The tide is turning in the AL East!  The Tampa Bay Rays are setting all sorts of team records this season and don’t show any signs of letting up.  Scott Kazmir (5-1) won his 5^th game in the month of May to set a new mark for the Rays.  Kazmir’s line for the game included 7 innings pitched, 6 strike outs while only allowing 3 hits.  Kazmir also picked Joe Crede off 2^nd base to aid his own cause.  Kazmir lowered his ERA to a mere 1.22 in front of a packed house (36,048). 

The bullpen did their job as well in the 8^th and 9^th with JP Howell striking out Jim Thome and Carlos Quentin with a runner on to end the Sox threat in the 8^th.  With this shutout the Tampa Bay Rays also find themselves tied (Cleveland) for the league lead in shutouts with 7 – how sweet it is!

Carl Crawford was the lone Ray with multiple hits going 2 for 3, 2B, BB and another stolen base.  Cliff Floyd smashed another bomb for 1 RBI and BJ Upton had the other RBI. 

My Strikeout of the game goes to:   Carlos Pena — 1 for 4 with 3 Ks.  His lone hit was a 2B to lead off the inning and he promptly made a base running blunder to get thrown out at 3^rd base.  Even when he hits well he still manages to muck it up. 

My Home Run of the game goes to:  Scott Kazmir – the guy is a stud!  Look at his line – that says it all.  Nice job!

Congrats to the fans in the Tampa Bay area for getting off their couch and getting to The Trop!  Keep it going!

See you at the ball park!

In an evening that was clearly a pitchers duel it was the long ball that was the deciding factor.  Cliff Floyd hit a bomb of Sox reliever Scott Linebrink in the bottom of the 9^th for the walk-off victory.  James Shields threw a strong 6 innings giving up 7 hits, 1 earned run, 6 strike outs and only 1 base on balls.  The bullpen closed it out with a strong performance of 3 innings and only 1 hit. The Sox had their chances to score stranding 8 runners on base.

Great to see the Rays get aggressive on the base paths with stolen bases from Akinori Iwamura and BJ Upton.  BJ Upton had a good night at the plate going 1 for 2 with 2 bases on balls and knocking in the other run.  Akinori Iwamura was the only Ray to have a multi-hit game going 2 for 4 at the dish and scoring the other run.   Upton also turned a defensive blunder into an outfield assist by throwing out AJ Pierzynski on a ball that fell in short center field between 3 Ray defenders.

Nice to see the Rays rebound from a lackluster performance Thursday evening with a strong pitching and defensive showing.  Rays still sit atop the AL East alone with the Red Sox 1 game back.  Tonight’s game features another great pitching match up — Kazmir (4-1, 1.50) going against Vazquez (5-3, 3.52).  First pitch at 6:10pm with no TV today so GET TO THE TROP!

See you there!!!

The Tampa Bay Rays struggled on Thursday night as they lost to the Chicago White Sox by the score of 5-1.  The Rays just didn’t seem to get anything going all night and were never able to come up with a big hit to get a good rally going.

Edwin Jackson took the loss for the Rays as he struggled on the mound.  Jackson gave up ten hits and four runs over six innings of action.  Jackson’s record is now 3-4 on the season.  Jason Hammel threw the last three innings of the game and allowed one run.  It seemed like the Rays coaching staff didn’t want to use any other bullpen arms in the game and give them some rest on the night.

Carl Crawford had the only rbi in the game for the Rays when he singled to right field in the third inning and scored Willy Aybar.

Starting pitcher Matt Garza was on the top of his game on Wednesday as the Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Texas Rangers 5-3.  Garza improved his record to 4-1 on the season after tossing eight strong innings.  He only allowed four hits and two runs while striking out 10 Rangers batters.

Things got a little shaky in the ninth inning for the Rays however as Troy Percival gave up a hit and one run while recording two outs before leaving the game with some sort of foot/leg injury.  Dan Wheeler then came in to record the final out and pick up his first save of the season.

The fifth inning was the big inning for the Rays at the plate as the scored four runs.  Akinori Iwamura, Carlos Pena, Evan Longoria, and Cliff Floyd all had rbi in the fifth inning. B.J. Upton also had one rbi in the game which came in the first inning.  Upton had a stolen base to go along with his rbi as well.

The Rays are now a half game up on the Boston Red Sox for first place pending the Red Sox game tonight.  Rays Blog

The Tampa Bay Rays only recorded three hits on Wednesday as they lost to the Oakland Athletics by the score of 9-1.  The Rays were never really in this game as they got man handled the entire game at every aspect of the game.

Andy Sonnanstine pitched six innings and allowed nine hits and seven runs as he took the loss for the Rays.  Sonnanstine is now 6-2 on the season.  He couldn’t keep the ball down as he gave up two home runs in the game.

Jason Hammel pitched the seventh inning and did not fare well at all.  Hammel gave up two hits and two runs to go along with three walks.  Talk about having no control…  Trever Miller came in and pitched a scoreless eighth inning.

The only Rays run came in the eighth inning when Jonny Gomes hit a solo home run.  Other then that the Rays only had two other hits in the game.  It just wasn’t the Rays day at the plate.

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The Tampa Bay Rays got lucky and scored three runs in eighth inning as they beat the Oakland Athletics by the score of 3-2.  The Rays scored all three runs on an hit by Dioner Navarro that Emil Brown miss played and let get behind him in the outfield and all three runners on base scored.  Without that miss play, I don’t think the Rays would have won this game to be honest.

Scott Kazmir improved to 3-1 on the season as he tossed seven innings and only gave up four hits and one run.  Kazmir says he is still getting back to his usual self as he recovers from his arm injury suffered in spring training.  It looks like Kazmir is all set after another good performance.

Dan Wheeler pitched a scoreless eighth inning before Troy Percival came in and recorded his 13th save of the season in the ninth inning.  Wheeler and Percival are both throwing the ball really well in the eighth and ninth innings.

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The Tampa Bay Rays and Oakland Athletics played thirteen innings on Monday night and it was the Rays who came out on top with a 7-6 victory.  Evan Longoria hit a two run home run in the top of the 13th inning to provide the game winning runs for the Rays.

Longoria finished the game with the rbi as he also had a rbi double in the sixth inning.  Eric Hinske had a two run home run in the fifth inning to finish with two rbi.  Akinori Iwamura and Cliff Floyd both had a rbi in the game as well.

Jason Hammel pitched three innings of scoreless relief to pick up the win.  Hammel is now 3-2 on the season.  It was the first time in the last 11 games that Hammel got to see action in a game and he responded very well.  Troy Percival recorded his 12th save of the season as he gave up one run before recording all three outs in the 13th inning.

Starting pitcher James Shields pitched 7 2/3 innings as he gave up eight hits and five runs.  Shields ended up getting a no decision in the game.

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The Tampa Bay Rays defeated the New York Yankees once again and sent them into last place in the division.  The Rays beat the Yankees by the score of 5-2 on Thursday as they won the series 3-1.

Scott Kazmir pitched six innings and allowed three hits and no runs as he picked up his second win of the season.  Kazmir is now 2-1 on the season as he continues to come back from his arm injury.

Gary Glover was the pitcher that allowed both Yankees runs.  He pitched 2/3 innings and gave up three hits and two runs.  Both runs came on singles in the seventh inning.  Troy Percival worked the ninth inning to get his tenth save of the season.

Akinori Iwamura got the Rays scoring started in the first inning as he took Ian Kennedy deep for a solo home run.  Carl Crawford then had a sac fly in the third innning to put the Rays up 2-0.  In the fourth inning Shawn Riggans hot a two run home run.    And then in the fifth inning, B.J. Upton had a sac fly that put the Rays up 5-0.

Good four game series for the Rays as they took three games from the Yankees.  It will be fun to see if they can carry the momentum into their next series against the St. Louis Cardinals.

You can now be a game recap writer right here at Rays Homeplate!  We are looking for a Rays fan that would like to write game recaps on the site. If you are interested, please click the contact us link at the top of the page and email us.  Rays Blog

It was another low scoring game tonight and this time it was the New York Yankees beating the Tampa Bay Rays 2-1.  The Rays were only able to push across a run in the seventh inning Dioner Navarro had a rbi single.

James Shields took the loss for the Rays as he dropped his record to 4-3.  Shields didn’t really pitch bad as he only gave up six hits and two runs in 7 1/3 innings.  There was just no run support for Shields.  Trever Miller and Al Reyes pitched the final 1 2/3 innings without giving up a run.

Not much on the offensive side as Navarro had the only rbi for the team.

The Yankees and Rays will battle again on Thursday.  Rays Blog

Troy Percival gave up a home run to Hideki Matsui in the bottom of the ninth inning to blow the save, but the Rays were still able to come away with a win over the Yankees by the score of 2-1.  Gabe Gross singled in Jonny Gomes for the winning in the bottom of the eleventh inning.

The Rays first run of the game came in the fourth inning when Eric Hinske had a rbi single.

J.P. Howell improved to 3-0 on the season as he pitched in extra innings.  Edwin Jackson the starting pitcher for the Rays tossed seven innings of five hit baseball to take the no decision in the game.  Dan Wheeler pitched a scoreless inning of relief as well.

It was nice to see th Rays come back after Percival blew the game.  That is how you pick up your teammates!  Rays Blog