Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rays Drop Second Straight, 4-3

In an ideal world, a team composed of major league hitters would support their starting pitcher, especially when victories are at a premium. Those hitters would be able to give him a healthy cushion, and because of it a pair of solo shots wouldn’t feel like an insurmountable void to overcome. That is, in an ideal world pitching and hitting would be in synch with one another. That wasn’t the case Wednesday night when the Rays dropped their second straight game, and the series, to the Baltimore Orioles by a score of 4-3.

Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rays Fall to the O’s, 5-3

Once again the Rays overworked bullpen was forced to eat innings after Chris Archer failed to pitch past the fifth inning (for the third straight start) in his start Tuesday night. The typically dependable Joel Peralta faltered as the Orioles scored twice in the eighth inning following a 19-minute power delay, beating the Rays 5-3 in the first game of a three-game set.

Rays 5/6/14 Starting Lineup, Suspensions, Roster Moves, Etc

Rays 5/6/14 Starting Lineup Zobrist 2B Jennings CF Longoria 3B Loney 1B Myers RF DeJesus DH Escobar SS Hanigan C Archer P Noteworthiness Another day, another suspension. Durham RHP Steve Geltz became the latest Rays minor-leaguer suspended for drug issues, given a 50-day ban after a second positive test for a drug of abuse. Geltz …

The New What Next: Enter the O’s — A Series Preview of Sorts

The Tampa Bay Rays will resume play against the Baltimore Orioles Tuesday after returning home from a successful 10-game road trip. The trip didn’t start well, but my how things changed. The Rays left Chicago (en route to Boston) winning only one game out of four, yet they return to the friendly confines of the Trop having taken two-of-three from both the Red Sox and Yankees. So the Rays are miraculously fixed, right? Not by a long shot, BUT things are looking up.

Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Bedard, Myers, and the Rays Beat the Yankees, 5-1

The Tampa Bay Rays took the getaway game from the Yankees by a score of 5-1. They finished their road trip at .500 over the 10 games, after starting the trip with a 1-4 record. The winning pitcher was Erik Bedard, who gave the team an excellent 6 IP/6 H/1 ER/1 BB/3 K/85 pitch (58 strikes) outing. The Rays have a well deserved off-day Monday, before resuming the schedule Tuesday against the Orioles at the Trop.