Tag Archives: Boston Red Sox

The New What Next: Enter the Prima Donna and the Red Sox — A Series Preview of Sorts

If you subscribe to the idea that the Tampa Bay Rays still have a shot of a postseason berth — albeit it an incredible small shot — then it is safe to assume that the upcoming 10 game home stand is incredibly important. To put it bluntly, if they don’t walk away with three series wins against their AL East foes, they’re toast.

Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rays Win Eighth Straight, 6-4

Going into last night’s contest, I thought if the Rays were going to drop any game in the series, it would be the one with Jon Lester on the mound. After all — prior to the first pitch — Lester put up insanely good numbers, to the tune of 0.23 ERA over the last 30-days. He also hadn’t lost a game to Tampa Bay in his last three starts. “As long as the Rays could walk away with the series,” I thought to myself, “they will still be in good shape.” Much to my surprise — and Boston’s chagrin — Tampa Bay was able to tag Lester, Miller, and Tazawa for six runs en route to a big 6-4 win. The Rays start the day 7.5 games out of first in the East, 3.5 games behind the third place Blue Jays, and 4.5 out in the Wildcard race (just 1.0 behind the Indians). Per Fangraphs, they were also able to increase their playoff odds to 13.4%, decreasing Boston’s odds to 3.4% in the process. One game down, two more to go.

The New What Next: The Rays Are Set to Start a Three-Game Series with the Red Sox

The Tampa Bay Rays will welcome the Boston Red Sox into The Trop for a three-game series, Friday night. (Editor’s note: I’m not sure if welcome is the right word)

Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rays Fall 3-2 In Extra Innings

In the fifth, Yunel Escobar led things off with a hard hit double of the Monster. Jose Molina moved Escobar to third on a beautifully executed bunt up the right side. If I may, Molina looked like he was setting up camp as he slowly lumbered up the first base line — subsequently getting tagged out halfway between home and first. I’ve seen Molina run slow before, but Christ! J-Mo looked like he ran out of gas two steps out of the batters box.