Matt Garza threw a gem against the Boston Red Sox to clinch the series victory Wednesday afternoon.  Garza threw a very strong 7 complete innings to earn his first W.  The only inning Garza ever faced any trouble was the 6^th in which he gave up a lead off 2B which would score 2 hitters later on a 3B before recording the final 2 outs of the inning.  His control was excellent aside from the 2 pitches he left up in the zone in the 6^th.  His line was 7 innings, 5 K’s, 3 BB and 1 ER.  I have to admit knowing how intense and pumped up Matt can get I was expecting a shaky first inning before he’d settle down.  Garza never showed any negativity on the mound.  His mound presence was intense but controlled.  He was very impressive today!

The Rays offense also had a nice showing chasing Dice-K after only 5 1/3 innings.  The Rays were banging the ball all over Fenway!  Offensively we knocked out 10 total hits 7 of which were for extra bases!  Matt Joyce began the scoring in the 2^nd inning with his first blast of the season.  Evan Longoria followed with a 2 run shot in the 3rd.  Shawn Riggans added to the scoring by sending out a beautiful opposite field blast in the 4^th. 

Shawn Riggans got the call behind the dish today and called an excellent game!  

The bullpen had a bit of a hiccup giving up 2 runs in only 2 innings pitched.  Brian Shouse gave up one manufactured run but, in my opinion, the big blow came in the 9^th when Troy Percival entered the game.  Percy came on and gave up a blast to Varitek on the 2^nd pitch he threw.  He then enticed 2 outs but allowed a free pass to Ortiz bringing the game winning run to the plate in the form of Youkilis, something I’m sure many Ray fans were not too comfortable with.  He eventually ended the game when Youkilis flew out to deep CF but it was not pretty.

First series victory in the books and a HUGE start to the season.  Now off to Baltimore where the Orioles are playing some tight baseball.  Should be a very exciting series!

See you in Camden Yards!

Wow – nice turn around from the previous evening!  Rays SP Scott Kazmir was awesome on the mound!  Kaz had a shaky first inning but came out firing in the 2^nd inning and through the rest of his 6 complete innings of work.  In the first he got ahead of a few batters then looked like he was pecking away at the corners rather than going after them.  He lost them and issued free passes.  He recovered to end the first inning unscathed.  He come out in the 2^nd inning and looking much more aggressive and confident.  In his 6 innings he only allowed 5 hits, 1 ER and 4 K’s while allowing 3 free passes (2 in the first inning).  Kaz had a lot of late movement on his pitches and was using his breaking ball to off set his fast ball!  His pitch speed was varying from 92 down to 78.  He locked the knees of many Red Sox hitters.  Kaz was the difference in this game – period!

The offense had a nice day at the dish as well.  Nice to see the first home runs of the season by Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria!  Carlos went dead center with his monster blast and Evan went down to drive his shot over the Green Monster.  

Here is the play of the game, a patent Maddon safety squeeze!  This took a few guys executing perfectly for this exciting play to work.  Gabe Kapler led off with a walk.  Next to the dish, Akinori Iwamura.  With Kapler running Aki slapped a single into the vacated #6 hole allowing Kapler to head to 3^rd.  That was a nice piece of opposite field hitting!  Jason Bartlett, probably the best bat handler on the team, then laid down a beautiful bunt to the first base side allowing Kapler to score form 3^rd.  These 3 guys executed everything perfectly in this entire sequence – it was beautiful!

I love this “NL” style of play – love to see the Rays burning up the base paths and laying down the safety squeeze – outstanding!

Aside from Kaz being the star of the game let me mention someone else who was quietly impressive in my mind, Gabe Kapler.  Gabe didn’t tear the cover off the ball, hit a HR, steal a base but he had a very nice game both offensively and defensively.  At the dish he was 1 for 3 with a run scored and a free pass.  He was the lead cog in the wheel that manufactured the run on the safety squeeze.  Defensively he played CF.  He made a few nice running catches on balls that were hit well over his head and to me that was most impressive.  I watched him just turn around and sprint for the fence then make a difficult play look easy.  He also had an assist by throwing out Youkilis at 2^nd base.  Nice job Gabe!

The Ray bullpen was outstanding expect for a little hiccup from JP Howell.  Grant Balfour earned the save by being an intense beast on the mound.  In the 9^th inning he threw 10 pitches -9 were fast balls.  He was pacing all around talking to himself – it was awesome!

Good to see the Rays play with some intensity and desire.  They wanted this game and it was obvious.  Today the Rays send the always hyper, intense Matt Garza to toe the rubber.  Matt will probably be hurdling the ball at about 200mph the first inning he’ll be so pumped!  Cannot wait until game time!

Ahhhh, smell the hotdogs steaming, the stench of stale beer, hear the roar of the crowd – YES!   Baseball is Back!  Welcome to 2009 baseball fans!

But, alas it isn’t all good for Ray fans.  Most of you know the title of this blog is typically synonymous with real estate but in this case we’ll use it to discuss the difficulties our opening day pitcher faced against the red Sox.  Big game James Shields took to the mound with the hope of Rays Republic riding on his shoulders.  Well, ok maybe a bit dramatic but you get the picture.  The outcome was less than ideal as Shieldsy went only 5.1 innings giving up 9 hits, 3 free passes, 2 HR and 5 ER to ultimately end up as the losing pitcher.  James wasn’t able to maintain his location on his pitches and the Red Sox hitters took advantage of every mistake.

The Ray offense was absolutely shut down by Beckett.  In 7 innings he garnered 10 strike outs – 4 from Carlos Pena alone.  Beckett abused the Ray offense and the game was not nearly as close as you may think looking at the final score.  The Rays managed 1 lone run off Beckett (Okajima gave up the other 2 in the 8^th) and only 2 hits.  He completely shut down the heart of our order – Longoria, Pena and Burrell.  Between the 3 only 1 hit was to be had – that was by Longoria off Okajima. 

OK so here’s my game changing moment – the inning that seemed to shut the door on the Rays.  The top of the 6^th Aki walks and CC goes down low to knock a nice pitcher’s pitch to the wall for a double.  With no one out, runners on 2^nd and 3^rd, the heart of the order coming up, the score 4-1 — Rays fans are EXCITED!  Longo strides up only needing to drive one to the green to tighten the game and BANG – pop up to the catcher – 1 out.  Next victim – Pena – WHIFF – 2 out.  Last but certainly not least — Burrell – simple 5-3 ground out.  Beckett showed why he was the Red Sox opening day pitcher.

All in all – it is only 1 game, 161 more to go.  I’m not looking too much into this 1 game quiet yet and hopefully you aren’t either.  The Rays will bounce back tomorrow with Kazmir riding the bump. 

See you at the Park (on TV of course)!