Rays vs. A’s 7/31/12 (starting lineup included)

Tampa Bay looks to bounce back from a disappointing 4-3 marathon loss to the A’s last night and, well…this morning. The Rays weren’t without scoring opportunities last night. Yet, they again squandered those opportunities in sloppy fashion, ultimately giving up the final run on a bases loaded Jemile Weeks sac fly in the 15th inning. Let’s go over the good, bad, and ugly of the game a bit, shall we?

The good:

Matt Joyce finally had a post DL dinger. Joyce ended the night 1-4 with an RBI, a run, and a walk.

Price continued to dominate, posting a 7 IP/4 H/3 ER/2 BB/11 K line on 121 pitches (83 for strikes). Cough, it’s not his fault the big O couldn’t produce, cough.

Holy crap, ‘Los actually reached base twice, on a two RBI double and a single. He also flashed the leather again a few times. Pena and Joyce both drove in two-out runs.

All things considered, the pen (I’m not looking at you Farnsworth) held it down, working out of multiple RISP jams, keeping the Rays in it…that is until Farnsworth gave up the losing run.

The Rays set a franchise record for the most strikeouts in a single game at 21.

The Bad:

The Rays left nine on the bags, going 1-9 wRISP.

Really? You’re going to bring in Conrad to pinch hit in a high leverage situation? I couldn’t care less that he’s got the second or third most pinch hit homers at seven, he couldn’t hit his way out of a paper bag. Not only did he fail at the task before him, but he did so after being called out on a perfectly placed 90 MPH fastball over the heart of the plate. It bears mentioning that he chased two other pitches that were well out of the zone.

The Ugly:

Seven, count ’em, seven Rays went O’fer last night: Elliot Johnson (0-1, BB), Brooks Conrad (0-1), Sean Rodriguez (0-2, BB), Sam Fuld (0-3), Desmond Jennings (0-5, reached on an error), Ryan Roberts (0-5, BB), and BJ Upton (0-7) who incidentally set a franchise record for his lack of ball hitting.

Base running. ‘Los, buddy, you had a chance to be in scoring position with no outs, yet you chose to test Reddick’s arm on a Molina single by trying for third? Really? Real wise choice bud. To think, you literally could have been the go ahead run. Your running fail was almost as humorous as Molina trying to swipe a bag with SeanRod at bat.

Ugh.

The Rays will face Tommy Milone. They’re hitting a combined .368 BAA with a homer, four walks, and a strikeout against. You may recall that in their last meeting, the Rays put up five runs against Milone. There is hope.

The keys to tonight’s game are two-fold:

A) Who starts tonight, Juego G or All Fields Shields? Sure, he had 10+ K’s in his last start. Shields also walked five, which directly contributed to the Rays loss in Baltimore in his last start.

B) The Rays Offense are going to need to break out of the three-run offensive doldrum they’ve been in the last three games straight.

Rays 7/31/12 Starting Lineup

Jennings LF
Upton CF
Zobrist 2B
Keppinger 3B
Pena 1B
S-Rod SS
Joyce DH
Lobaton C
Fuld RF
Shields RHP

Noteworthiness: Shields and Upton are still Rays, therefore they didn’t get traded. Speaking of the trade deadline, it’s now passed. They can still make a move, but they have to wait for any players they’re interested in to clear waivers first. Friedman an Co. have traditionally busier after the deadline. They most recently traded Kazmir after the deadline in 2009.

Oh yeah, Brooks Conrad has been optioned to Triple-A Durham! Boom! A corresponding move to fill his spot on the roster hasn’t been announced yet, however he cannot be recalled for 10 days unless the Rays incur an injury. We should be seeing another reliever, or a position player, added to the roster prior to game time. Stay posted.