners will hold a second and third a little popper into short left by brinjac well right there Joel Pino was able to

take advantage of re binak obviously with runners in scoring position a younger player he wants to drive him in he takes a little bit off throws a sinker out there and Reed pulls off of it a little bit and Pops it up into shallow left and not able to get anything done now the top of the order Justin Riano Rano has 10 hits in the spring tied for the team lead in that department he goes after the first pitch and lifts it foul up the right side out of play strike one pitchers know with men in scor

ing position hitters particularly inexperienced hitters can get a little jumpy at the play that's exactly what happened right there you know that was a pitch that if Reed stays on and drives it to left field that's one thing but you could tell with his swing that he was trying to you know to launch guessing first pitch fast ball he pulled right off of it just caught it off the end of the bat and didn't have anything behind it shallow shallow left fielder and Ma comes in no chance to tag up littl

e chop to short green a bit more routine this time and that retires the side but the Rays get on the board a couple of runs home in the second inning we're through two it's a 4-2 ball game new faces Gore card all the latest love conquers all even with divided allegiances in baseball all right come on we go to the third Scott Casmir through a couple of innings has made 44 pitches worked four Innings his last time out he'll face the middle of the St Louis lineup here in the third David freeze the

DH freeze takes it in there for strike first pitch strike o two so a couple of quick strikes Molina will hit next and then Craig and a swing and a miss three pitches strikeout number two for Casmir casm not wasting any time going 02 and then going right after him fast ball away blows it right by him made short work at David Freez in that here's Molina singled up the left field line his first time pitches down a ball and strikes they were hoping to get Cass at least five innings today and with hi

s pitch count where it's at that may be hard pressed to to get there but this is the the time in Camp that you start extending guys giving them up in the you know 70 75 pitch range and he's closing in on 50 as you see there two balls and a strike the raay figure among others to see the left-hander Brian sha we going to go from the 25y old Lefty to The 40-Year-Old Lefty at some point and this one down around the feet and it they're saying it got him it got him so Molina nicked by that pitch first

Bas number 86 Alan Cass coming in here with a pitch it was tough to see boy it's tough to tell from that shot now they're better eyes than ours making that call so M at first yeah maybe I shouldn't have included you I to speak for myself one onone out double play ball Bren Yak Kennedy one Richard two 643 and that takes care of St Louis so that double play quickens things up we go to the bottom half of inning three the Rays Trail St Louis 42 bottom half of the third inning fans enjoying the game

from Beyond the right field wall you can see their vantage point from the boardwalk guys this has been a phenomenal spring for the Rays not only weatherwise which has been just about perfect throughout the state but the attendance here at Charlotte sports park has been phenomenal as they're getting big crowds every game down here so they knew the move South was going to probably be a success and drawing more fans but I don't know if they think that they were going to get this many and this much

attention down to Fort Charlotte fans just love the race down here guys and that Boardwalk is packed every time the Rays play here Adam Kennedy takes one too low it's a essentially a wooden Concourse that surrounds the Outfield and what it gives the fans the capability of doing is just walking completely around the ballpark which is just a a great vantage point I think that's what separates this park from some of the others you know a lot of these spring training they have the you know the burm

s down the line left field right field where people can sit in the grass and you know that's something a lot of different Parks have but the walkway around the outside of the fence in the Outfield sitting right up at you know the at the height where you can stand out there and have a nice vantage point to the game I think that uh really sets this place apart there a roller down to Craig that'll be the first out well I'll tell you it's a it's a tribute to Great planning because right in the middl

e of that walk is the tiki bar so just in case you work up a little thirst during your stroll can never go wrong with the tiki B it's conveniently located one away that brings up Evan Longoria one ball no strikes toward the hole it's short Green from the glove flip to the bare hand and he makes the play and not an easy play to make wow Tyler green going deep into the hole there right here is tough he sets ball pops up now he's got no momentum behind the throw throws all arm and is still able to

get it over there in time to get Evan great arm strength here's Pat Burl after the first pitch and a big league pop foul straight back that's going to carry out a play Molina could never find that ball and Pino and Craig coming off the mound and from first base respectively but it was well out of play Cardinal scored three in the first two of those earned another run in the second and the ray came back with a couple in the second inning to cut the deficit to two yeah pat down the line with this

one a little carry but it's going to be foul just a little bit too far out in front there his power is spent and he still had enough to almost get it out of here big strong man there there just got out in front of a little bit on a slider and hooked foul one and two interesting thing about about Burl at the end of the year here's a guy you can pretty much factor 30 home runs and 90 RBI maybe more the thing he does he sees a lot of pitches there's a base hit driven through the left side he's on f

or the first time one for two listen to this contact long arms dropped the head and lined it into the left field well you know getting back to what you were talking about seeing a lot of pitches you know by virtue of his guys are already not I don't want to say pitching around him but you're going to be very careful with a guy like Pat Burl because of the damage that he can do you combine that with the fact that he's a patient hitter and there you go that's why he's going to see a lot of pitches

and have a good read on what guys are trying to do a strike the count to Gabe gross gab gr down to First with that one and Craig makes the play unassisted no runs with one hit and a man left we're through three headed into the fourth we'll be hearing from Joe Madden 4-2 St Louis back at for Charlotte Dwayne stats and Brian Anderson with you great to have you looking in onto the top of the fourth 4-2 the Cardinals lead the Rays and standing by in the Rays Dugout is Todd callus along with Joe Mad

den Tod all right Dwayne thank you very much quick word with Joe and Pat Burl here now we got Joe Joe let's talk about first the spring we mentioning last half inning about the crowds here kind of the vibe here it's a whole different feel for you with all the minor Leaguers how's the spring been for you it's been great just like you're seeing it today this place has been filled up every game um very enthusiastic We we played a game the other day in the ninth inning the same crowd was here during

the ninth inning they never left uh it's wonderful to have the minor league complex attached to ours and and if you can see on the other side of that building out there the uh five Fields back there 5 and a half Fields with the batting tunnels so now on the morning in the morning if we need to get something done or interaction with the minor leagues we just walk down the hall to get it done it's beautiful what are you seeing today out of Scott Casmir um well little little bad luck in the beginn

ing had we made that first play of the game I think that the the entire situation would have been differently I think um fast ball command still a little bit off um he's thrown some decent changes but they've been up he got the ball that lwood hit out was a a high change up I've seen a couple sliders overall again um not as sharp as he'd like to be overall with his command but what he normally does is like right now he's battling through it he's settling down and he gets you deep deeper into gam

es um he's just uh he's just got great life on his fast ball and again as as he keeps moving along as he gets better command of his fast ball he's going to be pitching deeper in games for us that foul ball hitting in The Dugout huge dugouts here they're like many condos as deep as they are it's very nice yes you got the the jacuzzi over in the corner there actually there's a lap pull right behind uh they're excellent hey what about uh we know Cass is pitching that first series up in Boston what

about uh the five spot that's been banded about much talk about who might be the number five starter how's that shaping up well they're all still there you still got Hammer still in the mix uh Jeff nean still in the mix we did U David Price of course Adam's very good on pop-ups always has been um and MIT David Price we sent Carlos Hernandez back out and Mitch tal but so it's pretty much down to those three guys right now uh they're all pitching well they're all throwing the ball really good uh J

ason ran into some problems early in the game yesterday but again made the made the adjustment and figured it out Jeff Demon's been pretty much likes out and David's been pretty good in regard to the development of his change up so we'll continue to ride that out make up our mind probably with u probably within the next week do you have a good problem on your hands if you know you're looking at two of those guys not being the fifth starter you might have an extra guy in the bullpen you've got a

lot of candidates for your final Bullpen spot yeah again people have to understand when you leave spring training you start with 25 guys but it takes many more than that to win a championship and we know that so whomever does not start with us is going to get a lot lot of work and opportunities to pitch in the minor leagues which is important in case of an injury obviously and and then just furthermore some guys just need a little bit more development a little bit more mileage uh and as we as we

try to make that determination part of our gig is we're always going to be patient and I've been in development my entire career or pretty much my entire career and I think I have a pretty good grasp understand it I know sometimes people get impatient they want to see things right away uh but I kind of like u a well-cooked meal as opposed to fast food and I allow of glass ofo to go with that huh that's not a bad hey uh what about your your clothes are you feeling better about him than maybe you

did a couple of weeks ago yeah Percy's really uh come on actually um I I think a lot of it has to do with his um conditioning he's been on a really good conditioning program and honestly I I know he pitched pretty well for us at the beginning part of last year but right now the way he's throwing the ball is as good as I've seen him do there's pfp 101 C just a little bit late breaking over there uh when you say pfp pitcher Fielding pit Fielding practice we do that like at nauseum and we we we ca

not not make that play we're probably seeing a replay of it here so why don't you tell us what happened well just the way Cass uh finishes sometimes it takes him a long time to get off the mountain and get over there and he kind of like was trying to time it a bit it looked like as opposed to just getting to the bag uh regardless of all that if he just catches the ball he's still but it's again when you get lefties sometimes that finish hard to the third base side they almost have to P out a spi

n to get back over to first base I think through the corner of M that's what I saw all right and back to Percy sorry to break your thought there on Percy uh yeah Percy's just in a lot better shape I think right now uh really the quality of his fast ball location wise has been very good thre a real good first pitch curveball yesterday's cutter uh really moving from if you could even see it from over here on the bench so right now I think Percy's actually uh ahead of where we saw last year at the

same time final spot here is Brendon Ryan bats with two outs and a runner on first right field how's that looking oh good I mean we have a lot of good candidates out there of course when uh that we have those lines tailored to keep the ball Fair too y they go fair for you thank God as it didn't he bed it too hard that's so I hit it through the Break um so those are those are left to right line yeah they're left to right Break um you know sometimes with the sun it breaks against the grain of the

dirt uh but yeah that if he had BN it that softer that would have stayed Fair uh right field is is coming along nicely uh you know you got the gabes out there Fernando being hurt obviously is a is a problem but um BJ's coming back um riano's done a nice job so we have a we have a ton of candidates yet but I really like the way all these guys are playing you're watching one of our sloppier games quite frankly this whole spring we've been doing a really good job of catching the ball on defense uh

pitchers throwing strikes good at bats uh it's been a really good spring from the perspective of execution to this point today we probably a little bit nervous to were on TV yeah they weren't used to it in the World Series right yeah this is starting to get to us a little bit uh and Matt Joy he got a little late start this spring that couldn't help him right exactly and Matt just watching him today in batting practice on the other field he's got really um a real good handsy swing he's got a a re

al good end to the bat in other words is the ball's going to jump off his Bat when he starts playing for us you're going to see him H for really some severe power um I like everything that he's doing with the play we just got to get his leg well and get him back out there uh he is a good outfielder but we got to get him out there and see and of course he is in the right field mix also you mentioned up earlier you're going to hear the report I guess later on how he did today but what's your best

guess do you think opening day or probably not um I'm not sure I just heard from hendu hendu went down there to watch him that he had three at bats I think he struck out his first that bats hit the ball through the middle the other two times and according to him when he came back he felt pretty good about himself so it was all it was a good uh a good first day for him at the plate I mean right there you look at it we we make a mistake on defense two hits even with two outs a lot of times you kno

w teams are are even young teams take it for granted there's two outs the go over it's never over you got to get three and they just showed us why and that was the Mantra of your team last year no no extra outs and you saw what happened exactly no extra outs no extra bases I mean that's that's what we got to be all about we for us to get back to the World Series this year and win it we got to catch the ball as well as we did last year even somewhat better uh we have to pitch on the same level an

d maybe a little bit better offensively obviously I think we're going to be better uh but I'm really making a push for defense this year in execution I've even challenged our position players to win gold gloves I think it was it's within our reach I don't think it's a it's necessarily a pipe stream I think our guys are that good defensively and you look at the competition throughout baseball where it is today I like that idea I like our guys because one of the phrases I'm using on a daily basis

is to control the controllables and I think when it comes out them the most controllable aspect of of of the game of baseball would be your defense Joe as always thanks for the time I know there's a lot of people watching ing for the first time this spring they can't wait for the regular season to start well we can't wait to get back up there we still have some games so come on down and check it out it's a great facility the weather's always good we got a tikki bar on left Center you going to ha

ve a good time all right Joe thanks back to you all right I'm glad that uh that Joe gave the Tiki Bar a little pop again because it is uh one of the great features of this beautiful ballpark the pitch is down to Ludwick and the count goes to two and one so the Cardinals getting that two out opportunity cashed in for another run and they have two men on with the power of Ludwick at the plate he hits a high fly ball back in left Rano over there with a lot of time and he makes the catch just inside

the line to retire the side so the Cardinals score one that's another feature here for the kids at the Ballpark bottom of the fourth coming 52 St Louis R baseball on sun Sports brought to you by tobacco free Florida tobacco free Florida wants you to be tobacco free visit tobacc freef florida.com for more information Kids Clubhouse area it's a new playground we saw a shot of down the right field side here's zis up the middle and Ryan knocks it down but has no play and Ben zis has his second hit

of the day so the Rays put the lead off hitter aboard in the home half of the fourth the first B number 32 Chris Richard Joel Pino doing the pitching for St Louis prze got to him for a couple couple runs in the second the first earned runs he's given up all spring one ball now strikes so's back in over there at first B with a run scored and a run batted in Richard drove in a run with a base hit shot through the right side past the first baseman his first time found himself pulling off this one a

nd the count is one and one a ball two strikes I thought some of the comments Brian Joe Madden made uh made a lot of sense in terms of uh what the club has to do you know the East is going to be tough uh everybody knows the Yankees and the Red Sox try to retool reload every year and I think that uh that race is going to be great Vos throw to first will get Richard and so Madden is looking for improvement from this club in areas that were standout areas for them a year ago he thinks they can be e

ven better particularly defensively yeah and I agree with them you know this team is is no longer going to surprise anybody no longer going to be under the radar this team is going to have a already has a huge Target on its back and you saw what the Yankees did this off season you know that Boston's always going to be there uh and those two teams are you know privately down to Third and zis cut down trying to get in head first he is caught trying to steal Third Base trying to catch Pino by surpr

ise there moving lead but a great throw by Molina is what he's known for there he goes from the set position but boy he gets out of there quick gets an easy pitch to handle that's up in the zone even if you catch the pitcher by surprise Molina helps him out well you know and that's a situation too where a lot of the base running the good base running coaches will tell you that to steal Third Base you have to have a moving lead and you saw from that angle right there that zobie tried to go flat-f

ooted and even though he got a good jump it still wasn't enough you combine that with the fact that the catcher got a hose a very good throwing arm asking for trouble but anyway getting back to what uh you know what what Joe is saying you know this team is is just not going to surprise anybody anymore and so you look at uh uh you know where can we improve and and Joe's smart enough to say look we were obviously a very good defensive team but I think they're capable of more and I think that you c

an go to each aspect of the team and say the same thing you know maybe outside of the bullpen it's hard hard to expect more out of what the bullpen was able to do last year but certainly offensively they could be more consistent this year and that's something they're striving for and even the starters as good as they were last year nobody really had that type of a year that you said to yourself wow he pitched way out over his skis far exceeded expectations Riggins gets hold of this one and drive

s it into the Gap and left center field Sean headed for extra bases and he'll move into second with a standup two base hit Rigo back out on the field and healthy after last year towards the end of the season missing a lot of time with a knee injury the one thing that you know about Rigo is he is not going to get cheated at the plate he takes a big swing and when he connects he can juice the ball he did right there in the left Center Gap well if you look at his numbers just the numbers from a yea

r ago in limited time you know he had six home runs his time because of injury and then backing up Navaro had such a great year just a little over 40 games he had six home runs so there's some Popp in that bat and we saw some of it right there he certainly yeah he's got some juice that's for sure obviously he working on having a little bit more consistent approach especially with two strikes but boy it's tough when you're a backup catcher and the guy in front of you is an All-Star you know that

your playing time is going to be very limited and it's tough for hitters to stay in any kind of a rhythm or GR Pro when you're you know you're playing once a week once every 10 days very difficult one and one the count to Reed Brak chops it towards second Ryan will make the play and the Rays come up with a couple hits leave them and do not score and we're through four Innings on to the fifth 52 St Louis 52 as we head to the fifth inning Scott Casmir today's starter ends up going four inning 69 p

itches C what were you trying to work on today uh just trying to get a get early get early on uh on guys and and just try to get them out I mean felt uh felt kind of tough out there felt like I was getting winded every single every single pitch you know been under the weather a couple days so uh you know it does a matter just me going out there and getting my work in you have that same gastro intense intestinal virus that everybody else has when did it hit you and and what did it feel like out t

here on the M uh pretty much yesterday morning it just feel was like every single pitch I threw if I throw a fast ball and I really try to let it go I have to step back and kind of take a couple couple deep breaths to get my uh to get my legs back under me so uh it was tough out there but I had to battle so you really I mean it was really like each pitch you're you're not that wasn't your normal rhythm today no not at all actually I wanted to get out there and kind of uh have a good Pace out the

re but I just couldn't it felt like felt like I had to take a step back quite a bit and uh and and regain my uh uh just focus and and body you know so was it mostly fast ball change up today I I don't know if I noticed many sliders there wasn't that many sliders it felt like when I was thr off speed I was just lazy out there it felt like my legs just wasn't under me so uh I was just mainly working on uh keeping my fast ball uh down and and uh hitting my spots before this illness how's the spring

been for you it's been great it's been great it really has Mar feels feels really good feels like everything's coming along fast ball change up and slider feels really good feels like I have a good uh clue on what I want um what I'm doing with it with every pitch so uh we're uh we're coming along and of course as you're feeling not 100% you have to to cover first and you get tumble over there are you okay from that tumble yeah I'm I'm all right I'm all right it was just one of those days you kn

ow it's you know something like that's going to happen so uh uh I'm all right but uh you know hopefully uh I'll get over this right here and uh be fresh for my next start so with the illness do you have to go run now or your stays done I'm going to go on the bike no uh no outside running today I'm just going to stick to the bike and uh hopefully tomorrow I can get out there and start running all right Cass hope you feel better all right thanks man all right guys Scott Casmir back to you all righ

t Todd thank you Casmir four Innings 69 pitches 46 strikes today giving up five runs for earn a couple of home runs and so that takes care of his third outing of the spring for the second straight time he works four Innings and as you heard a bit under the weather making this start today gives way to Jason isringhausen the former Cardinal 36 years old he's facing David free and he has gone to three and two with him Molina next and then Craig this ringen could really make it interesting for the R

ays with the Troy peral coming back and is ringen in Camp here coming back from some work on his elbow gets the ground ball for the first out short to First brenc handling that look at Jason isringhausen this would be his 14th season coming in he's played 13 293 saves when you get up into that range uh you've done it obviously for a long time you've done it very well in some tough situation so well he would be a guy that if you could add to that mix for the back end of the bullpen at some point

wow nice option to have here's Molina the pitch is down a ball one no strikes you know the interesting thing he was part of that uh that group of great young arms the Mets had yeah came up as a starter made over 50 starts in the big leagues little close to Molina the count is two balls and no strikes and not unlike uh Troy peral then that you know Percy started as a catcher and um ising Housen before he got into pro baseball uh pitched hardly at all binak takes care of this ground ball two up to

that a couple ground balls and so is ringen with all those saves that we saw 293 Percy with 352 career saves it's a whole lot of whole lot of saves right there closing out games and that's a tough role to be in you know you you see a lot of guys that are really good in the setup role try to become a closer can't get it done you have to have a certain mindset and you know spending time with uh Jason this spring you see the similarities between peral and they really are uh big guys have been over

powering for you know year after year for a long time and want to be the guy that is out there shutting the game down one and0 the count to Allan Craig well lingen struggled with the Cardinals last year he did have 12 saves but finished with a 570 ear run average and there was some concern that he might have some ligament damage in his elbow it turned out to be a tendon issue which was good news if you could have good news and have those kinds of problems but he he did have it addressed and it's

a heck of a lot better as you well know Brian than the ligament issue something that you had experienced repeatedly yeah I was going to say Time After Time the experience with the ligament and the and actually the the flexor mass is what he had the problem with but he he got that fixed and there's Craig with a long Fly ball straightway center it's going to be over the head as ois back to the fence there and Craig has himself a two out double so the Cardinals collect hit number nine left number

seven Joe mingen worked an inning against Pittsburgh on the 15th picked up a strike out gave up a run he'll face Joe Mather with two outs in the top of the fifth a strike to Mather one ball one strike tell you want he made a couple pretty good pitches here to Mather now what do you look for he goes first pitch curveball fast ball in then a slider if you're mad that you've seen the whole repertoire here in the first three pitches well you take it two balls two strikes hope that it's a ball and he

takes care of Mather well he looked pretty good in that inning we go to the bottom of the fifth it's 52 St Louis how we doing 5-2 ball game we go to the bottom of the fifth inning here the Cardinals jumped out in front Rays with their two runs in the second inning coming in h in the home half of the fifth maybe a hero with the family with rais season tickets this year gives you quality time with the kids and it creates a lifetime of memories and you can save up to 35% those are great benefits a

nd you get the best seats at Tropicana Field as well call 888 fan raise for your raise season tickets be a hero to your family there they are frequenting the tiki hut out there so the Rays down by three they're going to send Justin rusian to the plate to lead it off against a new Cardinal pitcher Brian Franklin out there he's a guy who has been in the closer mix this year for the Cardinals Riano caps it that ball is going to stay fair and he has himself a base hit and Joe Madden is smiling nice

job by the grounds Keepers yeah we heard Joe in his conversation with Todd talk about the tailoring of the baselines Kennedy so Riano picks up an infield hit here's Adam Kennedy thereo back in you know it's very interesting here's Franklin the Cardinals have some competition for closer ising Housen was their closer struggle last year had the the elbow issues there goes the runner pitch is a strike and the throw down is a strike as well Rano called out it's second base with the short stop taking

the peg from Molina well here you go off and running another good pitch for Molina to handle and the throw right down there on the bag I think they should uh memo to The rais Dugout Mol has got a good arm that's a strike to Kennedy puts him down and the count nothing in two pop Third Base side but carries out of play Franklin had 17 saves last year you see down the line there of his numbers from a year ago and that led the Cardinal staff we mentioned because ising Housen had that elbow problem h

e was limited to just 12 saves last year and Franklin was 17 led the Cardinal staff it's the first time that someone other than Jason ising and led the Cardinals in safe since 2001 one and two The Count Kennedy FS it off his foot the Cardinal starter Joel Pino worked four Innings the Rays had six hits off him in a couple runs Cardinals have led throughout the afternoon three in the first one in the second Ray scored two in their second and St Louis added a run in the fourth inning they've out hi

t the Rays 97 two balls two strikes Kennedy out on strikes two gone the third baseman number three Evan Loria two up two down on the single caught stealing on the striker now Evan Longoria down and away one ball no strikes Franklin has been around he was originally in the Seattle organization and got to the big leagues for the first time with the Mariners he's 36 years old it's been a year with the Phillies and a stop in Cincinnati last couple Seasons with the Cardinals two and one liner into le

ft Center and there's a base hit picked up by Mather Longoria heads for two and the throw not going to be in time Longoria in head first with the two base hit great Hustle by Evan there right out of the box something that's stressed there he gets a pitch he can handle gets right out of the box and right there he's reading he's like I know I got a chance if I bust it I can get there but I'm going to have to go and just beats him in with the slide that I'll tell you what a play like that gets arou

nd the league you really start to gain the reputation of a team that's going to put pressure on the defense and it forces those outfielders on just routine base hits to come up with the ball cleanly because they know if they don't you're going to take an extra base on them creates more scoring opportunities and over the course of a long season the runs will add up and that Hustle by Longoria our spring cleaning moment from waste management for all your spring cleaning needs visit waste managemen

t at dumpster.com today from Everyday Collection to Environmental Protection think green think Waste Management one and0 the count to Pat Burl Pat had a base hit his last time two and 0 fouled back this is the fifth outing of the spring for Franklin he's one of those guys as we mentioned with the 17 saves last year he can close but he gives a pitcher and a pitching coach some options because he's not just a a one inning pitcher he was a starter for a long time and you can extend him to maybe be

three Innings if you need him how often do you see a guy that leads his team in saves and innings pitched that's doesn't usually work out that way long drive high and deep to left and gone home run for Pat burrow Pat's second home run of the spring a two-run shot and the rays are right back in the this one down five to four that is the kind of threat from the right side that Pat Burl adds to this lineup well he had the count in his favor right and he gets a fast ball that just doesn't get in eno

ugh short compact swing right there and you think he knew that that ball was powdered so the Rays make it a one-run game here's Gabe gross pitch comes in too high one and one so the Cardinals had hit a couple home runs today and the Rays get their first one of the afternoon the ball two strikes two and two this park with the Outfield Dimensions is a park that requires you to have some coverage in the Outfield 414 to Center and 343 down the lines Full Count all you need to do is ask the pitchers

how they feel after they run polls yeah they should have positioned a tiki hut on the warning track for that it's going to be out of play and so the count remains full that's a place to be out there a lot of socializing going on in the absence of a tiki hut in The Dugout he Pats after the cooler Full Count yeah the addition of burl to this lineup is going to be so good for Lor as we touched on earlier in the afternoon gross having a battling it bat up there extending the pitch count here and thi

s at bat right side and a hop for Ryan at second he makes the play and the rays are finished but they add two on the two- run home run by Pat Burl we are through five it's 54 St Louis 54 Cardinals as we play the sixth inning Ray scoring two in the bottom half of the fifth inning Evan Loria scoring in front of Pat Burl and Longo joins us here first of all we talked to Cass a little while ago he had the same stomach problem you had are you feeling better now yeah I'm feeling great um you know I th

ink it's just one of those things that's been going around and um you know couple days and we're getting over it now you're going to stay with the team as far as you know what's going on with the world baseball class uh as far as I know I haven't gotten any phone calls or texts and um neither has Andrew or Joe so as far as I know I'm staying here and will you have to know by tonight I I guess for this to happen uh I'm assuming you know I think their rosters have to be finalized either I would as

sume before they start playing I mean I don't think they can make changes after that so I would assume by if not late tonight tomorrow I I would know the got that drove you home Pat Burl nice addition to have another righty stick in there what's he mean to this team not only on the field but what he brings in the clubhouse um he's just one of those guys that uh you know he's very very relaxed in the clubhouse knows how to keep the guys uh you know having fun but but still under control you know

he's got that veteran presence and um you know he definitely goes about his work the right way you know he's in the weight room every day getting his stuff done and um you know he's just one of those guys that's good to have around couple more weeks you pretty much ready to go I think we're ready you know as soon as we get uh you know this last last week or so we'll get all the regular in there every day start getting a feel for how it is playing with each other and um I think we're ready to go

all right logo thanks all right TK EV Lor guys back to you all right Todd thank you very much and uh and maybe uh our guest in the booth Andrew fredman the uh executive VP of baseball operations for the Rays can uh can speak to some of those uh questions that you had for uh Evan Longoria Andrew great to have you with us buddy and uh spring has been very good yeah it's nice to uh be back with you guys and and get going I guess it uh signifies that we're pretty close to getting going uh being on T

V it's nice to be back hey how about uh Evan Longoria Todd just talked to him and uh in in regard to the uh World Baseball Classic he had not heard anything and and I'm assuming you have not heard anything I haven't I haven't uh the only the only things I've gotten about it has been from the media uh they seem to uh be following it very closely but I haven't heard anything from uh USA baseball base hit by Bon to lead it off here in the sixth inning and Tyler Green's The Hitter against Brian sha

the Lefty he's the 40-year old Lefty we talked about earlier you brought him in Andrew uh give us uh give us a little rundown on the on the addition of sha well he brings a lot to uh to our club his ability to get left-handed hitters out uh you know he's had a tremendous amount of success the last couple years he keeps the ball on the ground uh and last year he faced just over a 100 uh left-handed hitters and walked two of them uh one of them was intentionally and it really placed to our strengt

h with our defense uh especially infield defense uh and his ability to keep the ball on the ground and not walk guys I think is going to complement our guys very well you've made a couple of additions uh and they've been very interesting and and before we get into some of the positioned players shal is one of them on the uh on the staff uh Joe Nelson is another guy uh give us uh give us your thinking there well uh Joe's a guy that uh you know before we signed sha uh he's had a lot of success get

ting left-handed hitters out with that vulcan change he's got uh and so before we had gotten sha uh we weren't sure whether we were going to be able to add a traditional Lefty specialist and so just looking to continue to diversify our Bullpen and uh give us different looks you know he fit in extremely well now that we have shout it just makes us that much stronger but we feel like both uh are going to fit in extremely well and I think one of our biggest concerns going into the off season was ou

r Bullpen um you know the volatility of bullpens year after you know year over year uh we're not smart enough to know where it'll come from but we just wanted to have as much depth as we could in the event that something did happen um you know hopefully with us pushing back a lot of the pitchers into the middle of March you know we'll be able to alleviate some of that but the last thing we wanted was for something to happen and not be prepared well it appears that you are developing U some depth

there I thought uh ising Housen threw the ball pretty good on the inning we just saw yeah had a lot of Life on his fast ball obviously uh you know his curveball is his uh his out pitch but I thought he did a good job of trying to establish uh the fast ball through some really good Cutters as well and so it was a very impressive performance 22 here to Green as the Lefty sha works his inning here in the six it's a five4 ball game and another little foul ball you know last year Andrew you put toge

ther a ball club that uh that was really varied uh in terms of uh not only talent but the chemistry of the club you had the you brought in a couple of veterans a couple of guys who are no longer here and the Eric hiny and the cliff Floyd but you went out and found a couple of other veterans that really addressed a couple problems there's a shot down to third Amo at second turns the Double Play Around the Horn 543 and it would appear to me that uh guys like Pat Burl and Gabe kapler will fill not

only the the role in the lineup but the role in the clubhouse yeah I think uh I think that's definitely going to be the case and you know for us we don't view things in a vacuum we view it within the context of of our entire roster and we feel like both those guys uh their skill sets are going to fit in very well on the field and I think they're going to have just as much value off the field as well the top of the order Ryan second baseman he takes a strike Brandon Ryan so you're trying to say t

hat there's a method to your Madness well is that what I'm hearing you know after the fact and once the dust settles we get a sense uh of what it looks like and then we can talk to it well you know there's a whole chaos computer program it's one that we try to use here with our telecast and it seems somehow to be working we're still on well it's a pretty good program I'll tell you if uh if if there is a method to that U uh you've done a great job and and obviously you've been recognized for that

and and should be it's one of the great stories not only of last year but I think of baseball for a long time this Ball's headed back toward the corner and Rano will dig it out Ryan with a big turn and decides to hang at second base and he's on for the third time today picking up his second hit when you sit Andrew you sit back in the off season you watch the Yankees do what they do and obviously Boston is a team that's going to be there making you know changes to for them to make sure that you

know the Rays don't finish ahead does that add any pressure to what you feel like you need to do or is it just all kept in house you look at your team and and go from there well I tell you it's it's a dangerous mindset to allow that to happen and it's something that I think is human nature and we try very hard uh not to let it affect our decision- making uh but again it is human nature and it's something that we have to fight very hard you know we have a lot of respect for the Yankees and Red So

x in terms of how they run uh their operations and the size of their wallet obviously ly you know it forces us to think differently and to do things differently than them you I think we're wired that way anyway but even if we weren't it's a survival mechanism we have to do that to compete in this Division and as we've said uh for a long time now our goal was not just to have a successful season it was to be poised to have a run of success to to be able to sustain success year over-year and to do

that in this division is obviously very challenging uh but it's something that uh you know as we all got to experience last year here it's incredibly rewarding as well I know you're a believer in the in in pitching and defense and with your defense doing everything you can to protect your pitching and those two components were so important to the success of the ray a year ago and we heard Joe Madden a couple Innings ago with Todd talking about as good as the defense was and as good as the pitch

ing was he said this this team has to defend better and it has to pitch better even than it was a year ago yeah it's about accentuating our strengths and you know we had uh in in the beginning part of uh spring training I I'm sorry in the beginning part of the winter we had conversations about ways we were going to go about uh attacking things and uh we wanted to strengthen our strength and our strength you know is uh on defense um as well as uh you on the pitching side of things and I tell you

I mean just to see the disparity one year to the next you know as bad as we were defensively in 07 and as good as we were in ' 08 uh you know it contributed significantly to the maturation of our young pitchers uh and and to us keeping runs off the board and it's kind of the Invisible Hand in that it's hard to quantify it's hard to put your finger on and say it's responsible for 108 runs you know you can't do that but um you know the trickle down effect as Brian can attest to is immense uh when

you're able to uh you know turn a double play as opposed to a ball getting through that doesn't show up as an error but then you have first and third and the impact on the bullpen um you know Etc it's uh never ending and it's something that you know for us getting a chance to watch our team in ' 07 it was pretty clear to us what we needed to do last winter well when you have young starters the way you do and and work them into a competitive environment I think you have to protect them by a good

Bullpen and you have to protect them by good defense and it really is amazing when you stop to think when you look at these guys on the screen right now she's 27 years old old is is the old guy in that group and I think you have to go back to the 1955 World Series when both the Dodgers and the Yankees had starters the same age to find starters that young pitching in a World Series it's uh you know in my opinion the reason we were able to win the toughest division in baseball was in my opinion th

e reason that uh we were able to reach the World Series and it's also the the reason that I think we're pretty well set up to play competitive games in September you know playing in this division uh starting out the beginning of the year that's all you can really ask for um and you know we have high expectations of being able to do that again and a lot of it stems from our starting pitching freeze up there now with Runners at first and second the Cardinals of Ador round here in the inning so aga

in it's a two-run ball game 64 St Louis freeze nothing of three and a base hit into center field that will get another run home so the Cardinals have once again a three-run lead as freest singles into the center field our left-hand specialist getting a lot of work against right-handed hitters Molina he going to bring up Molina the catcher I got to tell you dway I'm a little uncomfortable I've never heard uh ba this quiet for this long I'm afraid of what uh is going on in his mind right now well

Don Zimmer has been working with him to prepare him for this broadcast that and the memos that I continually get I'm trying to as Zim would like to say just just bring it back a little bit slow it down slow it down you're now a memo guy I like it strike the count to the Cardinal catcher sent my first email last year too that's uh impressive welcome to the 2000s oh one strike count two men on with two minut out couple of runs home I think Zim's probably sent more emails than you have and that sa

something right there I'm telling you it's probably pretty close I'll give you that well let's hope U that that you guys in your meetings for the rest of the spring really have a difficult time with some of these roster moves because that would mean that there are two or three guys who are healthy and pitching well and testing you to make the right decision that's definitely the goal all right Andrew it's great to have you with you always great to uh talk with you and we appreciate the visit lik

ewise thanks for having me guys we're heading into the ray half of the 6 74 St Louis 74 the Cardinals lead this game as the Rays come in hit in the bottom of the sixth inning catch every breath taking play during Sports two biggest months over a 100 live games drive to the playoffs and the dawn of a new season all that you love about Florida Sports and it's live on sunsports and Fox Sports Florida tune in to sunsports Sunday for the Ray's 2009 season preview followed by live coverage of their sp

ring training grapefruit League game against the New York Yankees it begins Sunday at 12:30 on sun Sports Ben sis will lead off against a new Cardinal pitcher Tyler noric takes over one inning for Franklin and the pitch is foul back strike one never a good sign when you do not have the name on the back of your jersey or it could be just a great opportunity for a young man oh to the count Matt pagazzi has taken over behind the plate so they have a new battery here in the sixth inning and Kobe Ras

mus who came on to run and the top half of the sixth stays on to play center field one ball two strikes Cardinals about hit the Rays 12 to9 and they lead 7 to four the Rays maned to come back with a couple of runs in the second and two in the fifth but they have been forced to play catchup so far all afternoon two and two the count Ben zist has had a good day with two hits including a double and a run batted in and a run score Ray scored a couple runs off the starter Pino and two off Franklin an

d that hits zist so the Rays put the lead off man on hit by a pitch don't forget the excitement building for Ray championship week Monday the 13th of April through Sunday the 19th opening day is already sold out at tropican field but don't miss the Rays take on the Yankees April 14th and 15 that will be a great series to start the home schedule all fans receive an American League Championship replica ring April 14th and a championship cowbell presented by TG Lee Derry on April 15th call 888 fan

Rays or visit raysbaseball.com to get your tickets Ray Sandler hitting in the place now of Chris Richard takes one inside so he's ahead in the count two and 0 two balls and a strike three and one zist with his lead Sadler takes a cut at that 3-1 pitch up and he fouls it back so Full Count there's Ball Four batter hit by a pitch followed by a walk and the young Lefty in a little bit of a spot toid on with no nobody out and pagazzi Matt pagazzi goes to the mound Dave Duncan the pitching coach trud

ges that way as well that does not make a pitching coach very happy when you have you know an inning starting out youve just put a couple of runs on the board you want to come in obviously shut down the opposing offense and you know the the reason that it's very frustrating for everybody I think is cuz this is self-inflicted you know you hit a runner or hit a a batter and then you walk the next guy and you put two guys on they haven't even put the ball in play yet number so the Rays have put a c

ouple of men on base against the Lefty sha Riggins steps in Sean doubled his last time's one for two reached out of fielder's choice on an error his first time and he sends a Fly ball into Center Rasmus is there waiting and makes the catch in routine fashion for the out Cardinals think a lot of that young center fielder as we mentioned earlier they do have an abundance of talent in the Outfield and he's part of it he had been slowed with a little tweak of his hamstring earlier in the spring but

they say he is 100% Now with an abundance of hair here's Reed Brak he breaks his bat hits a Fly ball into short Center Rasmus is there for that one so two gone two men on with two men out rusano's due but he's going to be lifted Elliot Johnson will hit in his place OT johon so the Rays going to their bench a bit as the Cardinals have with their bench and their traveling Squad Matt pagazzi doing the catching as the nephew of the former Cardinal catcher Tom pagazzi wave and a miss strike one you k

new there had to be some link what are the chances that another Peg azi yep behind the plate a strike the count nothing in two Elliot Johnson has shown that he can play multiple positions and he's shown occasional pop in his Bat fouls it back I like the way he chokes up Brian there there aren't many young hitters who do that no there's not very many hitters period that do that anymore that's uh that's old school baseball right there two strikes you know a lot of guys will take the approach where

they want to shorten up and hit the ball to right but he chokes up on the bat just look at to put the ball in play out on strikes this time to retire the side the Rays leave a couple we are through six it's a 74 ball game the youngsters enjoying a great day at the Ballpark here in Charlotte County Cardinals got off to a quick start ran lewick beled a three-run homer in the first Rick and Keel added a home run in the second in when they made it a four to nothing game the Rays however got a long

ball in the fifth inning a two-run shot from Pat burrow they close the gap to 54 it's now 74 as we go to the seventh inning John J is hitting for the Cardinals in this three-run ball game bounds it back right now let's check in with Todd CIS downstairs Todd all right Dwayne we've got sha Riggins uh Rigo one for three today looked like after a hit batter and a walk you don't know much about that Lefty out there on the mound but you're looking fast ball and got one yeah you know it a good pitch a

hit uh give credit to the you know to the pitcher popped it up but uh you know he's got to move on out here still getting work you know we have uh roughly two weeks you know before the season starts just trying to polish everything up and get ready for the season got to ask you you sound like you're not a normal voice are you sick too like everyone else yeah no definitely under the weather uh I've been under the weather now for for about two weeks just uh can't seem really to to fight it off yet

I'm feeling better some days and then taking a step back the next but uh you know it's not going to keep me out of the lineup is it the whole Clubhouse it seems like everyone's got something yeah you know it seems like everybody you know whether it's now or earlier on in spring so many you know everybody's coming up with a little something but uh you know usually this time of year allergies are bad and and whatnot so I guess we'll just chalk it up to that with Scott Casmir out there today you k

new he wasn't 100% feeling well you call a different game was it all fast balls and a couple change no you know he just uh he you know we talked about it before the game and I really wasn't feeling too good I was just trying to get him through Innings you know and get outs but uh you know he he still threw the ball well you know the the results sometimes don't really show how well a guy throws the ball but um you know it's some days you have you know you have days like this sometimes and uh Scot

ty you know he'll bounce back he he'll be all right this team is uh every bit as loose in 09 as they were in 08 tell us about last Sunday American Idol Ray style what was your role and tell us about how how the day went well I actually played uh CEST it was uh it was unbelievable we had a a guy from down in the minor leagues I think his last name if I pronounce this wrong I'm sorry his boat uh came up and did impersonations he uh he took the pot it was uh it was unbelievable you know who was Sim

on uh it was actually you know our judges were Percy um BJ Carl and we had Carmen from the PR department so it was a great experience and I'm looking forward to it again next year so we had four judges Carvin was Paul Abdul and those other three guys rolled as the other judges yeah no it it was great um guys the guys who went up they did a great job you know it was uh sort of a spur of the- moment type thing um we loved it we had uh spring and Noak you know it was a close second place finish uh

they did some uh warng Regulators came out with some great stuff so uh it was entertaining and I'm looking for it we again next year I've heard that you were outstanding a Secrest maybe a job in TV after baseball's over hey I hope so any way to put a couple dollars in my pocket all right riy thanks no problem Sean rigids guys back to you you know the uh the Rays thought that they lost a lot of their talent you know remember they had the Josh Paul who played the guitar and baldelli with the bass

guitar and Edwin Jackson and uh hsky and all those guys were great entertainers but apparently they've come up with a a whole new crop of entertainment three and one to count to bar Derek Rodriguez is the new pitcher here Fly ball headed toward the Gap into left center field Weber will chase it to the wall just taking over in left field and Bon has himself a double D Rodriguez the fourth pitcher of the game for the Rays he's in Camp as a as a rule five pitcher and uh Brian he's opened some eyes

here yes yes he has you know he he's come into Camp as a you know rule five pickup and has worked extremely hard he featured uh you know an array of pitches obviously comes from a little bit of a different angle for a right-hander and uh you know has really impressed I know Jim Hickey likes what what he sees and um you know from the time that I've got to spend with him he's a he's a hard worker eager to learn good young pitcher yeah he's in camp out of the white socks organization and because he

's a rule five player if he doesn't make the staff then they're going to have to put him on waivers and offer him back another one of those tough decisions that Andrew and everybody's going to have to make because of the uh quality of the bullpen that not only the guys that are returning but uh you know with the addition of ising Housen and sha and a lot of new faces out there you run into a number crunch you know it's a situation where if you do your job really well the way Andrew Freedman has

done that and I I'll tell you this baseball office is outstanding all up and down the line they are outstanding and the better he does his job the more difficult he makes his job isn't that the truth I mean they uh you know Andrew and he kind of alluded to it with some of his comments but you know they obviously don't have an open checkbook where they can just go out write whatever they want and bring in you know whoever they want so they they are forced to be creative and uh you know and they'r

e so good at it that they bring in a piece here and a piece there and before you know it you've got you know 30 31 different pieces that you would like to use when you can only use 25 so you force yourself into some very difficult decisions and uh you know but it is it's a testament to the decision making the research that's done and the way that they piece together a team that's very versatile very diverse and can beat you in a lot of ways pitch is high and so there's a walk green draws the bas

e on balls so with two outs two men aboard we go to the top side of the St Louis order it's the second baseman Brendan Ryan Craig alberes now catching for the Rays here in the seventh inning goes out to spend some time with Derek Rodriguez bad boy is struggling right now well everybody else is sick so maybe he's not feeling so great a little soft liner that got in on him and he manages to hit it over the Short Stops head and driveing a run Bon scores this comes with two outs and the Cardinals ha

ve their eighth run of the afternoon tell you what it's been a struggle all day for raised pitchers to close out Innings well here's Colby Rasmus see his numbers at Memphis Triple A a year ago he entered as a pinch runner in the sixth inning now hits for the first time in the game in the seventh one ball one strike raise of been out hit now 14 to9 two and one five runs off Casmir ising Housen gave up no runs in an inning couple runs charged to sha and a run here to Rodriguez two and two little a

bout Rodriguez he's 25 years old and was in the white sock system divided the year between doublea and trip Triple A with the white socks a year ago almost exclusively out of the bullpen for them last year in their organization and he gets a called third strike pass Rasmus to retire the side Cardinal score run we got to the bottom of the seventh 84 St Louis rays will be coming in head in the bottom of the seventh 84 ball game say Le leading Scott Casmir started for the Rays had an extended first

inning he made 31 pitches in that inning gave up three runs an error committed behind him two of those runs were earned he struck out two in his overall four inning stin made 69 pitches 46 strikes charg with five runs four ear and was touched for a couple of home runs lewick got him in the first and Rick anel got him in the second inning so Scott in his third outing of the spring works four on the heels of his last outing when he worked four Innings Morgan urg who's heading out of the second sp

ot and playing third Bas will bat for the first time in this game here in the bottom of the seventh and he'll hit against Brad Thompson who becomes pitcher number four for Tony larusa and Dave duck and a fast ball in there to start him strike one hindsburg face hit in the left the second basem number 37 Ray oo that brings up Ray omo who's now playing second base these grapefruit League games about this time turn into a Rubik's cube of scoring strike on the outside edge Rays have 10 hits now that

base hit from Berg but they've been charged with three errors on the afternoon and as Joe Madden mentioned in his conversation with Todd Callas this has been one of the more sloppy games they have played this spring Almeida reaches on a fielder's Choice hburg forced at second for the out for the one onone out make sure your business takes advantage of Ray season ticket opportunities they'll help build sales and they're great to use with clients and co-workers your company can save up to 35% and

receive exclusive benefits by calling 888 fan raise that's 888 fan Rays shell Hernandez will pinch hit for Pat Burl who's been the DH today Pat had a couple of hits including his second home run of the spring a two-run homer in the fifth inning so it's 814 and one for St Louis and 410 and three for the Rays Short Stop green to Ryan one and over to first for the 643 double play and that ends the seventh we go to the eighth from Charlotte County 84 St Louis ra baseball on sunsports brought to you

by tobacco free Florida tobacco free Florida wants you to be tobacco free this is tobac freef florida.com for more information Shane Robinson leading off here in the eighth inning hits one back into the Gap and left center field he is aggressively turning second and decides to hang on there well he jumped on the first pitch he saw from Derek Rodriguez here in the eighth and hit the ball back into the alley comes right in here Derek first pitch fast ball drops the head left field John Weber goin

g back you think he's got it just off the top of his glove not able to pull it in Joe thir will pinch hit for the DH free strike one so the Cardinals have Unleashed a 15 hit attack one and one to count that ball just fouled outside the bag and up the right field line one and two the Rays won 97 games in the regular season last year in route to the World Series the Cardinals were 10 over 500 in the National League central 86 and 76 finished fourth there and they expect to contend in the central t

his year 22 you know the Cubs are going to be strong mhm and then after that I think it's uh you know it's a coin flip Cincinnati should be a much improved ball Club Dusty B Akers building uh a nice little team over there that plays the game hard nice pitch there by Derek getting the strike out of thirst that's his third strike out for Derek rodriguez3 Matt pazi and there boy get the good run with the fast ball there Derrick Rodriguez with that quasi submarine motion gets a lot of run on the fas

t ball that one just kept tracking off the plate and thirst couldn't catch it the ball no strikes the count to Matt pagazzi he entered the game in the sixth inning that one to the far reaches of the BM one ball one strike one ball and two strikes second inning of work here for Derek Rodriguez Ray started camp with 63 players and at the moment they have 43 in Camp two and two that would include ainur yamura who's playing for Japan and JP Howell who's playing for the USA team in the World Baseball

Classic and with all the injuries to the USA team there we touched on it earlier the Evan Longoria situation there were a few inquiries as to whether Evan would be added to that team and um nobody seems to know no one has heard anything nor received any uh communication from the ray end of it pazi's out on Strikes backto Back strikeouts from Rodriguez left J here Rodriguez look at that that change up that's a nice change up right there been working him in and out he drops the change up is able

to get under the bat fourth strike out John J Loops one over the head of brinjac Weber bobbles it out there the run's going to score anyway and up to second base an attempt by Jay and he is out trying to get to the bag at second to retire the side with Elida putting the tag on him but a base hit scores a run we're headed into the bottom of the eighth it's N9 for St Louis welcome back to Charlotte Sports Park as the Rays come to bat in a 9 to4 game here bottom half of the eighth inning we're out

here beyond the left field walk guys this part of the boardwalk area the boardwalk goes from field all the way around center field we already showed you the tiki bar and then all the way through right field and I'm one of the few people out here drinking of Water by the way people out here enjoying a little baseball in the sun here are some of the areas they've improved since they refurbished this place Charlotte Sports Park in the race put in a lot of time effort and money into really making th

is place first class here for spring the burm areas in left field and right field uh right Field's a little bit deeper of a burm area left field excuse me left Field's a little deeper burm area right field you've got a little area as well to sit on the grass and watch a little baseball the dugouts as well used to be just the single level dugouts and they were very tight now they're expanded out so they're two different levels you have two rows worth of benches guys can sit back watched the game

from either level they're huge dugouts the whole atmosphere here it's been one of those years as Rasmus has the ball go off the top of his glove and John Weber will cruise into second base and he will hold up there with what will probably be a leadoff double here for the Rays in the bottom half of the eighth inning you also have a kids playground area the the kids clubhouse on the BM area you got are up in the Press Box all that has been refurbished in the last two years we were here two years a

go when this place was really in a bit of disrepair of course the Rangers hadn't played here in 8 years they have done just a remarkable job getting it up to speed and it's one of the finest facilities you'll see in Florida guys well you're right about that it is uh a great facility now and it's a friend friendly to fans a great spot for spring training here Ben zis takes the pitch in there for a strike Weber did get credit for a double although Rasmus did have trouble playing that ball in cente

r field 02 the count to Ben zist you know it's also more beneficial to the staff and the players you know having all the fields here if you need uh you know some minor league guys to to run in some drills you can just go grab them instead of having to go all the way across town and and the same thing with uh you know with working with the pitchers you know once the games would start and you would move over to Progress Energy field you know all you had was a little half field to get any kind of w

ork done that was on site so you were very limited in what you could do here with all of the uh you know all the well you got five practice fields and a half uh just an infield there's plenty of room for guys no matter what kind of work they need to be done they can do it right here on site 82 acres in this complex the pitch is down it's two and two with of course the uh the main ballpark here and then five and a half fields and there's the overview of Charlotte Sports Park here and the clubhous

e and offices there in the middle of all that long long foul ball sober has been on base three times there's a double a single and hit by a pitch he started barking me I start barking Dave Duncan out there apparently it's game seven of something 22 count yeah that's that's pretty serious here yeah you always wonder what's going on then I mean is it is it grabbing that teaching moment I mean I think that's jumping the gun a little bit if you're looking to teach right there still two two to Ben We

ber at second with the double how about John Weber he's had another very good spring swinging the bat well veteran hardnose player knows the game good student of the game so the count still 22 and a base hit zra on again Weber on his way to the plate and Ben zus drives in his second run of the day well that makes it nine to five it's not over yet whatever Dave Duncan had to say did not work out got another pitch right out over the plate and Ben Zer says he does so well especially from the left s

ide it's a short quick down swing and rifles the ball into right field Ray Saddler in the batter's box one ball now strikes one and one the count more than 5,000 a ball two strikes run home a man at first so bris backand at first cap back to the hill into center field goes the throw Zas heads to third Sandler is aboard well the Rays down by four have an opportunity here in the eighth things have not worked out since the uh Trek to the mound by the veteran pitching coach Dave Duncan and now Steve

n vult will hit speaking of grabbing a a player from the nearby minor league Camp Fly ball in left mats there and they throw back to Second as a tag by zis and he scores the second run of the inning to make it 9 to6 how about that he was rewarded uh you know wins the idle the raay idol competition with the impersonations wins the pot gets an at bat and an RBI in a big league game there you go nice week for him there's Reed binjak pitches inside a ball to no strikes so Weber who opened with a dou

ble has scored Zer single home has now scored Saddler at first he reached on what amounts to a fielder's choice and an error a two ball no strike count to Brak three and0 maybe the trip was premature messed with his rhythm Brak heads to First that'll push Saddler up to second base magazi goes to the mound we'll have a little conversation himself really starting to labor out there those pitches weren't very competitive at all and Elliot Johnson will be the hitter Elliot pinch head in the six and

struck out now he's up there representing the tying run and under it pops it into short right out from second base goes Ryan and he makes the catch for the out two gone and Morgan urg will bat the Third B number 11 there a strike to enburg not looking for the curveball one and one two balls and a strike out of play straight back 2-2 hburg lines a base hit in left that will score Sadler the Rays make it a three-run inning and a two-run game hburg with a run batted in the second B number 3 so it b

ecomes interesting now it does Morgan Ed with his second hit there is able to stay back just enough on a break ball get it over the short Stop's head driving another run and tighten this game up a little bit more agazi makes another trip to the mound and this nine to S game been getting a lot of advice this inning and I think it just ended and here comes Tony larusa so he's going to make a pitching change the Rays have scored three times in the inning they have two men on with two men out and th

e Cardinals change pitchers we'll be back in just a moment well it's not exactly a Rubik's Cube but it's pretty close if you're trying to make heads or tails of that lineup sheet from Joe Madden don't forget you can be a hero with your family by picking up rais season tickets spend quality time with your kids and create lifetime memories and save up to 35% get great benefits and the best seats at Tropicana of field call 888 fan rayss Jason Mt will be the new pitcher Ray Alo at the plate the pitc

h is fouled away that's a strike ma a converted catcher in fact the one year as a catcher led the Florida state league and pass balls had a great arm and so he's in the running in their battle for closing duties here I thought you were going to come out with you know led the league in home runs or RBI and now look how versatile he is but pass balls you understand the there's a reason change of position right he has a great arm and could very well have a future as the Cardinal closing 9 to seven

ball game now with this three-run eighth by the Rays Runners at first and second with two outs the ball two strikes 22 and he blows it by Ala in the inning so the rander gets the strike out the Rays leave two they score three we go to the ninth 97 St Louis ninth inning baseball Rays leading 9 to7 we're back on sunsports Sunday afternoon with James Shields taking the mound for the Rays he'll be opposed by the New York Yankees we'll have that game for you from Fort Charlotte Charlotte Sports Park

the site for raised baseball this year that'll be our second telecast and guys we started the broadcast here at the Tiki Bar behind me and also right here at the steak sandwich stop and Dave's going to join us here's a little mushroom steak by the way guys they ran out of buns today they sold how many how many you almost 300 almost 300 steak sandwiches today you've got the onions you've got the peppers the cheese steaks were're rolling and you're going to try and do what on Sunday 450 at least w

ith the ankles 450 50 is the goal yes that's the goal the Boston Red Sox game on Saturday was a uh 340k so 7500 people um I think they can hold that many they probably had that many today most likely it was a great day was it I mean oh lions were lions were all the way past the Tiki Bar guys they're going to try and set the mark on Sunday against the Yankees against the Yankees it's going to be a big crowd and unfortunately this is the last one guys if I can get it to you in time I'll let you sh

are some of it cuz really good stuff but if in case I can't get it to you in time I'll take care of it for you come back Sunday back to you come back Sunday for the all right well we thanks guys we have a lot of trust and faith in his Integrity to get that back to us I'm not holding my breath Gino Gonzalez is the new pitcher for the Rays left-hander out of Nevada and he Strikes Out Joe mat Derek Rodriguez worked two innings for the Rays and gave up a couple runs here's Brian Bon Gonzalez was a 4

6th round pick by the Rays in the 02 draft so you have to root for him immediately and he hits Bon the short stop number 67 so a runner at first the Cardinals have had Runners on base in every inning and so have the Rays it's been one of those Happ well we're on our second uh pitcher on the mound for the Rays that is Left-Handed where's number 19 m green fouls one away strike one there you go he was at Montgomery last year at the doublea level made 11 starts and 26 appearances out of the bullpen

little tap Gonzalez takes it to First out there into second goes Bon two gone with a man at second shown very good change up first couple of hitters here number Ryan way up over the top it's had good arm action on it it's a good pitch he's 26 years old and a left-hander years that's very young Ryan will be the hitter Steven Vault who's doing the catching now after driving a run with a sacrifice fly in the e vot to the mound to chat briefly with Gonzalez runner on second probably have no idea wh

at signs they're going to use that foul ball sharply hit and strike one popped up foul ball b v might have a play all the way to the screen and he's there hanging on to make the catch and retire the side no runs with a man left we're headed into the bottom of the ninth and the Rays need three to one It Down 97 well the Rays made that point last year we are one team enjoying their first spring here and Charlotte County and they come into head in the bottom half of the nin here's Michelle Hernande

z lining one into Center and it's caught by Rasmus out there now Hernandez goes after the first pitch and lines out facing Jason M who got the final out in the eighth Rays have been out hit 1613 and Trail 97 so to the at this point we we've had 16 runs 29 hits five errors and 18 men left on base in this game we are leading in airs though three two there you go now John Weber pitches low one ball no strikes two and0 the count three and nothing M does have one save in the big leagues when he came

up with the Cardinals got into 12 games last year and saved a game in the middle of September against the Reds in Cincinnati he walks Weber now the Rays have a base runner so the Cardinals and the Rays have admid on base in every inning today and Ben zist who's been on base all four times is the hitter that's a strike Ben with a couple of runs batted in Pat Burl had two RBI with the two-run Home Run 02 Morgan urg drove in a run Chris Richard with a run batted in Steven vat with a run batted in j

ust a bit wide one ball two strikes one on with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning Ando started he worked four Franklin Nori Thompson and now M the Rays had Casmir start in work four is ringen one Shon inning Rodriguez two gonz one zelus hits it deep down toward the left field corner and out of play slicing back up on the burm on two balls two strikes well you can see why they like his arm he can get it up there in a hurry and gets zra looking two outs here in the bottom of the ninth the

centerel number and Ray Sadler will face the right-hander there the strike Sadler pinch hit back in the six and walk reached in the eighth inning scored around there's a wave and a miss and that had a little something extra on it 02 the O2 and he pops it up straight back that will carry out a play I think that made its way into a the the ball took a big hop did on ball back to the hill sharply hit but M makes the play and that ends the ball game for the Rays in the ninth inning a walk and a man

left they will have stranded nine the Cardinals 10 and the Cardinals win this game 9 to7 ladies gentlemen Rays 10 and eight on the spring and the Cardinals 13- six and as they say everybody got their work in today a 97 St Louis win over the Rays and and we'll be back with a final word in a moment back at the Charlotte Sports Park in Charlotte County Florida the Rays and the St Louis Cardinals have completed this grapefruit League game and St Louis takes a 9 to7 Victory here over the Rays Scott C

asmir worked the front four for the Rays and Joel Pino worked the front four for the St Louis Cardinals and with more on today's performance let's go to Todd Callas Todd Dwayne thank you very much with Ben's overis Ben had three of those hits for the Rays and another day where you show your versatility center field and then first base when you come into the Dugout getting ready for a game how many gloves you bringing with you right now I'm only bringing two an infield and an outfield one but uh

so whose first base Club did you use I borrowed somebody else's I had no idea I was going to first base so uh you know when they told me I just had to borrow one so what's the spring bed like for you played every position other than pitcher and catcher and uh you're showing obviously that you can play everywhere it's been great you know I I uh I love the opportunity to to see the game from all the different angles you know it's uh it's been good for me to get practice out there and see balls fro

m every different angle and and hopefully uh you know that'll um pay dividends during the season for the team you'll never pitch or catch right hey I will if they ask me to whatever I can do you you had a baby over the over the winter what's it like now A family of three life uh As Good As It Gets right now it's great it's it's a lot of fun going home and and seeing the little guy and and Juliana so we're having a lot of fun with him and a lot of responsibility but it's a lot of fun we noticed y

ou got a little bigger last year did he get even bigger in the 08 to 09 offseason or you about the same size you were going in the last season I'm probably about the same size yeah um you know I was just trying to get stronger this year you know in the off season and we had a short one so it was It was kind of hard to get in the weight room a lot you know with a baby on the way and and him getting here too but uh I feel good feel ready to to go and and uh hopefully we'll we'll start off strong h

ere you got the dirty Jersey from that head first slide in third were you safe on that play yeah I'm always safe all right Ben thanks Ben's over three hits tonight guys Rays come up short but a lot of guys got some work in including Ben playing some positions he wasn't expecting to this afternoon back to you all right Todd thank you very much and uh as they say Brian uh truly they got their work in uh it was not the sharpest game the rids have played all year and and that was something Joe Madde

n point out early but I think it's important that they get through work and I just wanted to get your touch on uh Scott Casmir outing four Innings he did have an extended first inning a lot of pitches yeah you know an e Eerie reminder from last year but uh you know Cass a little bit under the weather he was you know battling that it's been a bug that's been you know racing through Camp a lot of guys coming down with it so uh you know it's a little bit extra taxing when you're trying to build up

your stamina as a pitcher and you're fighting you know you're under the weather so that it was difficult but he was able to bounce back and he got some double play balls today that I think that he can uh you know go back and look at some of the good things that he did this outing and and was able to get four Innings and get his pitch count up so next time you take that next step maybe 15 uh more pitches and then he should be you know game ready and uh you know he's done enough good things throug

hout this Camp uh that that you can say hey you know what you've got a blueprint there you just need to keep following it and perhaps the most important thing is that we uh launched this ship with our first telecast here and uh Brian it has been a pleasure I'm looking forward to uh many more afternoons and evenings together with you on the air in the coming season well we will certainly have them thanks a lot Brian Anderson and Todd Callas Dwayne stats great to have you with us hope you've enjoy

ed the telecast if not the outcome 97 the Cardinals over the Rays this has been a special presentation of sun Sports join us Sunday for the ray season preview followed by more live spring training action against the Yankees it begins Sunday at 12:30 right here on sun Sports