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Art Deco · 12-06-2020, 09:56 AM

April 14: Placed OF Spencer Torkelson on the 60-day IL with a ruptured Achilles tendon, recalled 1B/DH Joe Barker from AAA Durham.

Barker's the choice - the editor sees him as a 289/378/575 hitter better than Berdin or Sharp, so we'll make him the DH against lefties and have him spell Yordan Alvarez.

Game 1: One step forward, two steps back. After winning their first series of the season, the 2028 Rays are back to their losing ways after Jack Leiter was flat-out horrible and the offense was unable to solve Detroit starter Jon Duplantier in an 8-4 loss. Leiter was 5.2 10 7 6 0 2 and gave up 3 homers as he didn't have anywhere near his best stuff tonight, and the Rays were in a 7-0 hole in the 6th. Yordan Alvarez hit a grand slam in the 7th, and they loaded the bases in the 9th to bring to go-ahead run to the plate, but Judson Fabian hit into a double play to end the game which kind of summed up the season to date. Right now they're 7th in the league in runs scored, middle of the pack, but the team ERA is 5.20, 13th out of 14. This was supposed to be the season where we married the great pitching staff with improved defense and we'd be tougher to score against but it clearly isn't happening.

Game 2: The Rays won, but it almost felt like a loss as they nearly blew an 8-3 lead and hung on to win 8-7 over Detroit. It seems like they're either up 3-0 in the 1st or down 3-0 in the 1st, and today it was the former as Bobby Witt Jr finally hit his first Rays homer, a 3-run shot off Kumar Rocker. Andy Aparicio started today and was shaky again (but obviously not as horrible as he was in Texas), giving 2 back on an Austin Martin homer. But the Rays rocked Rocker for 4 more in the 4th, starting with Jhon Diaz's 2nd HR of the year and continuing with an RBI single from Gavin Lux, an RBI double from Nate Clark, and a run scoring on a Detroit error. Aparicio gave one back in the 4th to make it 7-3, but Julio Cedillo had an RBI double to make it 8-3. Aparicio then yielded a Riley Greene homer to make it 8-4 and his day was done at 5 8 4 4 2 3, a lousy outing but enough to get him his first MLB win. But the bullpen nearly blew it. After Jack Filby pitched 3 scoreless innings on only 27 pitches, Evan Godwin made a huge mess in the 9th, giving up a 2-run HR and putting another man on base before Jasseel De La Cruz came in. He then gave up a hit, Isaac DeLeon botched a ground ball for an error to load the bases and JDLC walked in a run to make it 8-7. He finally struck out Ke'Bryan Hayes to end the game and get save #3 but it was another 7 runs against. Diaz also had a single and he's now hitting .423 with 2 HR and 6 RBI in his 26 AB and he'll be seeing a lot of playing time with Tork out.

Game 3: It's always something this season. They finally get a well-pitched game from a starter but the offense could only scratch out four hits in a 2-0 loss. Shane McClanahan was effective, if not his sharpest, going 6 7 1 1 2 3 on 103 pitches after running quite a few deep counts, but he pitched more than well enough to win. Hayden Johns had a rare 1-2-3 inning, and then Evan Godwin walked a man and with 2 out in the 8th, Daniel Espino came on to face a righty but Gabriel Moreno doubled in the run. It really didn't matter as the offense could do nothing today. Jud Fabian had a double and a single, Nate Clark beat out a slow roller for an infield single and Ricky Widmar had a double and that was it. Joe Barker made his MLB debut and went 0-4. Someday this team will get going, but it might be too late. They're already 7 behind Toronto, who scored 9 times in the 9th to win 9-4. Still don't see the Blue Jays as a long-term threat but I also didn't see the Rays starting 6-10. Nor did I think I'd see the Jays and Pittsburgh 1-2 in the power rankings.

Team record: 6-10. Next up: Back home for 3 vs Cleveland.

12-06-2020, 09:56 AM	#458
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,596	April 14-16, 2028: at Detroit (3) April 14: Placed OF Spencer Torkelson on the 60-day IL with a ruptured Achilles tendon, recalled 1B/DH Joe Barker from AAA Durham. Barker's the choice - the editor sees him as a 289/378/575 hitter better than Berdin or Sharp, so we'll make him the DH against lefties and have him spell Yordan Alvarez. Game 1: One step forward, two steps back. After winning their first series of the season, the 2028 Rays are back to their losing ways after Jack Leiter was flat-out horrible and the offense was unable to solve Detroit starter Jon Duplantier in an 8-4 loss. Leiter was 5.2 10 7 6 0 2 and gave up 3 homers as he didn't have anywhere near his best stuff tonight, and the Rays were in a 7-0 hole in the 6th. Yordan Alvarez hit a grand slam in the 7th, and they loaded the bases in the 9th to bring to go-ahead run to the plate, but Judson Fabian hit into a double play to end the game which kind of summed up the season to date. Right now they're 7th in the league in runs scored, middle of the pack, but the team ERA is 5.20, 13th out of 14. This was supposed to be the season where we married the great pitching staff with improved defense and we'd be tougher to score against but it clearly isn't happening. Game 2: The Rays won, but it almost felt like a loss as they nearly blew an 8-3 lead and hung on to win 8-7 over Detroit. It seems like they're either up 3-0 in the 1st or down 3-0 in the 1st, and today it was the former as Bobby Witt Jr finally hit his first Rays homer, a 3-run shot off Kumar Rocker. Andy Aparicio started today and was shaky again (but obviously not as horrible as he was in Texas), giving 2 back on an Austin Martin homer. But the Rays rocked Rocker for 4 more in the 4th, starting with Jhon Diaz's 2nd HR of the year and continuing with an RBI single from Gavin Lux, an RBI double from Nate Clark, and a run scoring on a Detroit error. Aparicio gave one back in the 4th to make it 7-3, but Julio Cedillo had an RBI double to make it 8-3. Aparicio then yielded a Riley Greene homer to make it 8-4 and his day was done at 5 8 4 4 2 3, a lousy outing but enough to get him his first MLB win. But the bullpen nearly blew it. After Jack Filby pitched 3 scoreless innings on only 27 pitches, Evan Godwin made a huge mess in the 9th, giving up a 2-run HR and putting another man on base before Jasseel De La Cruz came in. He then gave up a hit, Isaac DeLeon botched a ground ball for an error to load the bases and JDLC walked in a run to make it 8-7. He finally struck out Ke'Bryan Hayes to end the game and get save #3 but it was another 7 runs against. Diaz also had a single and he's now hitting .423 with 2 HR and 6 RBI in his 26 AB and he'll be seeing a lot of playing time with Tork out. Game 3: It's always something this season. They finally get a well-pitched game from a starter but the offense could only scratch out four hits in a 2-0 loss. Shane McClanahan was effective, if not his sharpest, going 6 7 1 1 2 3 on 103 pitches after running quite a few deep counts, but he pitched more than well enough to win. Hayden Johns had a rare 1-2-3 inning, and then Evan Godwin walked a man and with 2 out in the 8th, Daniel Espino came on to face a righty but Gabriel Moreno doubled in the run. It really didn't matter as the offense could do nothing today. Jud Fabian had a double and a single, Nate Clark beat out a slow roller for an infield single and Ricky Widmar had a double and that was it. Joe Barker made his MLB debut and went 0-4. Someday this team will get going, but it might be too late. They're already 7 behind Toronto, who scored 9 times in the 9th to win 9-4. Still don't see the Blue Jays as a long-term threat but I also didn't see the Rays starting 6-10. Nor did I think I'd see the Jays and Pittsburgh 1-2 in the power rankings. Team record: 6-10. Next up: Back home for 3 vs Cleveland. Last edited by Art Deco; 12-06-2020 at 02:16 PM.