Hey Ray fans…..I’m back!!  Want to thank Cliff for posting for our Rays in my absence!  Now, on to our Rays!!!

Wow!  What a great series victory over those hated northern rivals!  The Rays again showed the resilience that has kept them atop the AL East for most of the 2^nd half of this season.  After a horrible opening game, giving up 6 HRs and losing 13-5, the Rays bounced right back as they have done time and time again this season.  The Rays took game 2 after a GREAT pitching match up led to the Rays 11^th walk off victory of the season, 2-1.  Game 3 started much like game 1, a 2 run 1^st inning bomb by Big Papi.  But this game had a much different ending!  Willy Aybar, Gabe Gross and Fernando Perez banged out dingers, Gross and Perez going back to back.  The Rays chased Boston SP Wakefield early and lit up the bull pen.  The final score of game 3 was Rays 10-3 over the Sox. 

This series had a ton of significance.  First, the Rays have won the season series 10-8 over the Red Sox.  This would come very important in the event of a tie between the clubs at the end of the regular season.  Second, talk about a confidence builder!  The Rays stormed into Fenway and took 2 of 3 then invited the Red Sox to try the same in The Trop.  The Rays teased their northern rivals by giving away game 1.  Then they slammed the door shut by running off the next 2 victories.  The Rays now know they can win in Fenway should they need to during the post season.  Third, only 4 games to go to guarantee the first post season in Tampa Bay Ray’s history!!   I have my postseason tickets – do you?

One of the nicest surprises over the past few weeks has been Fernando Perez.  What a great addition to this roster at just the right time.  He has proven he can field, run, hit, steal bases, and on and on.  The guy doesn’t seem to get rattled under the pressure of the pennant chase.  Great addition!  David Price has pitched only once since his call up BUT it was an ice outing for him to get his feet wet.  In a big yard against some big bats he did a really nice job!  I expect to see both of these guys on the 25 man roster at the beginning of 2009. 

Well Ray fans…..only 7 more hours to kick off the Twins series.  I will be at The Trop for the final 3 games of this series.  You should grab your tickets now and be in that building when the Rays clinch their first ever postseason spot! 

See you at The Trop!       

It was an old fashioned butt kicking by the Boston Red Sox on Monday night. In the first game of a huge three game series against the Red Sox, the Tampa Bay Rays did not come to play and were hammered by the score of 13-5. This is not the way the Rays wanted to kick off the big series.

Starting pitcher Scott Kazmir was rocked as gave up four home runs, six hits, and nine runs in just three innings of action. It was one of those outings that Kazmir will just have to forget as it was simply bad. Mitch Talbot wasn’t much better after he came in for Kazmit. Talbot gave up two more runs and and four runs. In total the Red Sox hit six home runs off of the Rays pitching staff.

The Rays hit home runs of their own, however it was just three compared to the Red Sox six. Justin Ruggiano and Dan Johnson both hit two-run home runs late in the game while Akinori Iwamura hit a solo home run in the third inning. There just wasn’t any other offense besides those three home runs.

The Rays now need to bounce back and pick up a victory on Tuesday to regain their lead in the division.

Rays Blog

Sorry for the lack of updates over the weekend as I was extremely busy. After a three game series that the Rays lost two of three to the Yankees, they are still sitting pretty good in the division and of course the wild card race. The Rays are still up one game on the Red Sox as the two teams kick off a three game series Monday night down at the trop.

Against the Yankees, the two teams were rained out on Friday and then played a double header on Saturday. The teams split the double header as the Rays took game one 7-1 and then dropped the second game 6-5.

On Sunday the Rays lost 8-4. The Yankees took advantage of the long ball of the Rays pitching staff and the Rays offense just couldn’t keep up. Hopefully some home cooking against the Red Sox will get the Rays back on track.

If you are in the Tampa area, please do everything you can do and get out there and watch this series against the Red Sox. Show the team how we can really support this team during their playoff push!

Rays Blog

Hey everyone, I’m filling in for Brenda as she will be away from the computer for a while. What a game last night in Boston as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Red Sox 4-2 in 14 innings of action. As I was watching the game on ESPN, I was thinking wow is this game every going to end lol.

Carlos Pena delivered the big shot in the 14th inning when he hit an opposite field three-run home run to give the Rays the lead. It was a huge shot by Pena as he really picked up the team and that is what a leader has to do at this point in the season. Pena finished the game with three rbi Willy Aybar had one rbi on a triple in the second inning.

The pitching staff did a great job of holding the Red Sox down. Starting pitcher Andy Sonnanstine tossed seven innings and only allowed four hits and one run. The one run that Andy gave up was a rbi double to Dustin Pedroia in the third inning. Trever Miller ended up picking up the victory while Jason Hammel recorded all three outs in the bottom of the 14th inning for his first save of the season.

Troy Percival attempted to get the save but loaded the bases up and then was taken out of the game even after trying to talk the manager into staying in. People have to wonder if Percival is still a little bit hurt. If he is, he shouldn’t be out there on the mound.

We will be back blogging about the Rays on Friday when they take on the New York Yankees. Rays are up 2.5 games on the Red Sox and look to extend their lead this weekend!

Rays Blog

Wahoo, what an awesome come from behind win for the Tampa Bay Rays as they scored two runs in the top of the ninth inning to beat the Boston Red Sox 5-4. After giving up two runs in the bottom of the eighth, the Rays came back with a solo home run from Dan Johnson to tie the game, and then Dioner Navarro doubled in the go ahead and winning run. The Rays are now up 1.5 games on the Red Sox in the division.

Starting pitcher Scott Kazmir didn’t last very long as he pitched six innings and gave up five hits and two runs. Kazmir ended up with the no decision while Dan Wheeler grabbed the win to improve his record to 4-5. Wheeler did blow the save but was lucky enough to get the win. Troy Percival pitched the ninth inning to record his 28th save of the season as he shut down the Red Sox in the ninth inning.

The Rays and Red Sox will play once again on Wednesday night as the Rays look to take two out of three on the road against the Sox. They will then be off on Thursday before heading to New York for a weekend series with the Yankees. Let’s go get em Rays!

WOW!   What a devastating loss!  The Tampa Bay Rays fought all the way back in the 9^th inning to tie the game then take the lead in the top of the 13^th.  That lead was painfully erased as Troy Percival loaded the bases and with 2 outs gave up a grand slam to backup catcher Greg Zaun. Unbelievable!

I have not made this declaration so far this year but here goes…….This loss sits squarely on the shoulders of our fearless leader Joe Maddon.  It was clear that Percival was struggling and he opted to leave him out there.  Bad move Joe!  It would have still been a bad move had Percival gotten Zaun out!  Percival served up 2 home runs to the Yankees his last outing as well!    

The Rays showed a lot of determination scoring 3 runs, 2 off a 2^nd level blast by PH Rocco Baldelli, in the 9^th inning of Blue Jay closer BJ Ryan.  Fernando Perez has made his name known as well on the base path.  Perez was entered as a PR for Willy Aybar in the top of the 9^th.   Perez promptly stole 2^nd base and scored on a line shot by Dioner Navarro that skipped through the wickets of BJ 2^nd baseman Joe Inglett.  In the top of the 13^th inning Perez reached base on a FC.  He then stole 2^nd and 3^rd scored the go ahead run on a 2 out single by Navi.  Outstanding come back!   

Maddon needs to address several issues this team is having.  The first issue would be his own “loyalty” issue.  Maddon has openly stated that he is a very loyal guy.  Although loyalty is a great character trait it cannot get in the way of winning.  This team has come a long way in 1 season, these players have fought hard.  There is no reason to allow Percival to remain in that game last night when he was struggling as he clearly was.  That needs to stop Joe!  The second issue is our “closer” situation.  Clearly Percival is no longer an MLB closer.  Yeah, I know….last night was his first blown save.  He has saved 27 out of 31.  But, how many of those saves were 1-2-3 outs and involved little to no 9^th inning drama.  My answer — FEW OF THEM!  Our “closer” now has an ERA of 4.91!  Something needs to change and change fast.   

All this being said, the Rays still maintain a 2.5 game lead in the AL East (thank you Rangers!) and still have the best record in MLB!  So, watch today’s game for a series turn around to begin!

The Tampa Bay Rays lost their composure on the field and a game in the standings by giving away game 1 to the New York Yankees. They made costly mistakes on both sides of the ball.

SP Matt Garza clearly showed his frustration on the mound by throwing the rosin bag down several times through out his 5 innings of work. He was clearly irritated at the miniscule strike zone that Rays arch nemesis, Umpire Brian Runge, was calling. Garza was stellar the first 3 innings of the game then it all began to unravel in the 4th and 5th innings. Garza committed an error by throwing a ball far beyond the reach of Carlos Pena and gave up a 2 run blast to Xavier Nady. A dropped ball by Jason Bartlett that would have been an easy caught stealing on Derek Jeter led to another run. The frustration was evident on Garza as he allowed 6 runs (4 ER) in his 5 innings of work.

The offense did not back Garza’s cause either. An uncharacteristic lack of fundamental play by Eric Hinske cost the Rays 2 runs early. With Willy Aybar standing on first Hinske blasted a line drive to the LC gap off the top of the wall. Hinske put his head down and ran all the way to third. Problem was Ray’s 3rd base coach, Tom Foley, held up Aybar at 3rd. Aybar was then forced off 3rd by Hinske and thrown out at the plate. On the next play Bartlett hit a fairly soft grounder that Rodriguez had to travel to the hold to his left. Hinske not breaking on contact did not score.

The Rays out hit the Yankees 12 – 9 but stranded 10 on base. The offense gave up a lot of free outs to the Yankees by way of 11 strike outs, 8 by our top 3 in the lineup. The Rays definitely had opportunities to advance runners and score runs but failed.

This game was uncharacteristic for the Rays on all sides. The best thing about this game for the Rays is the OUTSTANDING catch BJ Upton made off the wall in deep CF. No one in The Trop thought he was going to catch up to that ball. It was one of the best catches ever!

Today is a new day! The Rays beat themselves up for about 30 minutes after the game and are now focused on today’s game. That’s one of the great things about this team. They understand bad games will happen and move forward. Tonight should be a total turn around for our Rays!

Go Rays!!