The AL East Champions-The Tampa Bay Rays
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Regardless of what happens later this afternoon, the Tampa Bay Rays have won the AL East for 2010 after the Boston Red Sox defeated the New York Yankees 8-4 this afternoon. The Boston Red Sox pitched John Lackey (14-11 4.40) this afternoon and he threw a very nice game, pitching 7.2 innings, struck out 10 and only allowed 2 earned runs.
This now means that the Tampa Bay Rays will start the post season in Tampa, taking on the Texas Rangers on Wednesday. Tampa Bay is currently tied 2-2 in the 9th inning with the Kansas City Royals, but the game now is inconsequential.
I certainly would like t see the Rays win this last regular season game and go into the playoffs with a couple game winning streak.
Are the Tampa Bay Rays mailing in the end of the season?
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Are the Tampa Bay Rays simply content to start the playoffs as the AL wildcard team? They certainly aren’t playing with any sense of urgency. The Rays managed two hits last night. TWO, as the Rays once again managed to make an average pitcher look like a Cy Young contender. Veteran left hander Bruce Chen pitched a 7 strikeout 2 hit complete game and his first career shutout for the Kansas City Royals.
Last nights game should prove to Tampa that James Shields should play no role whatsoever in the playoff pitching rotation. Shields was rocked again last evening for 12 hits and 6 earned runs in just 5 innings pitched. Shields has only three wins in his last 10 starts and now has an ERA of 5.18. Shields ERA for the month of September is at 7.00.
The New York Yankees moved ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays bu a 1/2 a game by virtue of their game being postponed due to the remnants of Tropical Storm Nicole moving through the area. The Yankees and Red Sox will make their game up this afternoon in a doubleheader starting at 4pm EST.
The Rays have now lost 5 of their last 6 games and their feast or famine offense continues plodding along. With last nights 2 hitter, Tampa Bay has now been held to 6 hits or less 56 times in 2010, the most in the majors. That really is an odd statistic for the team which held the best record in baseball for a long while this season.
Tampa has two games remaining on the regular season schedule. The Rays are starting Andy Sonnanstine in tonight’s game but will find a way to get David Price into the game for 30-40 pitches in a final tuneup before the playoffs start. The appearance by Price might allow him an opportunity to reach 20 wins this season depending on how the game unfolds.
With last night’s loss to the Royals the Tampa Bay Rays failed to post a winning record against all of their AL opponents for the season. This is not the way I would like the Rays to be heading for the post season, hopefully in these final two games, the Rays can generate some offense and record two wins.
AL teams not looking sharp heading towards playoffs
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The start of the playoffs are a wwk away and the teams in the American League don’t appear to be playing very good baseball right now. The Tampa Bay Rays and the Texans Rangers are the only two AL teams which have played .500 ball in their last 10 games. The Minnesota Twins are in the midst of a 4 game slide and the New York Yankees are winners of only 4 of their last 10 games.
Last week, it appeared that the Minnesota Twins might wind up with home field advantage in the playoffs, but they ended up getting swept by the Detroit Tigers, and lost a 10-8 slugfest to the lowly Kansas City Royals last night.
Tampa Bays magic number to clinch a playoff berth remains at just 1 game after being shut out last night by the Baltimore Orioles of all teams. Heading into Sunday’s game against the Seattle mariners, Tampa held a 1 1/2 game lead over the Yankees but let another game slip away, losing 6-2 to the Seattle Mariners.
The New York Yankees aren’t playing any better either. New York defeated the Boston Red Sox on Sunday 4-3 to snap a four game losing streak. The Yankees have not had a very good month, and will end September with a losing record. Currently, the Yankees have 11 wins and 14 losses for the month of September.
You would hope that your team would be playing a bit more inspired baseball at this time of the season and not struggling to finish the month at .500. Tampa is 12-12 for the month so far with two games to go.
I realize once the playoffs start, the intensity level is ratcheted up to the next level, but you also are disappointed to see your team playing so poorly against teams they should easily beat.
Tampa Bay Rays extend lead over New York Yankees
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The Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Seattle Mariners 9-1 last evening, extending their winning streak to four games and extending their A.L. East lead over the Yankees to 1.5 games. I can’t believe I am typing this, but I’ve suddenly become a Boston Red Sox fan, as the Boston Red Sox defeated the New York Yankees again last night, as the reeling Yankees dropped their fourth consecutive game.The Texas Rangers secured a playoff berth for the first time since 1999 with their win last evening.
Rays starting pitcher Matt Garza collected his career high 15th win and pitched an exceptional game, allowing 8 hits in 7 innings one earned run and striking out 5.
Tampa’s offense continued rolling, managing 12 hits last evening. The 26,247 fans at the Trop last evening were able to see home runs from Matt Joyce and B.J. Upton. Upton also contributed a triple.
Tampa’s magic number to secure at least a wildcard berth is now down to 2 games. Any Combination of Tampa Bay Rays wins or Boston Red Sox losses which add up to two, means the Rays will see post season play for just the second time in their short career.
Sunday afternoon will be the final game of the season against the Seattle Mariners. The question is, will there be more folks at the Trop or over in Raymond James Stadium? At least one Bay area team is going to the playoffs this season.
Luke French (4-6 4.23) will be on the mound for the Seattle Mariners against James “You never know What you’ll Get” Shields (13-13 4.96) This certainly has been a very disappointing season for Shields and he is coming off two losses and two no decisions in his last four starts.
Tampa Bay Rays “rally” to win 9-8
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The Tampa Bay Rays came away from Friday night’s game with a win but a win which looked a lot more probable after the first inning than it did in the 9th inning. Tampa Bay jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first and led 7-1 after they pounded Toronto Blue Jays starter Brett Cecil for 7 earned runs and chased him from the game after 54 pitches in just two innings. Ben Zobrist and B.J. Upron both hit home runs for the Rays. That is Upton’s 4th home run in his last five games. That’s a good thing because quite frankly as inconsistent as the Rays are playing right now, Tampa needs each and every run they can muster.
After leading the Blue Jays 8-1 after the top of the 4th inning, the Rays allowed the Blue Jays right back into the game. Shields departed after 5 innings allowing 4 runs, Randy Choke, I mean Choate gave up two earned runs and before you know it, the game is tied 8-8 heading into the 9th inning.
Tampa managed to win the game without a hit. Three straight walks and a bobbled throw allow Sean Rodriguez to score from third. Soriano entered in the bottom of the 9th to collect his 41st save. He is now one away from tying the all-time save record for the Rays.
As scary a win as it was for the Tampa Bay Rays, it was a beneficial win as well. Never mind it was a Friday night win, it was a win which was coupled with a New York Yankee and Boston Red Sox loss so the Rays picked up ground in both the division race as well as the wildcard race.
Today’s pitching matchup features Wade Davis (11-9 4.39) going up against Rickey Romero (12-8 3.51) If you would have told me prior to the All-Star break that in September Davis would be one of the most consistent pitchers on the Rays staff, I would have said consistently bad. However, Davis has not lost an outing since losing to the Arizona Diamondbacks on June 27th. Davis is 6-0 with a 3.97 ERA in his last 9 starts.
I’ll take the win, however ugly. They all can’t be masterpieces. But you’d think that the team which has the best road record in major league baseball could be playing a little better. The Rays starters during this road trip have posted a ERA of 7.88 and have only one quality start.
