RAYS at St. Louis 8:15; FSN FloridaRAYS RADIO/1250 AM

Pitching Matchup:

GO RAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Coming into the season, we knew the team would be much improved but there were still some areas that were regarded as weaknesses. Even though Dioner Navarro had a great second half last year, his season will still overall poor and the catching position was not considered a strong point. Many people have felt that our RF and DH situation would be a point of weakness. With Floyd being prone to injury, which has been evident already, we did not not expect to receive too much production from these positions with the likes of Jonny Gomes, Nathan Haynes, and Eric Hinske running the show. We also had no idea what sort of production to expect from the third base position. We knew Longoria would get called up at some point, but we didn't know when he would get that call or how he would perform when he did.

At the quarter point of the season, all of these question marks have quickly turned into exclamation points. If you look at the team's production by position, these four positions have created more offense than any other in the lineup. The four highest OPS by position come from C, DH, RF, and 3B, with marks of .804, .795, .783, and .745. These positions haven't been played by Carl Crawford, B.J. Upton, or Carlos Pena, yet they have been at the core of the success of this offense.

Some people have given the credit to the pitching staff for the amazing turnaround, but the performance of these position players should not be dismissed. These were areas in which we were highly concerned, but have since become the cornerstone of our offense in the first half.

In light of the release of the Rays financial plan, I had the opportunity to do an interview with St. Pete Times reporter Aaron Sharockman. You can also check out his blog Ballpark Frankness. The interview is about 25 minutes long and touches on nearly every topic concerning the Rays new stadium. I can honestly say that no one knows more about this stadium proposal than Aaron after talking to him. You can check out the interview by clicking on the link below:

Sharockman Interview 5/15

Jeremy Hellickson this season: 46.6 IP, 1.35 ERA,  39 H, 3 HR, 3 BB, 58 K. That's a 19.33 K:BB ratio. Words do not describe how amazing that is. Ryan Reid, also of Vero Beach, deserves a shot at Montgomery. 

Meet your new minor league overlord:

via farm2.static.flickr.com

This video was put together by Aaron Sharockman, who has been the most knowledgeable reporter on the new stadium at all times. You can check out Aaron's blog for the St. Pete Times by clicking HERE. The video basically explains everything that was learned today with the Rays releasing their new financing plan for the stadium.

New York at RAYS 4:10; FSN FloridaRAYS RADIO/1250 AM

Pitching Matchup:

GO RAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would like to officially start the campaign to get Dioner Navarro elected to the 2008 All-Star game in New York. You can cast your vote for Navi, along with other Rays players, by clicking right HERE. Nothing could be better for Rays fans than tuning into the All-Star game to see a stadium full of Yankees fans watching a former prospect that is now a Ray.

Outside of just putting it to Yankees fans, there are many other reasons why one should look towards Navi when pondering their catcher selection. Dioner is leading all catchers with at least 60 at-bats in the American League with his .874 OPS. While this is a relatively small sample size, his results to this point have been quit impressive. The next closest is Mike Napoli with .855 and the .836 of Joe Mauer. Considering Napoli has been hitting way over his norm with eight homeruns and Mauer has nearly 50 more at-bats that Navarro, he has still been knocking in the RBI with his 12 compared to Mauer's 15 and Napoli's 17.

Dioner has been as good as anyone in regards to hitting with runners in scoring position. To this point he has put up a line of .375/.375/.500 with RISP, with many of these runs coming in important situations. His BABIP shows that he has been quite lucky so far this season, but he has been one of the most integral pieces of this successful puzzle so far. In games in which Dioner has played this year, the team is a staggering 16-6 and one of those loses was in a pinch-hitting role.

Defensively, he hasn't been too shabby either. While he could use some improvement in throwing out attempted steals, he has done a great job being a backstop for our young staff. Through 178 innings caught, he has yet to commit an error and continues to boast a fielding percentage of 1.000.

Last year, the American League took three catchers and I propose that this year one should come from your own Tampa Bay Rays.

On a sidenote, I will be launching a new blog that will focus on the AL East Division today. I will not be writing for this blog outside of an editorial capacity, but our very own "nyfaninlaaland"  and Tommy from Outs Per Swing will be featured writers. I hope you guys can take a minute and check the new site. You can find the site HERE.