- “We saw Wil-power today, but 9 walks by our pitchers was too much to overcome.” – Joe Maddon
- “This is just on the pile of tough ones,” said manager Joe Maddon, whose pitchers surrendered a season-high nine walks, including two with the bases loaded. “There’s been a lot of them. Way too many. That’s the difference between us really being one of the elite right now and not. We’ve just permitted too many late games to get away from us…That’s not to say that I don’t have confidence. I do, in all these relief guys. It’s unfortunate. It’s just unsettling that we can’t get these guys right on a consistent basis like in the past, because they’re really good.” – Joe Maddon
- “It’s got to be the toughest one…After Myers did what he did and we came from behind against CC and we had a two-run lead in the seventh inning, we shouldn’t let that go.” – Joel Peralta
- “I don’t know — none of my pitches were working for me…I was trying really hard to throw the ball over the plate and I couldn’t find a way to do it. Bad day.” – Joel Peralta
- “Today was 11th time Rays have blown a lead in the seventh inning or later, and 9th time they’ve lost after doing so.” – Marc Topkin
- “It’s a pretty cool situation to be able to do that after an intentional walk…I was pretty excited. It was just awesome to be down two strikes and the crowd cheering and then to be able to put a swing like that on it. It was just a cool experience.” – Wil Myers
…At least Torres was pretty great once more, posting a 1.2 IP/0 H/0 R/0 BB/3 K slash line on 26 pitches (16 for strikes). Torres now has an overall 20 IP/4 H/0 R/5 BB/27 K line. Whoa!
And this is a pretty awesome view of Wil Myers grand-slam:
The New What Next
I’m at a point where typing certain things has become redundant. For example, I again find myself typing the same thing I’ve typed, time and again, when the Rays have found themselves in a similar scenario. Tampa Bay look to salvage the final game of their four game series with the Yankees. They can come home with a 3-and-4 record for this road trip with with a win Sunday. I wouldn’t really call that a moral victory by any stretch of the imagination, though it’s better than a 2-and-5 road record. Chris Archer will attempt to string together — at least — a six inning start against Ivan Nova (2-1, 5.16 ERA). You can see Archer’s numbers here.
Rays 6/23/13 Starting Lineup
Joyce DH
Jennings CF
Zobrist 2B
Longoria 3B
Loney 1B
Myers RF
Johnson LF
Molina C
Escobar SS
Archer P
Noteworthiness
- Per Jonathan Gannt, Chris Archer has thrown his slider 104 times this year, allowing only 1 hit against it. Opponents are 1-for-22 with 10 strikeouts in plate appearances ending with a slider. Furthermore, the Rays have scored only three runs with Chris Archer on the mound over his previous four starts. Only three pitchers have lower run support in June — Shields being one.