Introducing your 2015 Tampa Bay Rays. (Photo courtesy of the Tampa Bay Rays)

It would be a safe assumption that most of us are thankful, first and foremost, for the return of baseball. It’s been a long offseason, and feels good to catch a game at the Trop, or listen to BA and Dewayne call the game in the comfort of your own living room. That being said, the icing on the cake would have been an Opening Day tally in the win column. That, unfortunately, wasn’t the case, as the Baltimore Orioles took advantage of costly mistakes, and beating the Tampa Bay Rays by a score of 6-2.

In the midst of the emotion wrought by Opening Day (I defy you to claim you didn’t shed during the Don Zimmer unveiling ceremony), some truly odd/less than savory/sloppy plays took place that weighed heavily on the outcome of the game. In this edition of the Good, the Bad and the Argyle*, I — with the help of the FanGraphs leverage index (below) — will take a look at some of those oof-worthy plays.

The Bad

— It all started in the top of the first inning. Chris Archer got ahead of Alejandro De Aza before coaxing a weak dribbler up the first base line. Although he fielded the play cleanly, Archer tossed the ball well over the head of James Loney, consequently putting the leadoff runner on base. The de facto ace then walked Manny Machado to put a runner in scoring position with no outs. Baltimore took a 1-0 lead after a sac-fly to center and a base-hit to left.

— Also in the first, John Jaso worked a five pitch walk ahead of Steven Souza, who went down looking (not once, but twice on the day), bringing Asdrubal Cabrera to the plate. Cabrera, in an attempt to beat the shift, tried awkwardly to lay down a bunt. On one of those attempts, Jaso endeavored to swipe a bag on a ball in the dirt, yet was thrown out as he slid headfirst into second while Ryan Flaherty blocked the bag with his leg.

Shaken on the play, Jaso left the game holding his left wrist and was sent for an MRI. Thankfully the test came back negative — the prognosis being a left wrist contusion.

There was a larger issue at hand, however, this wreaked of obstruction by Flaherty. Ian Malinowski (DRaysBay) summed up that line of thinking,

Putting aside the injury, I don’t understand why obstruction is legal (or if not legal, “allowed”) at second base. Flaherty covered the entire front of the bag with his leg, leaving nowhere for Jaso to reach. Moreover, if Jaso had slid feet first, it would have been Flaherty who was at risk for serious injury. I’m pretty sure that’s what it’s going to take for baseball to decide to enforce the obstruction rule in situations like that.

— In the fourth inning, Souza sent a grounder deep to the hole in deep short, and beat out the corresponding throw which bounded up the first base line. The Orioles seemed thoroughly confused by the play, and Souza, who also at first seemed stunned, looked to pounce. As Souza inched toward second base, Caleb Joseph noticed that he made a the turn and caught Souza in a rundown. There was no turning back at this point for the Rays right fielder. Try as he might, Souza was caught dead to rights between first and second. He also tweaked something in the process, as Souza gingerly walked off the field, yet remained in the game with no noticeable ill effects.

— After a lengthy nine pitch battle with De Aza, Archer left a middle-inside change-up in the zone which the Oriole hammered to give Baltimore a three run advantage.

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That blue dot in the left-hand corner of the strike zone plot was the errant change-up. (Plot courtesy of Brooks Baseball)

To Archer’s credit, he threw some really good pitches in the at-bat, yet his mistake proved costly.

— In the eighth inning, Rene Rivera was late with a tag on Steve Pearce at the plate, when Pearce appeared to be thrown out by a wide margin. To show the ridiculous nature of the play, I again turn to Malinowski,

Snider smacked a liner to the wall in right, but Souza quickly got off a strong and accurate throw to the cutoff man, Logan Forsythe, who uncorked a quick relay to home, where the Rays had Pearce dead to rights. Really, Pearce might have considered trying to go back to third and get into a rundown. Instead he trotted toward home, and at the last second sped up and slid through the legs of Rene Rivera.

The umpire called him out, because really, it would be ridiculous to call this play any other way, but Buck Showalter asked for a review, and sure enough, Pearce had gotten in/through.

Rivera received the ball on the first base side of the plate, and had he moved up a foot or so before Pearce started his slide, he would have been out — no questions asked.

Manager Kevin Cash spoke about that play after the game,

There’s a rule in play to keep everybody from getting injured. And it makes it awkward for the baserunner. It makes it awkward for the catcher, being Rene [Rivera]. I don’t know what the right thing there is on that. I understand the guy was safe, but it seemed like everybody slowed up. We don’t want that to happen, but we also don’t want Rene to drop down and just get just trucked by blocking the plate. It’s awkward. We’ll work through it.

The Good

— Tampa Bay went 3-5 wRISP

— Evan Longoria deposited a thigh high hanger into the seats of section 147. Longo will end the season with 162 homers at this rate. In all seriousness, it’s good to see Longoria barrel-up a breaking pitch as well as turn on an inside pitch.

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Video capture courtesy of Rays Index

— The Rays collected 11 strikeouts as a staff, with four from Steve Geltz, who retired each of the four batters he faced (three looking, one swinging) on some well located pitches down in the zone.

— With the exception of a few mistakes, Archer pitched well. We’ve become acclimated to his mix of two and four seam fastballs, as well as his slider, yet Archer also features a change-up that he hasn’t previously relied upon. In Spring Training, the righty talked about introducing his change-up into the mix, which he did Monday. All in all Archer threw seven change-ups, of which five were strikes (two of the whiff variety). Not bad for a pitch that was all but absent last season.

The Argyle

— I’m not really certain why Archer was removed after throwing only 85 pitches, especially when you take the lack of pitching depth into consideration.

*In no specific order.

The New What Next

Nathan Karns will make his third regular season start with the Rays Tuesday evening. The RHP threw six strong innings against the Phillies last Wednesday, allowing one run while striking out eight. Wei-Yin Chen will take the mound opposite of Karns. You can read about the pitching matchup in our series preview.

Rays 4/7/15 Starting Lineup

Guyer LF
Souza RF
Cabrera SS
Longoria 3B
Jennings CF
Forsythe DH
Loney 1B
Rivera C
Beckham 2B
Karns P

Noteworthiness

  • Per Kevin Cash, John Jaso (left wrist contusion) is listed as day-to-day. He will likely be out for a couple of days, telling reporters that his left wrist is still pretty sore although there isn’t a  break or any ligament damage. He’ll be reevaluated Wednesday. FWIW, Jaso said he will now stop sliding headfirst into second base as a result of injury.
  • Cobb (tendinitis), played catch today, calling it the “best day yet.”
  • All pitchers will be available out of the bullpen tonight, including Matt Andriese and Erasmo Ramirez. A decision on game four has yet to be made.
  • James Loney is the only lefty in the Rays lineup tonight against Orioles LHP Wei-Yen Chen. Loney will bat seventh. Rays manager Kevin Cash said that is where Loney will bat against lefties.”
  • Baltimore will get back first baseman Chris Davis, whose 25-game suspension from last season ended with Monday’s game. Davis is expected to be in the lineup.
  • The Rays retired number 66 for the late Don Zimmer:

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