Balfour Is Still Effective (With Runners On)
mvn.com 6/10/2009 — Joe Maddon spoke to the media about Grant Balfour's and J.P. Howell's performances this season compard to last season.

Grant Balfour Saves Game In Seventh Inning Jam; Rays Sweep Jays
draysbay.com 7/12/2009 — More photos » by Chris O'Meara - AP Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon made the right call to Grant Balfour in the pivotal seventh inning.  ...

Grant Balfour Has Been Better Than Suggested
mvn.com 5/5/2009 — Grant Balfour has been scorned a little for his high ERA at 7.00, 5 points higher than last season at 1.58. We at the Rays Party don't always look at traditional statistics but rather sabermetrics and even pitch f/x if available. Well a couple things to point out that makes Balfour so much ...

The Bullpen Has Been Under Worked Lately. Good Or Bad?
mvn.com 6/5/2009 — Just a brief look at the dates the last time the Rays relievers pitched in a game. Rest days since last appearance and stats when pitching on # of rest days in 2009 0 Days- J.P. Howell (7 IP, 6 H, 3 BB, 9 K, ER) 2 Days- Grant Balfour (7 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 7 K, ER) 4 Days- Joe Nelson, Jason ...

Grant Balfour is Contagious
mvn.com 5/3/2009 — It has been a downhill first month after a dominating season last year for Grant Balfour . But what Balfour isn't doing this year is getting strikes outs. He is throwing strikes and after last night's game, Balfour has thrown 179 pitches and only 105 strikes. That is about the same ratio as last ...

Fastball Velocities By The Months
mvn.com 6/16/2009 — Here is a month by month comparison of the Rays pitchers fastballs plus there fastball percentage. The yellow indicates an increase of June velocities from May. Small sample size but I noticed most of the pitchers who threw a fewer percentage of fastballs in June from May, actually either ...

Bullpen Roundup: Who Should Rays Get; Is Rauch Out In Arizona?
mlbtraderumors.com 6/8/2009 — While Tampa Bay is still reeling from another loss due to a faulty bullpen, R.J. Anderson of DRaysBay.com has some suggested additions to the beleaguered group. Winston Abreu , currently dominating at Triple-A Durham, could simply be called up.  ...

The Bullpen Additions Post
draysbay.com 6/8/2009 — More photos » by Kathy Willens - AP about 2 hours ago: Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Madden, left, takes the ball from reliever Grant Balfour, second ...

Joe Nelson Is A Soft Tosser
mvn.com 6/25/2009 — The Rays vulcan changeup master Joe Nelson middle reliever Joe Nelson is officially a soft-tosser. Looking at the leaderboards for lowest fastball velocity among pitchers, Nelson is among the lowest. Among qualified relievers , Nelson is tenth for the lowest fastball velocity ahead of J.P. ...

The Amazing Nelson
mvn.com 6/19/2009 — We already discussed Joe Nelson's new mechanics a couple of times, with a follow up last week . Although I won't go over how well he improved and all that, but just look at his numbers since he changed in New York. G IP ERA H HR BB/9 K/9 WPA  ...

Manuel blames himself after loss for using pen poorly — Newsday.com - Mets 6/22/2009
With so many candidates to blame for yesterday's 10-6 loss to the Rays, it was surprising that one stood up and took the bullet for the rest of the Mets.

If Manuel wants to rip himself, we won't disagree — Newsday.com - Mets 6/22/2009
When the daily monsoon hit Citi Field at 3:55 yesterday afternoon, with the Rays having just jumped ahead, you thought the Mets would push to get the game suspended - until a day or two after Carlos Delgado's return from the disabled list.  ...

Brian gets off the HR Schneid — NYDailyNews.com - Baseball 6/22/2009
After hitting the go-ahead home run Friday night, Brian Schneider duplicated his performance with another three-run blast to give the Mets a lead Sunday in their 10-6 loss to the Rays.

MAINE AND OLLIE NEARING RETURNS — NY Post: Sports 6/22/2009
> The Mets could be close to having seven starting pitchers for five spots. Before his team's 10-6 loss to the Rays yesterday, manager Jerry Manuel said Oliver Perez and John Maine could be ready to rejoin the team by next week, depending ...

TROUBLES RUN DEEPER THAN THE DL — NY Post: Sports 6/22/2009
> YOU get the sense the Mets are at the cross roads of their season following a particularly gruesome 10-6 defeat yesterday to the Rays, who pretty much had their way this weekend with the home team. The Mets have lost four consecutive ...