Granted the Rays took it on the chin thanks to an eighth inning meltdown by the recently reassigned Sam Runion, starter Chris Archer put together a decent outing Friday, slashing 4.2 IP/4 H/1R/1 BB/WP/HBP/6 K on 74 pitches (47 strikes). Granted his location was somewhat lacking, as exemplified by the walk, wild pitch, hit-by-pitch and K/BB ratio, Archer did a good job limiting the damage — ultimately holding the Braves to one run. I’m not certain if you could ask for anything else.
“I obviously could have done some things better, but getting into the fifth inning was the most important thing for today. There was a lot of base runners on, so I was able to work out of the stretch and work with runners on first and second, second and third,” Archer said.
In other news, Jose “Mr. Offense” Molina swiped his first bag of 2014, eventually scoring the Rays lone run on a Ray Olmedo base hit. On the subject of Molina’s stolen base, and BJ Upton being caught stealing, Joe Maddon retorted, “Is that ironic? What is that? It’s Disney.” Enough said.
Hey, at least the weather was nice!
The New What Next
The Rays will play split-squad games against the Blue Jays and Pirates on Saturday. LHP Erik Bedard will make his fourth appearance of the spring when the Rays host the Blue Jays , while RHP Jake Odorizzi will start against the Pirates in Bradenton. Cesar Ramos is also scheduled to see action in that contest. Bedard, Odorizzi and Ramos are all in contention for the fifth spot in the Rays’ rotation. Listen to both games live on Gameday Audio, via Raysbaseball.com.
Rays 3/15/14 Starting Lineups
Lineup vs Blue Jays:
Escobar SS
Loney 1B
Longoria 3B
Forsythe 2B
Hanigan C
Guyer CF
Christian LF
J. Moore DH
Mahtook RF
Bedard LHP
Lineup vs Pirates:
DeJesus LF
Jennings CF
Zobrist SS
Joyce DH
Myers RF
Betemit 1B
Molina C
Figueroa 2B
Nix 3B
Odorizzi RHP
Noteworthiness
— Oviedo has arrived in camp in Port Charlotte. He’s been throwing but not to hitters, though he still thinks he’ll be ready to start season.
— For what it’s worth, Joe Maddon will manage the Rays squad at home, while bench coach Dave Martinez will manage the squad in Bradenton.
— According to Marc Topkin, Maddon said the team should have a “good idea” after today who will be the fifth starter. All three remaining candidates will pitch: LHP Erik Bedard in Port Charlotte, and RHP Jake Odorizzi and LHP Cesar Ramos in Bradenton. Maddon said it’s possible they could each have another appearance, but “it’s going to start becoming clearer for us.”
— Dome, sweet dome… Evan Longoria, Ben Zobrist, James Loney and a couple of others went to the Trop Friday with hitting coach Derek Shelton to see how the recently renovated batter’s eye backdrop works. “It’s more curiosity that it would be sufficient, that they thought, ‘Okay, I saw the ball well,’ ” Maddon said. Per David DeJesus, they had no issues with batter’s eye hitting at the Trop.
— Because it bears mentioning once again… During Tuesday’s spring training game against the Twins, David DeJesus was a part of, what could be called, the biggest play of the game. On the play, Roger Mooney of the Tribune wrote, “DeJesus was on third and came home when 2B Cole Figueroa bunted back to the mound. Avoiding contact with Twins C Kurt Suzuki, DeJesus ran wide of the plate and was called out.” However, when DeJesus started walking back to the dugout, somebody in the dugout urged him to go back and touch the plate — which he did. (see the play below) What looked to be a bad play at the plate was, as Cork Gaines of Rays Index put it, is “actually just another example of why Joe Maddon should win the Manager of the Year award every year. You can see the play below.”
[youtube_sc url=”http://youtu.be/iZv9FkkShWA”]
In short, if Joe Maddon asked for a replay, DeJesus would have been ruled safe since he eventually touched the plate. Otherwise, had DeJesus not returned to touch the plate, Maddon would have lost a challenge even if the replay showed the catcher missed the tag.
“I didn’t touch the plate, and he didn’t tag me, either, so I was ready to do a juke move on him, boy, but (umpire Marvin Hudson) called me out,” DeJesus said. “I was like, ‘all right.’ I snuck back to the plate just for video replay. You never know.”
Maddon responded, “That was an interesting moment,” Maddon said.
In the end, this is just one example of how Maddon is coaching his players to take advantage of loopholes in the new replay system.
It could be argued, there may be some silly-looking scenes during Rays games this year. And if the past speaks to anything, Maddon will be criticized for making a mockery of the game. In reality however, these odd plays will in all likelihood mean more runs for the Rays and fewer runs for other teams.
Gaines put it best, “in a division where every game counts, those runs could make a difference.”