Andy Sonnanstine pitched outstanding Saturday to earn his 10^th victory.  That’s right, 10^th victory.  Who would have ever thought that with names like Kazmir, Shields and Garza in the starting rotation it would be one Mr. Sonnanstine to notch his 10^th victory before the others.  Amazing Andy pitched 7 innings scattered 5 hits, 1 walk, 0 ER and 2 K’s.  JP Howell followed in the 8^th and struck out the side.  Grant Balfour closed the door on the Royals in the 9^th to preserve the win.

The Rays were also flashing the leather in the field with a few outstanding plays to help preserve the shut out.  Sonnanstine started a 1-6-3 DP on a come backer to end an inning.  Akinori Iwamura made an outstanding diving catch heading out to right field and recorded the out at first base.  Aki also provided all the offense the Rays would need by knocking in 2 with a 2 out 2B.  Ben Zobrist added a solo shot (his 3^rd HR in 3 consecutive starts) to top off the scoring for the Rays.    

It was a GREAT game and VERY well pitched.  I almost hate to mention a point in the game that concerned me but …….I’m going to anyway (you knew that right).  Zobrist had led off an inning with a nice triple to the deepest part of the park.  He was batting in the 9^th hole.  So the thought is GREAT! The top of our line up is coming so we’ll get that run home no problem.  But, let me tell you it WAS a problem.  Our 1, 2 and 3 hitters failed to advance him to score that run.  That has been a bone of contention for me all season long, our lack of situational hitting.  We MUST improve on this, I believe, to remain in contention.  Every team has a weak point to their game that MUST be improved to aid their cause in becoming the best team in baseball and winning a World Series title.  This is our weak spot. 

Ok, that being said – GREAT game! 

Go Rays!

Going into the series finally the big story was ace vs. ace…Kazmir vs. Matsuzaka. Funny thing is neither figured in the decision. The story turned from pitching to offense with a few incredible plays mixed in.

The story was the 7th inning….period. The game until that point was all about Dustin Pedroia. He had a HR, 2B and multiple RBIs. The Rays offense stole the headline from him beginning with one swing of Jason Bartlett’s bat. Bartlett led off the bottom of the 7th with a 2B down the right field line. He then promptly stole 3rd, and that wasn’t even close. Akinori Iwamura then hit a little squibber to 1st base but the BoSox pitcher failed to get off the mound and Aki beat him to 1st. Bartlett scored to cut the lead to 4-2. The flood gates then opened as the BoSox bullpen imploded. The BoSox bullpen allowed 6 ER in the bottom of the 7th. Dan Wheeler made sure that was all the Rays needed.

Evan Longoria was 3 for 4 with a huge 2B in that amazing 7th inning, 1 run scored and 3 RBI’s. Jason Bartlett was equally impressive at the dish going 2 for 4 with two huge 2 RBI’s, a run scored and a stolen base in that 7th inning. Carl Crawford added 3 hits and a run scored to the hit parade.

Two GREAT plays in the top of the 9th helped seal the victory. With runners on 1st and 3rd and the Sox down by 2 Kevin Youkilis drilled a pitch to dead center field. It clearly looked like the Sox were about to tie the game with a shot to the wall. BJ Upton made a Willie Mays type over the shoulder catch to secure the first out of the inning! It was amazing! Mike Lowell remained at first as the score was now 7-6 with 1 out. For some reason the BoSox thought a hit and run would be a good idea at this point. Let me set the stage properly – on 1st base is the less than speedy Lowell and at the dish is the .216 batting Varitek. Dioner Navarro threw a STRIKE to 2nd base to nail Lowell – I mean he was out before he even reached the bag! Wheeler then threw a beautiful pitch that Varitek watched for the 3rd strike! The Trop erupted!

What an amazing series! I’m exhausted for cheering so hard – good thing today is an off day! The Rays are now 20 GAMES ABOVE .500! They are 3.5 GAMES ABOVE THE RED SOX IN FIRST PLACE IN THE AL EAST! Good things come to those who wait and this is GREAT!

The Rays will welcome the KC Royals to the The Trop for a 4 game series beginning Friday evening (5:10 start). Go Rays!!!

Matt Garza tossed a complete game one hitter as the Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Florida Marlins by the score of 6-1.  The only hit for the Marlins came in the seventh inning when Hanley Ramirez hit a solo home run off of Garza.  With the win, the Rays were able to sweep their in-state rivals in the three game series.

Garza was dominate all day long as he had ten strick outs to go along with only the one hit he gave up.  He improved to 5-5 with the victory and should have a lot of momentum heading into his next start.

Evan Longoria and Ben Zobrist both hit solo home runs for the Rays at the plate.  Shawn Riggans led the Rays at the plate with three rbi however.  Riggans had a sac fly in the second inning and then a two run double in the fifth inning.  Riggans also scored in the fourth inning on a infield single by Akinori Iwamura.

Great series sweep for the Rays and now they will start up a weekend series with the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday.  Rays Blog

WOW, the Tampa Bay Rays destroyed the Florida Marlins 15-3 Wednesday evening.  It was an amazing display offensive prowess!  The Rays banged out 15 hits including 2 HR by Carl Crawford, a HR by Evan Longoria and Ben Zobrist, 2Bs by Eric Hinske, Akinori Iwamura and Longoria.  The Rays also showed their patience at the dish by collecting 9 walks.    

James Shields pitched a strong 7 innings only giving up 1 run on 4 hits and collecting 5 strike outs.  This brings his overall record to 5-5, 3.76.  He was followed by Jason Hammel and Gary Glover who, combined, gave up 5 hits and 2 runs in 2 innings (they were trying out their best Percival imitation).

It was nice to see the Rays run away with a victory!  They showed a bit more plate discipline that they have been lately.  This plate disciple allowed them to get the pitches to hit.  And they hit them!  The Rays now move 15 games above .500 at 46-31.  What an amazing season!

Today the Rays go for the series sweep in Florida.  This will be a huge accomplishment for the Rays as they haven’t been a great road team.  A sweep of the Marlins, a very good NL team, may build the Rays “on the road” confidence.  I know I’ll be glued to my TV!

Oh what a GREAT time to be a fan of the Tampa Bay Rays!  Carl Crawford’s 7^th inning grand slam was a large part of a 7 run, 7^th inning for the Rays!  The Trop was electric!  Every Ray fan in the place was caught up in the emotion of this inning and this sweep.  My hands hurt driving home after all the high fives that were passed from person to person, old and young alike.  It was amazing! 

Starting pitchers James Shields and Sean Gallagher did not figure in the decisions.  Sweet Lou (who’s probably a bitter Lou after his return to The Trop) brought their bullpen ace, Carlos Marmol, in to try to preserve their lead in the 7^th.  It didn’t work – Marmol imploded.  He walked Willy Aybar and Cliff Floyd then proceeded to hit Gabe Gross loading the bases.  Akinori Iwamura stepped up to the plate with bases loaded and no outs.  On a 2-2 pitch Marmol HIT HIM sending home a run.  Still with no outs and bases loaded Carl Crawford stepped to the plate.  We were all praying for a drive to the outfield to at least tie the game.  No one could have predicted what was to come. LHP pitcher Scott Eyre was brought in to face CC – and BAM!  It was all over from there!  CC planted a fastball in the right field seats.  The fans almost blew the lid off The Trop!  BJ Upton followed that with a triple and Eric Hinske doubled him in.  Hinske then swiped 3^rd and was knocked in by Evan Longoria to complete the scoring.

This win, actually this series sweep, was about a complete team effort.  The bullpen was flawless, the starting pitching was amazing and the offense came through in a big way.  The Rays showed this week what a complete team they are.  They will go through their individual slumps, bad pitching moments and defensive blunders but in the end there is a new hero every night for this team.  This team plays hard together all the time.  I have to say that the feeling in The Trop last night was not a feeling of despair even when down 3-1 in the 7^th inning….it was a positive feeling; we knew the Rays could come back.  In years past that game would have been over. 

With this victory the Rays move to with 1 1/5 games of the idle Red Sox.  This weekend we face a weak and battered Houston team who was just swept by Baltimore.  Get to The Trop and support your Rays!  They are playing hard for you every day!   

If you are not a Rays fan yet, you may want to jump on the bandwagon fast – it’s filling up quickly!

The Rays returned home to victory Friday night with a 7-3 win over in state rivals the Florida Marlins.  Andy Sonnanstine had a shaky first inning allowing 2 runs then settled in to scatter 6 hits over 5 1/3 innings to earn his 7^th victory of this season.  Andy completed his line by racking up 5 strike outs and 0 walks.  The bullpen did an outstanding job supporting Andy’s start by pitching a combined 3 2/3 innings giving up only 1 hit and adding 4 more Ks to the night’s pitching line.  Troy Percival was activated from the DL prior to the start of the game and pitched a 1-2-3 9^th.

Eric Hinske jump started the offense with a 2 run double in the bottom of the first and the offense never looked back from there.  The RBI producing 2B machine included Gabe Gross and Akinori Iwamura.  Jason Bartlett had a nice night at the dish also going 3 for 3 with 2 runs scored, RBI and 2 stolen bases.  Along with Bartlett’s stolen base, Cliff Floyd swiped 2^nd and ended up on 3^rd on the throwing error by catcher Matt Treaner. 

The key to this victory was multi layered.  First the pitching staff allowed 0 walks.  The Fish hit the ball well as evidenced by the 3 2B and 1 3B they bagged off Sonnanstine.  Not allowing free passes prevented scoring opportunities.  Nice job pitching staff! 

Second, the Rays were aggressive on the base paths.  Several of those stolen bases led to Rays runs on the next pitch or 2.  They have the speed, and even those that don’t have the speed can properly pick the time.  This places this team in a great situation to win!

Third, great defense once again.  A few outstanding plays and the routine plays were made to look routine.  Keep it up guys!

See you at The Trop!
 

The emotions of the Rays ran high in the series finale against Texas.  Matt Garza was obviously frustrated after another poor outing and took that frustration out on his catcher.  Dioner Navarro was sent back to the dish by pitching coach Jim Hickey as he walked out to talk with Garza.  The frustration pored over into the dugout between innings as Garza and Navarro had a bit of a shoving match.  Garza was pulled after the 4^th inning after giving up 6 hits, 3 earned runs and 2 homeruns.  Jason Hammel came into relieve Garza and gave up 5 hits, 3 earned runs and 1 home run in 3.1 innings.  Grant Balfour took over for Hammel and promptly gave up a 2 BB but managed to wriggle out of it.

The emotions continued to the offensive side of the ball.  Eric Hinske was ejected in the 6^th inning for vehemently arguing balls and strikes with the home plate umpire.  Once again the strike zone moved for each hitter at each at bat.  The particular strike 3 call Hinske argued was CLEARLY outside.  Akinori Iwamura was called out with tying runs in scoring position in the 7^th on a ball that was CLEARLY outside and low.  I’m not sure when the strike zone changed officially but someone forgot to tell the rest of the baseball community!  The umpires now have their own zone and it DOES NOT fit into the current zone as written.

Pitching was poor, offensive production when opportunities presented was poor and emotions got the best of a few players.  This will be the biggest test for this team, recovering from internal strife.  Internal dissention can rip a team apart if not dealt with promptly and permanently.  Matt Garza needs to get a grip on his emotions.  He may have the ability physically but if he cannot hold it together during the tough times mentally he will not succeed in MLB.   

Like Yogi said “90% of baseball is half mental.”

See you in LA!

It appeared as though the Tampa Bay Rays rolled into Texas with a chip on their shoulder.  They hit very well and Scott Kazmir pitched lights out once again.  He earned his 6^th straight victory — first time a Tampa Bay Ray pitcher has ever done that.  Kazmir pitched a strong 8 innings allowing only 2 runs with 6 strike outs and 0 BB.  He also picked a runner off first base.

The bats backed up the excellent starting pitching performance from Kaz by scoring 12 runs on 13 hits and only 5 Ks and no one player had multiple Ks – a big change from the previous series!  Home runs were also a large part of their offense with Eric Hinske, BJ Upton, Evan Longoria and Dioner Navarro all connecting.  Upton also stole 2 bases off the starter. 

This offensive explosion is well overdue.  Great to see them score runs when they had runners on base.  Kaz improves his record to 6-1 and we have picked up a full game on Boston as they were shut out at home by Seattle 8-0.  Maybe they need a team brawl more often?!

Speaking of the brawl here is the suspension list as handed out buy the league front office:

James Shields – 6 games to have begun Friday (appealing)

Jonny Gomes – 5 games to have begun Friday (appealing)

Edwin Jackson – 5 games to begin June 13

Carl Crawford – 4 games to begin Wednesday

Akinori Iwamura – 3 games to begin June 17^th

What ever happens with the appeals the Rays have said they will take their licks and move forward.  They began that process last night having a great night of recovery while walloping the Texas Rangers.  Great way to put the past behind and focus on now!

Go Rays!! 

Matt Garza faced 26 Red Sox in 5.1 innings of work surrendering 7 runs off 6 hits, two of those hits being home runs to JD Drew and Mike Lowell.  He lacked his usual control of the strike zone as evidenced by the 2 hit batters and 2 walks. 

The Rays hit the Red Sox pitchers well.  Akinori Iwamura led off the game with a home run over the Green Monster and Carlos Pena hit another in the 6^th inning off the starter, Masterson.  BJ Upton and Pena were the multi-hit Rays of the game.

Carl Crawford did make an appearance in the 8^th substituting for Gomes (who was announced for Hinske).  He hit into a fielder’s choice but was on at first after hustling down the line avoiding the DP.  He didn’t appear to be into much pain and remained in the game defensively.  He was given a clean bill of health by the orthopedic specialist he spent his Monday with.  Great to see him out there!

My Home Run of the game goes to:  Carlos Pena for having his first multi-hit game in as long as any of us can probably remember.  Keep swinging like that!

My strike out of the game goes to: Matt Garza when he struggled with his control he acted rattled on the mound.  Never let’em see you sweat!

So, Rays faithful – tomorrow night Game 2.  Tampa Bay Rays Watch Party with Rich Herrera at the Smokey Bones BBQ in Citrus Park kicking off at 6:30.  Come and cheer on the Rays with other devout Ray fans!

See you there!

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!!!