X-Rays Spex

When Chris Archer takes the bump, there is an expectation that he, in the very least, will keep his team in the ball game. Yet on this fair eve, he was clearly out of sorts. Archer left his stuff up and all over the place, and not even his plus fastball/slider combo could get him out of the self inflicted, sticky situations.

Archer put Tampa Bay in an early one run hole when he allowed back-to-back doubles to Shin-Soo Choo and Prince Fielder in the first, however, he limited the damage and things could have been worse. In the second inning, former Ray Chris Gimenez belted a two-run homer to put the Rangers up by three. At this point in the game, it seemed like Archer was spending more time trying to miss bats rather than trying to attack the zone. His misses were egregious, and his mistakes were hammered. Still the Rays were in the game, and an early three run difference certainly wasn’t an unbridgeable chasm.

Up to this point, Tampa Bay had its best scoring opportunity in the third inning after Rene Rivera and John Jaso went back-to-back with singles, putting a pair of runners on the base paths with just one out. Although the team came up empty-handed when Grady Sizemore hit a hard liner right to Prince Fielder, who turned an inning ending double play. Had it settled in for a hit instead, at least one run would have scored.

The Rays finally got a run back in the fifth when a hustling Kiermaier, who initially reached on fielder’s choice to second, rounded third and headed home to score the first run of the game. Scoring on a shallow base hit seemed like a gutsy move, yet The Outlaw crossed the plate as the ball popped out of the glove of Giminez.

Archer could keep Texas down for so long, and the Rangers blew the doors open with a seven run sixth inning. The righty allowed a luck-dragon bloop hit to Josh Hamilton to start the frame, then Elvis Andrus followed with a double to left that just missed being a two-run homer by a couple of feet. With runners in scoring position, Rougned Odor reached on fielder’s choice to third — Evan Longoria was able to make a heads up play to nab Hamilton at home for the first out. But Gimenez, Delino DeShields and Choo followed with a trifecta of RBI seeing-eye singles, signaling the end of Archer’s night.

Archer allowed eight runs (seven earned) on 11 hits and three walks in 5-1/3 innings. Coincidentally, Felix Hernandez allowed 10 earned runs against the Red Sox on Saturday.

It could just be me, but I’ve noticed a trend with Kevin Cash. When it seems like a roster move is imminent, the Rays skipper gives a player, who is tangled up in roster move rumors, an opportunity to earn his keep one last time. It happened previously with Everett Teaford, and this time it was Kirby Yates’ turn to put-up-or-shut-up. Yates was not successful. He first coaxed a comebacker out of Fielder, but instead of taking the easy out at first, he attempted to cut down DeShields at home. Sadly his throw sailed over Rivera’s head, allowing a run to score. Two pitches later, the always dangerous Adrian Beltre launched a no-doubter to center, putting Texas up by nine; sounding the death knell for Tampa Bay and Yates, who was optioned back to Triple-A Durham following the game.

The Rays plated two on a Longoria single in the seventh, however, Longo was immediately picked off of first. Asdrubal Cabrera capped the Rays scoring with a homer in the eighth. You usually assume that the Rays put up ten hits and four runs, they walk away with a win. Usually is the operative word in this case, because a victory clearly escaped Tampa Bay Saturday night.

The New What Next

Left-hander Drew Smyly was reinstated from the 60-day DL following the game. Smyly told the media that he is eager for his return to the mound after a 102 day stint on the disabled list:

I feel very anxious, I feel ready. My arm feels ready. I haven’t had any pain throwing. My next step is to go out there and compete with Major League hitters. I look forward to the opportunity. I know it will be tough. They have a lot of heavy hitters in that lineup. But you know, you have to get thrown in there sooner or later.

Smyly made four rehab starts — three with Durham and one with Charlotte — going 0-2 with a 9.64 ERA, although results aren’t indicative of readiness. Rather, how a player feels, both mentally and physically, can go a long way. For Smyly, it wasn’t until his final rehab start that he was able to pitch without having lingering thoughts of getting re-injured.

When you’re hurt for an extended period of time, it’s a tough mental game. It wears and tears on you and it’s hard to get that out of your head. Protecting your arm, babying it, so to speak. But sooner or later you have to get over it. It is what it is.

Everything happens for a reason. So for right now, I feel healthy. My last game I felt healthy, clear conscious. And who knows what will happen in the future. But right now I feel ready to go and I can’t wait for tomorrow.

He’ll be opposed by Yovani Gallardo, who will make his 25th start of the season. Gallardo (8-9, 3.33 ERA) has not been as sharp in the second half of the season. He’s 1-3 with a 4.71 ERA in his past eight starts, but he is coming off a no-decision in which he did not allow a run in 5-1/3 innings. You can read about the pitching matchup in our series preview.

Rays 8/16/15 Starting Lineup

Jaso DH
Sizemore RF
Longoria 3B
Loney 1B
Forsythe 2B
Cabrera SS
Jennings LF
Kiermaier CF
Casali C
Smyly LHP

Noteworthiness

— According to Marc Topkin, the Rays have been active, but thus far unsuccessful, in waiver claims, looking for relief help among other areas. RHP Trey McNutt, who was the other choice to RHP Chris Archer in the January 2011 Matt Garza trade with the Cubs, was released last week from the rookie-level Arizona League team.

— As I mentioned above, the Tampa Bay Rays followed their 12-4 shit show by reinstating LHP Drew Smyly from the 60 day DL, and optioning RHP Kirby Yates to the Durham Bulls. The team also has to clear a spot on the 40-man roster. In doing so, the Rays have designated RHP Jose Dominguez for assignment.

— Archer had a lot to say on the subject of his start:

I’ll save you guys a couple questions. From a team standpoint it (stinks) because I know the guys rely on me to give a better performance. I would say a better effort, but obviously the effort from me is always there.

AThey’re relying on me to do a lot better job.

And to boil it down to one thing, just pitch execution with two strikes. I wasn’t able to put guys away like I normally can. Very aggressive team. I didn’t make some pitches early, and I didn’t make some pitches late in the count, but to narrow it down to one thing, I have to make pitches with two strikes. Not allow them to get hits. Or at least not consecutively.

Outside of that, you guys saw the game. I didn’t do my job. I let the team down.

From a personal standpoint, it’s motivating because there’s always room for improvement. So I’ve identified that, and I’m going to grow. This is going to make me better. It (stinks) right now because I want the guys to know what they’re going to get out of me every single night. And probably 23 out of my 25 starts, they have. But it doesn’t hurt any less just because I’ve had a couple rough ones, or just because I’ve been good for the most part.

And I want to do a better job.