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Last night, I did something I never thought I’d ever do. I cheered for the Red Sox. Yes, I’ve been showering a lot today. But they did do us a favour, beating the Rangers. Unfortunately, the A’s couldn’t do us the same favour.
The Jays are now in the second Wild Card spot, 1 game ahead of the Mariners and Rangers.
There isn’t much for Blue Jays news. This little note from Shi Davidi:
Brandon Belt (back) is starting a hitting progression today, says Blue Jays manager John Schneider. In a perfect world, he added, Belt might be able to get a rehab game in at Buffalo but not clear if the timing will work there.
— Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) September 19, 2023
The Bisons’ season ends on Sunday.
And Davidi also tells us:
Catcher Jamie Ritchie has joined the Blue Jays on the taxi squad. Schneider says the team wants to familiarize him with pitching staff in case he’s needed. He’ll catch bullpens and sit in on pre-game meetings.
— Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) September 19, 2023
Catchers do tend to get injured a bit, so having someone ready to step in seems a good idea.
And LHP Ricky Tiedemann will be called up to the Bisons for a start this week. It is a little late in the season to do much for his progress, but it will be good to see him compete against a little higher level of player,
The Rays are getting a new stadium (although we’ve heard this before, but it fell through). It is only going to have 30,000 seats. And it is St. Petersburg, which I understood to be part of why they didn’t draw many fans, that driving across the bay was a mental barrier to fans. But they feel that fans will come to this park.
It is on the same land where Tropicana Field sits, but housing, bars, retail stores and restaurants will be built. One of the many problems with Tropicana is that there isn’t much in the area to keep fans happy before and after games.
They figure half the $1.3 billion needed will come from city and county governments and the other half from the Rays.
The new park will have a roof (with the rain and heat there, a roof is needed).
The Rays average 17,778 fans a game this year. With a 30,000-seat park, it is hard to imagine they will do all that much better in the new park.
Tonight’s lineup features one of the famous loser lefties Cavan Biggio (if you don’t get the reference, someone in a comment thread called Biggio, Belt and Kiermaier loser lefties earlier in the season) in the cleanup spot. He’s earned the promotion.
Birthday Boy George Springer is playing in a park where he hits .270/.333/.494 with 5 home runs in 22 games. IF you are a betting man, it seem that players often have a good game on their birthdays.
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