Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rays, Matt Moore Clobbered 10-1

The walk of shame...
The walk of shame…

I’m still a bit punch drunk after the Tigers 10-1 shellacking of the Rays Tuesday night. I had the full intention of putting together a complete summary of the game, however I’d reckon it’d be just as easy for you to head to our Tumblr page where we live blogged the debacle in its entirety.

The short and narrow: Matt Moore and the Rays were clobbered, Anibal Sanchez was outstanding, and Alex Torres put together another great outing.

Posting a 2 IP/7 H/6 R/6 ER/6 BB/1 K line, Matt Moore wasn’t able to make it through the third inning cleanly. Simply put, Moore couldn’t put batters away — be it with two strikes or two outs. On multiple occasions Moore got ahead of the batter with two strikes, only to relent a hit or a walk. What’s more, only 48 of his 86 pitches went for strikes, and he matched a season-high by walking six batters. Did I mention that he couldn’t get out of the third inning cleanly?

Anibal Sanchez was the yin to Moore’s yang, only giving up one run on four hits over the course of seven innings. Sanchez impressively posted a 64% K%, mowing over nine Rays. He was also able to induce ground-ball after ground-ball, effectively taking the piss out of any and all Rays threats — that is, with the exception of the second inning. Evan Longoria lead off the second and hit a triple to right-center gap. He was driven home on a Desmond Jennings sac-fly, giving Tampa Bay its lone run.

Where Kyle Farnsworth and Jamey Wright put together a poor outings, Cesar Ramos and (most notably) Alex Torres looked sharp. Torres came on in relief of Moore in the third with the bases loaded and no outs, and was tasked with facing the meat of the order. Torii Hunter was first, and Torres induced a 1-0 ground ball to third. Longo quickly threw the ball home, forcing Pena at the plate. Mr. Miguel “.517 wRISP” Cabrera was up next. After getting behind in the count 3-0, Torres challenged Miggy with a fastball and a pair of nasty change-ups, striking Cabrera out swinging. As a sign of respect, Miggy acknowledged his fellow Venezuelan for the great job he’d done against him.

But the heavy lifting was not done, next up with the bases loaded: Prince Fielder. Torres also fell behind 2-1, though he was able to get get the count back in his favor when Fielder fouled off the next pitch. With a 2-2 count, Torres threw a nasty inside change-up, striking out Prince swinging. Torres came back out in the fourth and induced a pair of groundouts to short, while also striking out Matt Tuiasosopo on — you guessed it — a filthy change-up. Torres threw six change-ups Tuesday night, all going for strikes (three swinging strikes). I’d reckon his change-up a pretty good put away pitch. In ten total innings of work, Torres has given up only one hit while striking out 12.

The New What Next

A pair of ground ballers will take the mound for the Rays and Tigers tonight when Alex Cobb and Doug Fister butt heads. Hopefully Longo and Co. can force a few mistakes out of a very good Fister. You can read more about tonight’s match-up here.

Rays 6/5/13 Starting Lineup

1. Matt Joyce RF
2. Ben Zobrist 2B
3. Kelly Johnson LF
4. Evan Longoria 3B
5. James Loney 1B
6. Desmond Jennings CF
7. Luke Scott DH
8. Jose Lobaton CF
9. Yunel Escobar SS
SP Alex Cobb RHP

Noteworthiness

  • Wait…A-Roid could be suspended for 100 games, potentially harkening the end of his wonderful (harhar) career?! Tell me more!

T-Shirts O-Rama!

raymones

Just a quick update: We’ll open the pre-order for these shirts in a few days. Our intention isn’t to pull a profit — we are more or less looking to break even. Any profits will go toward the printing of more these shirts, or ones featuring a different design. We have to see how well these do first. It should be noted that they will be professionally printed on high quality Gildan T-shirts. That said, the shirts will be six dollars each (seven dollars postage paid),though there will undoubtedly be a small PayPal surcharge as well.

The New What Next: Goodbye Cleveland, Hello Motor City

Gulp.
Gulp.

The Tampa Bay Rays take their talents to Detroit for a three game set starting Tuesday. Though Tampa Bay and Detroit have — essentially — the same W/L record, one thing bears mentioning: With a combined overall .279 BA/.346 OBP/.431 SLG/.778 slash line, the Tigers are a team that many would consider to be an offensive juggernaut. Their pitching staff isn’t too shabby either. That, however, isn’t to sell the Rays short.

Granted the Tigers are outscoring the Rays — when comparing Detroit at home and Tampa Bay on the road — by 157 runs, we’re all familiar by now with the Rays prolonged (and unexpected by most) offensive explosion of the last month plus. To that end, Tampa Bay is pretty evenly keeled with Detroit over the past 14 days. It should be noted that the Rays pitching has turned the corner by all accounts. I’d imagine the true test will be how Roberto Hernandez fares against Miggy and Prince Fielder Thursday.

Tampa Bay is 7-3 over a 10 game spread and again surging (editors side commentary, innit nice to say and hear such things?) while the Tigers have stagnated a bit, going 4-6 in the same span and losing five out of their last six. Whatever the case, this series promises to be an exciting one. Here’s to hope that Tampa Bay comes out on the winning side.

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

Anibal Sanchez: Per Rotowire, “Sanchez dropped to 5-5 on the year Wednesday, giving up five earned runs on seven hits over 6.2 innings against Pittsburgh.” Sanchez is 4-1 with a 1.70 ERA in five home starts, while going 1-1 with a 4.78 ERA in four career starts against Tampa Bay. The Rays hitters haven’t fared well against Sanchez, posting a paltry .207 BA/.288 OBP/.405 SLG/.693 OPS. There are a handful of Rays who have looked good against Anibal though, and it’d be splendid if they can tag him the way Pirates did on the 29th. Key match-ups: Yunel Escobar (6-24, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, 5 BB), Matt Joyce (3-9, 2 3B, HR, 3 RBI), James Loney (3-7, 3B), Jose Molina (2-2).

Doug Fister: Per Rotowire, “Fister struck out a season-high 12 batters over seven scoreless innings Thursday, but recorded a no-decision at Pittsburgh. He scattered four hits and walked just one.” Fister has gone 2-2 with a 2.88 ERA against the Rays over the past three years. Don’t let his numbers fool you though, Tampa Bay has been able to touch him up in a limited number of at-bats. The current Rays have a combined .288 BA/.344 OBP/.407 SLG/.751 OPS slash line against Fister. Still, Fister is a tough customer. Key match-ups: Yunel Escobar (2-7, RBI, BB), Sam Fuld (3-5, 2B, BB), Desmond Jennings (1-3), Kelly Johnson (1-3), Luke Scott (3-8, 2 2B, RBI, BB), Ben Zobrist (5-14, 2B, 3 RBI).

Max Scherzer: Per Rotowire, “Scherzer was denied his eighth win of the season as the Tigers bullpen allowed Baltimore to come from behind for a 7-5 win Friday night.” Tampa Bay has had some success against Scherzer in recent years, however with a 3.04 ERA against the Rays since 2010, the runs against have not come easy. At 7-0 this season (you can see his stats above), the 28 year-old RHP has been particularly good. He’s given up four or more runs only four times this season, while averaging close to seven innings per start. Tampa Bay has posted a cumulative .240 BA/.310 OBP/.423 SLG/.733 slash line against in 104 total at-bats. Still, a handful of Rays have batted Scherzer around. It’ll be interesting to see how they fare Thursday. Key match-ups: Yunel Escobar (11-26, 3 2B, HR, 3 RBI, 2 BB), Kelly Johnson (4-13, 2 2B), James Loney (4-14, 2B, HR, 4 RBI, BB), Evan Longoria (2-8, HR, RBI, BB).

Noteworthiness

  • Though Detroit averages 5.2 runs to lead the majors, Tampa Bay is not far behind at 5.0. The Rays have been even hotter with a major league-best 6.1 runs per game since May 17 while winning 11 of 16.
  • Even though James Loney and Evan Longoria are both batting lower than .255 in this stretch, Matt Joyce is hitting .340 and Kelly Johnson .321 with that duo combining for 28 RBIs over the last 16 games.
  • Detroit, on the other hand, is searching for offense after losing five of six. Outside of Saturday’s 10-3 victory in Baltimore, the Tigers have scored 10 runs in that span. Furthermore, Detroit leads the overall series 57-53, while going 29-25 at home.
  • Detroit is 10-3 against Tampa Bay over the last two seasons. Miguel Cabrera is hitting .364 with 11 walks in the same span of time. Gee, I wonder why he has so many walks?
  • Miguel Cabrera is first in the AL in average (.367) and RBIs (65) and second in homers (17). I’d reckon his .442 OBP isn’t too bad either.
  • Per Joe Smith of the Times, “DH Luke Scott has been a Tiger-killer, hitting .308 with 10 homers and 25 RBIs in 24 career games.”
  • After a non-decision and a rain delay, Matt Moore will once again get the opportunity to reach the 9-0 plateau. Third time’s a charm, right?!

Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rays Thump the Indians, Take Series

0431220743_10875813_8colThe Tampa Bay Rays were able to bounce back from a disappointing 5-0 loss Saturday, demolishing the Cleveland Indians by a score of 11-3 Sunday. Tampa Bay has now won its second consecutive series — on the road no less — while improving to 4-1 on the current road trip.

The offense and the bullpen royally handed it to the Tribe, tagging Cleveland for 11 runs on 10 hits (including a double, triple, and a pair of homers) and five walks, while stifling a productive team who could only muster two base runners from the fifth inning on. This isn’t to say things went perfectly, case in point Hellickson’s outing. However, the offense was once again able to put on a show, as was the ever improving bullpen. Bulleted highlights and low-lights are below.

The Good

  • Let’s start with the obvious, the offense. The Rays were able to score in all but three innings, consistently applying the pressure to the Indians pitching staff. They were also able to do something that no other team has; tag Jason McAllister for four or more runs. Hell, they’ve been able to do it in consecutive outings! With five of the 11 runs coming while he was at the helm, the Rays were able to knock McAllister out of the game with one out in the fifth inning. Not content with just five runs, Tampa Bay tacked on six more runs in the sixth and eighth innings, crushing any and all hopes of an Indians rally…not that a rally would have been possible against the pen on this fine day.
  • The usual suspects — Matt Joyce, Kelly Johnson, Evan Longoria, James Loney, and Yunel Escobar — were incredibly productive. The five aforementioned players accounted for nine of the Rays 11 hits, including three of the Rays four extra base hits. The productivity didn’t end with a myriad of hits though, they also crossed the plate seven times and plated eight runs.
  • It would be unconscionable to overlook Sam Fuld and Jose Lobaton’s contributions. Fuld started the fourth inning with a bang, lining a triple up the right-field line. The play wasn’t without controversy though; the ball ricocheted off the wall and subsequently off the swarthy ball boy before it was fielded and fired back into play. Jose Lobaton (2-4, RBI, R) plated Fuld in the very next at bat. They would combine to go 4-9 with two runs and an RBI.
  • Don’t look now, the Rays bullpen are performing the way we thought they would, as evidenced by another solid outing. Kyle Farnsworth, Joel Peralta, Jake McGee, and Fernando Rodney came on in relief of Jeremy Hellickson, and put together a combined 4 IP/2 H/0 R/0 BB/2 K line. That’s right, I used Farnsworth’s nom de plume in a complimentary manner. In fact, with the exception of Santana’s single, Farnsworth looked damn good. Farnsy would go on to induce a fly-out, a fielders choice, and a swinging strikeout to retire the three batters who followed Santana in the lineup. And just when you petulant little whiners wanted to send Fernando Rodney packing, he put together a six pitch outing, peacefully putting the final three batters out of their misery. Look I get it it, Rodney still hasn’t fully regained my trust either. However before you find a new closer on your fantasy roster, there’s a little saying that the Rays abide by: Respect the process. They are being mindful of the process, and guess what? Rodney seems to be coming around. Rodney’s now strung together 5-1/3 consecutive innings of no hit baseball, while walking only one batter along the way. Will he be the Rodney of 2012? That’s highly improbable. Besides, it’d be foolish to assume that he could be that at this point. However that doesn’t negate his effectiveness from this point forward.

The Bad

  • One word: Hellickson. Helly looked good in the front three innings, but lost it after throwing 55-60 pitches. Ultimately posting a 5 IP/9 H/3 R/3 ER/0 BB/4 K line, Hell-boy was pulled in favor of Kyle Farnsworth between the fifth and sixth innings. His location wasn’t the problem, a 70% K/BB speaks to that. However Hellickson left very hittable pitches in the zone and got beaten up, especially in the fourth inning. Truth told, pulling Hellickson in between innings seemed odd — he had a fairly clean fifth inning, and he’d only thrown 82 pitches (57 for strikes) up to that point. I’d imagine though that Maddon or Hickey must have seen something in his delivery, something that would spell the end for Helly early on.
  • Suffice to say, home plate umpire Bill Welke’s strike zone was insanely liberal Sunday. He ejected Terry Francona from the game, after the Indians skipper argued balls and strikes from the dugout.

The New What Next

After an off-day Monday, the 31-25 Tampa Bay Rays will make their way to Comerica Park to take on the Tigers in a three game set. We’ll have the series preview ready at some point prior.