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Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rays Beat Orioles in 18 Innings, 5-4

The panoramic option on the iPhone makes people, in motion, look like they’re melting. See Dali, one needn’t an imagination — you only need a smartphone.

…And with one out in the bottom of the 18th, a mere hour or so after the remaining fans at the Trop celebrated the 14th inning stretch, the Rays began to put together an inning. Forget that they had other opportunities and squandered them; This one felt different. Desmond Jennings, who was initially scratched from the lineup card (and put in the game in the 10th), cranked a double up the left-field line — quickly* getting into scoring position. Then an erratic Bud Norris fell behind Yunel Escobar, ultimately allowing him to reach on a 3-2 walk. With runners on first and second, one of the heroes from the last extra innings game, David DeJesus, came to the plate with one goal in mind — put the ball into play. DeJesus sent an 0-1 hanger into center-field, plating Jennings from second. A few game peripherals are below.

How about David DeJesus, Ben Zobrist, Desmond Jennings, and Jose Lobaton — their magic number was four. The mighty foursome teamed up to go 11-23 with four doubles, four RBI and four runs. On the contrary, Wil Myers, Evan Longoria, and Matt Joyce went a combined 1-18 with four strikeouts. It should be noted: Neither Longo nor Myers could make solid contact on off-speed pitches.
Pitching, pitching, pitching. The Rays leaned on 11 pitchers in Saturday night’s 18 inning marathon. Faced with the task of keeping the Orioles stagnant, the bullpen came up huge. Enter the tandem of Jamey Wright, Alex Torres, Brandon Gomes, Joel Peralta, Fernando Rodney, Jake Odorizzi, Cesar Ramos, Wesley Wright and Jeremy Hellickson, who combined for 12-2/3 innings of two hit, five strikeout ball. Rodney, Odorizzi, Ramos and Hellickson were particularly good. Each ate up the innings, while Rodney and Ramos teamed up to retire a combined 10 batters.
The Rays ended the night…urm, morning atop the Wildcard standings, following the Rangers 2-1 loss to the Royals.
Things got a little weird late in the game. It’s good to know that both Chewbacca and Gene Simmons are September call-ups:

The New What Next

Day game after a two day, two season (summer and fall), night game. Alex Cobb will toe the rubber against Miguel Gonzalez Saturday. A good number of Rays have put up some good numbers against Gonzalez who owns a 1-1 record with a 3.68 ERA against Tampa Bay in his last four starts. You can read the series preview here, and I’ll post the starting lineup when it becomes available.

Rays 9/21/13 Starting Lineup

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

*Quickly being a relative term, of course.

The New What Next: Rays vs O’s, the Final Home Series of the Season

Matt Moore pauses on the mound after giving up back to back home runs in the third inning against the Texas Rangers. (Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images)

Another day, another important series, as the Rays season ending gauntlet continues. Tampa Bay will welcome the Baltimore Orioles to the Trop for the last time this season, on the heels of an ugly 8-2 loss against the Texas Rangers. The Rays, again, have an opportunity to open up some breathing room in the Wildcard race. Then again, they had a chance to open up room the previous four days, and, well…

I was hoping to write a grandiose introduction — a task that would have been made much easier, had the Rays walked away with a series win against the Rangers. But they didn’t, and here we sit in the shadow of the final home series of the year. Tampa Bay started the season at home against the O’s, and they’ll finish the regular season home series against the same team this weekend.

tumblr_mtdwr0Eh5S1s37o6ho1_1280 — Naive? Sure. However, I still think the Rays can eke out a postseason berth. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have plunked down money for playoff tickets.

The Rays still control their own destiny with only 10 games left to play. 5-5 in their last 10 games (5-2 in their last seven and 47-30 at home), the Rays are tied for the lead in the AL Wildcard race with the Rangers. The Baltimore Orioles, on the other hand, are still in the hunt for the postseason, however they’ll have their work cut out for them. Also 5-5 in their last 10 games, Jason Hammel (Friday’s starter) is 7-8 with a 5.12 ERA and 0-2 with a 4.96 ERA in his last three starts, and Tampa Bay will look to swarm the former Ray early on. Tampa Bay has also found success against Scott Feldman, and they’ll look to continue to do so Saturday.

Look at the bright side: Tampa Bay still has a 65.2% chance of reaching the postseason.

Rays and Orioles offensive production at home, away, and over the last 14 days.

Jason Hammel: Former Ray Jason Hammel gets the start opposite of David Price, Friday. Tampa Bay has take two of the three games Hammel’s started this season, including a seven run/10 shellacking back in May. Key match-ups: Kelly Johnson (8-27, 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI, BB), Jose Lobaton (1-2, 2B), James Loney (12-36, 3 2B, 3 HR, 9 RBI), Delmon Young (2-5, RBI), Ben Zobrist (5-9, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, BB).

TBA:

Scott Feldmon: Per Rotowire, “Feldman gave up two runs (one earned) on two hits and a whopping six walks with three strikeouts in five innings Tuesday against the Red Sox.” Feldmon owns a 2.77 ERA in 13 innings of work against Tampa Bay. The Orioles 30 year-old RHP has been good for most of the season, however he has given up four or more runs in seven outings. Key match-ups: David DeJesus (6-11, 2B, HR, 3 RBI, 6 BB), Yunel Escobar (3-6, 2B, BB), Kelly Johnson (2-4, 2B, RBI), Sean Rodriguez (2-7, HR, 3 RBI, 2 BB), Delmon Young (4-14, 2 2B, 3B, 2 RBI).

Wei-Yin Chen: Per Rotowire, “Chen pitched 5.2 innings and allowed three runs on a career-high 11 hits Wednesday against the Red Sox.” Chen has given up just a pair of runs in each of his two starts against Tampa Bay this season. Still, a handful of Rays have posted good numbers against the Orioles’ 28 year-old lefty. Key match-ups: Sam Fuld (3-11, BB), Chris Gimenez (3-6, 2B, 2 RBI), Matt Joyce (1-4, 2 BB), Jose Lobaton (3-8), Delmon Young (1-4), Ben Zobrist (10-20, 2B, HR, 3 RBI, BB).

Noteworthiness

RHP Jesse Crain (right shoulder strain) threw 20 pitches Thursday afternoon in an Instructional League game in Sarasota. If he feels fine Friday, Crain should be cleared to finally join the bullpen, writes Roger Mooney of the Trib.
We can expect the addition of Jake Odorizzi to the roster Friday.
Stats, stats, stats: The Rays are hitting .257 as a team, with Wil Myers hitting .300, James Loney hitting .297, and Ben Zobrist hitting .271. The Orioles are hitting .261 with Chris Davis hitting .290, Adam Jones hitting .289, and Manny Machado hitting .285. For game one at Tampa Bay, the Orioles start Jason Hammel, who is 7-8 with a 5.12 ERA and 0-2 with a 4.96 ERA in his last three starts.
A wise man once said, “If you don’t go to games regularly, shut the fuck up about attendance — you’re part of the problem.” I concur. Any-who, how’s about getting out to the Trop this weekend, people.

The New What Next: Rays Win in 12, 4-3

Chris Archer tosses a ball for a put out at 1st base against the Texas Rangers. (Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images)

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way…

— Charles Dickens, “A Tale of Two Cities”

Wow. I think Dickens’ quote above sums up Wednesday night’s game well. The Rays eked out a huge 4-3 win in extra innings last night, in a game that looked like a lost cause from the get go. The Rangers three runs can be attributed to defensive mishaps, while Tampa Bay seemed offensively strapped all night. The players you expect to produce didn’t, while those who’ve had a rough go at things carried the Rays. If you would have told me that the 2-through-5 hitters (Ben Zobrist, Evan Longoria, Wil Myers, and Delmon Young) would have gone 2-17 with a run, while Desmond Jennings, David DeJesus and Sean Rodriguez would go 6-10 and carry the team to a victory, I’d have laughed in your face. But low and behold that was the case, and Tampa Bay walked away with an important victory which put them right back on top of the Wildcard heap with one game left to go against the Rangers.

Rays starter Chris Archer labored early on, but he kept the Rays in the thick of things after surrendering just two runs over six innings — both coming on a two-out fly ball to centerfield that carried over Jennings’ head. The Rays center fielder initially broke in on the on the play that was ultimately ruled a two-RBI triple for Leonys Martin. Jennings should have made the play to end the second, and the Rangers should have walked away with a goose egg in the inning. Instead, Texas took an early 2-0 lead.

Meanwhile Derek Holland was on fire, retiring the first seven batters in order, and not allowing a base runner until Jose Molina tagged him for a single in the third inning. The Dutch Oven held the Rays in check throughout the front five before he got himself into trouble in the sixth inning when Wil Myers singled on a ground-ball to left with one out. The Rays lefty killer Demon Young was next, though he almost negated himself when he grounded into what should have been a sure-fire double play. Thankfully Jurickson Profar’s rushed throw to first pulled Mitch Moreland off the bag, and allowed Young to reach safely. Sean Rodriguez made Holland pay, launching a game-tying blast to left field just two pitches later.

The game remained tied into extra innings. Joel Peralta, Jake McGee, Fernando Rodney and Jamey Wright all posted scoreless outings, yet the offense couldn’t put anything together against the four Rangers relievers. With the game tied in the 11th, Roberto Hernandez took the bump and quickly retired Ian Kinsler. However, his night was over as quick as it began after he plunked the speedy Elvis Andrus. Joe Maddon pulled Hernandez in favor of Alex Torres who got Alex Rios to pop out. With two outs and a runner at first, Adrian Beltre dropped an RBI single in to right field. A lackadaisical effort on the part of Wil Myers allowed Andrus to score from first base. Myers showed absolutely no urgency in getting the ball in quickly, giving the Rangers a one-run advantage and setting up the Rays for a costly defeat. The Rays tied the game in the bottom of the 11th, and the Rangers threatened again in the 12th. Brandon Gomes came in to quell the RISP storm. Onward to the bottom of the inning.

Jose Lobaton lead off the inning with a single*, and was instantly pinched in favor of the speedy Sam Fuld. Yunel Escobar was next, playing the part of the gambler and laying down a beautiful 1-2 sac-bunt, moving Fuld into scoring position. His gamble would pay dividends when Desmond Jennings sent a line drive single to the other way, plating a sliding Sam Fuld for a dramatic victory.

The New What Next

The Rays start the day with sole possession of the top Wildcard spot, ahead of Cleveland by a game and a hal, and two ahead of the Orioles. A Rays win against Yu Darvish will earn the tiebreaker over Texas — assuming both teams stay relevant after this series. Tampa Bay will counter with Matt Moore. You can read about the pitching match-up here.

Rays 9/19/13 Starting Lineup

DeJesus LF
Zobrist 2B
Joyce RF
Longoria DH
Loney 1B
Johnson 3B
Jennings CF
Lobaton C
Escobar SS
Moore LHP

Noteworthiness

Yes, you read that correctly, Longoria is the resident DH tonight, while Kelly Johnson gets the start at third.
Where Myers and Jennings geeked a pair of plays, Sean Rodriguez made an outstanding diving play to Rob the Rangers of a single in the ninth.
The addition of Freddie Guzman has already paid off. Guzman was put in the game in the 11th inning, pinch running for Matt Joyce who reached on a walk. Guzman stole second, then was driven home on a David DeJesus single to right.

*Why in god’s name Maddon pinched Molina in favor of Luke Scott, is beyond me. A lefty-on-lefty match-up? Really?! Why not put someone (cough, Lobaton) into the game who’s actually been productive? One only needs to look at what he did in the 12th for evidence as much.

Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Payback’s An, Urm…

Elvis Andrus runs the bases after a home run in the third inning against the Rays. (Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images)

Prior to Tuesday night’s game, the Rangers hadn’t hit a homer in seven games… Hell, they’d lost seven straight. Then Jeremy Hellickson got the start, and Texas went yard three times in one game alone. Ouch. The short summary: Hellickson lasted 2-2/3 innings, relinquishing five runs on four hits — including a pair of homers. Tampa Bay starts the day tied with Texas for the first Wildcard spot once again, while Cleveland sits a mere half game back following their 5-3 win against the Royals.

If a picture (or in this case, a PNG) speaks a thousand words, the graph below must speak volumes.

Oof, in graph form. (Courtesy of Fangraphs) — *“Oof,”* in graph form. (Courtesy of Fangraphs)

The New What Next

Chris Archer will get the start against Derek Holland, in game three of Tampa Bay’s current four game set. The Rays have put together some decent numbers against Dutch Oven, posting a combined .262 BA/.325 OBP/.530 SLG/.856 OPS slash line, with 21 extra base hits including eight homers in 149 total at-bats. You can read about the pitching match-up here.

Rays 9/18/13 Starting Lineup

Jennings CF
Zobrist 2B
Longoria 3B
Myers RF
Young DH
Rodriguez LF
Loney 1B
Molina C
Escobar SS
Archer RHP

Noteworthiness

Tim Beckham (top pick of 2008) has been called up, while Jake Odorizzi is expected to be recalled Friday for the Baltimore series. Brandon Guyer has been transferred to the 60-day DL in order to make room for the speedy Freddy Guzman.
While it’s on my mind, I’d like to acknowledge the hard work of Brett Morgan in his attempt to Top Off the Trop, Wednesday night. I’m a firm believer that the Rays need to seek out more corporate sponsors around the area — especially if they are going to be sustainable over the long-term. Kudos to someone from the Bay Area business community, for stepping up and trying to help out on that end. If only others in the Bay Area business community, at large, would do the same.
One of our cohorts suggested a great way for you to win one of the “Save Tampa Bay Baseball” stickers, so graciously donated to us by 98.7 the Fan: Like X-Rays Spex on Facebook or Tumblr, or recommend us to a friend on Facebook or Tumblr, and be entered to win a sticker. Simple as that! From there, we’ll draw a name at random on Friday. Consider this the playoff push… To help us to get more followers!

Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rays Win 6-2, Claim Sole Possession of First Wildcard Spot

Okay okay, maybe the whole *admiring thing* is a little much. Wil Myers homers to lead off the Texas Rangers on September 16, 2013. (Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images)

The Rays walked away from Monday night’s game with sole possession of the first Wildcard spot, after Tampa Bay, led by Alex Cobb, handed the Texas Rangers their seventh consecutive loss. The 6-2 game had everything one could want — a Wil Myers solo shot to the DanJo junk-shot seat in right field, a granny-panties wearing streaker, a six-run unraveling by former Ray Matt Garza, and a productive offense that went 6-11 wRISP. Game peripherals are below, and there’s a fairly complete blow-by-blow account of the game at our Tumblr site.

Pitching, pitching, pitching. Suffice it to say, after Jake McGee and Joel Peralta’s lackluster outing against the Twins Sunday, the Rays needed Alex Cobb to step up and put together an inning-eating outing (crap, say that five times) — and an excellent one at that. Cobb, by an large, exceeded that expectation, pitching eight innings of two run, 10 strikeout ball. The Rays righty had it all — fastball command (35 for strikes, 68% K%), a deadly change-up (24 for strikes, 72% K%, 9 whiffs), and an excellent curveball (15 strikes, 68% K%). Cobb impressively pitched inside to right-handed hitters, exploiting home plate umpire Larry Vanover’s liberal strike zone and frustrating a Rangers team that was strapped to put anything together. He also worked through a pair of run scoring innings that, arguably, had as much to do with misplays by Jose Molina and Desmond Jennings, than Cobb (below).
In the fourth inning, Molina allowed a pitch in the dirt to skip away, moving Alex Rios to third on the passed ball. AJ Pierzynsky singled Rios home in the next at-bat tying the game. Then in the sixth inning, Mitch Moreland doubled to center — a play which Desmond Jennings, with his eyes closed, took a diving stab at. Had he played the ball on the hop, Jennings would have held Moreland to a single. Both plays proved costly, ultimately allowing a pair of runs to cross the plate. Lackadaisical errors/misplays like that are unacceptable, especially at this point in the season.
The one through five hitters… Whoa! Tampa Bay went 6-11 wRISP Monday night, thanks to David DeJesus, Ben Zobrist, James Loney, Evan Longoria, and Wil Myers who went a combined 11-20 with six runs, and five runs batted in. Much of the Rays success came on five consecutive hits in the bottom of the fifth inning, including a pair of doubles off the bats of Myers and DeJesus. Tampa Bay’s star rookie also hit a solo shot in the bottom of the second, sending a missile to Dan Johnson’s infamous junk-shot seat in right.
Secret weapon, Ian Kinsler. You’d think that Kinsler was the Rays secret weapon because of his running gaffes. Kinsler was incredibly aggressive on the base paths, to a fault. He got caught waiting out a fielder’s choice as he considered home in the fourth inning, eventually getting tagged out in a run-down between home and third. He also got picked off second base in the fifth inning, getting caught in — you guessed it — a run down.
On the heels of news that Jesse Crain could be activated by the end of the week, Jamey Wright put together an outstanding 14-pitch 1-2-3 inning to close the door on the Rangers in the ninth, ringing up a batter along the way.
…The Rays control their own destiny, though the Royals win didn’t hurt. Following the 6-2 win, and the Royals 7-1 shellacking of Cleveland, he Rays hold a one game over of the Rangers, and a 1-1/2 game lead over Cleveland in the Wildcard race. Thanks again, Juego G!
Cough… Attendance. Really, Tampa Bay?! Less than 11,000 fans? As Daniel Russell of DRaysBay succinctly put things,

“I’m not eager to discuss attendance, because sh*t’s tired, but here it goes. The Rays are among the best teams in baseball in regards to television ratings, and a rainy Tuesday 90 minutes away is not going to draw a massive crowd of Floridians. The Rays had a 1/3 capacity this evening, and that’s just dandy for mid-week games.”

The New What Next

The Rays will look to take their fifth game out of six Tuesday with Jeremy Hellickson on the mound. He’ll be opposed by Alexi Ogando (6-4, 3.23 ERA), not Nick Tepesch as we initially reported. The Rays have posted a combined .283 BA/.377 OBP/.415 SLG/.792 OPS against Ogando in 9.1 innings of work over the last few years, with David DeJesus, Yunel Escobar, Kelly Johnson, Matt Joyce and Evan Longoria being the recipients of some pretty good numbers. I’ll post the starting lineup when it becomes available.

Rays 9/17/13 Starting Lineup

Zobrist 2B
Myers RF
Loney 1B
Longoria 3B
Joyce DH
Jennings CF
DeJesus LF
Lobaton C
Escobar SS
Hellickson RHP

Noteworthiness

In a tweet by Roger Mooney of the Tribune, “Maddon said (Jesse) Crain has normal soreness after throwing BP yesterday. Said it’s 50/50 he could be activated tomorrow.

Tampa Bay has scored 17 runs in their last three games — their highest output over three games in a month since August 14th-16th.

The fine folks at 98.7 the Fan sent over a pair of “Save Tampa Bay Baseball” stickers and window clings (pictured below) for us to dole out to you, the wonderful followers of X-Rays Spex. Now we just need to come up with a way to get them to you – perhaps a contest. We’ll keep you posted, stay tuned!