Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Ouch Balfour, Ouch!

Less is more today. An 8-5, late inning loss surely wasn’t the most operable way to start an important three-game series against an AL East foe.

Rays 7/11/14 Starting Lineup, Etc

Rays 7/11/14 Starting Lineup Noteworthiness Don’t forget to check out our Rays/Jays series preview. Your tweet of the day: Hearing Dan Johnson will be at the Trop tonight, playing against #Rays after being called up by #BlueJays — Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) July 11, 2014

The New What Next: Enter the Blue Jays — A Series Preview of Sorts

When you look at the big picture the Rays are in a good place… That is, relative to their position; 10 games under .500 and nine and a half games out of first place in the AL East. The Yankees start the day (July 11) just one game over .500, and in dire straits after their All-Star ace Mashiro Tanaka was placed on the day DL with a torn UCL.

Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rays Drop Last Game of the Series, 5-4

Well, that certainly wasn’t the most operative way to end the series against Kansas City. The Royals took the finale by a score of 5-4, in what should be described as a total team loss.

Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rays Rally to 4-3 Win

Think back to last weekend, when Tampa Bay was crushed by Max Scherzer and the Detroit Tigers. There was a tacit line of thought that the Rays would need to prove they could bounce back from the loss, if they were going to make a realistic push going forward. They inevitably took three consecutive games, and the series, from the Tigers. And similar to last week, the Rays were able to bounce back from a tough loss, taking the second game of the series from the Royals by a score of 4-3. It was a gritty victory against a very tough Jason Vargas, but Tampa Bay, led Brandon Guyer and Brad Boxberger, proved its mettle Tuesday night.