Shame On Kevin Cash
May 16th, 2016
Yesterday’s groin-kick, 7-6 loss to the A’s was a case of bad game management and worse execution.
Gosh dangit, Geltz!
The Rays saw sweet victory slip through their flubby fingers. Danny Valencia took a jackhammer to Tampa Bay pitching at the Trop, launching three – three! – home runs, including a go-ahead two-run shot with two outs on the ninth off sieve reliever Steve Geltz.
Lately, Geltz has gagged more than a toddler with an upset stomach. He has allowed one run in four of his past six relief appearances dating to May 6, with three home runs in that span.
For some reason, manager Kevin Cash didn’t walk Valencia with first base open, and his explanation didn’t satisfy.
“Basically, we had run through, obviously, with Erasmo [Ramirez] and [Alex] Colome,” Cash said. “They were done, so I thought Geltzy, given the right-handed matchup, seemed to be the best one. Look the guy, Valencia, is on fire, obviously. We probably just got to watch our player of the week in baseball. Unfortunately, it came against us.”
Joe finds both Geltz and Cash to be blame-worthy in this disaster. Of course, Geltz should have done more than crawl into the fetal position. But why not use Geltz earlier in the game, then allow either Ramirez or Colome to close?
Or why not avoid the situation all together by walking Valencia to get to Khris Davis, who went 0-for-5?
Your 2016 bullpen stats:
| Player | W | L | ERA▲ | G | GS | SV | SVO | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | AVG | WHIP |
| Colome | 1 | 1 | 1.69 | 15 | 0 | 9 | 9 | 16.0 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 21 | .196 | 0.94 |
| Ramirez | 6 | 1 | 1.76 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 30.2 | 21 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 22 | .198 | 0.82 |
| Marinez | 0 | 0 | 2.45 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | .154 | 0.55 |
| Farquhar | 0 | 0 | 3.38 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.1 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | .304 | 1.69 |
| Romero | 1 | 0 | 3.38 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13.1 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 10 | .091 | 0.83 |
| Cedeno | 2 | 1 | 3.86 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9.1 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 10 | .206 | 1.39 |
| Webb | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.0 | 13 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | .342 | 1.60 |
| Geltz | 0 | 2 | 4.61 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 13.2 | 11 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 11 | .216 | 1.17 |
| Eveland | 0 | 1 | 9.00 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.0 | 11 | 9 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 9 | .289 | 2.00 |
May 16th, 2016 at 2:09 pm
What we have here is a failure to communicate, failure to communicate, failure to communicate.
Didn’t anyone notice that Valencia was on a hot streak and they probably shouldn’t lead him off with a very straight fast ball into his sweet spot?
Word to the wise, pitch around him.
I saw James Loney drinking a flaming Spanish Coffee at Valencia Gardens and his hair was perfect.
May 16th, 2016 at 2:44 pm
I gave my opinion on this game in the previous blog. Ugh doesn’t quite rise to the level of what I’m feeling right now. The blame is on Kevin Cash-less. Like Miguel Grande said above. Valencia had already hit 2 home runs in this game and 4 in the 3 game series. Doesn’t that qualify as being hot. Hotter than lava coming down Mauna Loa. Then you PITCH to him in the ninth with 1st base open ? Our old Coach JoMa of the Cubs walked Harper of the Nationals 5 times in the game last week. Why ? He wasn’t going to let Harper hurt him with his bat. Coach Cash-less brings in a fly ball pitcher in Geltz who’s giving game winning homers 3 out of the last 4 games he was in. What are you thinking. Terrible selection of players for his team, terrible game management and a terrible lame excuse to the press after the game. Unfortunately he’s learning on the job using our time and diminishing support.
May 16th, 2016 at 2:53 pm
Lost in all of the hullaboo from yesterday’s game was the sterling play of Logan Morrison. Coach Cash-less sent Mikie Matook and Schaeffer down to the minors and kept this turd on the team. Another 0 fer 4 day. (No strikes outs though; whoo, whoo) He worked sooo hard to get his batting average above .100. Now hitting.119, it looks like he’s heading back south again. The other managers in the league must be laughing their heads off at the Rays for keeping him the team, much less the starting lineup. Can’t anyone in management see what’s going out here !