Rays bats on fire, 10-1 over Rangers
In case you missed the memo, the Tampa Bay Rays bats are on fire right now with a 10-1 rout over the Texas Rangers. Rays fans have got to love seeing this, if this is a possible preview of a playoff match-up. The Rays chased Rangers pitcher, Tommy Hunter after facing 1 batter in the forth. Hunter had been pitching well, winning 4 of his last 6 starts, but yielded 6 hits and 4 earned runs in his brief appearance Tuesday night.
Rays pitcher Matt Garza had a fantastic outing. Garza had been pitching well in his last few starts but couldn’t seem to record a win. Tuesday night though, Garza was on fire, logging 7 innings, 5 hits and 10 K’s on 102 pitches. Garza struck out 5 of the first 8 batters.
The Rays at the plate were electric, collecting 15 hits and drawing 7 walks. Tampa had 4 batters with multi hit games and LF Carl Crawford and 3B Evan Longoria each driving in three runs. Crawford was simply a double away from hitting for the cycle. And B.J. Upton, who is quietly raising his batting average, had a pair of doubles as well.
James Shields will be on the mound tonight as the Rays look for a series sweep. To say that Shields (10-11 4.98) has been inconsistent, would be an understatement. On August 1st, Shields pitched the best game I’ve ever seen him pitch against the New York Yankees. Shields pitched into the 8th inning, 4 hits and 11 strikeouts. He has followed up that brilliant performance with a pair of really terrible outings. Rocked for 8 earned runs in just 4 innings against Toronto, then surrendering 4 runs against Baltimore last week. A start by Shields is a roll of the dice as of late.
The Rangers will be starting Derek Holland (2-1 4.19) The 23 year old left hander is being recalled from the Rangers AAA affiliate in Oklahoma City where he has been rehabbing a shoulder injury. Holland is 2-0 against the Rays lifetime, but has a 5.73 ERA versus Tampa.
After tonight’s game, Tampa will travel to the West coast for a 6 game trip taking on the Oakland A’s and Los Angeles Angels.
And on the 21st day, the Rays rested
The Tampa Bay Rays have just completed 20 games in 20 days and will travel back to St. Pete tonight for a well deserved break. The Rays have announced today that the club has moved back David Price’s next scheduled start until Monday in order to limit his innings and number of pitches as we head towards the post season.
Quite frankly there might not be a post season if the Rays continue to hit like they did today. The best hitter in the lineup today? B.J. Upton. Upton came into the game 5-10 lifetime against Verlander and continued the streak this afternoon, going 1-2 with 2 walks and scoring a run.
After this afternoon’s game, the Rays fielded a team today with a combined .236 BA. And I will continue to mention here, the Rays were 1-13 with RISP, not a formula for a championship team.
SP Matt Garza was not totally in control today, which is something that doesn’t surprise me. When he gts rattled, he gets out of his game and he was way outside of his game this afternoon, yielding 3 earned runs in just 5.2 innings on 113 pitches. Randy Choate, Chad Qualls and Dan Wheeler were able to come in and put out the fire, but the Rays bats fell silent despite being issued 6 walks this afternoon.
Tampa had the opportunity this afternoon to get their first ever season sweep of another club, but fell short losing 3-2. Tampa now heads home for a much deserved day off which saw them go 12-8 in 20 games, and a record setting first ever team no-hitter thrown in for good measure.
The Rays come home for 6 games and they will be equally tough. The juiced up club from Baltimore comes in for three and then a series with the Texas Rangers. Nothing is going to come easy from here on in for the Rays, they are going to have to earn every single win, clawing and scratching their way towards the playoffs. With a day off tomorrow, perhaps a coach could give a hitting instruction to the boys. Put a runner on second or third base and see if you can get him in. Please?
Rays Hellickson dominant over Tigers
Could Tampa Bay Rays P Jeremy Hellickson have been any more dominant last night over the Detroit Tigers? He was the absolute model of efficiency allowing only 3 hits, striking out 7 and using only 86 pitches to log 7 innings and the win. He had the Tigers batters just baffled all night long. Tigers pitcher Max Scherzer did receive the loss but he did pitch very well, he is someone to keep a eye on in the future, Scherzer has some nice stuff.
The Rays bats were active with the Rays collecting 4 doubles and while the Rays did score 8 runs, the run production could have been much higher as Tampa was once again just 1-12 with RISP.
In a moment of hilarity, when are the outfielders going to start wearing cups? In the top of the third, B.J. Upton had a Carl Crawford moment at the plate. Upton fouled off a ball which immediately bounced right back at Upton, taking out Big Jim and the Twins. Upton managed to return to the batters box.
The Rays have a rare afternoon game today to finish up their series with the Detroit Tigers. The Rays have Matt Garza (11-6 3.88) squaring off against Justin Verlander (12-7 3.81) for the Tigers. This is Garza’s first appearance against the Tigers since no hitting them 3 weeks ago and is coming off a no decision last Friday against the Blue Jays despite a strong 8 inning no earned run start. Verlander is coming off a loss in his last start and has a 4-1 3.52 ERA record lifetime against the Rays.
Homefield dis-advantage, Rays lose to Twins
Tampa Bay Rays fans knew it was going to be a long afternoon in the 1st inning when A.L. Rookie of the Month Pitcher served up 4 earned runs in the first inning. Davis looked horrible. In six innings, he served up 10 hits and six earned runs. The Twins rolled out starting pitcher, Kevin Slowey. He should have his last name legally changed to Speedy. This dude was firing pitches in to the catcher every 5-6 seconds.
I continued to watch though, Rays fans are the sort that stop to stare at a car wreck. We are conditioned that way over a decade. Expect the worst, then you are never disappointed, but sometimes surprised. I was watching as the underacheiving CF B.J. Upton got to the plate in the 8th inning and drilled a solo shot 428 feet to center field. Then one by one the following batters found a way to get on base. A base on ball walks home a run, then with the bases loaded, Rays down by 4 runs here comes hot hitting Matt Joyce to the batters box, we’ll be right back after a commercial break.
After watching a commercial about where I can buy every kind of sandal known to mankind, I see Jason Bartlett in the batters box. Whaaaaatt? Twins pitcher Jesse Crain who was rocked in the 8th, was relived by lefthand pitcher, Ron Mahay. Rays manager Joe Maddon who is as Zen-like as Phil Jackson in his moves, decides he wants to bring in Jason Bartlett, because he likes the matchup. Maddon is out of his mind. The second pitch from Mahay to Bartlett gets launched 357 feet to left field for his first ever grand slam and the game is tied. I hope Maddon bought a lotto ticket on the way home tonight. After that mve, I’ve decided that the family should now genuflect towards the direction of the Trop three times a day from now until the end of the season. Brilliant call.
Then of course, the Rays get hosed in the 9th inning with a ball which gets trapped in the A portion of the Catwalk, only the second time in 13 years this has happened to the Rays. The last time it happened? They were playing the Twins also.
Sometimes you’re the windshield, sometimes you’re the bug. Today, the Rays were the bug, losing 8-6. However, if you read my column heading into this homestand I said I would be happy if the Rays finished 8-3. That’s exactly how they finished. Tampa is 13-6 since the All-Star break and .5 games behind the New York Yankees.
Tampa is on it’s way for a three game set in Toronto currently and then a 3 game set in Detroit as the twenty games in twenty days continues.
Thank you Toronto, Yankees lose-Rays win and move into 1st place!
Well Thank you Toronto Blue Jays, after crushing the Yankees tonight 8-2, the Tampa Bay Rays have moved into first place with their victory 6-4 over the Minnesota Twins. Tampa has now won 12 of their last 14 games and just keep on rolling.The Rays got some more solid starting pitching from the massive right hander, Jeff Niemann and offensively got things rolling with the long ball.
Yeah, the Rays won on the strength of the long ball. 2B Sean Rodriguez hit his 7th, a three run shot in the bottom of the 1st. And my favorite disappearing Rays player, B.J. Upton cranked a 3 run shot with 1 out in the bottom of the 7th. Why does Upton tease Rays fans so? Three hits and three steals last night. Two hits, including a home run and three RBI’s tonight. Upton now has a batting average more than his body weight. I won’t get sucked in again though, I’ll be rooting because he is a Rays player, but I’m still skeptical.
Either way, Tampa has won, the Yankees have lost. The best record in baseball once again belongs to it’s rightful owner, Tampa. Thank you Toronto, try for the sweep tomorrow.
