Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Misplays and an Unproductive Offense Spoil Smyly’s Start

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Drew Smyly pitches against the Oakland Athletics during the first inning. (Photo courtesy of Jason O. Watson/Getty Images)

In May I wrote about just wanting to see the Tampa Bay Rays play consistent baseball, back when it seemed like a postseason berth was both improbable and impossible. Yet toward the beginning of June, the Rays started playing uber consistent, .700 ball, and the impossible almost seemed within reach — the odds of Tampa Bay making the postseason jumped from a sub 1% chance to a 15% chance over the course of a month and a half. But after dropping four of their last five, including last night’s disappointing 3-o loss to the Athletics, the Rays have dropped back down to a 3.9% chance of making the playoffs (per Fan Graphs).

Amidst their recent woes, the recently acquired Drew Smyly made his debut in a Rays jersey Tuesday night, squaring off against former Ray Jason Hammel.

Initial Thoughts on Drew Smyly

Smyly wasted no time between pitches and he quickly set the pace for the game — forcing batters to step out of the box in order to catch up. The control on his slider was somewhat erratic (a pitch in the dirt several times) but his two-seam fastball, breaking cutter, and curve ball were on point. Smyly used the two-seamer to strike out Sam Fuld and Jonny Gomes in the first frame — both arm side.

Smyly’s overall line and array of pitches: 5.1 IP/7 H/3 ER/2 BB/6 K 107 pitches (70 strikes) fastball (both four-seam and two-seam, 67% K%, 5 Whiffs), cutter (83% K%, 2 Whiffs), change up (83% K%, 2 Whiffs), slider (61% K%, 5 Whiffs) and a curveball (stats not listed at Brooks Baseball).

Drew Smyly at-bat outcomes. (Courtesy of Brooks Baseball)
Drew Smyly at-bat outcomes. (Courtesy of Brooks Baseball)

Of note, Curt Casali employed hand touches around his body to call the game, as opposed to the standard finger pointing method — a rare process to say the least. I cannot recall ever seeing a catcher employ this style of game calling, and neither could the broadcast team. BA hypothesized that perhaps Drew Smyly requested hand signs after the Athletics learned his traditional signs, referencing his last start against Oakland which turned into a four home run fiasco.

Game Recap 

The Rays challenged Hammel in the second in the second inning. With two outs, Yunel Escobar sped from first to third with a dramatic slide on back-to-back singles by he and Cole Figueroa. Curt Casali followed with a walk, but Kevin Kiermaier hit a chopper to end the. Tampa Bay tried to put together an inning in the third, starting with a leadoff walk, a Ben Zobrist fielder’s choice, and a Matt Joyce single, but Longoria grounded into a double play (surprise, surprise) with two men on.

Meanwhile, Smyly was dealing in the second. He coaxed a one-hopper out of Derek Norris to Cole Figueroa at second, and followed with a strikeout of Nate Freiman. He was able to pickoff Josh Reddick after he reached on a single to center. Then in the third, Smyly induced a pair of fly-ball out to Alberto Callaspo and Eric Sogard, then caught Coco Crisp looking at a two-seam, arm side fastball.

The Rays grounded into another double play in the fourth inning, after James Loney reached on an 0-2 single. Escobar hit a grounder to Josh Donaldson who quickly wiped the lead runner away. Both Figueroa and Curt Casali threatened by hitting opposite field singles, but Kevin Kiermaier popped out to Sam Fuld in center to end the inning.

Fuld led off the bottom of the fourth with a hard luck numbber up the left side, then advanced to second on a slider in the dirt to Josh Donaldson — who Smyly ultimately walked, putting two on with no outs. Smyly got the next batter (Norris) to chase a nasty 84 MPH cutter that the bottom just fell out of. The A’s responded with a 1-2 double steal, putting both runners into scoring position. After squaring the count to rookie Nate Freiman, Joe Maddon called for an intentional walk in order for Smyly to face LHH Josh Reddick. The call was controversial, yet effective in the end — Reddick popped out on a slider below the zone.

Desmond Jennings led off the fifth with a walk, then advanced on an ugly breaking pitch in the dirt. However, Jennings was tagged out when he tried to advance on another Zobrist fielder’s choice. After Matt Joyce struck out, Longoria reached on a misplay of a fly ball lofted to shallow right field. Josh Reddick sped in from deep right field and dove, initially making a snow cone catch. But the ball rattled out of his mitt to put runners on the corners. Just when things were looking up, Loney fouled out in the stadium’s cavernous territory.

Make that eight men LOB in four innings.

Smyly began his half of the fifth with a single to Callaspo. He followed by fielding an excellent Sogard sacrifice bunt in the next at bat, firing the ball to Loney for the bang-bang out. However, the A’s got on the board after a Coco Crisp single to right. Kiermaier dramatically sailed a throw to home plate, but well past Casali — scoring the runner. And since Smyly wasn’t lined up behind Casali on the overthrow, the hustling Crisp was able to make it to third easily. Smyly broke out the low-80’s cutter to strike out Fuld for the second out. With the Atheltics still threatening, Smyly changed pace with a slider to Josh Donaldson, coaxing a sharply hit grounder right to Longoria, who fielded the ball and fired over to Loney to end the inning.

Hammel led off the next inning with a four pitch walk to Yunel Escobar. A pair of fly balls to the outfield then infield logged the first two outs, while Escobar was nearly doubled up on the latter. Donaldson (who fielded the infield fly) threw back to first, but his throw was well wide of the bag. Freiman saved the errant throw from skipping past, and Yunel was able to casually walk back to first. After posting a 5.2 IP/7 H/0 R/4 BB/2 K line, Hammel was replaced by O’Flaherty who got Kiermaier swinging.

Smyly returned in the sixth and coaxed a line drive out to center field from Jonny Gomes. But the Rays hurler gave up a seeing eye single to Norris in left, bringing Freiman to the plate. The tall first baseman crushed a triple past Zobrist in left, scoring the second run. Escobar fielded the cut off on Zobrist’s decent throw and seemed surprised that Norris would try for home. His embarrassing attempt to gun down the A’s catcher at the plate ended up nearly a third of the way down the right field line.

Smyly’s day was done after with 5-1/3 IP to his name. Despite a relatively deceiving line, Smyly seemed like the better starting pitcher. Jeff Beliveau came on in relief and gave up an RBI base hit to Reddick (charged to Smyly) before allowing two other base runners to reach.

Sogard walked on five pitches, turning the order back over with two on and two out. Beliveau threw a passed ball that Casali couldn’t corral into his mitt, which allowed the runners to advance. With an open base at first, Maddon called for another intentional walk to load the bases. Beliveau came back with a curveball away to Fuld, inducing an easy ground ball out of the former Ray.

You know the rest by now. The Athletics A+ bullpen retired the next nine Rays in order. The Athletics won the game 3-0, the fourteenth shut out on the season for Tampa Bay.

The New What Next

Jeremy Hellickson will attempt to help the Rays salvage the series this afternoon against Sonny Gray. Gray (12-4, 2.59 ERA) has been flat out great this year — his record and numbers (above) speak to that. Hell, he’s even been great in games where the A’s have lost. Let me put it this way all but two of his 22 starts have been sub-quality starts. It’s safe to assume Wednesday’s game will not be a walk in the park, especially when you consider that only four Rays have put up good numbers against Gray in his previous two starts against Tampa Bay. You can read about the pitching matchup in the series preview.

Rays 8/6/14 Starting Lineup

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

Noteworthiness

  • The Rays broke a major league record, becoming the first team in MLB history to reach 1,000 strikeouts in only 113 games (previously set by the Detroit Tigers on their 114th game in 2013).
  • Zobrist said it wasn’t a matter of not hustling in the fifth inning, but that he didn’t think had a chance to score. That, and third base coach Tom Foley wasn’t waving him home.
  • They ended the night 0-5 wRISP, and 1-16 in the series so far.
  • Following last night’s loss, the Rays are 3-13 in California since the 2012 four-game sweep of the Angels, in Anaheim.
  • In first two games of this series with the A’s, Rays are 1-for-16 with RISP (as mentioned above) and have one hit after the fifth inning. They are 1-for-22 vs Athletics ‘pen. What’s more, they have made four errors in first two games of the series after making only one in the previous 11 games. The good news though, Tampa Bay has held Oakland to one run in eight at-bats with the bases loaded… but that one run was the game-winner Monday night, so maybe not.

X-Rays Spex Present Another Watch Party

 

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On Friday, August 22nd at 7:00 p.m. X-Rays Spex, Green Bench Brewing Company, and Star Booty are teaming up to host another Rays Watch Party, when the Rays take on the Toronto Blue Jays, in Toronto. We’re bringing all of the camaraderie of the game and some delicious foodstuffs, all just a stones throw from The Trop.

Enjoy the game on one of the flatscreen televisions in the tasting room, then make your way to the beer garden where the game will be projected once the sun sets.

First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m., but be sure to get down to Green Bench early to enjoy some pre-game music, while you and your friends sip on an ice cold brew. Outdoor games (including, but not limited to, whiffle ball and corn hole) will be available, so bring the entire family. Local food truck Open Fire Grilled Brazilian will be on site, providing you with some delicious food choices.

Throughout the night Green Bench will be offering $1.00 off beers to folks wearing Tampa Bay Rays gear, including X-Rays Spex’s very own Rays inspired designs.

Don’t forget to check out our Facebook event page. From there you can help spread the word.

Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rays Fall in 10 Innings, 3-2

Sean Rodriguez is tagged out at home plate by Derek Norris in the top of the ninth inning. (Photo courtesy of Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
Sean Rodriguez is tagged out at home plate by Derek Norris in the top of the ninth inning. (Photo courtesy of Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

I’d like to think there was a risk/reward like situation afoot last night. I went through the effort of connecting my laptop to my television (I mean, who wants to watch baseball on a 14″ screen?), then it took me a few minutes to find a website from which to stream the game (thanks, strikeout.co), and finally I spent four hours live blogging the game while resisting the overwhelming urge to throw my tablet across the room out of frustration. And what was I rewarded with? A disheartening 3-2 loss in the 10th inning. Ouch.

As much as I’d like to blame Balfour for blowing the game — after all, he is the one who got into the 10th inning, bases loaded jam in the first place — the offense deserves a poke of criticism. Jeff Samardzija may have been able to get out of some tough jams, yet he wasn’t nearly as sharp as the A’s announcers made him out to be. Because of it, the Rays had opportunities aplenty to score more than two runs. In the end, the blame should not be placed solely on Balfour — though he played his part. Rather blame the Rays for going 1-10 wRISP, blame Brandon Guyer for not being able to execute a better ninth inning sac bunt, blame all of the Rays’ pitchers (Brad Boxberger excluded) for walking too many batters, and blame the defense for not being able to track down a routine popper in foul territory late in the game.

I won’t regale you with a full game recap — you can read my live blogged account of the contest over at our Tumblr page. Below are a few bulleted game peripherals.

Game Peripherals

  • Alex Cobb put together a less than impressive 5-2/3 inning start. Credit where it’s due, he worked into and out of trouble, loading the bases twice but escaping the jam both times, all the while yielding only two runs. His usual impeccable command was noticeably off, and Cobb walked four batters (while only striking out four). The question du jour, was Cobb missing David Price’s leadership? Might he have been too amped up from trying to be a leader?
  • The Kiermaier Show. In the third inning, Josh Reddick singled with two outs and Jed Lowrie followed with a double down the right-field line. Kiermaier fielded the ball quickly, per usual, and hit the cutoff man. Yet the relay to the plate was a good ten feet offline and there was no play. An inning later, he flashed his arm once again, throwing to third after a fly ball to deep right field. The runner, a head first sliding Eric Sogard, was barely safe. The show continued in the fifth, when he dropped a liner into the right-center gap that got underneath Brandon Moss’s glove, but didn’t make it the wall. Kiermaier turned on the jets and stretched the double into a single. He came home on a Desmond Jennings base hit to take the lead.
  • Isn’t nine usually a lucky number? It wasn’t for the Rays. James Loney led off the ninth inning with an opposite field line drive off Sean Doolittle, and was immediately pinch-run for by Sean Rodriguez. Logan Forsythe was next. The Rays’ second baseman laid down a beautiful sac-bunt to move Rodriguez into scoring position at second. Then the Rays caught a lucky break when a routine ground ball off the bat of Yunel Escobar ate up Jed Lowrie for an error, putting runners at the corners with just one out. Joe Maddon sent in Brandon Guyer to hit for Molina, presumably asking him to lay down a sacrifice squeeze bunt. Sadly, his bunt would not good enough this time around. The ball went straight back to the charging Doolittle who fired it back to home — Rodriguez was out at the plate. Doolittle got Kiermaier swinging at a 95 MPH fastball to end the inning.
  • A game of inches… Balfour’s last pitch was good, though he was a bit unlucky at the placement of Norris’s game winning weak grounder up the middle. Then again, that’s what happens when you walk back-to-back batters to load the bases.
  • Marc Topkin wrote about the game changing, ninth inning mis-call and misplay which found Maddon ejected from the game.

It was during Donaldson’s at-bat, on a check-swing on a potential strike three that instead became ball three that Maddon was ejected by first-base umpire Quinn Wolcott.
Maddon was tossed before he got out of the dugout as Wolcott held a hand toward him as a sign to not proceed, but at that point Maddon wanted to have his say, telling reporters later it was a call that was both “absolutely blown” and “egregiously bad” and could have changed the outcome of the entire game.

“That’s not borderline, that was egregious,” Maddon said. “And that’s what I had a problem with. I’d been patient all night with a lot of stuff. Some of the umpires in this particular crew you have to be patient with. My patience ran out at that particular point. That call was inappropriate. I know he’s a young umpire; hopefully he learned something from it.”

It was only worse that moments later Rodriguez went racing back and Kiermaier came charging in and a foul ball that would have been the second out dropped between them as both seemed to think the other may have had the better shot.

  • About that misplay,

The New What Next

The Rays start the day 54-58 and 9½ games behind the American League East-leading Orioles, and 5½ behind the Blue Jays for the second American League wild card. Though it won’t be easy, it’s absolutely incumbent on the Rays to take the next two games if they hope to remain relevant. Tonight should be an easier task than tomorrow. Drew Smyly will make his debut with Tampa Bay, opposite of former Ray Jason Hammel (8-9, 3.87). Hammel has had a rough go of things of late. The Athletics have taken a loss in his last four starts, while Hammel has been pounded to the tune of 18 runs on 26 hits including five homers. The two pitch pitcher has been victimized when behind in the count (.298 BA/.385 OBP/.537 SLG with a 1-0 count, increasing to .469 BA/.605 OBP/.935 SLG with a 3-1 count) and with runners in scoring position (.282 BA/.358 OBP/.457 SLG, – 13.4 LOB%). The Rays will look to work good, patient at-bats against Hammel. You can read about the pitching matchup in our series preview.

Rays 8/5/14 Starting Lineup

Jennings CF
Zobrist LF
Joyce DH
Longoria 3B
Loney 1B
Escobar SS
Figueroa 2B
Casali C
Kiermaier RF
Smyly LHP

Noteworthiness

  • Per Rays notes, tonight is 65th time a former Rays pitcher (Jason Hammel) starts against them; they are 34-30 up to this point.
  • Rays pitchers need eighy strikeouts tonight for 1,000 on the season. If so, they will reach that mark in the fewst games in MLB history — 113.
  • In Baseball America’s Best Tools survey, Jake McGee was voted the Anerican Leagues second best fastball; James Loney and Evan Longoria were voted the second best defenders. Also in that survey, Joe Maddon was voted the third best manager, while Yunel Escobar can lay claim to the third best infield arm.
  • David Price will make his Tigers debut Tuesday night against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. And as he prepares for a new stage in his career, he wanted to give thanks to Rays fans and other people from his Tampa Bay past with a full-page ad in the sports section of Tuesday’s Tampa Bay Times. Price is still a class act in my book:

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Rays 8/4/14 Starting Lineup, Etc

Answer your telephone, Ricky. It's me, you!
Answer your telephone, Ricky! It’s me, you!

Rays 8/4/14 Starting Lineup

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

Noteworthiness

The New What Next: Tampa Bay Rays Set to Start Important Series in Oakland

New Rays starter Drew Smyly throws a bullpen session in front of bullpen coach Stan Boroski, center, and pitching coach Jim Hickey. (Photo courtesy of the Associated Press)
New Rays starter Drew Smyly throws a bullpen session in front of bullpen coach Stan Boroski, center, and pitching coach Jim Hickey. (Photo courtesy of the Associated Press)

The Tampa Bay Rays will follow their disappointing series loss against the Los Angeles Angels with a pivotal 10-game road trip. First stop: Oakland on Monday for a three-game excursion that could help decide whether or not they remain in the American League wild-card race. The Rays start Monday five games behind Toronto for the American League’s second wild card spot.

Oakland holds a one-game lead over the Los Angeles Angels in the AL West.The Athletics opened a 10-game homestand by losing two of three to Kansas City and have dropped four of their last six overall. Outfielder Josh Reddick hit two homers in Sunday’s 4-2 loss while finishing 6-for-10 in the series against the Royals. Oakland is hoping he can pick up the pace to help make up for the loss of Yoenis Cespedes, who was recently dealt to the Boston Red Sox. Tampa Bay first baseman James Loney is 6-for-9 over the last two games and has reached base in 22 consecutive contests.

Oakland won two of three at Tampa Bay from May 20-22.

Rays and Athletics series starters (over the last 30 days).
Rays and Athletics series starters (over the last 30 days).
Rays and Athletics offensive production (at home, away, and over the last 30 days).
Rays and Athletics offensive production (at home, away, and over the last 30 days).
Rays and Athletics (by the numbers).
Rays and Athletics (by the numbers).

Jeff Samardzija: Samardzija (4-8, 2.92 ERA) is 2-1 with a 3.19 ERA and 0.82 WHIP in five starts since joining the Athletics’ pitching rotation. He has allowed four runs in two of the past three starts, including in a no-decision against Houston in his last turn when he struck out seven in 6-2/3 innings. Samardzija has served up five homers with the Athletics after allowing only seven in 17 starts with the Cubs. Overall, Samardzija’s strikeouts of righties are down over previous seasons, but he’s also trimmed his walks to almost nothing and has coaxed more grounders. He’s made an effort to work down in the zone, trying to get grounders and avoid the homers that have troubled him in the past. At the moment, there’s even split of strikeouts between lefties and righties. Left handed hitters — at the beginning of the season — hit more grounders and slugged .319. However, those numbers have flipped with the progression of the season, with righties hitting more grounders and with less power. Key Matchups: Yunel Escobar (1-2, 2B, 3 RBI), James Loney (1-3, 2B, RBI).

Jason Hammel: Former Ray Jason Hammel (8-9, 3.87) has had a rough go of things of late. The Athletics have taken a loss in his last four starts, while Hammel has been pounded to the tune of 18 runs on 26 hits including five homers. The two pitch pitcher has been victimized when behind in the count (.298 BA/.385 OBP/.537 SLG with a 1-0 count, increasing to .469 BA/.605 OBP/.935 SLG with a 3-1 count) and with runners in scoring position (.282 BA/.358 OBP/.457 SLG, – 13.4 LOB%). The Rays will look to work good, patient at-bats against Hammel. Key matchups: James Loney (12-38, 3 2B, 3 HR, 9 RBI), Jose Molina (4-13, 2 2B, BB), Ben Zobrist (6-12, 2 2B, HR, 3 RBI, BB).

Sonny Gray: Sonny Gray (12-4, 2.59 ERA) has been flat out great this year — his record and numbers (above) speak to that. Hell, he’s even been great in games where the A’s have lost. Let me put it this way all but two of his 22 starts have been sub-quality starts. It’s safe to assume Wednesday’s game will not be a walk in the park, especially when you consider that only four Rays have put up good numbers against Gray in his previous two starts against Tampa Bay. Key matchups: Cole Figueroa (1-3), Matt Joyce (2-6, BB), James Loney (2-5, BB), Jose Molina (1-3).

Noteworthiness

  • Alex Cobb (7-6, 3.54 ERA) is 5-0 over his last six starts and his last two efforts have been excellent. He struck out 10 while tossing seven shutout innings at St. Louis on July 23 and followed that outing by striking out 12 and holding Milwaukee to one run and three hits in eight innings on July 29. Cobb is 3-2 with a 2.34 ERA in six career starts against Oakland, including a no-decision on May 22 when he scattered three hits over 6-2/3 scoreless innings.
  • Drew Smyly will make his pitching debut with the Rays Tuesday. You can read about his stuff here.
  • Logan Forsythe is 7-15 with a homer and three RBIs over his last five outings.
  • Athletics OF/1B Brandon Moss is just 2-23 over his past six games.
  • Matt Baker of the Times writes, The AL West-leading Athletics are 35-19 at home and lead the majors in runs with 545. They bolstered their pitching before the trading deadline, adding RHP Jeff Samardzija from the Cubs before the All-Star break and LHP Jon Lester from Boston. Their offense remains their strength; Oakland torched Kansas City for eight runs in the fifth inning Saturday, though it was shut down by ex-ray James Shields on Sunday. 3B Josh Donaldson is second in the league in Wins Above Replacement (5.2), behind the Angels’ Mike Trout. Only Arizona’s outfield has more assists than Oakland’s 28. Oakland has outscored opponents by 164 runs — the most in the majors, far ahead of the second-place Angels (87). The A’s 14 consecutive winning months marks their longest stretch in Oakland history.”
  • The Athletics lead 91-56 overall, 21-50 in Oakland.
  • Interesting. Though it hasn’t been independently confirmed, WTVT’s Chip Carter reports: