The New What Next: …Just Don’t Call Them the Twinkies, A Series Preview of Sorts

David Price with Jose Molina, throws the first complete game of the year for the Rays, doing so in fewer than 100 pitches. (Photo courtesy of Associated Press)
David Price with Jose Molina, throws the first complete game of the year for the Rays, doing so in fewer than 100 pitches. (Photo courtesy of Associated Press)

A day after David Price posted the Rays first complete game start of the 2013 season — finishing of the White Sox in a three game sweep — Tampa Bay will welcome the Minnesota Twins to the  friendly confines of the Trop for a four game set, starting Monday. The Rays are hot at the moment, winning the last four consecutive series while going 11-4 over a 15 game stretch. Tampa Bay is sitting in second place in the AL East for the first time since the beginning of April, tied with the Baltimore Orioles, and a half game over the third place Yankees.

On the contrary, the Minnesota Twins have gone 4-11 over the same stretch, dropping seven of their last eight. To be fair, offense is not the problem with the Twins, it’s the pitching. They’ve averaged almost five runs per game over the last 15 games, while the pitching has given up (on average) almost six. This bodes well for the swarming offense of the Tampa Bay Rays.

Rays and Twins series starters.
Rays and Twins series starters.
Rays and Twins offensive production at home, away, and over the last 14 days.
Rays and Twins offensive production at home, away, and over the last 14 days.
Rays and Twins by the numbers.
Rays and Twins by the numbers.

Samuel Deduno: Per Rotowire, “Deduno (4-2) was sharp Thursday against the Royals, earning the win by throwing seven innings and allowing one run on five hits and one walk.” Previous to 2012, Deduno spent most of his career with NL organizations (Rockies and Padres). Because of it, only one Ray — James Loney — has any experience against the Twins 30 year-old righty. A pitch to contact type of pitcher, Deduno features four pitches: a low 90’s cutter and four-seam fastball, a hard curveball which he throws primarily to lefties, and a sparingly thrown change-up.

Kyle Gibson: Per Rotowire, “Gibson suffered the first loss of his career Thursday when he gave up eight runs and 11 hits in just 5.1 innings against the Yankees.” Gibson has made two major league starts, accruing a win and a loss. Gibson got BABIP’d in his recent start against the Yankees, giving up five extra base-hits to go along with six singles and one walk. Leaning heavily on his change-up and low 90’s two-seam and four-seam fastballs, Gibson errs from throwing his slider to righties, though he typically throws both that pitch and his cutter sparingly.

Kevin Correia: Per Rotowire, “Correia gave up two earned runs on five hits and two walks with two strikeouts Tuesday against the Marlins.” The Rays last faced Correia when he pitched with the Padres, touching him for two runs on three hits and five walks over 5-1/3 innings of work.

Mike Pelfrey: Per Rotowire, “Pelfrey (back) returned from the disabled list to toss six shutout innings against the Blue Jays on Saturday.” Pelfrey is a sinker-baller who wants nothing more than to get you to pound the ball into the ground. Often times he’s successful, though he’s given up four or more runs in half his starts this season.

Noteworthiness

  • The Rays are batting .290 with 5.4 runs per game in their last nine.
  • Desmond Jennings has been a big part over that stretch, leading the Rays with 14 hits and 10 runs.
  • Minnesota has lost seven of its last eight — allowing 53 runs combined.
  • Joe Mauer is sitting on a six-game hitting streak with a .312 batting average, while Brian Dozier is 12-for-37 with eight RBIs in the last 10 contests for the Twins.
  • The Rays lost the first meeting with Minnesota last year before winning the last five. The Rays are 13-8 against the Twins at the Trop since 2006.
  • The Rays bullpen had a major league-worst 4.96 ERA through the first 49 games, though they’ve recorded a 2.47 mark over the last 40.
  • Since June 23, the Rays are 11-3 and their starters have a 1.95 ERA and a .193 OBA.
  • Luke Scott is hitting .377 BA/.421 OBP/.679 SLG with eight doubles, a triple, two homers, and 10 RBI over his last 17 games.
  • I’d just like to reiterate, Ben Zorbrist is once again an All-Star. Hand picked — ironically — by Tigers manager Jim Leyland, Zo reclaims a spot on the All-Star roster for the first time since 2010. Hear what he has to say about being nominated below:
Click the photo to be redirected to an interview with Ben Zobrist about being added to the 2013 All-Star Game roster.
Click the photo to be redirected to an interview with Ben Zobrist, about being added to the 2013 All-Star Game roster.

 

 

 

 

 

Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Matt Moore, Rays Blank ChiSox 3-0

photo
Live from WilVille. (Photo courtesy of X-Rays Spex)

It may have not been the offensive outburst of the previous night, however the Tampa Bay Rays, with Matt Moore at the helm, beat the Chicago White Sox by a score of 3-0 Saturday at the Trop. He may not have been perfect, but Moore did just enough to stifle a sluggish White Sox offense, making the big pitches when necessary over the course of his 6-1/3 inning outing. There’s just something about Matt Moore… At least the 2013 model — things don’t seem to phase him. Case in point, a nerve racking pair of innings in which the White Sox could have broken the game open, but didn’t.

In both the second and third innings, the White Sox had opportunities to plate a handful of runs with runners on third. Yet Moore came out unscathed, thanks to a Tyler Flowers two out pop-out in the second, and a stellar double play turned by Evan Longoria, preceding an Adam Dunn fly-out to left-center to end the inning. Longoria snagged a line drive off the bat of Alex Rios, then dove back to the bag ahead of Alejandro De Aza.

There just seems to be a zen nature about Moore. He missed handily with his two-seam fastball (20 thrown, nine for strikes, one whiff) and his slider (13 thrown, seven for strikes), so he made the adjustment and relied upon his four-seam fastball (38 thrown, 25 for strikes, four whiffs) and his change-up (34 thrown, 22 for strikes, eight whiffs) with great effect. Moore didn’t shirk away from contact, rather he attacked the White Sox batters and the results speak for themselves. My personal favorite Moore moment came in the first inning, when he struck out Adam Dunn. Moore threw two consecutive change-ups to get ahead in the count. He followed those pitches with a fastball up in the zone, only to come back with a deadly change-up to wring up the Big Donkey.

Jake McGee, Joel Peralta, and Fernando Rodney came in for 2-2/3 innings of one hit, three strikeout ball. McGee impressively induced a one out double play on one pitch to get out of the inning. Peralta allowed the sole hit of those 2-2/3 innings, though he was able to work around the base hit and came out with a clean inning. Rodney was Rodney, retiring the side in order to get his 19th save of the year.

Offensively speaking, the Rays struck three times in the second and sixth innings. Tampa Bay scored a pair of runs in the second on a Luke Scott RBI double, and a Desmond Jennings fielders choice. Sam Fuld tacked on an insurance run in the sixth inning, plating Wil Myers on an RBI base hit to center. Let’s be honest, we all knew that Sale would be tough, and tough he was.

The New What Next

David Price will attempt to replicate his return appearance last week, in a start against John Danks and the Sox. You can read about the pitching match-up here. The Rays start the day with a 48-40 record, a half game behind the the Yankees and tied for third with the Orioles. If the Rays and the Orioles win today, both teams will be tied for second going into the pre All-Star Break stretch.

Rays 7/7/13 Starting Lineup

Jennings CF
Rodriguez LF
Zobrist 2B
Longoria 3B
Loney 1B
Myers RF
Scott DH
Molina C
Escobar SS
Price LHP

Noteworthiness

  • Ben Zobrist has been tapped to represent the Rays in the 2013 All-Star Game. Per Marc Topkin, another potential opening for Moore to be added to AL All-Star team – Iwakuma from the Mariners is slated to start next Sunday.
  • Interestingly, per Marc Topkin, “With no Rays voted in by fans or players, it was up to AL/Detroit manager Jim Leyland to pick a Tampa Bay representative. Leyland bypassed third baseman Evan Longoria and starter Matt Moore to pick Zobrist, whose versatility at the plate and on the field makes him a bench asset.” Zobrist responded by saying, “I find a lot of humor in the selection based on that. I can’t wait to talk to Mr. Leyland and thank him for a couple different things.”

Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Hellickson, Rays Handcuff White Sox 8-3

photo
You can see more of our photos via our Instagram page.

Let’s review last night’s 8-3 win:

A) Jeremy Hellickson was dominant.
B) The Rays were electric at the plate.
C) The ninth was ugly, but Ramos limited the damage.

Better yet, let’s use that outline as a template for this game summary.

Jeremy Hellickson Was Dominant

Simply put, the subtitle says it all. Hellickson was stellar in his 7 IP/6 H/1 ER/0 BB/9 K/100 pitches (70 for strikes) outing. Helly went primal, attacking the zone with his fastball and change-up, and only using his curveball eight times when he needed to. His 70% K/BB speaks to that. The Rays righty did a great job of pitching to the corners, getting seven of his nine strikeouts on the outer and inner reaches of the plate. Jason Collette of the Process Reported noted that Hellickson’s approach against the White Sox biggest threat, Adam Dunn, was perfect,

“Hellickson faced Dunn three times in last night’s start and needed just 14 pitches to hand Dunn a hat trick on the evening. Hellickson threw mostly well-located fastballs to Dunn along with a handful of change-ups catching Dunn looking once and swinging at strike three twice.”

Jeremy Hellickson pitch location against Adam Dunn. (courtesy of ESPN by way of the Process Report)
Jeremy Hellickson’s pitch location against Adam Dunn. (courtesy of ESPN by way of the Process Report)

Collette went on to note, “Matt Moore and the Rays strategists will need a different approach in today’s game as Moore rarely throws his change-up to same-handed hitters, preferring instead to attack them with fastballs and breaking balls.”

The Rays Were Electric At the Plate

The Rays swarmed starter Dylan Axelrod Friday night, knocking him out of the game after only 1-2/3 innings of work. Every starter got a hit, in a game that was effectively over by the end of the second inning. Hell, even Jose Molina and Luke Scott got in on the fun.

Scott lead off the second inning by crushing a double up the right-field line. Jose Molina brought him home two batters later, hammering a two-run shot to left-field, putting the Rays up by a pair of runs early. A batter later, Kelly Johnson crushed a mammoth 415 foot blast to right, giving the Rays a 3-0 lead. Tampa Bay wasn’t done scoring though.

Desmond Jennings hit his first of three singles to center in the next at-bat, quickly swiping the first of two bags to put himself in scoring position. Evan Longoria plated Jennings on a single to left, technically giving the Rays all the runs they’d need on the night. A very hot James Loney was next, hitting the second of two singles and moving Longo into scoring position. Finally, Wil Myers capped off a five run inning by doubling to left, driving in Longoria and giving the Rays a commanding 5-0 lead.

Tampa Bay went on to score three more insurance runs in the fourth and fifth innings, giving the Rays their fourth five run (or greater) game in five days. The key to the Rays success? Rays skipper Joe Maddon feels that it comes down to working better at-bats. “We are just not expanding our strike zone,” Maddon said in his post game presser. All in all, Tampa Bay went 5-17 wRISP while scoring four runs with two outs.

It should be noted that Desmond Jennings put together his second consecutive multi-hit game, while James Loney extended his hitting streak to 16. The Rays cannot take their offensive prowess for granted going into tonight’s game against Chris Sale. Even though his win/loss record may not reflect it, Sale has been flat-out spectacular this season. Again, his record has more to do with a lack of run support than it does with any issues on his part — a 2.79 ERA/.210 BAA speaks to that.

The Ninth Was Ugly, But Ramos Limited the Damage

After quickly getting the Rays’ tenth strikeout of the night to start the ninth inning, Cesar Ramos gave up four consecutive singles and a sac-fly to bring the White Sox within five runs of Tampa Bay. With only one out and the bases juiced, Joe Maddon decided to get Jake McGee up in the pen, just in case. Ramos, thankfully, mustered enough to mop up his mess and get the next two batters — Tekotte and De Aza — to ground-out and end the game.

The New What Next

As I mentioned above, Matt Moore will take on Chris Sale and the Chicago White Sox Saturday night. Joe Maddon said it best, the match-up promises to be a low scoring affair. I couldn’t agree more. You can read about tonight’t match-up here.

Rays 7/6/13 Starting Lineup

Jennings CF
Rodriguez 1B
Zobrist 2B
Longoria 3B
Myers RF
Escobar SS
Lobaton C
Scott DH
Fuld LF
Moore LHP

Noteworthiness

  • Per Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times, Cobb “felt great during a 29-pitch bullpen session.” This was Cobb’s first bullpen session since being concussed on June 15th. Cobb is reportedly still is dealing with vertigo when he tilts his head a certain way, but he is expected to see drastic improvement over the next couple of weeks. He has also passed his first set of concussion-related tests, though there is still no timeline for his return.
  • Tampa Bay has won nine of their last 12 games, and are now seven games over .500 (47-40), tying their season high mark.
  • Wil Myers 13 RBI through the first 18 games are the most in Rays history, matching the Braves Evan Gattis for most in the first 18 games of this season.
  • Ben Zobrist is back at second and hitting third after a mental health day. Evan Longoria’s foot must be feeling better, because he’s back at third and hitting fourth. James Loney is, surprisingly, scratched from the lineup, in favor of Sean Rodriguez. And Sam Fuld will take over the left-field duties, with a tough lefty on the bump.

 

 

Rays 7/5/13 Starting Lineup

Rays 7/5/13 Starting Lineup

Jennings CF
Joyce LF
Longoria 3B
Loney 1B
Myers RF
Scott DH
Escobar SS
Molina C
Johnson 2B
Hellickson RHP

Noteworthiness

  • Ben Zobrist is getting the night off, though he’ll probably be available in a pinch hit scenario later in the game.
  • Evan Longoria is back at third, hitting third.
  • Alex Cobb is expected to throw a bullpen session today, his first since being concussed.
  • Don’t forget, you can read our series preview here.
  • The New What Next: Enter That Other Sox Team, A Series Preview of Sorts

    Yunel Escobar hits a line drive into right field for a double, scoring Jose Lobaton, during the eleventh inning Thursday.  (Photo courtesy of AP Photo/Patric Schneider)
    Yunel Escobar hits a line drive into right field for a double, scoring Jose Lobaton, during the eleventh inning Thursday. (Photo courtesy of AP Photo/Patric Schneider)

    Gritty victories are always nice, though sometimes they can be a bit annoying…especially when they come against a team that should have been handily dealt with. Sure, a win is a win is a win. Though a 7-5 win against the Astros in 11 innings, is a win with a punch to the gut. Frankly, the Rays should have won Thursday’s game by a score of 5-2. Peralta left a splitter up, a .150 hitter hammered it to right to tie the game in the eighth inning, and the Rays ultimately had to come back to win the game in extra innings. Hey, at least they won! You can read a blow by blow summary of the series finale against the Astros at our Tumblr page. Next on the docket: A three game set at home against the White Sox.

    As with the previous series, the Rays should be able to take at least two-out-of-three from that other team from Chicago. At 34-48, the cellar dweller White Sox lost five straight before taking two of three from Baltimore. The toasty Rays have won 10 of their last 15, taking two of four from the Sox back in April.

    Rays and White Sox series starters.
    Rays and White Sox series starters.
    Rays and White Sox offensive production at home, away, and over the last 14 days.
    Rays and White Sox offensive production at home, away, and over the last 14 days.
    Rays and White Sox by the numbers.
    Rays and White Sox by the numbers.

    Dylan Axelrod: Per Rotowire, “Axelrod allowed three earned runs over six innings and did not factor in the decision Saturday against the Indians.”  To his credit, Axelrod pitched well in the series finale against the Rays in April, giving up three runs and four hits in six innings before the White Sox fell 8-3. Though he’s posted a 7.40 ERA over his last four outings, while opponents batted .358 against in June. Key match-ups: Yunel Escobar (1-2), Desmond Jennings (1-3, 2B, BB), Kelly Johnson (2-7, HR, 2 RBI), Matt Joyce (2-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI), Luke Scott (1-1).

    Chris Sale: Per Rotowire, “Sale gave up three earned runs on four hits and two walks while fanning 13 Mets in eight innings Tuesday.” Sale allowed two runs on four hits in a 5-2 win against Tampa Bay in April. Since then, the White Sox have gone 5-5 when Sale has been on the mound, though that’s of no consequence of the lefty; Sale is averaging 2.2 earned runs per outing. Simply put, the Sox have offered Sale little to no run support, averaging 2.8 runs per game when he’s on the mound. Key match-ups: Yunel Escobar (1-1), Kelly Johnson (2-6, 2 2B, RBI), Jose Lobaton (3-4, HR, 2 RBI, 2 BB), Ben Zobrist (4-8, 2B, RBI).

    John Danks: Per Rotowire, “Danks was pretty effective Tuesday, giving up two earned runs on six hits and one walk while striking out four Orioles in seven innings to pick up his second win of the season.” The Rays are 2-1 against Danks over the last three years, tagging him for 15 earned runs in 15 innings of work. Key match-ups: Yunel Escobar (4-6, RBI), Sean Rodriguez (5-10, 2B, 2 3B, 3 RBI), Luke Scott (5-17, 2 HR, 3 RBI, BB).

    Noteworthiness

    • Don’t look now, but James Loney is heating up once more. James Loney’s single extended his hitting streak to a career high-tying 15 games, during which he’s hitting .429. Loney has tallied a total of 24 hits in 56 at bats, with an OPS of .973. Loney has absolutely destroyed pitches in most parts of the zone (see below).
    James Loney hot-zone map. (Courtesy of ESPN.com)
    James Loney hot-zone map. (Screen shot, courtesy of ESPN.com)
    • Ugg, the Big Donkey is coming up big once more. Dunn is hitting .333 with 10 homers and 26 RBI over his last 23 contests.
    • Rays starters have posted quality starts in nine of their last 10 games, while winning seven in that stretch.