Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rodriguez, Hanigan Power Rays Past Rangers, 8-1

The scene from the Porch, just prior to Wil Myers' fourth inning RBI single to center.
The scene from the porch just prior to Wil Myers’ fourth inning RBI single to center.

The Tampa Bay Rays have strung together a pair of wins on the heels of an 8-1 bloodletting of Joe Saunders and the Texas Rangers, Friday night. If I had to summarize the game in a sentence; Sean Rodriguez and Ryan Hanigan powered the Rays past the Rangers, while Jake Odorizzi stifled the boys from Arlington in his first start of the season.

Jake Odorizzi, bolstered by his Alex Cobb like split/change-up which he named the Thing, was impressive in his 6 IP/3 H/0 ER/3 BB/4 K 95 pitch (57 strikes) outing. Despite getting into trouble in the second and fourth innings, Odorizzi was effective in getting out of any self inflicted jams and coming out largely unscathed. He was met with a bit of luck in the fourth inning after Prince Fielder and Alex Rios reached on a couple of hard hit singles. Mitch Moreland was next, hammering a line drive to right field which should have easily scored Fielder — that is, had he not hesitated rounding third base. Fielder allowed himself to be caught in a rundown, giving the Rangers second and third with two outs, instead of second and third with one out and a run scored. Odorizzi ended the threat, and the inning, by wringing up Donnie Murphy on the Thing.

Speaking of the Thing, Odorizzi used the pitch to his advantage, throwing it 22 times (14 strikes, six whiffs) and recording six outs as result. The only Ranger who didn’t seem fooled by the pitch was Beltre, who walked twice without chasing. If anything, Jake had trouble putting hitters away when he was ahead in the count. All told however, it was a fairly impressive way to start his season.

Joe Maddon replaced James Loney with Sean Rodriguez in the lineup; a sage decision in hindsight. SeanRod drove in the first run after being hit by a pitch in the first, following with a three-run homer to left in the third, and a double to lead off the fifth inning. He also made an impressive diving grab at first base in the fifth inning, subsequently tossing the ball to Odorizzi and retiring Leonys Martin.

The right handed lineup combined to reach base 18 times on 11 hits, six walks and an HBP, setting the table for Rodriguez, Ryan Hanigan — who also hit a three-run blast on a first pitch fastball — and Wil Myers to drive in the Rays’ eight runs.

The New What Next

David Price will make his second start of the season, opposite of Nick Martinez. Prior to his complete game victory in last season’s Wildcard tiebreaker, Price was 1-7 with a 5.57 ERA in 11 starts against Texas — including the postseason. Then again, this is a different Rangers team. You can read about the match-up in our series preview.

Rays 4/5/14 Starting Lineup

DeJesus DH
Myers RF
Zobrist 2B
Longoria 3B
Loney 1B
Jennings CF
Joyce LF
Molina C
Escobar SS
Price P

Noteworthiness

  • Joe Maddon’s first replay challenge was a success, overruling the original call. Wil Myers cleanly made a sliding catch in the seventh inning (seen below).
(Photo courtesy of the Tampa Bay Rays)
(Photo courtesy of the Tampa Bay Rays)
  • The typically reliable Adrian Beltre made two errors Friday night.
  • Five of Desmond Jennings’ six total hits have been doubles.
  • Per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, X-rays on Texas LHP Joe Saunders, who left in the fourth after a Longoria liner struck his left ankle, were negative.
  • Catcher Chris Gimenez has been granted free agency rather than accepting an outright assignment to Round Rock. Could the Rays/Durham be on his radar?

Rays 4/4/14 Starting Lineup, Etc

Leader of the Gooch Squad?
Derek Holland: The confirmed leader of the Rangers’ Gooch Squad? Indeed.

Rays 4/4/14 Starting Lineup

Jennings CF
Myers RF
Zobrist 2B
Longoria 3B
Forsythe DH
Rodriguez 1B
Guyer LF
Hanigan C
Escobar SS
Odorizzi RHP

Noteworthiness

  • As expected, the Rays have reinstated Sean Rodriguez from paternity list. He’ll get the start at first tonight.
  • Wil Myers is back in lineup, hitting second.
  • The Rays have also announced Juan Carlos Oviedo will start his rehab assignment at Triple-A Durham.
  • The Rays bullpen has a .75 ERA through the first four games, the only run allowed was a homer by Jose Bautista off Josh Lueke.
  • Don’t forget to check out our Rays vs. Rangers series preview.

They’re Baaaacccckkkk! — Our Raymones Shirts, That Is

Click the photo to be redirected to our Big Cartel powered merch store.
Click the photo to be redirected to our Big Cartel powered merch store.

A new batch of “Raymones” shirts arrived Monday — just in time for Opening Day! Want one? They’re currently available at our Big Cartel powered merch store. You can also snag one from Star Booty, conveniently located a short walk from the Trop, on the 600 Block portion of Central Ave.

The New What Next: Goodbye Blue Jays, Hello Rangers — A Series Preview of Sorts

Evan Longoria heads to first base after hitting a three-run home run off Esmil Rogers in the seventh inning, Thursday night. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
Evan Longoria heads to first base after hitting a three-run home run off Esmil Rogers in the seventh inning, Thursday night. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Despite crossing the plate only twice in the 18 innings of what I like to call the losing sandwich (Wednesday and Thursday) — going 1-for-17 (.059) w/RISP — the Tampa Bay Rays offense came back to life Thursday night, tagging the Blue Jays for seven runs on 11 hits and five walks. The Trop dwellers were mightily productive, mashing three doubles, a triple, and their first homer of this very young season — a seventh inning three-run shot off the bat of Evan Longoria (career homer number 163, tying Carlos Pena for the franchise record). Chris Archer looked good in his first start of the season, slashing 6 IP/4 H/2 ER/2 BB/7 K on 98 pitches (60 for strikes). And  though they didn’t win the first home series of the season, the Rays salvaged the four game set.

They’ll ride back into the Trop, Friday night, on a wave of momentum when the beleaguered Texas Rangers come to town for a three game set. This doesn’t look like the same Rangers we’ve grown accustomed to seeing the last few years, thanks in part to off-season moves, and a tsunami of injuries that have plagued the boys from Arlington. On the DL are catcher Geovany Soto, pitchers Matt Harrison, Derek Holland and Joseph Ortiz, and position players Engel Beltre and Jurickson Profar. A caveat; despite the injuries, the Rangers are off to solid start.

Rays and Rangers offensive production in the first week of baseball.
Rays and Rangers offensive production in the first week of baseball.
Rays and Rangers, by the numbers.
Rays and Rangers, by the numbers.

Series Starters

Jake Odorizzi vs. Joe Saunders: Playing for his fifth team, veteran LHP Joe Saunders will make his Rangers debut Friday after going 11-16 with a 5.26 ERA in 32 starts for the Mariners last season. The Rays blew up Saunders last season, tagging the lefty for five runs on seven hits, including a homer, in 4-1/3 innings of work. Overall, Saunders is 0-3 with an 8.40 ERA in three starts against Tampa Bay. Key match-ups: Yunel Escobar (5-12), James Loney (8-29, 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 2 BB), Evan Longoria (2-8, 2 HR, 4 RBI, BB), Wil Myers (2-3, 2B, 3 RBI), Sean Rodriguez (2-3).

David Price vs. Nick Martinez: The scouting report on Nick Martinez, per Lone Star Ball,

“…Martinez had a 2.50 ERA on the year in 151.1 innings, and while his peripherals didn’t change much between 2012 and 2013, he dramatically reduced his hits allowed, giving up 4 fewer hits in 2013 despite throwing 34 more innings.

Martinez has a starter’s repertoire, throwing a low-90s fastball, slider and changeup, and getting a lot of ground balls. As one would expect from a pitcher of his experience level, Martinez still needs to improve his secondary pitches, but he’s someone who, if he can build on his successful 2013 campaign, could establish himself as a potential starting pitching option for the Rangers in 2014 or 2015.”

Alex Cobb vs. Yu Darvish: Yu Darvish is slated to make his 2014 season debut, after being shelved with a stiff neck way back at the beginning of Spring Training. Darvish hasn’t faced a hitter swinging a bat since March 16 in Arizona. He was scratched from his Opening Day start after his neck didn’t feel right, but an MRI showed no structural damage. He hasn’t been kind to the Rays in his short career, going 2-0 with a 1.35 ERA in 20 innings of work.

Noteworthiness

  • David DeJesus returned to the lineup Thursday night for the first time since bruising his right foot Monday, going 2-for-5 as DH with a double and a triple.
  • Thursday’s attendance (9,571) was the lowest at the Trop since April 30, 2012, vs. the Mariners (9,458).
  • The Blue Jays have not won a series in the Trop since 2007.
  • Per Joe Smith of the Times, former Rays C Chris Gimenez cleared waivers with Texas and was outrighted to Triple-A Round Rock. He has 72 hours to accept or reject the assignment. If he rejects it, expect the Rays to push to sign him for depth at Durham.

 

 

Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Buerhle, Blue Jays Shutout the Rays, 3-0

Evan Longoria beats Melky Cabrera to the bag for the out at third base after Dioner Navarro of the Toronto Blue Jays grounded to third to end the top of the first inning. (Photo by Brian Blanco/Getty Images)
Evan Longoria beats Melky Cabrera to the bag for the out at third base after Dioner Navarro of the Toronto Blue Jays grounded to third to end the top of the first inning. (Photo by Brian Blanco/Getty Images)

Let me take you back to Thursday, July 23, 2009 — a day when Mark Buehrle threw a perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays. In that game, Buehrle struck out six, and induced 11 ground-outs and 10 pop-outs. The Rays have owned Buehrle since that embarrassing, fateful day, posting a healthy .280 OBA/.327 OBP/.369 SLG/.695 OPS slash line, with a 6.67 ERA in five starts. Suffice it to say, you never know exactly what you’re going to get with the Blue Jays’ lefty on the mound. Unfortunately, Tampa Bay faced the former Buehrle Wednesday night, not the latter. The Rays slogged away from the Trop, having dropped their second consecutive game to Toronto, this time by a score of 3-0.

Buehrle was masterful, slashing 8.2 IP/4 H/0 R/1 BB/11 K and posting double digit strikeouts for only the second time in his career — his third third shutout against Tampa Bay in his 13 year tenure on the mound. What he lacked in velocity, (I wouldn’t call an 84 MPH fastball a power pitch by any stretch of the imagination) Buerhle made up for with pinpoint accuracy — working both sides of the plate, and freezing eight Rays (of the 11) on the inside corner. As Dewaye Staats noted in the post-game broadcast, Buerhle came into the Trop with a game plan, which he executed impressively.

Mark Buehrle was really working the edge of the plate last night.
Mark Buehrle was really working the edge of the plate last night, especially against righties.

As for Moore, moments of efficiency were peppered (a 12 pitch second, and a 10 pitch third) throughout his 5-2/3, 106 pitch outing — though those moments were the exceptions. Moore struggled with his command all night, getting into sticky situations in the first, fifth, and sixth innings. A credit to his name; Moore was able to work around those jams, though he was tagged with two runs in the fourth after leaving a cement mixer up and out over the plate. Jose Bautista sent that errant pitch to the Captain Morgan Party Deck. Jake McGee came on to finish the sixth for Moore, but not before Joe Maddon pulled the Rays starter in favor of Brandon Gomes, who intentionally walked Adam Lind to load the bases. Gomes was pulled in favor of McGee, who threw one pitch to Melky Cabrera, culminating in an inning ending pop-out.

Josh Lueke gave up Jose Bautista’s second home run in the seventh inning, Heath Bell put up a goose egg in the eighth, and Grant Balfour ran into trouble during a 21-pitch ninth. Bautista finished the night with two homers for his 22nd career multi-homer game.

The New What Next

The Tampa Bay Rays will try to salvage the Opening Series Thursday night, with their million dollar man, Chris Archer, on the mound. Archer will oppose Brandon Morrow for the Blue Jays. You can read about the pitching match-up in our series preview.

Rays 4/3/14 Starting Lineup

DeJesus DH
Jennings CF
Zobrist 2B
Longoria 3B
Loney 1B
Forsythe LF
Joyce RF
Hanigan C
Escobar SS
Archer RHP

Noteworthiness

  • Wil Myers has been scratched from the lineup due to flu-like symptoms. Matt Joyce will get the start in right, and Ligan Forsythe will move to left field.
  • The Rays have placed Sean Rodriguez on the paternity list, and recalled Vince Belnome from Triple-A Durham.
  • David DeJesus is back in the lineup, hitting leadoff.
  • Another day, another pair of terrific defensive plays at the hot corner by Evan Longoria. The first came in the third, (referenced in the caption above) while the second capped off the fourth. Missed them? Or, would you like to experience them again and again? Click the link!
  • Mr. Offense, Logan Forsythe, got the start against the Buehrle Wednesday night, tagging the lefty for two of the Rays’ four hits, including a leadoff double in the fifth inning.
  • After putting up nine runs on Opening Day, the Rays have now crossed the plate only twice in 18 innings. The Rays are 1-for-17 (.059) w/RISP last 2 games, 5-for-33 (.152) for the season.
  • C’mon everyone, get out to the ballpark! The Rays need to draw 9,122 on Thursday for their three-day total to exceed Monday’s sellout of 31,042.
  • More on Archer’s newly minted contract extension… Archer will receive a $1MM signing bonus and salaries of $500K in 2014, $1MM in 2015, $2.75MM in 2016, $4.75MM in 2017, $6.25MM in 2018, and $7.5MM in 2019 with a $1.75MM buyout of his 2020 option.