Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rays Fall 1-0, Injury News (Cobb, Brett, Smyly, Etc)

Chris Archer was great once again, although he took the 1-0 loss on the chin. Blame the offense for this one. The de facto ace allowed just one unearned run on seven hits and a walk in 5-2/3 innings of work. Archer’s best weapon was undoubtedly his wipe out slider, and he used it to great effect. 13 of his total 17 whiffs came courtesy of slider, and he racked up eight swinging strikeouts (nine overall) with it; making the Red Sox’s hitters look silly all the while.

Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rays Injury Notes, Etc

The Boston Red Sox will enter the Thunder Dome (pardon the pun) on Tuesday, following the off-day. Since it’s 420, and since you’ll probably spend the day watching Up in Smoke or Pineapple Express, perhaps you could spend a little of that leisure time on a few noteworthy, Rays-centric items.

Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rays Fall Hard 9-0, Balfour DFA’d

Most of you are well aware of the 9-0 lashing suffered by the Tampa Bay Rays Saturday night. Ouch! In the words of our web guy Adam, that game was no bueno. To put it bluntly, Jake Odorizzi was good though you’d never know it by merely taking a glance at the final score. Rather CJ Riefenhauser and Grant Balfour (with a little help from Steven Souza Jr.) teamed up to allow seven runs (six earned) in just one inning.

Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rays Top the Blue Jays, 3-2

Steven Souza Jr. was without a doubt the hero in Tuesday’s contest between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Toronto Blue Jays. Souza got the contest started with a long home run, and then sparked an eighth inning, go-ahead rally with a bunt. The Rays walked out of the Rogers Centre with a 3-2 win; their fourth consecutive W.

Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rays Fall Short of Baltimore, 6-5

The Tampa Bay Rays looked to bounce back Tuesday, after the less than auspicious start to the 2015 season. And while they appeared to battle both the Baltimore Orioles and a severe case of deja vu, after allowing six early runs to cross the plate, the team — led by Nathan Karns — refused to hang-up their hats and accept another disappointing loss. Ultimately falling short, Tampa Bay certainly made things interesting by coming within a run of the powerful Orioles.