Minor-league success is having a major impact

There is nothing small about Tampa Bay's minor-league system.

The Triple A-Durham Bulls clinched its fifth consecutive title with a 4-1 win against Norfolk (Orioles) on Friday night. Durham's recent success can be attributed to Charlie Montoyo, who has managed the team for five consecutive seasons.

In addition, Durham has won 10 division titles in its 14 years as a Rays affiliate.

"That's our life blood between scouting and the minor-league developmental process," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "It's what we need to be all about. Having been a minor-league grunt for so many years, I really appreciate all that. I understand that, I get it and I think it's great.

"We've been able to homogenize what we've been doing here the last couple of years. We've had some really severe meetings, not this spring training, but the one before, and had everybody involved. We tried to unify our base running, our outfield, our middle infield, our hitting and really try to get on the same page throughout the organization."

The results were evident this season.

Tampa Bay called up 14 players from Durham this season, while four others started on the major roster before being sent down.

Some of the standouts this season promoted from Durham have been OF Desmond Jennings, OF Justin Ruggiano, P Alex Cobb, IF Casey Kotchman, P Brandon Gomes, OF Brandon Guyer and OF Brandon Guyer.

"When a guy like Jennings comes up, or Guyer comes up, they know exactly what we do on the field. They know how we play. They know what our signs are. They know the situations and things we like to try to do.

"It's very familiar, so when guys walk into the clubhouse, they don't feel compelled to sit down with an elongated explanation of this and that. They know from spring training and the regular season (what to do)."

The champ is here

Rays C Kelly Shoppach spent most of the pregame reminding teammates of his dominating performance last year.

Shoppach won last year's fantasy football league among Rays players and is going for a second championship this season. The Rays had their draft after facing Baltimore on Sunday.

To make sure everyone remembered his accomplishment, Shoppach had a T-shirt made which said, "Champ #1" and hung it above his locker. Shoppach even showed off his championship trophy to any teammate who would look.

When asked about this year's league, Shoppach's responsible was predictable.

"It's already over," Shoppach said.

Maddon was not surprised to hear about Shoppach's bragging, but said he had to quit playing fantasy football a few years ago.

"I used to do that stuff all the time and I stopped because it was ruining my winters," Maddon said. "I couldn't even watch football games normally anymore. That Thursday, the deadline to make moves, was absolutely killing me. It was just way too much stress. I felt more stress than I do in the regular baseball season, so I stopped doing it."

Pain in the neck

Maddon said Rays 2B Ben Zobrist was held out of the series finale against Baltimore as a precaution, while OF B.J. Upton was given a day off.

Zobrist has missed the last three games because of a sore neck, which began to flare up on Tampa Bay's last road trip. Maddon started Sean Rodriguez at second base, but said Zobrist seems to be fine.

"He's fine," Maddon said. "I wanted to give him one more day and see where we go (on Monday). I'm hoping he feels at almost 100 percent. He's available today (Sunday). I didn't want to push it. I thought we could still match up pretty good. Let's just give him one more day and see how it works out."

Changing speeds

Rays P David Price is known for throwing fastballs, but has worked with P James Shields and added another pitch to his repertoire.

Price has been throwing more change-ups toward the end of this season, which has helped him pitched more effectively. Previously, Price would throw a changeup once to four times a month, but during a recent victory against Toronto, he threw his new pitch at least 20 times.

As a result, Price struck out a franchise-record 14 batters in seven innings.

"Obviously, he's got one of the most electric arms in the big leagues, and by him adding his changeup and throwing his cut fastball, it is really making him a dynamic pitcher and it steps his game up to a whole nuther level," Shields said. "And especially this late in the year when not many guys have seen it. They know he's got a fastball and now he's mixing in that changeup pretty well. So now he needs to be able to locate it and be able to throw it at any time."

Anwar S. Richardson