Source: FanGraphs The Rays dropped the final game of their home stand in a 6-5 loss to the Indians, following another fruitless (stop me if you’ve heard this one before) late inning rally. Of the Rays five losses this week, all of them found the Tampa Bay bringing the tying (and/or winning) run to the …
Continue reading “Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rays Fall to the Tribe, 6-5”
The Tampa Bay Rays took the second game of their series with the Cleveland Indians Saturday night in convincing fashion, pounding Francona’s boys by a score of 7-1. Erik Bedard put together his second consecutive quality start, an excellent 6 IP/1 H outing — giving Tampa Bay the opportunity to win the series Sunday, in the series finale. Of honesty and hangovers… My attention was divided between watching the game and playing a show in Melbourne. Our staff contributor, Michael Nazarro, wasn’t able to watch any of the game either. What follows is a very rudimentary game recap.
Jake Odorizzi is an enigma. He clearly has some good stuff and the ability to fool batters. Maybe he loves his pitches so much, he wants to throw a lot of them as quickly as possible. Why drag 101 pitches out over seven or eight innings when you could do it in five? Maybe I’m being hard on him. He did strikeout 11 and only walked two, but he threw a lot of pitches. If you’re Odorizzi, you’ve got to be thinking, “Man, I pitched so well, I wish I could have gone deeper into the game.” Especially after Boxberger came in to start the sixth and promptly gave up home run to Asdrubal Cabarera and back to back singles, which we followed by a sac bunt, putting your possible second win on the line — McGee came in and cleaned up the mess, which Joel Peralta later forfeited.
The Tampa Bay Rays resumes their six game home stand Friday, with a three-game weekend series against the Cleveland Indians. Oh…the similarities between the Rays and the Indians. Both teams are under .500, toward (or at) the bottom of their respective divisions. Yet the Indians are on a hot streak, having gone 5-5 in their last 10 games, while the Rays have whimpered — posting a 4-6 record in the same span, and fresh off a sigh-inducing three-game sweep at the hands of the Orioles. Cleveland just completed a 5-2 home stand, capped off by a sweep of Minnesota.
Let me preface this saying, I never understood the hype behind Ubaldo Jimenez. Since his 19-8, 2.88 ERA 2010 season, his ERA has hovered around five for all but one season. But he sure made the Rays look foolish tonight, throwing 5-1/3 innings, surrendering only one run and walking only 2, before being chased from the game by a Wil Myers single and David DeJesus single that pushed Myers to third. However, as been the case with the Rays for the most part this season, the big hit was elusive and the inning ended quickly after Jimenez was removed.
