Derby Lane's Fall Sprint final kicks off season for stakes races

By Don Jensen, Times Correspondent
Friday, September 30, 2011

ST. PETERSBURG — They will walk in unison to the starting box tonight and wait for it to open. For the greyhounds in the fifth annual $50,000 Fall Sprint championship, that will be one of the few similarities.

Derby Lane's first stakes race of the season blends speedsters with closers, sprinters with dual-distance dogs, and veterans with pups. Together, the eight finalists have 564 starts and 192 victories. None has won a stakes with a purse this high ($22,000 to the winner). And none will be concerned with defending champion Flying Coal City, the industry's 2010 Triple Crown winner who was retired from racing Wednesday after the McAllister kennel standout failed to qualify for the 550-yard finale, track spokeswoman Vera Rasnake said.

The field in the Fall Sprint (Race 10, 10:11 p.m.) from the rail: Sand Cloud (D'Arcy kennel), Aerial Battle (Capabal), Ahk Colormegone (Abernathy), Storm Rush (Hambleton), Jw Titleist (Capabal), Uss Gazillionair (Lester Raines), Craigie I Am Jak (Campbell) and Manicotti Manny (Hambleton).

"I think every one of them can win," Rasnake said. "That's what is exciting about the way they drew (posts). Dog owners are coming to town (from as far as Kansas and Texas)."

Aerial Battle (Matinee Idol), Storm Rush (St. Petersburg Derby) and Uss Gazillionair (Fall Juvenile) have won stakes before. Aerial Battle turned 4 in September and is the event's senior greyhound. He is going for his 70th victory in his 140th start. Aerial Battle has overcome two injuries — including a career-threatening ankle stopper-bone issue — and is one of the early speed dogs with Ahk Colormegone, Manicotti Manny and Sand Cloud. Aerial Battle is 6-for-6 at making stakes finals and is half-brother to Jw Titleist, the meet wins leader. Abernathy has been the hottest kennel in recent stakes, winning three of the previous seven at Derby Lane.

This is the fifth stakes finale for Uss Gazillionair, who can extend Lester Raines' streak of having a stakes winner at St. Petersburg to seven consecutive meets. Storm Rush comes from well off the pace as does Craigie I Am Jak, the youngest qualifier at 21 months old. In 10 lifetime wins, Craigie I Am Jak has beaten only one dog out of the starting box. He led qualifiers with 56 points and, with a win, would give Campbell its first stakes victory at Derby Lane since Jr's Flashy won the 2005 T.L. Weaver Memorial.

HORSES: Belmont Park will host six of the 13 graded races on today's national scene. The track in Elmont, N.Y., has five Grade I races (Jockey Club Gold Cup, Joe Hirsch Turf, Flower Bowl, Beldame and Vosburgh) and a Grade II (Kelso). … Tampa Bay Downs trainer Anthony Pecoraro got his 1,000th win Sept. 24 when I'm Steppin' It Up won the Grade III Kent Stakes at Delaware Park in Wilmington.

Source: http://www.tampabay.com/sports/parimutuels/derby-lanes-fall-sprint-final-kicks-off-season-for-stakes-races/1194667

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Remember Tampa Bay Rays' Kelly Shoppach by Game 1 of AL Division Series vs. Texas Rangers

By John Romano, Times Sports Columnist
Friday, September 30, 2011

ARLINGTON, Texas — Your mind was likely made up long ago. The strikeouts have been too frequent and the highlights too rare to expect it any other way.

So if Kelly Shoppach parts ways with the Rays this winter — and that's a real possibility — the mood will likely involve more relief than regret around Tampa Bay.

Just do Shoppach this one favor. Or maybe do it for yourself.

Remember the afternoon when he stood taller than ever before. The game when his bat was magic and his work behind the plate was flawless.

Remember the playoff game when Shoppach did everything possible to erase the memories of last year's postseason disappointment.

"I'm happy for him, I really am," said hitting coach Derek Shelton, who has been with Shoppach since their days together in Cleveland.

"A big situation like this and look at what he does. The work he did with Matt Moore (Friday) and the fact he comes into a playoff game and comes into his hometown (and) has this kind of day? Pretty cool."

Shoppach had two huge home runs, a single, five RBIs and three runs scored in Tampa Bay's 9-0 whipping of the Rangers on Friday afternoon.

He guided the 22-year-old Moore through an impressive seven-inning effort, and maybe he rid himself of a little of the bad taste of last season's playoff series against Texas.

You might recall that disappointment. It's hard not to because Shoppach could hardly have been worse. He was 0-for-9 with three strikeouts, allowed five stolen bases in three games and committed an error in the 2010 American League Division Series loss.

Shoppach swears he didn't lose any sleep over that during the offseason. Instead, he found a new trainer to help improve his strength and thought about coming back stronger in 2011 instead of fretting over 2010.

"I don't want to take it too seriously. I think y'all do. You really do. This is a fun game. Why can't we have fun playing it," Shoppach said. "You leave it here at the yard. I'm going to go home, play with my kids, have some barbecue. That's what we do.

"It's my job, and I understand the severity of my actions here, but I also have a great family at home, and they're my backbone."

Even so, Shoppach is aware that his bat has not lived up to expectations since he signed with the Rays before the start of the 2010 season.

His batting average has been rolling downhill for three seasons. Shoppach has gone from .261 to .214 to .196 to .176. Among players with at least 400 plate appearances, his .185 average the past two seasons is the fourth worst in the majors.

Shoppach has been a pretty good hitter against left-handed pitching. Actually, better than league average. The problem is he has been atrocious against right-handers. He hit .114 against them in 2010 and followed that up by hitting .115 this season.

What's key, however, is he has not allowed it to affect his defense. Shoppach was not real impressive behind the plate last season, but he says that was due more to injuries.

This year he has been among the best defensive catchers in the game. He has handled a young pitching staff with a deft touch and has been a huge asset taking away the stolen base from opponents.

Of catchers who started at least 70 games this year, none threw out a higher rate of baserunners than Shoppach, who was at 40.9 percent. That goes for the National League, too.

"He's a guy with a lot of pride," Shelton said. "I was with him when he had the big year in '08 when he led all catchers in home runs. He takes a lot of pride in his offense, and the fact he hasn't produced weighs on him. It weighs on him because he cares a lot and he wants to win. As much as anybody I've been around in the game, he cares about winning.

"He doesn't care about the individual stuff, only in the sense that it might impact how much we're winning."

From that standpoint, Shoppach has shown up with his bat when the Rays have needed him most. He has hit seven home runs in his past 19 starts.

The Rays tried giving his job away a couple of months ago to rookie Jose Lobaton, but their confidence in him has obviously grown in the past few weeks. He has been back in the lineup more often, and he hit in the No. 6 spot on Friday for the first time in two months.

The Rays might not pick up his $3.2 million option for next year, but they might consider re-signing him for a lower salary.

"He's never talked about his hitting at all. He's handled it very well," said centerfielder B.J. Upton, who has the locker next to Shoppach. "He's always upbeat in the clubhouse; he doesn't wear it on his shoulders. He comes to the park every day in a good mood, and he's ready to play.

"He deserves a game like this because he's been there for us."

One afternoon does not change the past two years, but it does leave you with another perspective. It helps you recall the good things Shoppach has done.

When the time comes, remember that.

John Romano can be reached at romano@sptimes.com.

Source: http://www.tampabay.com/sports/baseball/rays/remember-tampa-bay-rays-kelly-shoppach-by-game-1-of-al-division-series-vs/1194707

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Now pressure builds for the Phillies

Thursday, September 29, 2011

PHILADELPHIA — No team enters this postseason under more pressure than the Phillies.

Expectations are so high that anything less than a World Series title will be considered a failure by fans, players and team officials.

"Our ultimate goal is to win the World Series," LHP starter Cliff Lee said. "We still have a lot of business to take care of."

Their road begins Saturday against the wild-card Cardinals. The Phillies cruised to their fifth straight NL East title and led the majors in wins with 102.

Lee, who spurned the Yankees and Rangers to take less money with the Phillies, raised expectations to all-or-nothing proportions with a 17-8 record and 2.40 ERA and six shutouts.

Much love from Cards: After overtaking the Braves for the NL wild card, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said he owed the Phillies a tip of the cap for ending the season with a sweep of the Braves, who lost 18 of their last 27. "To me, forever and ever, I have the Phillies in the highest regard," La Russa said.

Attendance: MLB's average attendance rose by about half of 1 percent this year, ending three straight seasons of drops. The overall attendance of 73,425,568 was the fifth-highest in history. The 30 teams combined to average 30,229 (up from 30.067), STATS LLC said. Tampa Bay dropped a majors-high 19 percent to 18,846.

Indians: The club picked up manager Manny Acta's contract option for 2013, and pitching coach Tim Belcher stepped down to spend more time with his family.

Padres: Randy Ready became the fifth hitting coach to be fired since the team moved into Petco Park in 2004.

Royals: Pitching coach Bob McClure and bench coach John Gibbons were let go.

White Sox: The team acquired RHP Jhan Marinez and INF Ozzie Martinez as part of the agreement that allowed the Marlins to hire Ozzie Guillen as manager. The Marlins acquired minor-league RHP Ricardo Andres.

Source: http://www.tampabay.com/sports/now-pressure-builds-for-the-phillies/1194473

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Pitching, defense make Tampa Bay Rays a formidable postseason opponent

By Marc Topkin, Times Staff Writer
Thursday, September 29, 2011

ARLINGTON, Texas

The Rays feel they can beat the Rangers in their first-round AL Division Series that starts today. Then they can take down the Tigers or Yankees in the AL Championship Series. And after that finish off whichever of the four teams survives the National League side of the bracket. • After what they pulled off to get here, they'd better. • "I think right now there's nothing that we don't think that we can't do," manager Joe Maddon said. "We believe. If anybody in the locker room doesn't believe anything is possible right now, I want to meet them one-on-one in my office." • The Rays have all kinds of mythical and magical reasons to be confident, given how they battled their way back into the playoff picture after being nine games out as late as Sept. 3, how the Red Sox

cooperated with a historic collapse, and how many amazing things happened in both teams' Wednesday season finales.

Enough that the Rangers have noticed. "They've got a lot of luck on their side right now," second baseman Ian Kinsler said.

But the Rays also have distinct advantages that are quite tangible and real: The arms on their top-shelf starting pitchers and the hands of their dazzling defenders.

Particularly at this time of year, when both are at a premium and offense tends to be a minimum.

"Within 162 games, I think teams don't mind playing us," top starter James Shields said. "But when it comes down to a five-game series or a seven-game series, we're a pretty tough team to beat because we do have the pitching and the defense, and we do have some guys that can step up to the plate and get the job done as well. When it comes down to a short series like that, we're definitely a team to reckon with."

Or, with a bit more bravado, from pitching coach Jim Hickey:

"We're as formidable an opponent as anybody out there, and I'm pretty comfortable saying I don't think anybody really looks forward to playing us."

That's because pitching tends to dominate in the postseason, with the Giants' 2010 world championship considered the latest example of why October can be an arms race.

"Very few teams slug their way to the championship," Hickey said. "Everybody gets neutralized a bit. If you go in there with the Philadelphia Phillies or masher lineups like the Yankees and the Red Sox, those types of lineups don't score the seven, eight, nine runs as is relatively common throughout the course of the regular season."

While some teams stagger into October with starters on their last gasp, the Rays stormed in, riding a rotation that posted an AL-low 3.53 ERA and pitched a league-high 1,058 innings. As they waited until Thursday night to name rookie Matt Moore the starter for today's opener, it wasn't because they were desperate but facing multiple options.

"There's no replacement for starting pitching," catcher Kelly Shoppach said.

The defense is also a big part of their success, as they try to have an above-average defender at every position and do extensive scouting and data analysis to position them properly, trying, as Maddon likes to say, to catch line drives.

The emphasis pays off, as they made a major-league-low 73 errors while posting the top fielding percentage, .988.

"We're pretty solid, pretty steady every day," Shoppach said. "And occasionally you look up and it's like, 'Golly, we can really pick it.' "

Given the lack of power and steady production from their lineup, that's kind of how they have to do it. "That's who we are," Maddon said.

And starting today, that's exactly what they want to be.

"I feel like we've got a great chance of winning it," centerfielder B.J. Upton said. "Our pitching and defense carried us all year, and those are definitely two important things you have to have to win. We wouldn't be where we are without it.

"I like our chances against anybody."

Marc Topkin can be reached at topkin@sptimes.com.

Source: http://www.tampabay.com/sports/baseball/rays/pitching-defense-make-tampa-bay-rays-a-formidable-postseason-opponent/1194467

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Five key decisions by the Tampa Bay Rays

By Marc Topkin, Times Staff Writer
Thursday, September 29, 2011

Five key decisions along the way to the playoffs

1. Not trading B.J. Upton

The enigmatic centerfielder seemed headed elsewhere at the July 31 trade deadline, and the rumors mounted again at the Aug. 31 deadline for waiver deals. Whether the Rays couldn't get what they wanted, or there wasn't as much interest as they expected, they hung on to him. He rewarded them with a spectacular September — a .363 average, .464 on-base percentage, five homers, 20 RBIs and a 1.123 on-base-plus-slugging percentage in his last 24 games.

2. Signing RHPs Joel Peralta and Kyle Farnsworth to anchor rebuilt bullpen

At the time, they hardly seemed like big deals. But the Rays saw something in the two 30-something relievers and they proved to be the foundation of their late-inning success, combining for 31 saves, eight wins and a 2.59 ERA while making 134 appearances. And all for a combined salary of $3.525 million — about one-third of what former closer Rafael Soriano is getting from the Yankees.

3. Manny Ramirez "retiring"

At the time, it seemed like horribly bad and disruptive news: DH Manny Ramirez, the Rays' biggest offseason addition and cleanup hitter, tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs, and in the face of a hefty suspension he opted to go home. But his departure begat the Rays bringing up 1B Casey Kotchman from Triple A and moving Johnny Damon from leftfield to DH (allowing to him to play more or better); the emergence of Sam Fuld, who carried the Rays for a good month; and the eventual July promotion of rookie Desmond Jennings.

4. Shields asking to finish more games

Frustrated with his 11-15 record and 5.18 ERA last season, RHP James Shields worked out fiendishly all winter then told manager Joe Maddon in spring training he wanted to take matters into his own hands and finish more games. His major-league-most 11 complete games (16-12, 2.82) turned out to be a big part of the Rays' success.

5. Sending Casey Kotchman to Durham to start the season

The Rays were impressed with Kotchman's spring showing after signing him to a low-risk minor-league deal, but not enough to break their commitment to starter Dan Johnson. Rather than trade or release Kotchman, they sent him to Triple A, with the promise of giving him an opportunity if one arose. A week later, he was promoted when Ramirez retired, and a week after that he started playing regularly. Though cooling recently from a season-high .341 on Aug. 9, his contributions were invaluable — a .306 average and MLB-best .998 fielding percentage.

Marc Topkin, Times staff writer

Source: http://www.tampabay.com/sports/baseball/rays/five-key-decisions-by-the-tampa-bay-rays/1194450

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Tampa Bay Rays: AL East boasts rare trio of 90-win teams; Kelly Shoppach earns honor from alma mater

By Joe Smith, Times Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 28, 2011

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Did you know?

The American League East has three teams with 90 wins (Yankees, Red Sox, Rays). Since 1990, only three other times has a division had three 90-win teams. And this is the first time the AL East has had three 90-win teams since 1987: Detroit (98), Toronto (96), Milwaukee (91).

With honors

Rays C Kelly Shoppach was surprised but excited to find out he was elected into the Baylor University Athletics Hall of Fame, an honor that was officially announced this week. Shoppach was the inaugural Johnny Bench Award winner as the nation's top collegiate catcher in 2001, and led the Bears to three NCAA Tournament appearances. "I just never thought with all the athletes, I never really saw myself (in the Hall of Fame)," he said. "I know I had some good years, one incredible year, man it's just unbelievable."

Quote of the night

"We'll go down in history as one of the worst collapses in history, so it definitely doesn't feel good to be part of that."

— Red Sox LF (and former Ray) Carl Crawford

Source: http://www.tampabay.com/sports/baseball/rays/tampa-bay-rays-al-east-boasts-rare-trio-of-90-win-teams-kelly-shoppach/1194278

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