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The Throwdown ended in a tie.

Mike4redsox: GO BIG RED!

Throwndowns: 57
Record: 41 - 10 - 6
Detroit,, MI
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Throwndowns: 145
Record: 61 - 68 - 16
Omaha , NE
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The Tampa Bay Rays have a better chance of making the playoffs than the Florida Marlins

Detroit Steel said 06/03, 08:48 PM
The Rays have a much better chance of making the playoffs than their Florida rival, the Marlins.

First of all, the Rays are in a better position. Yes, they probably won't win the division ahead of the Red Sox but they have a good chance of getting the Wild Card. The AL East doesn't have much talent other than Boston and Tampa, the Central doesn't look like it will be featuring any wild cards and the West has a bunch of contenders that probably won't stay in the contender status for long.

The Marlins will have to deal with teams like the Braves, Phillies, Mets, Dodgers, Diamondbacks, Cardinals and Brewers.

The Rays also have more talent. Scott Kazmir, James Shields, Matt Garza and Edwin Jackson are all very good, young starters. Now the Marlins . . . they have very little talent in the rotation. They got lucky so far but I doubt it will last for long.

The Rays have better hitting. Carlos Pena, B.J. Upton, Carl Crawford and a lot more. I am sure that this is better than players like Hanley Ramirez, Dan Uggla, Jeremy Hermida and Cody Ross.

Mike4redsox: GO BIG RED! said 06/03, 09:42 PM
I am obviously taking the Marlins here to have a better record.

The Rays do have some slight advantage of a better position than the Marlins, but the Red Sox will start to catch fire and the Yankees always make a run in late June-early July and the Rays have to play both of them a combined (counting tonight's game) 21 times. About half of those games should be losses, with most of them coming in September and July.

Just stating a fact here: From now until the All-Star Break, the Rays only play 2 teams under a .491 winning percentage. Tonight they started a 9 game road trip, and when returning to Tampa for their homestand, they play the Marlins, Cubs, and the Astros, all teams over .500. Point is, the Rays have to get through a tough month of June to see how they will fare the rest of the season.

The Rays also do not have better hitting than the Marlins, let's compare between both team's top 4 hitters.

Rays-Hinske, Pena, Upton, Crawford
.262 BA, 27 HR's, 123 RBI's, 119 runs, 36 SB

Marlins-Uggla, Ramirez, Hermida, Ross
.266 BA, 43 HR's, 110 RBI's, 131 runs, 18 SB

The Marlins win in 3 categories, while the Rays win in 2.

More in next argument, good luck DSteel.

Detroit Steel said 06/04, 08:27 PM
The Yankees are done for this season. They are a year older than last year and they lost some key pitching in Roger Clemens. I seriously doubt that the Rays will lose half of the games against the Yankees.

Against the Red Sox . . . it could be even. But if it is even, no one loses ground and the Rays are ahead right now.

The Marlins also have some road trips coming up - which isn't good. The Marlins are 3-6 on their current road trip so far and they will go on a nine game road trip soon and a whopping eleven game road trip to the NL before the All-Star Break.

THe Rays have better overall hitting with a .261 average compared to the Marlins .258. Tampa is getting contributions up and down their lineup compared to Florida who is mostly just getting contributions from Mike Jacobs, Dan Uggla and Hanley Ramirez.

When it comes to pitching, Tampa has the upper hand by a lot, and pitching wins ball games. The Rays have a 3.68 ERA, .80 lower than the Marlins 4.48 ERA. Florida also puts the ball in play too much, only getting 351 so far.

The Rays have better hitting and better pitching as well as being in a better position to win on its own.

Mike4redsox: GO BIG RED! said 06/05, 11:22 AM
The Yankees are never done in any season. Remember last year when they were down 14.5 games? They came back from that, even with Clemens not pitching as anyone expected him too. With the talent the Yanks' have they are definitely not out this year.

The Red Sox are finally starting to play together and are going for a sweep against the Rays, and they have reclaimed first place.

The Rays pitching is not much better than the Marlins. They do have great pitchers in Kazmir and Shields, but there's not much talent after them, and after Garza you have nothing. Their closer is on the DL, and Kevin Gregg, the Marlins closer, is very underrated. The Marlins pitchers aren't very talented either, but they're finding a way to get the job done.

Have you seen Florida? They're getting contributions from their lineup. Other than the three you named, the Marlins have a combined 112 RBI's from their remaining starters, plus one of their key contributers in Josh Willingham will be returning soon from injury. He was one of the hottest batters in the Majors until he got injured.

The Rays have somewhat better pitching, but the Marlins have better hitting. I''ll argue position next argument.

Detroit Steel said 06/05, 08:49 PM
The Yabkees are a year older than last year and last year is history - I doubt that they can pull of a comeback two years in a row. Tampa can probably win at least 3/5 of the games.

I said that the Red Sox would likely come in first two times. Tampa will win the wild card though, and they are in position to do that now. Florida is not in this position.

The Rays do have better pitching, but I can't help wondering why you typed down this sentence:

"After Garza you have nothing"

Edwin Jackson has an ERA south of 4.00 and Andy Sonnanstine has six wins. If you count that as nothing, then . . . do your research.

112 runs batted in for six batters . . . I hope you know that that means that the rest of the players have only averaged under 20 RBI each . . . not good.

The Rays have better pitching . . . the offenses are even but I would probably give it to the Rays also because they get on base more . . . Tampa also has MUCH better defense.

Mike4redsox: GO BIG RED! said 06/05, 10:44 PM
The Rays have 111 runs in for six batters, and I think many people would take Uggla, Hanley, and Mike Jacobs, instead of Crawford, Upton, and Pena. (Who by the way is on the DL) The D-Rays are already making their fall, and when the AL Central starts heating up, they'll be out of the Wild Card Race. The Marlins are still fighting it out for the division and are the same amount of games back from the Phils than the Rays are from the Red Sox.

The Rays closer is hurt, their slugger is hurt, and when Sonnastine has a close to 5.00 ERA its nothing to do with that six wins. That just means he got offense the days he pitched. Plus Jackson is 3-5 and has given up 4 ER in each of his last two starts. He's heading into a major slump.

Once the Marlins get Anibal Sanchez and Josh Willingham back from injury they should be right on track...

The Rays have solid pitching, not much better than the Marlins though, the Marlins have a better offense with Uggla and Hanley red-hot and the Rays slugger going on the DL. The Rays have a better defense but the Marlins are still winning without that great of a defense. The Marlins have a better chance of making the playoffs than the Rays do.

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