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The New What Next: Rays Return to the Trop to Face the Blue Jays

Desmond Jennings and Ben Zobrist in the seventh inning of Sunday's 3-1 win against the Yankees. — Desmond Jennings and Ben Zobrist in the seventh inning of Sunday’s 3-1 win against the Yankees.

It would be safe to say that Chris Archer needed a win Sunday. His last few starts — sandwiched between an excellent start against the Orioles on the seventh — left a lot to be desired. Archer seemed to be a bit over amped, and hadn’t been nearly as efficient as most knew he could, and should, have been. Archer quelled the fears of many a Rays fan Sunday, putting together an excellent 6 IP/6 H/1 R/1 ER/1 BB/4 K outing, leading the charge in a 3-1 victory against the Yankees. The Rays will use the accrued momentum when they return to the Trop Monday to take on the charging Toronto Blue Jays.

The Blue Jays are finally living up to the expectations placed upon them to start the season. Currently in the throes of an 11-game win streak, Toronto has matched the team record set in 1987 and equaled in 1998. They’ve consistently produced at the plate during their run, averaging 6.4 runs per game while hitting 20 homers and batting .343 with runners in scoring position. The Rays, on the other hand, are coming off a disappointing 3-4 road trip against the Red Sox and Yankees; a road trip where they easily should have won six games. Tampa Bay was held to four runs or fewer on four different occasions, while the bullpen regressed in a manner of speaking, giving up six runs in two games resulting in a pair of losses.

I don’t want to give the impression that the most recent road trip was filled with doom and gloom. On the contrary, the bats came to life once more while Jeremy Hellickson, Matt Moore, and Roberto Hernandez put together turnaround performances. Furthermore, Wil Myers started to show his worth after plating six runs and crossing the plate twice, and Alex Torres pitched well in four innings against the Yankees and Red Sox, allowing only three base runners and striking out four.

Whatever the case, this should be an interesting series. The Rays have owned the Blue Jays’ rotation this season, compiling a 6.97 ERA in seven games. Third baseman Evan Longoria has done the most damage, going 14-for-28 with two homers, seven doubles and 10 RBIs. And Hellickson has yielded five runs and 10 hits in 13 innings in two starts against the Blue Jays this season.

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

Esmil Rogers: Per Rotowire, “Rogers went 6.2 innings Tuesday, allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits and a walk to go with five strikeouts, picking up the win against the Rockies.” Rogers is 2-0 with a 1.71 ERA in four starts this season. Tampa Bay has posted a paltry .200 BA/.281 OBP/.340 SLG/.621 slash line against Rogers, with only a few players putting together moderately good numbers in his time as a reliever. Key match-ups: Yunel Escobar (1-3), Desmond Jennings (1-4, HR), Desmond Jennings (5-18, 2B, HR, 2 RBI), Ben Zobrist (1-2).

Mark Buehrle: Per Rotowire, “Buehrle improved to 4-4 Wednesday, giving up just two earned runs on eight hits over five innings, while walking one and striking out four against the Rockies.” The Rays beat the Blue Jays in the last two meetings with Buehrle on the mound. They also continue to put up good numbers against Buehrle, with seven players posting a .250 BA or greater against him. Key match-ups: Yunel Escobar (4-11, 2B, RBI, BB), Sam Fuld (1-3), Kelly Johnson (3-12, RBI), James Loney (3-12, 2 2B), Evan Longoria (6-20, 2 2B, HR, 4 RBI, BB), Jose Molina (10-30, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, 2 BB), Sean Rodriguez (5-13, 2 2B, RBI).

RA Dickey: Per Rotowire, “Dickey (back) gave up just one run on seven hits and three walks, while striking out three over 5.2 innings, in a win over the Rangers on Saturday.” Key match-ups: Kelly Johnson (2-7, 2B, BB), Evan Longoria (3-9, 2 2B, 3 RBI, BB).

Noteworthiness

Edwin Encarnacion homered and had four RBIs in Toronto’s 13-5 win over Baltimore on Sunday.
Encarnacion is hitting .350 with four homers and 12 RBIs over the Jays 11-game winning streak, while Adam Lind is batting .341 – also with four homers and 12 RBIs.
Jose Bautista is 3-for-4 with a homer in the last two meetings against Hellickson, while improving to 7-for-15 with two homers, one double and one triple lifetime in match-ups against the Rays RHP. He’s also batting .440 (11 for 25) with two homers, three doubles and nine RBIs against Tampa Bay this season.
The Jays haven’t won a series at the Trop since April 2007, nor have they won a season series since 2006. Tampa Bay leads the series 139-125 overall, and have gone 79-52 at the Trop. However, the Jays lead the season series 4-3.
Per Marc Topkin,

“After massively underachieving for the first six weeks, the chic-pick Jays began to warm in mid May and are now sizzling, on Sunday winning their team record-tying 11th straight game and 15th of 18. The key has been the improved performance of their pitching staff, both starters and relievers, as they lead the majors in team ERA since June 13. Having Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion in the middle of the lineup helps, and Adam Lind has stepped up as well. Plus, they should get SS Jose Reyes back from the DL soon. Still out are LHP J.A. Happ (who was hit in the head by a ball at the Trop on May 7), RHP Brandon Morrow and 3B Brett Lawrie.”

Brandon Gomes, out since early May with a lat strain, will begin what is expected to be a 7-10 day rehab assignment Monday by starting for the advanced Class A Stone Crabs in Port Charlotte.
For those of you who missed it, Principal owner Stuart Sternberg said in a recent interview with Jon Paul Morosi and Fox Sports, it’s “Very unrealistic” that the Rays will leave the Tampa Bay area, at least if it’s up to him. He went on to say ,”The decision can be taken out” of his hands by MLB — and he hopes serious work on the stadium issue in St. Petersburg will commence at the end of the season. He also noted, Montreal is “An incredible place for baseball,” in the same interview. So uh, yeah…

Looking Backward While Moving Forward: The “A Few Quotes Should Sum Things Up Edition”

Wil Myers celebrates with Sam Fuld after hitting a grand slam during the sixth inning. (Photo courtesy of Associated Press)

“We saw Wil-power today, but 9 walks by our pitchers was too much to overcome.” – Joe Maddon
“This is just on the pile of tough ones,” said manager Joe Maddon, whose pitchers surrendered a season-high nine walks, including two with the bases loaded. “There’s been a lot of them. Way too many. That’s the difference between us really being one of the elite right now and not. We’ve just permitted too many late games to get away from us…That’s not to say that I don’t have confidence. I do, in all these relief guys. It’s unfortunate. It’s just unsettling that we can’t get these guys right on a consistent basis like in the past, because they’re really good.” – Joe Maddon
“It’s got to be the toughest one…After Myers did what he did and we came from behind against CC and we had a two-run lead in the seventh inning, we shouldn’t let that go.” – Joel Peralta
“I don’t know — none of my pitches were working for me…I was trying really hard to throw the ball over the plate and I couldn’t find a way to do it. Bad day.” – Joel Peralta
“Today was 11th time Rays have blown a lead in the seventh inning or later, and 9th time they’ve lost after doing so.” – Marc Topkin
“It’s a pretty cool situation to be able to do that after an intentional walk…I was pretty excited. It was just awesome to be down two strikes and the crowd cheering and then to be able to put a swing like that on it. It was just a cool experience.” – Wil Myers

…At least Torres was pretty great once more, posting a 1.2 IP/0 H/0 R/0 BB/3 K slash line on 26 pitches (16 for strikes). Torres now has an overall 20 IP/4 H/0 R/5 BB/27 K line. Whoa!

And this is a pretty awesome view of Wil Myers grand-slam:

The New What Next

I’m at a point where typing certain things has become redundant. For example, I again find myself typing the same thing I’ve typed, time and again, when the Rays have found themselves in a similar scenario. Tampa Bay look to salvage the final game of their four game series with the Yankees. They can come home with a 3-and-4 record for this road trip with with a win Sunday. I wouldn’t really call that a moral victory by any stretch of the imagination, though it’s better than a 2-and-5 road record. Chris Archer will attempt to string together — at least — a six inning start against Ivan Nova (2-1, 5.16 ERA). You can see Archer’s numbers here.

Rays 6/23/13 Starting Lineup

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

Noteworthiness

Per Jonathan Gannt, Chris Archer has thrown his slider 104 times this year, allowing only 1 hit against it. Opponents are 1-for-22 with 10 strikeouts in plate appearances ending with a slider. Furthermore, the Rays have scored only three runs with Chris Archer on the mound over his previous four starts. Only three pitchers have lower run support in June — Shields being one.

Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rays Lose 6-3, Sputtering Offense Quiet

Rays starter Roberto Hernandez watches Zoilo Almonte round the bases after his first big-league homer, giving the Yankees a 5-2 lead in the sixth. (Photo courtesy of Getty Images)

To put it bluntly, the swarming offense, that Joe Maddon’s so candidly spoken about, had more in common with a swarm of sugar ants Friday night, than it did with a swarm of yellow jackets. The Rays dropped an easily winnable game to the Yankees by a score of 6-2, and again find themselves two-and-a-haf games behind the third place Yankees going into Saturday afternoon’s game at Yankee Stadium.

The casual fan will look at Roberto Hernandez’s 7 IP/9 H/5 R/5 ER/o BB/4 K slash line, and assume the loss should be placed firmly on his shoulders. But to be fair, that assumption inaccurate. After all, Robo’s outing was a glaring example of the idea that pitchers are or aren’t lucky. In short — with a few exceptions, of course — Hernandez was a ground-ball machine.

A good number of the Yankees nine hits came on the ground, while Hernandez was able to induce 13 ground-ball outs. To put it another way, with a 68.2% ground-ball percentage (3.75 GB/FB) Hernandez did his job. The hits on the ground found their holes — squeaking past the Rays infielders — as the BABIP luck dragon nipped at Robo’s heels all night.

Click here for a brief explanation of BABIP and the associated luck dragons.

Look to the bottom of the fourth inning for further evidence. Hafner, Overbay, and Almonte hit three consecutive base-hits to load the bases. Overbay and Almonte’s singles found their holes, squeaking through the right side just out of reach of Zobrist and company. Hernandez followed that series of hits by inducing a double play, an aborted inning ending single, and a fielders-choice to short. The two-run outcome had more to do with luck, than anything else. Hernandez noted as much after the game,

“Some bad luck…I make good pitches, I’m trying to get a double play. The other ground ball scores a run. I can’t control that.”

The culprit of the Rays loss was the offense. Tampa Bay had ample opportunities to do damage, but they just couldn’t take advantage of those opportunities. As Joe Maddon put it in the post game presser,

“We attempted to swarm and the Raid was out…They swatted us back. We couldn’t get it going.”

Three of the four guys at the top of the order — Joyce, Jennings, and Longoria — went a combined 0-for-14 on the night. To add insult to injury, both Joyce and Jennings had the opportunity to blow the doors open with runners aboard in the third and fourth innings, though the only damage they would incur came in the third when they moved the runner over on a pair of ground-outs.

Per Marc Topkin, Matt Joyce assumed the blame, saying,

“Honestly, I think, for myself, we have to get at least one run right there,” he said. “There’s no really other way of putting it, just it has to be done. It’s basically giving you a run. There’s a lot of pressure on them, the pitcher, to throw a strike. And as a hitter you know your job — you’ve got to get that run in. It’s a tie ball game. That’s what I tried to do, I just didn’t get enough of it. …

“It’s frustrating for me because I feel like that’s something I take a lot of pride in. I look forward to those situations and really relish those situations, and it’s frustrating to not come through.”

Tampa Bay went on to strand nine men on the bags, while only pushing two runners across the plate.

The New What Next

The Rays have a good opportunity to beat the Yankees Saturday when they face CC Sabathia — a pitcher they’ve had a good amount of success against. Going for the Rays will be Alex Colome, who was impressive in a 5-2/3 IP start earlier in the year. You can read about the pitching match-up here.

Rays 6/22/13 Starting Lineup

Jennings CF
Rodriguez LF
Zobrist 2B
Longoria 3B
Myers DH
Escobar SS
Loney 1B
Lobaton C
Fuld RF
Colome P

Noteworthiness

David Price pitched Friday with the Charlotte Stone Crabs. Price posted a 2-1/3 IP/1 R/2 H/4 K/2 BB 49 pitches (29 strikes) slash line against the Pirates Single-A affiliate, in Bradenton.
In other good news, Alex Cobb has started his rehabilitation.

Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rays Thump Yankees, 8-3

Evan Longoria watches the flight of the second of his two solo home runs against the Yankees. He hit shots in the sixth and eighth innings. (Photo courtesy of Getty Images)

On the subject of Thursday night’s 8-3 win, a friend of mine summed up a general affect well, “The sound of a moaning, groaning, and grumbling Yankee Stadium is music to my ears.” In short, the Rays needed a win at Yankee Stadium, and a win they got in spades. Matt Moore collected himself and put together a well needed quality start, while the offense came alive for the second day straight, with Evan Longoria and Yunel Escobar mashing a handful of homers. Tampa Bay will enter Friday night’s match-up just one-and-a-half games behind the third place Yankees, ready to pounce on David Phelps. You can read our witty remarks on the game in real time (deferred by 12 or more hours, of course) at our Tumblr page. Otherwise, it’s time for The Good, The Bad, and The Argyle: A Bulleted Game Summary.

The Good

Welcome back, Matt Moore! Suffice to say, Matt Moore had three consecutive poor starts prior to his outing Thursday night. But Moore made the proper adjustments after watching video of his previous starts, putting together a solid 6.1 IP/4 H/3 R/3 ER/3 BB/4 K outing. Throwing 99 pitches (66 for strikes) overall, Moore did a good job of keeping the ball down for much of his outing. This isn’t to say he was perfect — his three walks and 59% fastball K% speak to that. But with the exception of a very shaky three run/two walk sixth inning, Moore — typically a fly-ball pitcher — was able to get the Yankees to ground out nine times, keeping them off balance all the while. And to his credit, he was also able to limit the damage in the sixth. Moore’s breakout: 59 fastballs (39 for strikes, one swinging) with an average velocity around 93.6 MPH, 27 sliders (17 for strikes, five swinging), and 13 change-ups (11 for strikes, two swinging).
Jake McGee and Jamey Wright were again great! McGee and Wright combined for 1-2/3 innings of one hit ball. The one hit: An eighth inning come-backer at Wright’s head, in which Wright was able to slow the ball down with his pitching hand. The incident elicited the response of the Rays medical staff, but Wright was ultimately okay and retired the Yankees in order after, on a strikeout and a pair of ground-outs.
The Rays were able to put up four or more runs for the second consecutive day. Tampa Bay impressively scored eight runs in the second, third, sixth, seventh, and eighth innings, while putting up decent numbers wRISP — they went 4-for-11. In fact, with the exception of designated hitter Jose Molina (Editor’s note: it’s really funny typing that), every Ray had a hand in the 8 R/14 hit/2 BB fun, Thursday night. It all started when Jose Lobaton plated Wil Myers on a sac-fly in the second inning for the first run of the game. Myers initially reached base on a single, and was moved over to third on a Yunel Escobar base hit and an Andy Pettitte wild pitch. Desmond Jennings (3-4, BB) led off the third with a single to right center, consequently moving to second when Brett Gardner slipped on a banana peel in center-field, and couldn’t field the ball properly. Sean Rodriguez (2-5, RBI, R) followed that with a single, moving Jennings to third. Ben Zobrist (2-5, RBI) hit the third single of the inning, plating Jennings and moving Rodriguez to third. Evan Longoria (2-3, 3 RBI, 2 R) capped a two run inning with a sac-fly, giving Tampa Bay a 3-0 lead. Longoria would strike again in the sixth inning, hitting a 368 foot solo shot which put the Rays up by four. In the seventh — after the Yankees cut the lead by three — Rodriguez would strike again, crushing an RBI double to deep left center, and driving in Jennings who reached on a double ahead of him. In the eighth inning, Longo capped his three RBI night with his second solo shot of the game — this time off Joba Chamberlain, while Yunel Escobar crushed a mammoth 416 foot two-run blast to dead center, driving in Matt Joyce who hit a double ahead of him.
Speaking of Longo, he hit career RBI 500, 501, and 502 Thursday night, becoming one of seven active players to reach that milestone in fewer than 710 games. The other six: Ryan Howard, Albert Pujols, Todd Helton, Josh Hamilton, Mark Teixeira. Miguel Cabrera, and Justin Morneau.
An 8-3 win isn’t too shabby of a way to celebrate the Rays 2,500th game.
Tampa Bay did not relinquish any two-out runs.

The Bad

Matt Moore’s three run sixth inning, which included a base hit by former Rays short-stop Reid Brignac.

The Argyle

I’m a bit indifferent to Kyle Farnsworth’s outing. Sure, he was able to induce the game ending double play. However, he allowed a pair of base runners to reach on a single and a walk. Furthermore, he had a hard time with finding the strike zone — of a total 16 pitches thrown, only eight counted as strikes. I’d imagine that his .167 BABIP may speak volumes for his success in June.

The New What Next

Tampa Bay can come within a half game of the Yankees with a win tonight. Roberto Hernandez will take on David Phelps, and you can read about the pitching match-up here.

Rays 6/21/13 Starting Lineup

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

Noteworthiness

Luke Scott is back in the lineup today at DH and hitting seventh. I just don’t understand why Johnson can’t fill the DH spot?!

Rays top draft pick Catcher Nick Ciuffo, of Lexington (S.C.) High, has officially signed a contract with the Rays. Ciuffo is headed to Port Charlotte to start his professional career with the rookie level Gulf Coast League Rays.

The New What Next: Rays vs Yankees – Snooze Fest 2013 Series Preview

Jose Molina slides past Red Sox catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia to score on Ben Zobrist’s single to center, putting the Rays up 3-2 in the fifth inning. (Photo courtesy of the Associated Press) — Jose Molina slides (somewhat similar) past Red Sox catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia to score on Ben Zobrist’s single to center, putting the Rays up 3-2 in the fifth inning. (Photo courtesy of the Associated Press)

Tampa Bay finally did it! They beat the Red Sox at Fenway, Wednesday night, after five failed attempts. In a well pitched game by Jeremy Hellickson, the Rays held the Sox to only two runs, while thumping them for six. I’ll spare you the droll game summary. Still want to read about what happened and how? Head to our Tumblr page, where we live blogged the game.

Facing a team on the slide (Editors note: similar to the slide pictured above. That is to say, it’s not been pretty) can act as a catalyst for another, especially when the presumptive wins come at the hands of the Yankees. Both New York and Tampa Bay have run into an impenetrable brick walls of late. The Yankees have won four of their last ten games, while the Rays have won only two.

But if ever there was a time to romp up on the Evil Empire, it’s now — though both teams have fallen in the the East, the Rays have a chance to leap-frog the third place Yankees with a series win. Furthermore, even when taking the underperformance of the Rays into consideration, Tampa Bay has outscored the Yankees by 16 runs over a 15 day span. This isn’t to imply that Tampa Bay has a series win in the bag. Matt Moore hasn’t been very good of late, Colome and Archer are still largely unproven at this level, Hernandez is only now stringing together quality starts, and the offense has fallen off. What’s more, the Rays haven’t been able to put teams away with two outs, a problem that’s hampered them since the beginning of the season.

Rays and Yankees offensive production at home, away, and over the last 14 days (as of June 19).

Andy Pettitte: Per Rotowire, “Pettitte gave up four runs on 11 hits and a walk with four strikeouts over seven innings against the Angels on Friday.” The Rays last faced (and beat) Pettitte in April, in a shutout victory in which the veteran lefty gave up three runs (two earned) in six innings of work. You may recall that Sean Rodriguez took Pettitte deep on a sixth inning solo shot, giving Tampa Bay an insurance run. Regardless of the win, only a few Rays have had any success against Pettitte. You can imagine that Thursday night’s game promises to be another one of those games, where the Rays will need to pounce on the few scoring opportunities they may get. That’s especially true when you consider that Pettitte has given up three runs per game, on average. Key match-ups: Yunel Escobar (3-8, 2B, 3 RBI, BB), Kelly Johnson (2-7), Sean Rodriguez (3-7, 2B, HR, RBI, 2 BB), Ben Zobrist (9-22, 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 3 BB).

David Phelps: Per Rotowire, “Phelps allowed four runs over six innings and was the losing pitcher Saturday against the Angels.” David Phelps got the win in a 9-4 game loss at the hands of the Yankees in May. Phelps got hammered for five runs (four earned) in his next start against the Mets, a game where he lasted only a third of an inning. He has straightened it out — in a manner of speaking — in his last three starts, including a pair of games where he gave up only a run or fewer. He has posted good numbers against Tampa Bay, though that’s over a ver small sample size; 59 combined at-bats. Key match-ups: Matt Joyce (2-6, 2B, RBI), James Loney (2-7, 2B, RBI), Ben Zobrist (3-8, 2 2B, RBI, BB).

CC Sabathia: Per Rotowire, “Sabathia picked up the win Sunday by allowing just two earned runs and five hits over eight innings against the Angels. He struck out six.” Grimmace’s up and down season continues. He had an up start Sunday, and we’re all aware of the fair number of downs the Rays have handed him the last few years. If history is an indicator of anything, the Rays could walk away with a big win Saturday. Key match-ups: Yunel Escobar (9-28, 3 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 9 RBI, 2 BB), Sam Fuld (2-7, 3B, 2 RBI), Kelly Johnson (5-15), Jose Lobaton (3-8, 2 RBI, BB), Evan Longoria (16-45, 3 2B, 5 HR, 9 RBI, 11 BB), Sean Rodriguez (11-33, 2 2B, 3B, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 4 BB).

Noteworthiness

Matt Moore has struggled over his last three starts, and he’s trying to avoid losing a career high fourth consecutive game Thursday night. That said, Vernon Wells and Jayson Nix are a combined 2 for 22 against Moore, while Vernon Wells is 6-for-56 in 16 games this month.
Andy Pettitte is 0-2 with a 7.71 ERA in his last four home starts and also has struggled against the Rays lately, going 1-3 with a 5.04 ERA over a five-start stretch.
New York and Tampa Bay have split six meetings this season – all at Tropicana Field. The Rays haven’t won any of their last eight series in the Bronx.
Uber prospect Wil Myers is now 2-for-12 in his first three games, though he came up huge Wednesday night with a two-RBI double to right field. I still contend, he’s better than Vogt.
Jose Molina is 5-for-his-last-6 with a run scored?! Pinch me! That still doesn’t make up for his inability to move behind the plate.
Yunel Escobar is 3-for-23 after hitting over .300 to start June.
James Loney snapped his 0-for-20 stretch Wednesday night after going 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored.