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 Verfasst am: 09.03.2019, 05:14 Titel:
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| ST. PETERSBURG Curt Schilling Jersey , Fla. (AP) — Thanks to an infusion of young talent, the Tampa Bay Rays overcame a slow start to win 90 games and spawn lofty expectations for next season.What was supposed to a rebuilding year for the Rays, who trimmed payroll in the winter and purged the roster again, might have been even more special if not for the success of AL East rivals Boston and New York.The Red Sox repeated as division champion with 108 victories and the Yankees won 100 to earn AL’s top wild-card berth.The Rays finished 18 games behind Boston and 10 behind New York, but weren’t eliminated from post-season contention until Sept. 24.“I hope we don’t have two 100-win teams in our division next year,” manager Kevin Cash said. “But if we do, we’re one of them.”First-time All-Star Blake Snell led the major leagues with 21 wins and an AL-leading 1.89 ERA, rookie Joey Wendle played solid defense while hitting .300 in 139 games, and C.J. Cron had 30 homers and 74 RBIs after being acquired during a trade in spring training.“As an organization there was some amount of satisfaction that came with the work that we’ve been doing the last several years to prepare a young group coming through our minor leagues … and to see that finally hit our major league team,” general manager Erik Neander said.“When we look back at this year, hopefully it will be seen as the year that started off a run of many competitive, playoff achieving seasons,” Neander added, “and hopefully, a championship in there at some point.”The Rays lost 12 of 15 to begin the season, digging themselves into a hole few people felt they were capable of escaping after a winter that saw them trade Evan Longoria, Steven Souza Jr., Corey Dickerson and Jake Odorizzi and lose starting pitcher Alex Cobb to free agency.They trimmed salary again in July, unloading pitchers Chris Archer, Nathan Eovaldi and Alex Colome Luis Gonzalez Jersey , as well as All-Star catcher Wilson Ramos and Denard Span to make way for the youth movement that keyed a second-half surge.The Rays went 41-25 after the All-Star break, including 19-9 in September. They were 9-1-2 over their last 12 series.“Coming out of spring training we didn’t know what kind of club we were going to have on the field as far as wins and losses,” Cash said, “but we knew we had a good group of guys, a good core group of guys and a lot to look forward to … with some of younger players getting opportunities.”One of the keys to overcoming the slow start was creative use of the bullpen that included the introduction of “openers” — relievers who started games and generally faced from three to nine batters.A “bullpen day” starter, by comparison, usually pitched deeper into games though normally no more than twice through an opposing team’s lineup.Prior to the debut of the “opener” on May 19, the Rays ranked 22nd in the majors in ERA. From that day forward, they were third-best behind the Dodgers and Astros.“I think any time you’re trying something a little bit different, you don’t know how it’s going to be perceived and how it will work out,” senior vice president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom said. “You know you’re going to learn along the way, and we did learn. Overall, we were very pleased with how it went.”Some things to know about the Rays:DOMINANT SNELLSnell had 27 starts in which he allowed two or fewer runs, most by an AL pitcher since Wilbur Wood had 27 for the White Sox in 1972. The last two AL pitchers to win at least 21 games and a sub-2.00 ERA were Roger Clemens for the Red Sox in 1990 and Ron Guidry for the Yankees in 1978.RARE COMPANYThe Rays, who made the playoffs four times in six seasons from 2008-2013, have won at least 90 games six times over the last 11 seasons. The Red Sox (seven) and Dodgers (seven) and Yankees (six) are the only teams with as many or more during that stretch.NOT SATISFIEDCash called finishing with a winning record an “accomplishment,” but noted the standard for the organization is much higher.“We’re not going to settle for just the feel good story … but you’ve got to be proud of what’s taken place to this point, and we are,” the manager said. Major League Baseball has made an effort to grow the sport among African-Americans, and there are finally some small signs of progress. Meanwhile Gregor Blanco Jersey , ballparks from coast to coast host nights celebrating the LGBT community, another example of baseball’s attempts to promote diversity.Right now, all of that is being overshadowed after the discovery of some inflammatory old tweets from current players, social media posts that threaten to undermine some of the work MLB has invested in.“I think the main challenge is that a lot of times good deeds are not as interesting as misdeeds,” said Billy Bean, MLB’s vice president for social responsibility and inclusion. “We’ve worked so hard to not only introduce the sport in underserved areas and grow our Play Ball initiative, our Breakthrough Series — our RBI program is in its third decade. The number of kids that we’re putting uniforms on and introducing to the sport at a younger age — that definitely gets pushed to the wayside when (there is) something as controversial as a tweet that contains racist or misogynistic or homophobic language in it.”Whatever progress baseball has made promoting inclusion, it took a backseat recently. Years-old racist, misogynistic and homophobic tweets from Milwaukee reliever Josh Hader were found during the All-Star Game. Then Atlanta pitcher Sean Newcomb and Washington shortstop Trea Turner had their own offensive tweets unearthed. The tweets were from well before those players reached the major leagues, but they raised uncomfortable questions for a sport still trying to increase participation among African-Americans.“I strongly believe people are going to move forward,” Oakland slugger Khris Davis said. “There’s never an easy answer. I think Major League Baseball’s doing a fine job promoting baseball to black players.”Davis’ father, Rodney, has done some work for the MLB Urban Youth Academy, and the younger Davis played for a travel team affiliated with the Academy. Programs like that received credit when MLB said the percentage of black players from the United States and Canada on opening day active rosters rose to 8.4 percent this year . That’s the highest level since at least 2012, but still well below the percentage from the mid-1980s. A report around the start of the season found the sport was showing improvement with racial and gender hiring practices.A team made up largely of black players from Washington’s Mamie Johnson Little League qualified for a regional tournament in Connecticut recently — a feel-good story for baseball in the aftermath of the offensive social media posts. The league began operation just a few years ago and has partnered with the Washington Nationals‘ youth academy.Keith Barnes, the league’s president, said he didn’t think the kids were paying too much attention to the controversy over racist tweets. He certainly doesn’t think it will affect their enjoyment of the sport.“I think most of the work has to be done at the grassroots level to bring kids to the sport,” Barnes said. “I don’t think it’s more on the major league level. It’s more imperative that the community drive kids to play the sport.”Still, young athletes look up to major leaguers, and incidents like these can be damaging. Even before the tweets surfaced Blake Parker Jersey , a well-known major league pitching coach was fired for comments he made to a team employee. Chris Bosio, who was with the Detroit Tigers, later told USA Today he used the word “monkey” — but insisted he didn’t say it in a racial or demeaning context.Earlier this year, Jackie Robinson’s daughter said she thought black baseball players were more reluctant to speak publicly about racial issues because they constitute a lower percentage of rosters than in some other sports.Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said to him, the biggest lesson from the Twitter revelations was that actions have consequences.“I don’t think it’s a cultural problem. I think there’s always something more that we can all do as individuals,” Roberts said. “We all, in uniform, have a platform and opportunity to build people up. I can’t speak for every individual but I know that I try to choose my words wisely and really try to lift people up, whatever their race or sexual orientation is.”Bean wants to make it clear that this issue isn’t just about the perils of social media.“We need to get to the core of why young men find humor in disparaging comments. I think that that is something that permeates through every household across the United States,” said Bean, who came out as gay in 1999, four years after the end of his major league playing career. “The idea of just telling them to hurry up and delete an account, that’s not finding a solution. That’s perpetuating a situation that we want to eliminate 100 percent throughout the sport.”Bean said it was a “terrible day for baseball” each time more offending tweets were revealed — and the message organizations send to their players and fans is important.“If this date in time is remembered for one of the most unfortunate weeks where it comes to baseball’s relationship with social media and that of our players, sometimes you have to roll up your sleeves and try to find the best outcome moving forward,” Bean said. “If it can make everybody take a beat and realize just how damaging those words can be to the fans that look up to our players, then maybe it will be a learning experience that none of us will ever forget.” |
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