The Tampa Bay Rays overcame an error by BJ Upton, a brain cramp from Shawn Riggans, 10 K’s and 11 left on base to BEAT, yes, folks that’s right, BEAT the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-3 and win the series.  Andy Sonnanstine notched his 9^th victory of the season (9-3, 4.60) with a strong 7 inning showing.  Sonnanstine scattered 5 hits, allowed 1 ER, walked 1 and struck out 4 Bucs.  Dan Wheeler and Troy Percival pitch the 8^th and 9^th innings respectively allowing 2 hits, 1 ER and 1 walk. 

The offense was sparked once again by the long ball.  Willy Aybar and Shawn Riggans blasted solo shots.  Riggans was the offensive hero of the game going 3 for 4 with 1 run scored and 2 RBIs. 

This win combined with a Red Sox loss in Houston leaves the Tampa Bay Rays sitting alone atop the AL East halfway through this season!  The Rays come back to The Trop to face their archrival Red Sox in a 3 game set – could be a prelude to the playoffs!  Go Rays!! 

That Tampa Bay Rays literally walked by the Florida marlins 6-4 to won the opening game of the series.  I have to say – this was as ugly a win as I’ve ever seen!  There was mistake after mistake, on ALL sides of the ball.  Defensively, on the books, it states we only made 1 error (Crawford) and Dioner Navarro had 1 passed ball.  Watching that game was a whole different story.  Navi should have had at least one of the 2 wild pitches charged to Andy Sonnanstine, 2 pop ups fell in the infield and BJ Upton bounced a ball around allowing a run to score.  

The saving grace for this game was the ability of the bull pen to keep this game within reach.  JP Howell followed Sonnanstine and Dan Wheeler pitched the 8^th.  Troy Percival came in to “close’ the 9^th and what an antacid moment that was!  He started strong by striking out Luis Gonzalez but then lost the strike zone entirely.  He walked the bases loaded in the 9^th inning and Maddon left him in the game!  He then got the ground ball he needed but it took an ESPN highlight reel play for Evan Longoria to make the play to get an out at second base. Run scores bumping the score to 6-4.  Perci walks the next hitter, Cantu, to load the bases once again.  Perci records the last out – game over, Rays win, barely.

The offense performed just as poorly.  At one point we had bases loaded with 0 out and could not plate a run.  Navarro led off an inning with a double and we could not even advance him.  We scored our runs by making the pitcher go deep into a count – Joe Nelson walked across the tying and go-ahead runs.  Longoria then smacked a 2 run double in the 9^th.   

We had no business winning that game but we did, we’ll take it.  Wins come in all shapes and sizes, and a win is a win.  We need to improve our offensive production drastically to be able to keep up with the red legs.  Let’s hope tonight starts that turn around!

The Tampa Bay Rays walked away 5-4 winners last night against the Texas Rangers guaranteeing them the series victory.  The victory wasn’t one of the smoothest by the Rays bullpen but Dan Wheeler managed to shut down Milton Bradley in the bottom of the 9^th inning with the tying run standing 90 ft away securing the win.  Andy Sonnanstine pitched well allowing only 6 H and 6 earned runs in 5 innings, a vast improvement from his last 2 starts.  JP Howell earned the victory and Wheeler notched his second save.

Willie Aybar and Gabe Gross swung the big bats for the Rays.  Aybar was 1 for 4 but his one hit was a 2 RBI effort with 2 outs to put the Rays up for good – something the Rays have failed to do recently.  Gabe Gross led the scoring charge by connecting for a 2-run home run in the 2^nd inning. 

Tonight the Rays finish the 3 game series in Texas with Matt Garza (4-2, 4.21) taking the hill against D Mathis (1-1, 9.00).  They will then head to LA to take on the Angels in a 3 game series before heading home for an exciting inter-league game versus their Florida brethren The Fish. 

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 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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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

The Tampa Bay Rays improved their record to 16-12 on the season after they beat the Baltimore Orioles 4-2 on Thursday afternoon.  The Rays limited the Orioles to only three hits in the game.

Matt Garza pitched six innings to pick up his first win of the season for the Rays.  Garza only gave up three hits and two runs.  Both the runs came off a home run by Adam Jones.  Dan Wheeler toss two scoreless innings in relief of Garza before Troy Percival came in and picked up the save which was his sixth of the season.  The save was also Percival’s 330th career save that ties him for 10th on the all-time list.

Carl Crawford went 2-4 and had one RBI for the Rays.  Carlos Pena and Jonny Gomes both had one RBI each as well.  Gomes’s RBI came off a solo home run in the fourth inning.

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The Tampa Bay Rays got up on the Toronto Blue Jays early and then held on for the 6-4 victory Tuesday night.  The Rays got out of gates quickly as they pounded Blue Jays starter Jesse Litsch for five earned runs in the first four innings of the game.

Eric Hinske and Dioner Navarro both had two RBI in the game.  Hinske and Evan Longoria both had solo home runs in the game.  Jason Bartlett also picked up a RBI in the fourth inning.

James Shields picked up the win as he tossed seven inning.  Shields gave up four runs but only two of them were earned.  Dan Wheeler and Troy Percival pitched the final two innings.  Percival picked up the save which was is second of the season.

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The Tampa Bay Rays had a hard time getting on base or hitting the ball for that matter on Sunday against the White Sox.  With only four hits in the game the Rays lost 6-0 to the White Sox putting Tampa Bay at 8-11 so far this year. 

Tampa Bay started out the day with Edwin Jackson pitching and let him do his thing on the mound for only 4.1 innings.  Jackson gave up all six earned runs in the game.  The Rays brought in four more pitchers trying to hold the White Sox to their lead including Gary Glover, Trever Miller, Dan Wheeler, and Troy Percival to finish the game.

The Rays didn’t have much for hitting and even managed to pick up a few errors during the game.  Shawn Riggans and Elliot Johnson each got the dreaded E for errors added to their stats after today’s loss.

With the battle against the White Sox over losing the series 2-1, the Rays will take on the Blue Jays starting Tuesday night.

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The Tampa Bay Rays dropped a one-run game the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night as the Twins beat the Rays 6-5.  A sacrafice fly in the eigth inning proved to be the winning run for the Twins.

Carl Crawford caught the ball in four territory and thought he had enough time to get the ball to homeplate to cut down the go ahead run, but the Rays scored and Crawford was left answering the question why he caught the ball.

Dan Wheeler took the loss for the Rays and dropped his record to 0-2.  Starting pitcher James Shields only pitched five inning as he gave up eight hits and five runs.

The Rays did hit three home runs as Crawford, Eric Hinske, and Shawn Riggans all went deep.  B.J. Upton also had an RBI with a single in the fifth inning.

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