Author Archives: Schmitty

Rays 7/11/14 Starting Lineup, Etc

Rays 7/11/14 Starting Lineup Noteworthiness Don’t forget to check out our Rays/Jays series preview. Your tweet of the day: Hearing Dan Johnson will be at the Trop tonight, playing against #Rays after being called up by #BlueJays — Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) July 11, 2014

The New What Next: Enter the Blue Jays — A Series Preview of Sorts

When you look at the big picture the Rays are in a good place… That is, relative to their position; 10 games under .500 and nine and a half games out of first place in the AL East. The Yankees start the day (July 11) just one game over .500, and in dire straits after their All-Star ace Mashiro Tanaka was placed on the day DL with a torn UCL.

Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rays Drop Last Game of the Series, 5-4

Well, that certainly wasn’t the most operative way to end the series against Kansas City. The Royals took the finale by a score of 5-4, in what should be described as a total team loss.

Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rays Rally to 4-3 Win

Think back to last weekend, when Tampa Bay was crushed by Max Scherzer and the Detroit Tigers. There was a tacit line of thought that the Rays would need to prove they could bounce back from the loss, if they were going to make a realistic push going forward. They inevitably took three consecutive games, and the series, from the Tigers. And similar to last week, the Rays were able to bounce back from a tough loss, taking the second game of the series from the Royals by a score of 4-3. It was a gritty victory against a very tough Jason Vargas, but Tampa Bay, led Brandon Guyer and Brad Boxberger, proved its mettle Tuesday night.

Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Shields, Royals Blank Rays, 6-0

I tried bargaining with the baseball gods, ahead of the series opener last night. My bargain: Allow Tampa Bay to win a close game, and let James Shields to walk away from The Trop with a quality seven inning, no-decision under his belt. The plan seemed like a win/win to me. However, neither the baseball gods nor James Shields accepted my very reasonable bargain. In the end, despite the very good start by Jake Odorizzi, Big Game James was downright dominant in his seven inning homecoming, slashing 7 IP/3 H/0 R/1 BB/10 K on 103 pitches (64 strikes). Truth be told, with a pair of winnable games remaining in the series, I’m not that broken up over the loss — well, with the exception of Juan-Carlos Oviedo’s fart-on-a-snare-drum worthy two innings of work.