Tag / Grant Balfour

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Rays All Time Leaders – Through 2025

To paraphrase from a famous movie, the one constant through all the years has been baseball.  As we head into 2026, we continue our look at the all-time leaders in both offensive and defensive categories for all 30 teams. Today, we take a deeper dive into the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Rays began life in 1998 as the Devil Rays, dropping the Devil portion of their name in 2008.  I’ve seen 204 players wearing the Tampa Bay uniform in the 31 of their games that I’ve attended live, five as the Devil Rays and the remaining 26 as the Rays, including the 2008 ALDS and two games at their horrible home dome in 2021.

Home Runs

Name Total
B.J. Upton 5
Matthew Joyce 3
Ben Zobrist 2
Luke Raley 2
Isaac Paredes 2

Hits

Name Total
B.J. Upton 18
Ben Zobrist 16
Carlos Pena 9
Evan Longoria 9

Runs

Name Total
Ben Zobrist 11
B.J. Upton 9
Matthew Joyce 7

RBI

Name Total
B.J. Upton 11
Carlos Pena 8
Ben Zobrist 7
Evan Longoria 7

Doubles

Name Total
Wander Franco 4
Ben Zobrist 3
Evan Longoria 3
Jason Bartlett 3
Manuel Margot 3
Brandon Lowe 3

Triples Continue reading →

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Rays All Time Leaders – Through 2019

414_tampa_bay-rays-miscellaneous-2012With baseball shut down because of the corona virus, I thought it would be an interesting time to look back at the all time leaders in both offensive and defensive categories for all 30 teams. We continue things today with the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Rays began life in 1998 as the Devil Rays, dropping the Devil portion of their name in 2008.  I’ve seen them play 24 times, 5 as the Devil Rays and 19 as the Rays, including the 2008 ALDS, where they defeated the White Sox.

Home Runs

Name Total
B.J. Upton 5
Matthew Joyce 3
Ben Zobrist 2

Hits

Name Total
B.J. Upton 18
Ben Zobrist 16
Carlos Pena 9
Evan Longoria 9

Runs

Name Total
Ben Zobrist 11
B.J. Upton 9
Matthew Joyce 7

RBI

Name Total
B.J. Upton 11
Carlos Pena 8
Ben Zobrist 7
Evan Longoria 7

Doubles

Name Total
Ben Zobrist 3
Evan Longoria 3
Jason Bartlett 3

Triples Continue reading →

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A’s All Time Leaders – Through 2015

oakland-athleticsWith 4 months until baseball in Chicago returns, I thought it would be interesting to look at the all time leaders in both offensive and defensive categories for all 30 teams. We continue today with the Oakland Athletics.

The A’s began life in Philadelphia in 1901, as one of the 8 charter franchises of the American League, before moving to Kansas City in 1955 and, finally, to Oakland in 1968.  I’ve seen them play at least 20 times, including twice in their home stadium.

Home Runs

Name Total
Jason Giambi 3
Ramon Hernandez 2
Matt Stairs 2
Jonny Gomes 2
Frank Thomas 2

Hits

Name Total
Miguel Tejada 7
Rajai Davis 7
Emil Brown 7

Runs

Name Total
Coco Crisp 5
Emil Brown 4
Jason Giambi 4

RBI

Name Total
Ramon Hernandez 5
5 tied with 4

Doubles

Name Total
Coco Crisp 3
6 tied with 2

Triples Continue reading →

by admin

Rays All Time Leaders – Through 2015

414_tampa_bay-rays-miscellaneous-2012With 5 months until baseball in Chicago returns, I thought it would be interesting to look at the all time leaders in both offensive and defensive categories for all 30 teams.  We start things off today with the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Rays began life in 1998 as the Devil Rays, dropping the Devil portion of their name in 2008.  I’ve seen them play 13 times, 5 as the Devil Rays and 8 as the Rays, including the 2008 ALDS, where they defeated the White Sox.

Home Runs

Name Total
B.J. Upton 5
Matthew Joyce 3
Ben Zobrist 2

Hits

Name Total
B.J. Upton 18
Ben Zobrist 16
Carlos Pena 9
Evan Longoria 9

Runs

Name Total
Ben Zobrist 11
B.J. Upton 9
Matthew Joyce 7

RBI

Name Total
B.J. Upton 11
Carlos Pena 8
Ben Zobrist 7

Doubles

Name Total
Ben Zobrist 3
Evan Longoria 3
Jason Bartlett 3

Triples Continue reading →

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#174 – Orlando Cabrera

072008-Cabrera-03Name: Orlando Cabrera

Rank: 174

Position: SS

Year With White Sox: 2008

On November 19, 2007, Orlando Cabrera was traded to the White Sox from the Angels in exchange for Jon Garland.  The thinking was that Cabrera, fresh off a Gold Glove season, would help to stabilize the left side of the infield.  Unfortunately, stabilize is not quite what he did.

In May, Cabrera made waves by calling the press box to complain about two errors that were charged against him.  When questioned about the calls, Cabrera claimed that he had no choice as manager Ozzie Guillen was not supporting him.

In July, he got in to a dugout confrontation with Jermaine Dye over stealing third base while Dye was at bat.  Cabrera had to be restrained by Jose Contreras before the argument spilled in to the clubhouse.

As September was coming to an end, and the White Sox were the Twins for the AL Central title, Cabrera again became a distraction, this time calling out his teammates for not having the right attitude going in to games.  A little more than a week later, Cabrera tried to start something with Ray’s pitcher Grant Balfour in the 7th inning of game 1 of the ALDS.  Down 6-3 with the bases loaded and 2 out, Cabrera, for reasons that I’m sure made sense to him, took exception to an outside pitch, causing a bit of a brouhaha.  Once tempers calmed, Balfour struck out Cabrera and the Rays went on to win the game, and, eventually, the series, ending Cabrera’s tenure with the White Sox.  He left as a free agent after the season.

Cabrera’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

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