Oh how I wanted to say something witty about Jared Weaver, the Rays, and the song Dream Weaver. But let’s be honest, it’s 10 in the morning and after a long night of baseball watching and beer drinking, my brain isn’t firing on all cylinders. Any who, if you haven’t heard, the Rays bludgeoned the Angels last night by a score of 12-3, hitting a season high 17 hits and knocking one of the best pitchers in baseball out of the game in the fourth inning. Bulleted highlights after the scoring recap.
- Home runs galore! The Rays had another multi-homer game (god it feels good to type that) thanks to a first inning laser shot by BJ Upton (15), a second inning blast by Ben Zobrist (14) hit practically the same spot as his from the night before, and an eighth inning Jose Molina (5) tater.
- Tampa Bay had four other extra base hits; three doubles by Desmond Jennings (16), BJ Upton (20), and Sean Rodriguez (13), and a triple off of Sam Fuld’s (1) bat.
- Get ’em on, get ’em over, get ’em home. If the fourth inning didn’t exemplify that adage, I don’t know what does. Eight hitters reached base in the fourth before an out was recorded, and seven of those eight hitters would cross the plate.
- Tampa Bay scored a season high seven runs in one inning.
- The Rays 17 hits were a season high, while their 12 runs were one shy of the season record.
- Talk about a monster night, Upton, Zobrist, Jennings, Rodriguez, and Molina teamed up to go a combined 13-23 with 10 RBI and eight runs.
- Sammy saw all of two pitches last night, the second of which was laced to deep right center for a triple in the ninth.
- The Rays may have given up 10 hits, but the D was able keep minimize any damage thanks to some solid glove work, including three double plays. Sean Rodriguez web gem of a DP can be seen below.
- Shields may not have had the best outing, keeping the ball up in the zone…two of which were tagged for homers. But he still ended the night with a quality start, posting a 6 IP/3 ER/7 H/8 K line on 101 pitches (68 for strikes).
- JP Howell set the team record for consecutive scoreless innings at 23-2/3. His reply, when asked about this accomplishment? “It’s cool.” The dude abides.
- 5-12 wRISP, just under a 50% conversion rate? No gripes from me!
[mlbvideo id=”23983305″ width=”400″ height=”224″ /]
(Click above to see the best defensive play of the night)
The New What Next
Tonight Tampa Bay will go for the series win in game three of this four game set against the Halos. They again find themselves six games out of first in the AL East, and in a virtual tie for the wild-card spot with the Orioles and the Tigers. Cough, it bears mentioning that the Rays have a better record in both the win and loss columns than both of the aforementioned teams, cough.
On the mound for the Rays is Alex Cobb who’s looking to win his fourth game straight. Also toeing the rubber is CJ Wilson, who may just break the edge following nine consecutive games without a win. Cobber has given up one run in each of his last three starts, while lasting seven innings in each of his last four starts. He’s also lowered his ERA to 2.97 over his last seven starts. Wilson, on the other hand, is 0-5 with a 5.04 ERA in nine starts since defeating Baltimore on June 26. He’s also winless in his two previous starts against the Rays this season, and 1-3 since game one of last seasons ALDS.
I’d imagine that Carlos Pena might find himself on the bench again tonight. He’s put up some…uh…less than stellar numbers against Wilson over his career. I’d also imagine that Kepp could find himself at first, while SeanRod gets the start at third since Rodriguez has put up some good numbers against Wilson. ESPN has the Rays as the underdog again tonight, but what do they know? They were way off the mark last night! Then again, what do I know? I thought last night was going to be a low scoring affair!
Rays 8/18/12 Starting Lineup
Jennings LF
Upton CF
Zobrist SS
Longoria DH
Keppinger 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Roberts 2B
Lobaton C
Fuld RF
Cobb RHP
Noteworthiness: As expected, Carlos Pena has been pinched in lieu of Jeff Keppinger at first base, and Sean Rodriguez at third base. Surprisingly, Matt Joyce is getting the day off in lieu of Sam Fuld. As always, Let’s Go Rays!