Let’s be honest here, no one thought the Tampa Bay Rays would return home with a perfect, 5-0 road trip record. 3-2 or 4-1, sure. 5-0? Not in the least. Low and behold however, the Rays shutout the St. Louis Cardinals 3-0 last night, closing out their most successful road trip to date. Winners of seven straight, the Rays ended the night 7.0 out of first in the AL East, 4.5 out in the Wildcard race, and 1.5 ahead of the Red Sox who will enter The Trop Friday, for a three game set.
Category Archives: Looking Backward While Moving Forward
Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rays Crush Wainwright, Cardinals 7-2
On paper, the Tampa Bay Rays should have lost against Adam Wainwright and the Cardinals last night. While the Rays offense has been pretty good over the last 30 days, Wainwright represented an incredibly tough hurdle to overcome — especially when you consider that he, prior to last night’s start, boasted an 0.96 ERA over the last 30 days, while yielding a total of six runs in his last 53-1/3 innings of work. But the Rays not only rose to the expectations set before them, they exceeded them; walking away from Busch Stadium with a huge defeat against one of the best pitchers in baseball, and taking the first game of the series by five run margin, 7-2.
Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rays Win 5-3, Sweep Twins
The Rays put the icing on the cake Sunday afternoon, finishing off the Twins in grand sweeping fashion. Chris Archer put together strong outing, and the offense was able to put together another good performance.
Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Price, Rays Take the Series Following 5-1 Win
Amidst the trade speculation and rumors, the Tampa Bay Rays have quietly put together a run. Winners of their last four, including a 5-1 victory last night against the Minnesota Twins, the Rays have gone 23-12 since June 11. David Price put together another excellent bid to keep Tampa Bay in the thick of things, tossing an eight-plus inning gem for his fifth consecutive victory.
Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rays Maintain Their Momentum, Top Twins 6-2
A big question preceded the start of the All-Star Break: Could the Rays maintain their momentum in the (symbolic) second half of the season? After all, Tampa Bay went 21-12 — extending back to June 11 — while a cloud of uncertainty, over the future of David Price and Ben Zobrist with the team, lingered overhead. If their 6-2 victory against the Minnesota Twins did only one thing, it’s answer the question to an extent — yes they can. The victory also found them 4-1/2 games out of third in the AL East, and 7-1/2 out in the Wildcard race.