It all came down to one pitch. If executed properly, the Rays — who battled back from a 3-0 deficit to tie things up in the bottom of the eighth — would have found life in the bottom of the tenth. One pitch. But as fate would have it, Roberto Hernandez lobbed a very hittable slider over the plate to Mike Carp, a pitch that found its home over the wall in center field. Roberto’s errant pitch gave the Red Sox a four run lead they’d never relinquish.
Category Archives: Looking Backward While Moving Forward
Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rays Drop Game One, 2-0
It’s been said you can’t win games if you don’t score runs. And if the Rays 2 – 0 loss (the eighth shutout of the year) to Boston Tuesday night did anything, its confirm that theory to a T. Tampa Bay wasted an outstanding 8 IP/3 H/2 R/2 ER/0 BB/9 K outing by David Price, dropping their seventh of 10 games and falling to 8.5 games behind the AL East leading Red Sox. At least you can’t blame Rays for not doing anything with RISP this time — only two runners reached second safely; James Loney in the second inning and Yunel Escobar in the eighth.
Looking Backward While Moving Forward: That’s More Like It
The Rays won the final game of the series in Seattle by a score of 4-1. Tampa Bay will come be home early tomorrow morning, having accumulated a bit of momentum following the lackluster 3-7 road trip. The Rays gained a game on the Red Sox following their loss against the Yankees, and hold a two game lead over the Orioles in the Wildcard race once again, thanks to Baltimore’s loss against the White Sox. Jake McGee was credited with his fourth win of the season, while Fernando Rodney picked up his 33rd save of the year.
Looking Backward While Moving Forward: I know I’ll Be Glad When This Road Trip Is Over
Tampa Bay starts the day one game ahead of the Cleveland Indians and the Baltimore Orioles in the Wildcard race, following another sloppily played game against the Seattle Mariners, Saturday night. The game had the all the hallmarks of a team that’s struggling to keep it together: Poor fielding, questionable pitching, and a non-existent offense. Going into yesterday’s game, Rays skipper, Joe Maddon, was quoted as saying,
“This has been our worst baseball all year.”
Looking Backward While Moving Forward: An Open Letter to the Rays
As of now, Tampa Bay is 40-11 against sub .500 teams. Of those 11 losses, 10 have come by two or fewer runs. Just think, the good guys would be sitting pretty with an 82-58 record had they won even five of those games. As Kevin, a friend of the blog, noted, “At this point its time to panic. Not panic to the point of just over playing, but reaching down to your soul and using every bit of talent and skill you have.”