The Tampa Bay Rays walked out of George M. Steinbrenner Field with a 3-3 tie Sunday afternoon — their second of the Grapefruit League season. Let it be said and known; Sunday’s game was the only game where it was appropriate to say it took place in Tampa. Please make note of that ESPN, Fox or any other national sports outlet. I digress.
Chris Archer was strong in his second outing of the spring, posting a 3.1 IP/2 Hits/0 R/0 BB/2 K/4 GO/3 FO/49 pitches (31 strikes) line, inducing mostly soft contact after striking out the first two batters of the game. The Rays trusty RHP recorded three fly outs and four ground outs, including an excellent play on a third inning comebacker (seen below).
Though they had scoring opportunities a plenty — going 2-for-10 wRISP, and stranding three men in scoring position with two outs — the Rays didn’t score a run until the seventh when James Loney opened the inning with a ground-rule double to left. Loney was pinch-run for by Kevin Kiermaier, who came around to score when Yankees hurler Bruce Billings wildly threw to first base on a Sean Rodriguez sac-bunt. Ryan Hanigan then added an RBI single to drive in Rodriguez. Tampa Bay scored their other run on a Mikie Mahtook RBI single in the eighth.
I won’t indulge you on all the gory details of Sunday’s contest — after all, I already did as much via our Tumblr page. Click the screenshot below for a blow-by-blow account of the game.
The New What Next
Jake Odorizzi will start Monday afternoon when the Rays travel to Fort Myers to play the Red Sox. Also scheduled to see action are left-handers Erik Bedard. Both Odorizzi and Bedard are competing for the number five spot in the rotation. RHP Heath Bell is also slated to make his third appearance of the spring. Cesar Ramos was slated to pitch in Ft. Myers as well, however he will throw at the Rays Spring Training complex in Port Charlotte instead.
Rays 3/10/14 Starting Lineup
Forsythe 1B
Escobar SS
Longoria 3B
Myers RF
Rodriguez CF
Nix 2B
Betemit DH
Hanigan C
Guyer LF
Odorizzi RHP
Noteworthiness
As Roger Sherman of SB Nation asserts, “Pitching coaches have an intricate, complex job: they have to know the ins and outs of the mechanics of each of their pitchers, what works, what doesn’t, what should happen against which hitters, stuff like that. It’s more than they can keep in their head. Which is why you see them with little books and clipboards and stuff.” Because of it, Rays pitching coach Jim hickey has a handy method to let you know which clipboard is his. You’ll have to see what that method is below:
Ben Zobrist still has a stiff neck, and will likely be out for a few more days. According to Zo’s saw doctor, his neck issue does not seem to be serious. In other injury news, Joel Peralta told Marc Topkin that his stiff neck feels better, but he is not sure when he’ll be pitching again — could be Tuesday or a few more days.
A quick heads up: I ordered 24 more Raymones shirts, and they should be in by next week. If you didn’t order one the first time around, your chance to do so is right around the corner! Star Booty will also be carrying them.
We currently have five shirts left in stock, in sizes small and medium. Check our merch store for ordering information.