I know it doesn’t seem like it was close due to the final score but the Rays had opportunities and had even brought the score as close as 6-5.  The BP couldn’t hold it there and the offense could not take advantage of the chances they had. So, let’s review…

Jeff Niemann had a tough outing and only lasted 3 innings giving up 5 ER (6 total runs).  Jeff never looked comfortable and his ability to hit his location was absent.  Jeff looked a bit tentative on the mound.  Look this guy is 6’9” and can bring it – so bring it, be aggressive! Knock these guys on their tails pitching in then finesse something.  You have got to use that fastball to setup your out pitch. 

Lance Cormier did a GREAT job following Niemann and shutting down the Red Sox.  Cormier went 2 innings giving up only 1 hit.  Grant Balfour followed running into some trouble in the 6^th inning.  Balfour allowed 1 hit and 2 free passes to load the bases with only 1 out bringing Youkilis to the dish and Joe Maddon from the dugout.  Brian Shouse was called on to clean up this mess and failed by allowing a 2 run 2B to Youkilis putting the Red Sox up 8-5.  Shouse continued a poor outing by giving up a “no doubter” to Lowell in the top of the 7^th.  Shouse has got to be one of the most unimpressive pitchers I have ever seen.  Not sure what the Rays saw in this guy or if they just grabbed him because he was a cheap lefty.  Sure has not shown that he deserves a spot in this BP!  Shouse walks in the 10^th run forcing Maddon to go to the BP again because he couldn’t get the job done.  Terrible!  Joe Nelson struts in to save the day and record the last out of the 7^th – thanks Joe!  Nelson pitched an amazing 8^th inning throwing only 14 pitches, 10 of them for strikes to record the 3 outs!  To this point in the season Nelson has been the best signing of this year by far!

The Rays offense had responded nicely to Cormier’s 2 innings of work by scoring 1 in the 4^th, Carlos Pena’s MLB leading 11^th bomb, and 3 big runs in the 5^th.  The big blow once again came from Evan Longoria, otherwise known as Evan Almighty, a 2 run 2B with 2 outs. Pena followed with a free pass and Pat Burrell completed the scoring by lacing a 2B down the left field line scoring Longo.   

The Rays blew a big opportunity to add a run or two in the 6^th inning and creep closer.  With runners on 2^nd and 3^rd and 1 out the top of the order, BJ Upton and Carl Crawford, gave away 2 easy outs to the Sox. 

Dioner Navarro is struggling needless to say to this pointing the season.  Look as a catcher I can live with a lack of offense but I cannot live with the horrible defense.  Navi has absolutely been horrible blocking balls in the dirt and throwing out base stealers.  To this point in this game they have 4 swiped bags and a 5^th that would have been had the runner not tripped over his own feet.  Look something has to give with Navi one way or another and the coaching staff needs to make that happen.  He is currently a liability both offensively and defensively and it needs to get sorted sooner rather than later.

Speaking of defense, more errors tonight.  Getting tired of adding these things up!  Akinori Iwamura made his 4^th error of the season on a ground ball that should have been automatic. Gabe Kapler also chipped in with his first error of the season.  But, I’m going to tell you what I saw, Kapler made a throw to the plate that would have hit Navi in the chest on one bounce but Navi was standing behind the line rather than in front therefore the ball hit the runner and bounced away.  This error might have been charged to Kapler but it was not his fault.  There was also a ball that Ben Zobrist should have corralled for out at short but he bobbled it allowing the runner to reach base.  Not sure why but the official scorer was in a forgiving mood and scored it an infield hit.  NOT!  These guys need to be out drilling daily until they can clean this up.  You must have good pitching and good defense to win ala 2008.  Good defense can snatch a few victories for “ok” pitching which is what we’ve had so far this season (aside from Garza’s last start) so let’s get this cleaned up!

The Rays will go for only their 2^nd series victory tomorrow when they send James Shields to the mound.  Let’s pack The Trop and give the Rays the “Dome Field” advantage they deserve!  See you there!

The Rays essentially replayed yesterday’s defeat at the hands of the Oakland A’s by losing with both bad pitching and poor offense today 7-1.  SP Andy Sonnanstine struggled through 4 innings allowing 10 hits and 7 ER to skyrocket his ERA to 7.78.  Lance Cormier came in to mop up the long relief and did a nice job for 3 solid innings giving up 0 hits and 0 runs.  Dan Wheeler echoed Cormier’s effort in the 8^th by allowing 0 hits and 0 runs.    

The offense was pitiful, hate to say that but you saw the same thing I did.  The Rays manufactured 1 run early and that was all the noise they made.  Any hint of a rally was quickly put to rest by a double play or some sort of easy out.  Carl Crawford was the only Ray to manage any sort of offense going 2 for 4.  CC accounted for half of the offensive effort in this game as the Rays managed only 4 total hits.  BJ Upton, Evan Longoria and Pat Burrell were all ‘0’fer at the plate with Longo and Burrell eeking out a free pass a piece.  

After watching today’s game I am a bit concerned.  We have won only 1 series to this point and are falling far behind the AL East leaders.  Granted yes, it’s early BUT to this point I have not seen anything to indicate the Rays are improving.  Shortly the first month of the season will be behind us and by all indicators we will be sitting in the cellar.  The way the Rays are playing right now realistically they don’t stand a chance once Boston rides into The Trop for next weekend’s match up. 

The Rays will head to Minnesota for their last regular season series in the dome.  I will be looking for changes in the way the offense is working the count and their situational hitting.  

Come on Rays …let’s right this sinking ship!

The Rays were outmatched on all sides of the ball Saturday afternoon in Oakland.  They were out pitched and out hit.  The only thing that remains consistent in the Rays game to game approach is inconsistency. 

Matt Garza struggled through 5.2 innings giving up 4 hits and 4 BB which led to 4 ER.  Matt struck out 6 but showed little consistency with his pitches through out this losing effort.  The bullpen did well with 3 pitchers combining for 2.1 innings 2 hits and 1 ER. 

The offense, oh the offense…..  This was a bit painful to watch as the Rays had bases loaded several times during this game and were unable to score.  The Rays stranded 8 on base while giving away 6 K’s to A’s pitching.   

This is a very short blog for me BUT just review what’s been written to this point in the young season.  The Rays have shown that they are going to play really well and crush a team or really bad and lose.  There doesn’t seem to be any midpoint.  This is what we’ve been missing to this point, that midpoint where the game could swing either and the burning desire to win those games.  There doesn’t seem to be any fire in this team….maybe they are satisfied for having gone to the World Series last year, breaking the Ray version of their own “curse”.   

Be nice to see the Rays look like they have a purpose on the field today and take this series from Oakland.  It would be only the second series victory this season and far overdue.  Here’s my shout out to the Rays and today’s SP Andy Sonnanstine!

James Shields pitched a brilliant game only to have it wasted by a lack of offensive production.  The only mark against Shields happened on his second pitch of the game.  He hung it in the zone to Ichiro and he deposited it into the RF seats to account for the only scoring of the game.  Shieldsy looked awesome for 7.1 innings scattering only 4 hits and allowing 1 ER, 1 BB while netting 4 K’s. 

The shame is the offense for the Rays did not show up.  The Rays had people on base through with a combination of 4 hits and 4 BB.  They stranded 7 and were 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position. 

The Rays big offensive problem to this point in the season appears to be pitch selection and a lack of patience at the dish.  A lot of these guys are hacking away at the first pitch they see putting themselves down in the count.  I think this is evidenced by the K/BB comparison that, in last night’s game, was 10 K to 4 BB.

I am a bit perplexed why Joe Maddon did not pinch hit for Dioner Navarro in the 9^th inning with the tying run on 2^nd base.  Look, Navi has been struggling mightily at the plate.  I would have liked to see Willy Aybar grab some lumber at that point.  Willy is a switch hitter and sees a lot of pitches at the dish.  Just a thought…..

Look I know “King Felix” is a pretty good pitcher and I also am aware of the sun/shadow issue BUT this is not the first game the offense has performed this poorly.  These guys need to start showing some consistency in their performance soon as we cannot afford to get too far behind in the very tough AL East.  Currently we have lost 4 out of 5 series played! We already have a tough mountain to climb just being in this division.  Sitting in the cellar for a month or 2 will make it virtually impossible to find a spot in October.

Ben Zobrist came off the bench in the 6^th inning to hit a bases loaded bomb into the LF seats at The Trop Friday night to put the Rays ahead once and for all.  This could not have come at a better time.  This game was all about the White Sox until this point.  The Rays had initially taken the lead on Carlos Pena’s 2^nd inning solo blast.  The White Sox then answered back with 2 runs.  All the action seemed to take place in the 5^th and 6^th innings of this game.  In the 5^th Dioner Navarro led off with a 2B and came around to tie the score on Jason Bartlett’s 2B.  The top of the 6^th proved to be trouble for Rays SP James Shields as he gave up 2 HR (3 hits total) and 3 ER with only 4 pitches to put the Sox up 5-2 just as the Rays had managed to tie this game.  The bottom of the 6^th contained all the dramatics for Ray’s fans.  Bases loaded with 2 outs Joe Maddon calls back scheduled hitter Gabe Gross and inserts Ben Zobrist who promptly deposits the baseball in the LF seats.  The Trop went crazy! 

James Shields struggled in this game.  Shieldsy went 7.1 innings allowing 7 hits (2 HR), 5 ER and 2 BB while netting only 4 K’s.  But something good did come out of this.  After all the dramatics in the 6^th inning Maddon sent Shields to the mound in the 7^th and let me tell you what a difference.   He was fired up and throwing with a vengeance.  He sat the White Sox down 1-2-3 and did not allow them to gain any momentum.  This was a good call on Maddon’s part, to allow Shields to go grab some confidence and he did just that.  This will pay dividends down the road.

The bullpen did a nice job with Wheeler, Shouse and Percival combing for 1.2 innings and giving up 0 ER.  However, it was not without incident.  Percival managed to allow runners on 1^st and 3^rd but get out of that 9^th inning mess to earn the save. 

The one down spot in this game was the umpiring behind the plate.  CB Bucknor has got to be one of the worst ball/strike callers I’ve ever seen.  AJ Pierzynski was blatantly moving his glove, pulling balls back into the strike zone and Bucknor was giving those to him.  Shields and Colon had a nice pitchers duel going on for the first 4 innings or so but Bucknor would not give them anything.  These guys were making some unbelievable pitches at the knees and e would not budge.  It was absurd and I hope he gets called on his performance.  It was poor at best.

Saturday night Scott Kazmir will take to the mound to keep this train rolling!

See you at The Trop! 

The Tampa Bay Rays opened a 4 game set with the Chicago White Sox Thursday night losing 3-2.  The games SP Jeff Niemann pitched well and had it not been for1 pitch that he missed his location may have been a winner.  Niemann left a pitch over the heart of the plate to Dye who promptly deposited into the seats for a 2-0 lead.  The White Sox never looked back.  The Rays BP had a much better outing although they did give up an insurance run in the 9^th.  Lance Cormier pitched 2.1 innings and Grant Balfour came in to strike out a few Sox to end a threat in the 9^th.  Balfour looked a bit more like his old self pacing around the mound yelling at him self.  That’s been missing in his game to this point so it was great to see it! 

The offense struggled against a decent outing for John Danks.  The Rays were 0 for 11 with runners in scoring position.  Here‘s the thing, Danks pitched well but the Rays gave up some easy outs.  They were swinging at pitches that were not close to the zone and first pitch swinging in some key situations.  They really need to find their plate discipline and work the pitch count to find a pitch they can do something with. The Rays went through similar times last year and they’ve managed to work them out.  I expect to see that happen again this year.  On a good note, Carlos Pena blasted his 5^th long ball.  Pena is seeing the ball well and selecting good pitches to hit. 

The Rays need to start putting all the facets of their game together now.  Time to start working out the bugs, so to speak.  Getting on into week 2 of this young season you don’t want to fall too far behind the leader, especially in the tough AL East.

James Shields takes to the bump Friday and will be looking to right this ship!  I expect to see the stands packed with Rays fans cheering and yelling and silencing any White Sox supporters that may be in attendance!

See you at The Trop!

The Rays gave up the lead in the 8^th when JP Howell blew the save by allowing the tying run to score.  The Troy Percival gave up the game in the 9^th by allowing Cody Ransom a 2B and eventually scores the winning run.

This was difficult to watch as the back end of our bullpen failed to save this for Andy Sonnanstine.  Sonny pitched well in his 5 innings of work allowing 4 hits, 2 ER, 1 free pass while getting 3 K’s.  This was a big improvement from his last start.  Joe Nelson followed Sonny for 1.2 innings and allowed 0 hits, 0 runs 1 BB and 2 K’s – nice job!   Then the wheels came off.  The guys we counted on all last year began the unraveling – Grant Balfour, JP Howell and Troy Percival.  Between the 3 they allowed 4 hits, 2 ER 1 BB with 2 K’s.  The remaining .2 innings was pitched by Brian Shouse who did a great job with 0 hits, 0 ER and 1 K.   

So, not to place the blame on these few guys as this is a team sport, we also had base running mistakes and a few mistakes at the plate.  Gabe Kapler made a poor decision as to when to be aggressive on the base path and was thrown out at 3^rd (although he was actually safe per the replay).  Fact is he should have been out and it was a poor decision to run.  Michel Hernandez was picked off first base by Pettitte.  Now, you guys know he has an awesome pick off move so – pay attention please.

We didn’t do too badly at the dish in collecting 6 hits – 4 of them for extra bases.  Pena blasted his 4^th HR of the season to give the Rays a 3-2 lead in the 4^th. 

Essentially we made some mistakes here and there but their BP beat our BP and that’s why we lost.  Now I am not phoning it in for our BP just yet as we’ve only played 9 games.  However I will say that I’d like to see us start making better decisions on when to be aggressive and love to see the BP start to turn it around.  I hope the early bullpen issues are not indicative of the RP having pitched over their heads last season. 

The Rays open a 4 game set today vs. the CWS……  See you at The Trop!

In a 3 game set no 2 games could be more different.  From the Rays crushing performance the night before to the Yankees rebound and pitcher’s duel tonight.  The score does not really indicate how close this game actually was. 

AJ Burnett and Matt Garza battled through 2 tough lineups all game long.  Burnett pitched a no hitter through 6 innings while Garza allowed only 2 ER in his 7 inning pitched.  The Yankee staff accumulated 12 K’s while the Rays staff came close to a match at 10 K’s.  An impressive point about Garza’s performance I’d like to mention happened in the very first inning.  In the first inning the Yankees loaded the bases with no outs and Matt came back to allow only 1 run. 

Carl Crawford broke up the no hitter with a single in the 7^{th with} 1 out.  A single by Evan Longoria sent CC to 3^rd.   Another single by Carlos Pena sent CC to the plate and Longo to 3^rd.   The Rays then tied the game with a sacrifice fly by Pat Burrell to score Longo. 

The bullpen took over for the Rays in the 8^th and Yankees blew the doors off this game.  JP Howell took the loss in this game by allowing 1 ER.  Dan Wheeler was not able to hold the game to a 1 run difference by allowing 4 hits and 4 ER in the 9^th.  So, to this point in the season, it would appear the Achilles heal of the Rays is the bullpen.  Howell has an ERA close to 5, Wheeler is 12.00 and Balfour is over 20.00!  Obviously for the Rays to be successful something will have to give in the BP. 

This was a well fought pitcher’s duel that was a joy to watch!  The Trop was rocking and everyone was having a great time.  Kudos to the Rays Front Office on the replica ring giveaway – these rings are HOT! 

Another stellar pitching match up this afternoon with Andy Sonnanstine going against Andy Pettitte.  Remember – game time is 4:05 today! 

See you at The Trop!

The Tampa Bay Rays crushed the New York Yankees in their home opener 15-5 Monday night!  This was an awesome night!  Not only did we destroy our division rival but we also raised the AL East and AL Championship banners!  The feeling in The Trop was amazing – people were very emotional.  Then to come out in the first inning and burn Wang in the fashion we did just added to the emotion.  I really believe the Rays converted a lot of bandwagon fans to die hard Ray fans with all that transpired last night.  It was a very classy, well conceived ceremony including the moment of silence to Harry Kalas – our condolences Todd! 

Carlos Pena provided the BIG bat during this game going 3 for 6 with 6 RBIs (4 by Grand Slam), 2 2B and 2 runs scored.  Jason Bartlett doubled his HR production from last year by belting his 2^nd HR in as many nights.  Nice to see Pat Burrell hit a rope into the LF seats as well, his first of this young season.

In total the Rays racked up 17 hits and 8 free passes!  The offense was clicking on all cylinders last night and chased Wang after 1+ innings.  The pitchers that followed Wang didn’t fair much better giving up 11 runs the rest of the way.   Yankee skipper Girardi was so desperate he had 1B Nick Swisher pitch the 8th inning!  Swisher actually did better than the rest of the Yankee staff.

The defense was clicking as well.  BJ Upton made his return to CF with a catch that would have made Willie Mays cheer.  Nady blasted a long fly to CF and as Upton approached the wall we all thought it was out.  BJ just reached his glove about 6 inches from his body and snags the ball as he ran into the wall.  Let me tell you — The Trop was silent.  No one knew where the ball was until he turned and fired back into the infield then a moment of disbelief hit……then…….ROAR!  BJ got a much deserved standing ovation.  This was an unbelievable catch!  Carl Crawford got into the action by taking a Swisher hit right off the top of the LF wall. 

Not to be overshadowed by the outstanding offense and defense was Scott Kazmir on the hill.  Kaz came out firing and was spot on with everything he threw.  In 6.2 innings he scattered 6 hits and 3 ER while accruing 6 K’s and 0 BB.  Kaz’s 2^nd great performance of this young season seems to point to him being 100% healthy.  He certainly looks like he is back to the form we all remember. 

This game had everything you could ever imagine; banners being raised, HR (3), one of which was a Grand Slam, 2Bs (4), stolen bases (4), outstanding defense and outstanding pitching.   A baseball fan could not ask for more!  Nice to see BJ make it back and look healthy walking 3 times, scoring 2 runs, swiping 2 bags and making outstanding defensive plays!  Nice to see Kaz pitching like we all know he can!  And of course – nice to see the Yankees lose!

Don’t forget – tonight is replica ring night – get your tickets now!

See you at The Trop!

OK it may have only been game 6 of this young season but it as a big game.  No one wants to be swept at anytime during the course of a season.  The beginning of the season can set the tone for the duration.  That being said, “Big Game James” came through.  James Shields took to the mound for the Rays in an effort to stop an early season skid.  He did that and earned himself his first ‘W’ of 2009.  Shieldsy went 7 VERY strong complete innings scattering only 3 hits and 1 free pass while striking out 3.  He was the Shields we remember from 2008 plus some! 

The offense erupted as well with 17 hits, 9 for extra bases!   There were doubles (4), triples (1) and home runs (4).  Home runs are always awesome but the home run of note is Evan Longoria as this is his 5^th HR in 6 games!  Jason Bartlett, Carols Pena and Ben Zobrist are the other Rays who went yard.  The Rays were active on the base path as well swiping 3 bags.  Love to see these guys moving and taking what’s theirs! 

No need to even state the obvious and say that this game’s performance was clearly 100 times better by all involved than the previous 2 nights but, now that I have, the Rays seem to still be having an issue with strike outs.  They gave up 11 easy outs via the K in today’s game and only accepted 3 free passes.  They really need to clean this part of the game up as this AL East is looking even tougher in 2009 with the ever present Yankees and Red Sox and the obvious improvements to both Toronto and Baltimore. 

The bullpen pitched the last 2 innings of the game and all looked good except Grant Balfour.  Grant had all sorts of location issues and allowed the 3 runs in the 9^th.  He was taken out in the 9^th after loading the bases and not recording an out.  JP Howell came in and stopped the bleeding to end the game. 

The Rays will now head back to The Trop for their home opener and the raising of the AL Pennant!  How exciting is that!  I may leave now to get there!!

See you in The Pit!