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Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Odorizzi, Rays Blank Cubs 4-0, Take Series

In the shadow of the stadium. (Photo courtesy of Schmitt, E/X-Rays Spex) — In the shadow of the stadium. (Photo courtesy of X-Rays Spex)

On a cool and windy day on the north side of Chicago, the Tampa Bay Rays walked away from the friendly confines of Wrigley Field with their second consecutive win — a combined 4-0 shutout of the Chicago Cubs. Jake Odorizzi, Kirby Yates, and Jake McGee were dominant, limiting the Cubs to five hits, while posting a staggering 15 strikeouts. I, one of X-Rays Spex’s field documentarians, took in the sights and sound of the game from the left hand side of Wrigley. You can read a realtime account* of Saturday’s contest at out Tumblr page. Otherwise, what follows is a recap from Michael Nazarro, and a few game peripherals from yours truly.

Michael writes,

I am, and have been all season, confused about how I feel in regard to Jake Odorizzi. He’s shown he can clearly miss bats, spending July by compiling a 4-1 record with a 2.90 ERA while racking up 32 strikeouts in 31 innings. However good that strikeout rate might look, it may lose its luster once you realize that Odorizzi only pitched 31 innings in his five July starts. That’s an average of about six innings in each start which isn’t terrible, but you’d hope for a little more from a guy who came to the Rays for “Complete Game” James. But I’m straying off the path.

What I should be saying is, “What a day Odorizzi had!” And he did have a day. He pitched so well that the Rays’ offense only needed four runs on six hits to take the game and the series. And it seemed like the names that kept popping up on my phone whenever the Rays scored were always the same: Zobrist, Longoria, and Escobar. Zobrist and Longoria each scored twice, while Escobar went 2-for-4 with three runs batted in.

Although a 4-0 win isn’t the blowout one would expect against a 6-11 pitcher with a 5.66 ERA, Jackson has had a history of baffling the Rays (cough…cough, Arizona in 2010) since he left. I’ll go ahead and call this an all around good day.

Game Peripherals

Jake Odorizzi rebounded nicely from his last outing (the five run, three inning disaster) to blank the Cubs and help the Rays to their third consecutive victory. Odorizzi lasted six innings and allowed just three hits, while striking out nine and walking none. Per Brooks Baseball, his split-change was on point. He threw it 28 times and recorded 20 strikes (six whiffs). His four-seam fastball, which he threw for a strike 80 percent of the time, was also excellent. Six of his nine punch-outs came via the four-seamer. Only one Cub was able to reach second base, and that came in the sixth inning with two outs.

Jake Odorizzi's at-bat results. (Courtesy of Brooks Baseball) — Jake Odorizzi’s at-bat results. (Courtesy of Brooks Baseball)

The Rays were able to jump out front to a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning thanks to a ground-rule double off the bat of Ben Zobrist. Evan Longoria followed with a double of his own, and Yunel Escobar drove the Rays third baseman home on an RBI base hit. Escobar who would come up big again in the sixth inning. Tampa Bay loaded the bases with one out against Edwin Jackson, and Yuni responded with a two RBI base hit through the middle, giving the Rays a four run advantage.
Ivy vs Catwalks: Ivy wins… I guess. Maybe the Rays would benefit from putting some ivy on the catwalks? After all, that might just be enough to stop out-of-town, and national, baseball announcers (Editor’s note: I’m looking at you Kruk and Sutcliffe) from ragging on the Trop’s quirks. When Justin Ruggiano reached for the ball off Ben’s bat, it skipped off of the top his glove and landed in the ivy wall. Ruggiano spun around in perfect ballerina-like form and threw his hands in the air. Meanwhile, Zobrist hustled around the bases and came home “to score” what could be described as a Little League home run. He, however, was called back to second and awarded a ground rule double instead of a home run
In the fifth inning, former Ray Justin Ruggiano attempted to get into scoring position by swiping second. Jose Molina fired a bullet to Escobar who laid down a well executed swipe tag. In spite of the fact that Ruggiano was clearly tagged out well in front of the bag, the Cubs skipper Rick Renteria asked for the play to be reviewed. In the end, the call was upheld. In my opinion, it seemed like a four-minute and 10 second attempt to throw Jake Odorizzi out of whack.

unnamed — If I could see this on my SlingBox, surely the Cubs replay person would have seen something similar…right?

Kirby Yates pitched the seventh and eighth innings, and put away all six batters her faced. Yates has been excellent thus far, sporting a 2.31 ERA and a 10.80 K/9 in 23-1/3 innings of work.

The New What Next

Alex Cobb will take the mound Sunday against Travis Wood. Wood (7-9, 5.08 ERA) has been pretty hittable over the span of his 23 starts this season, yielding 84 runs (75 earned) on 147 hits including 13 home runs. The fastball/cutter pitcher has had a hard time with stranding runners on the bags, and if the Rays can force mistakes, there could be some offensive fireworks on the part of the Rays in Sunday’s finale. You can read about the pitching matchup in our series preview.

Rays 8/10/14 Starting Lineup

Jennings CF
Zobrist RF
Longoria 3B
Rodriguez LF
Escobar SS
Loney 1B
Casali C
Cobb RHP
Forsythe 2B

Noteworthiness

The Rays start Sunday within two games of .500
The Rays on Saturday, for the second time in 18 days, threw a shutout 15+ strikeouts and no walks. That’s fourth time in MLB this year, but only 19th time in 100 years.
With nine strikeouts Saturday, Jake Odorizzi now leads all major league rookie pitchers with 139 strikeouts.
Per Marc Topkin, C Chris Gimenez cleared waivers after being designated for assignment by the Rangers and can sign with any team. There is mutual interest between him and the Rays, a pairing that would provide the Rays a more experienced option than rookie Curt Casali to share time with Jose Molina. Ryan Hanigan remains idled by an oblique strain.”

*As realtime as you can get hours after the game.

Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rays Beat Cubs in Extra Innings, 4-3

Wrigley Field, as seen through the eyes of a bleacher bum in the left field corner. (Photo courtesy of Schmitty E./X-Rays Spex) — Wrigley Field, as seen through the eyes of a bleacher bum in the left field corner. (Photo courtesy of Schmitty, E./X-Rays Spex)

Game recap by Michael Nazarro

Let me preface this by saying that trying to watch a baseball game on ESPN’s Livecast is incredibly difficult when you’re also trying to speak to parents at the summer camp you work at. It’s an awkward situation when you utter an obscenity under your breath after you see the Chicago Cubs take an early lead, as a parent walks up to pick up their kid. That being said, I have to now ask, where has the offense — or rather the clutch offense — been? Coming into this game, since what is more and more beginning to seem like one of the darkest days in recent history (the Price trade), the Rays are 2-6. And save for the Odorizzi’s five run first inning Sunday, the pitching has been all in all solid.

So where is that clutch hit?

Why don’t you ask Matt Joyce, of all people? Joyce pinch hit in the top of the eighth with the score tied 2-2. The Rays can thank Anthony Rizzo for falling asleep at first after a Kevin Keirmaier check swing strike three call on a ball in the dirt. Cubbie catcher John Baker looked down to Rizzo to throw down and get Keirmaier out at first but Rizzo just hung back (maybe dreaming about all the birthday presents he was going to get after the game?), not really paying attention. After an Evan Longoria strikeout, and with two outs, Joyce came in for the pitcher’s spot and promptly lined a ball over the second baseman into center, bringing in Zobrist, who’d led off the inning with a double.

Jake McGee came on in the bottom of the eighth, and after surrendering a lead off hit, he retired the next three Cubs in order — striking out a pair. With Tampa Bay up 3-2, things seemed set-up for a Brad Boxberger shutdown ninth inning.

That didn’t happen.

Former Ray Justin Ruggiano pinch hit for the pitcher’s spot, and after bunting foul a pitch that sailed towards his head, he hit a quick grounder through the hole between short and third. Arismendy Alcantara sac-bunted Ruggiano over to second, and Ryan Sweeney followed with a hard hit, game tying ground ball under the glove of a diving Logan Forsythe. The Rays were left looking for yet another clutch hit.

Luckily the search wouldn’t last long. Tampa Bay tagged reliever Hector Rondon with three straight hits, including a Kevin Keirmaier RBI base hit that gave the Rays a 4-3 in the 10th. Boxberger came back out to pitch in the 10th and held onto his second chance to close the game out.

Because I worked 10 hours today with obnoxious children and a head cold, I’m going to get lazy with and finish this in bullet form.

Game Peripherals

In the first inning, with one out and two on, Longo hit a bullet to third base which was caught by Luis Valbuena, who then fired to second to catch Zobrist a little too far off the bag. To the naked eye, it looked as though Vabuena made a great inning ending play, but upon closer review it looked as though Zobrist had gotten his fingers back just before the ball had gotten into the back of the mitt. Maddon challenged, and the call was overturned. A caveat, the Rays couldn’t capitalize after Sean Rodriguez was mowed down by Wada.
The Rays left seven on base and went 3-8 with RISP, which is obviously an improvement over, say… leaving 12 left on base and going 3-13 RISP against the Angels on Sunday. It’s the Cubs. I digress. In his at-bats, Longoria stranded six runners on the bags. The Rays failed to capitalize on enough to where it was a bit annoying.
To that end, Longoria did not exude that typical Longo confidence, and he hasn’t in some time. He chased pitches in the dirt, his swings looked really bad and off kilter, and he made a fielding error on a routine grounder.
The run Boxberger surrendered in the ninth was the first run he’d surrendered since June 27, snapping a streak of 15 games without allowing a run. Incidentally, it was his first blown save since May 15, and the first time he followed a blown save with a win in the same game.
I’m going to apologize in advance to all those who may or may not get annoyed with this, but I will be both basing my recap off of a game summary from ESPN and being a bad Rays fan by attending Paul O’neill day at Yankee Stadium. But as a kid growing up in Jersey, before the Devil Rays existed (and after) Paul O’neill was one of my favorite players to watch. His zest made things interesting all the time. The same type of passion we would later see from players like Matt Garza, I loved it. Again, all apologies.

The New What Next

Jake Odorizzi will take the mound Saturday against former Ray Edwin Jackson. You remember Jackson, (6-11, 5.66 ERA) right? You know, the RHP who was traded to Detroit after the 2008 season for Matt Joyce. Jackson hasn’t had much success this season, though he is coming off a win in which he allowed seven hits and two runs in six innings on Sunday against the Dodgers. He’s had a share of good outings this season (including a 7 IP shutout performance in May), they’ve been few and far in between. Nevertheless, the former is 3-1 with a 2.25 ERA in four starts against the Rays, including a June 2010 no-hitter for Arizona.You can read about the pitching matchup in our series preview.

Rays 8/8/14 Starting Lineup

Jennings CF
Zobrist 2B
Loney 1B
Longoria 3B
Joyce LF
Escobar SS
Molina C
Odorizzi RHP
Kiermaier RF

Noteworthiness

The Rays made it official, Wil Myers (right wrist) will begin a rehab assignment today with Triple-A Durham Bulls.
Your tweet of the day:

#Rays Maddon said Boxberger was so eager for chance at redemption in 10th he let out “a yelp” as he headed back on to field

— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) August 9, 2014

Rays 8/8/14 Starting Lineup, Etc

Rays 8/8/14 Starting Lineup

Jennings CF
Zobrist RF
Guyer LF
Longoria 3B
Rodriguez 1B
Escobar SS
Casali C
Archer RHP
Forsythe 2B

Noteworthiness

From the game notes: The Rays’ pitchers are 1-for-14 (.071) in 2014, but own 2 of the 6 RBI recorded by AL pitchers (Odorizzi sac bunt, Cobb RBI double).
Today marks only the sixth Friday day game in Rays history, the second this season. The other was the first game of the day/night DH at Baltimore, in June.
Don’t forget to read our series preview!

The New What Next: The Rays Enter Wrigley, and I’m Going to Drink Old Style

The Tampa Bay Rays will head to Chicago for a three-game series with the Cubs, starting Friday afternoon.

As a child, the Chicago Cubs were my favorite baseball team. Back then the Tampa Bay Rays didn’t exist, so thanks to the wonderful world of cable, the Cubs became the team I latched on to. I can vividly recall racing home from the bus stop after school, grabbing a quick snack, and turning on WGN to catch a matinee ballgame. Back then Andre Dawson, Ryne Sandberg, and Greg Maddux were my gods, Wrigley Field was my place of worship, and Harry Caray and DeWayne Staats were my favorite broadcast team.

By the by, DeWayne is still a part of my favorite broadcast team, but that’s neither here or now.

I remember the Cubs taking the NL East title in 1989. I remember both Jerome Walton (NL Rookie of the Year) and Don Zimmer (NL Manager of the Year) winning vaunted awards that very same year. I can also distinctly remember the lean years that came before, and followed, that fateful season. Good or bad, so many of my childhood memories revolve around my beloved Cubbies.

Yet I must confess there’s one thing that has always weighed heavily on my shoulders, I’ve never been to Wrigley Field. So when I saw that my Rays would be playing my childhood favorite team in the Friendly Confines this season, a decision was made — come hell or high water, I would make the trek to the Windy City for the three-game weekend series. Wrigley Field, here I come!

I'll give you three guesses why they're called the Great Lakes. — I’ll give you three guesses why they’re called the Great Lakes.

The Rays last faced the Cubs in 2008, in a three-game series at The Trop. I attended a couple of those games, mismatching a Rays shirt with a Cubs hat each game. I cheered when either side did something good, though I couldn’t have been happier with the ultimate outcome — Tampa Bay swept the north-siders, outscoring the Cubs 16-9. Tampa Bay leads the overall series 4-2.

I don’t need to remind you of the importance of a series win, especially against a sub .500 team. The Cubs have gone 10-10 over their last 20-games (as of 8/7/14), with eight of those 10 losses being rather convincing. In those games, opponents have outscored Chicago 79-34, for a differential of 45 runs. Though the Cubs have scored a few more runs than the Rays over the last month, their pitching staff posted a meaty 4.64 ERA and a 2.9 WAR in the same span. Compare that to the Rays 2.78 ERA and 4.3 WAR over the last month.

That’s not to say the Rays have fared well in their last 10 games, after all they’ve dropped six of 10 after winning nine in a row. However, Tampa Bay has been blown out only three times since June 10. Juxtapose that with what I mentioned above, and one thing becomes obvious: A series win should be all but certain.

A cursory warning; Chris Archer, Jake Odorizzi, and Alex Cobb will need to execute their pitches against the north-siders. The Cubs have pounded 29 homers over the last month. Compare that with the Rays who’ve hit 12 over the same duration.

Rays and Cubs series starters. (over the last 30 days) — Rays and Cubs series starters. (Over the last 30 days)

Rays and Cubs offensive production. (At home, away, and over the last 30 days)

Tsuyoshi Wada: Wada (1-1, 3.32) will make his fifth start since getting called up in July, in the series opener Friday. The Cubs 33 year-old soft tossing lefty is in his third season of professional baseball in America. His first two seasons were spent in the minors with the Baltimore Orioles, but after making only one start in the 2012 season, he underwent Tommy John surgery. Wada struggled with consistency in 2013 and eventually went looking for work with a new team following the season. Enter the Cubs. After he struggled in Spring Training — culminating in a release from his contract — the Cubs re-signed him, thanks in part to an adjustment he made gripping the ball. Wada was excellent in the minors, with a strikeout per inning and an excellent walk rate, and with a 39% ground-ball rate — though his success hasn’t quite translated in the big leagues. He’s got quite a repertoire; a mid-to-upper 80’s fastball, a forkball that gets whiffs, and a slider.

Edwin Jackson: You remember former Ray Edwin Jackson, (6-11, 5.66 ERA) right? You know, the RHP who was traded to Detroit after the 2008 season for Matt Joyce. Jackson hasn’t had much success this season, though he is coming off a win in which he allowed seven hits and two runs in six innings on Sunday against the Dodgers. He’s had a share of good outings this season (including a 7 IP shutout performance in May), they’ve been few and far in between. Key matchups: Logan Forsythe (1-3, 3B), James Loney (7-14, 2 2B, 2 RBI, BB).

Travis Wood: Wood (7-9, 5.08 ERA) has been pretty hittable over the span of his 23 starts this season, yielding 84 runs (75 earned) on 147 hits including 13 home runs. The fastball/cutter pitcher has had a hard time with stranding runners on the bags, and if the Rays can force mistakes, there could be some offensive fireworks on the part of the Rays in Sunday’s finale.

Noteworthiness

Brad Boxberger hasn’t allow a run in his last 15 appearances.
Chris Archer has allowed three earned runs or fewer in each of his last three starts.
On the other hand, Kevin Kiermaier is 3-for-his-last-25 and Desmond Jennings is 6-for-his-last-33.
Chris Coghlan of the Cubs went 9-for-20 on their most recent road trip. Starlin Castro was also hot, going 11-for-25.
Former Ray Justin Ruggiano is in a 3-for-16 slump.
Cubs über prospect 21-year-old 2B Javier Baez will make his home debut in the series opener. Baez made his big league debut Tuesday in Colorado and homered in the 12th inning to give Chicago a 6-5 win. He went 0-4 in a 13-4 loss Wednesday before going 3-4 with two home runs and four RBI in Thursday’s 6-2 victory.
Marc Topkin writes, With C Ryan Hanigan’s return from an oblique strain unclear, the Rays are likely to have interest in bringing back C Chris Gimenez, who was designated for assignment Thursday by Texas. … OF Wil Myers (right wrist) joined Triple-A Durham on Thursday to continue workouts; he could start a rehab assignment Saturday, with about a two-week stay planned. … Ticket sales for the Aug. 15-17 Yankees series are strong, with at least one sellout likely.”

Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Helly Strong, Rays Win 7-3

Jeremy Hellickson was excellent Thursday, slashing 7 IP/2 H/1 ER/0 BB/3 K on 99 pitches (62 strikes). He earned his first win of the year.

Had you told me, before the game, that Jeremy Hellickson would out pitch Sonny Gray, the Rays would tag Gray for six runs on 10 hits, and Jose Molina would go 2-3 with a walk, a sac-bunt, and an infield hit, I’d have laughed in your face. But low and behold, Tampa Bay salvaged the final game of their series with the Athletics by a score of 7-3, behind an outstanding vintage outing by Jeremy Hellickson, and an offensive onslaught against Sonny Gray. They were able to knock the A’s RHP out of the game after only 4-1/3 innings of work.

Run your cursor over the graph. Source: FanGraphs

Kevin Kiermaier pumps the brakes on this home run trot around the bases. (Photo courtesy of the Tampa Bay Rays)

Since I’m getting ready to head to Chicago for the upcoming series against the Cubs, Consider this a VERY informal game recap. Otherwise, you can find a few game peripherals below and at our Tumblr site.