The 2020 (and beyond) Tampa Bay Rays

[Art Deco]

Team stats:



Even after being held in check the last two games, the offense has reached a new level of ridiculous:



And this is after getting rid of two guys who combined for almost 95 HR last season (Clark and Rivas). The pitching has gotten much better since the last time we checked in on these team stats, but the defense sucks as always. Baez might help a little, he's a 70 at SS. Widmar's rated a 65, but he's never seemed like a 65. Also we continue to make too many outs on the bases, seemingly at least one a game.

The hitting stats:



Pitching stats:

[Art Deco]

Game 1: After a couple of losses in Kansas City which saw their offense stifled, normal service was resumed in Anaheim as the Rays took a 12-7 win over the Angels. Victor de Jesus continued his MVP bid with a pair of 2-run homers to give him 18 to go with a .382 BA, Dayle Jenkins had a 2-run double to break the game open, and Jon Jimenez drilled a 3-run shot (#6) in the 5th to really put it away at 8-1. Danny Ayala (#11) and Bo Angeac (#12) also went yard. Jon Soranno started and cruised through the first four innings allowing only one run but lost the plate in the 5th, walking two, hitting a man, and allowing 3 runs. He made it through the 6th to finish 6 5 4 4 4 2 and improve to 5-0, but it wasn't a great outing. Edgar Rios pitched a scoreless 7th but imploded in the 8th, allowing 3 more runs, so Danny Medina had to come in and got the last four outs of the game via strikeout.

Game 2: The Rays took one on the chin tonight losing 8-0 to the Angels, only the second time this season they've been shut out. In a weird quirk the Rays actually outhit the Angels 12-8 but all of the Rays' hits were singles while LA bashed 3 doubles and 3 homers. Nate Thompson just didn't have it tonight, going 3.2 6 6 6 2 4, unable to keep the Angels off the board in any inning he pitched and suffering his first loss of the season. Kevin Kerstetter took over and struck out his usual 6 in 3 1/3, but gave up a 2-run homer of his own, while Bob Sirna had a 1-2-3 2K inning mopping up. Jaiden Hardaway and Dayle Jenkins each had three hits but Hardaway being thrown out at 3rd on an attempted double steal in the 1st inning set the tone for this game. Danny Ayala, who had been hitting .536 with RISP, left 7 on base today as part of the team's 14 LOB.

Game 3: In one of the best and most tense games of the season Nate Schultz went toe-to-toe with former Rays ace Christian Little and they exchanged zeroes until Alex Buitrago drilled a 2-run homer (#2) off Little in the 6th and the Rays held on for a 2-0 win. With the exception of Buitrago, Little dominated his old team to the tune of 7 3 2 2 3 13 with Angel relievers adding 3 more whiffs for a total of 16. Victor de Jesus and Danny Ayala each earned the golden sombrero, whiffing all 4 times they were both up, and the team only managed 3 hits. Schultz continued to turn his season around, going 6.1 6 0 0 2 7 to improve to 4-3 and lower his ERA to 4.96. Tim Siqueiros got him out of a 1st-and-3rd, 1-out situation in the 7th with a whiff and a fly out, while Billy Hoyte got Siqueiros out of the 8th after Siqueiros had walked a batter. In the 9th Kikuo Kawase gave up a leadoff single to Mike Trout but got Francisco Lindor to ground into a double play before fanning Joey Gallo to end the game, taking care of over 120 years of combined age in that inning to pick up save #10.

Game 4: The Rays bashed 5 homers off Angels starter Mike Vasil in the first 2 innings but had to sort of hang on for a 9-6 win over the Angels to take 3 of 4 in the series. Jaiden Hardaway, Victor de Jesus and Danny Ayala all were in need of a rest today so the Rays went with a bit of makeshift lineup but it didn't slow them down. Dayle Jenkins led off with a double, Vlad Guerrero Jr hit #11 to make it 2-0, Bo Angeac went back-to-back with Vlad, and later in the inning Jon Jimenez (#7) and Nate Boesel (#2) also went back-to-back. And in the 2nd Angeac homered again (#14) with a man on. In between the Angels got 3 off Leo Ortega in the 1st including career HR #728 from Mike Trout, a 2-run shot. Jeff Baez had a pair of doubles, scoring after the first one in the 4th and driving in a run in the 6th. Ortega settled in after his rough first inning but ran out of gas again in the 6th and finished 5.1 7 5 4 0 3, good enough to up his record to 7-1 but his ERA rose to 4.03. Mike Wherry went 2 1/3 in one of his longest outings as a Ray, touched for a run, while Tim Siqueiros got the final out of the 8th. Kikuo Kawase came on again and struck out a pair in a 1-2-3 9th for save #11 as he now sports a 1/30 BB/K ratio in 13.2 innings.

Team record: 34-11. Next up: An off-day to fly back to Tampa where we'll start a homestand the next day against Boston.

It was a big day for former Rays:



Dominguez followed this game up with a 2-HR, 6-RBI game on Monday while we were off to give him an amazing 4 HR and 14 RBI over 2 games.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: Andy Aparicio gave up seven runs on three homers in the first two innings to put Boston up 7-0, but I was still serenely confident that he would settle down and the Rays would come back, and they did taking a 13-9 win which saw Aparicio get credit for the victory. It's probably because I've seen this movie before and the game was at Publix Park (plus Boston had some really mediocre pitching). Bo Angeac started the comeback with a 2-run homer (#15) in the bottom of the 2nd, and Victor de Jesus had a 3-run jack (#19) in the 4th to make it 7-6. Even though former Ray Jud Fabian hit his 2nd homer of the game off AA in the 6th to make it 8-6, that didn't faze anyone as the Rays exploded for 7 in the bottom of the inning to take the game away. Angeac (who ended up with 4 RBI) and Jon Jimenez walked with the bases loaded to tie the game and give Tampa Bay the lead, Jeff Baez singled in a run in his home debut, and Jaiden Hardaway added a 2-run double. Aparicio finished the game 6 7 8 8 1 10 with everyone reaching against him scoring, and a bunch of them striking out. He's now 4-4 but with an ugly 4.81 ERA. Bob Sirna whiffed 5 in 2 scoreless innings in relief but walked the first two in the 9th, one of whom Mike Wherry allowed to score in closing out the game.

Game 2: The Rays picked up where they left off yesterday, scoring 8 times in the 1st inning on their way to a 15-1 rout of Boston. Not going to bother trying to recap the offense, so here's that section of the box score:



On the mound, Jon Soranno was in cruise control 1-hitting the Sox through 7 innings before he put a couple of men on, one of which Danny Medina allowed to score. He finished 7 2 1 1 1 7 to go to 6-0 while Medina was credited with 2 scoreless innings.

Game 3: The Rays managed to complete the sweep with an 8-6 win over Boston, but it was an ugly game for the most part. They took an early 3-0 lead in the 2nd in part on Jeff Baez's first MLB HR, a 2-run shot. Nate Thompson took a 3-1 lead into the 5th but somehow a pitcher with 60/65 movement managed to give up back-to-back-to-back homers to put the Red Sox ahead and finish an ugly 5 5 4 4 4 2. No problem, a Victor de Jesus sac fly and a Vlad Guerrero Jr single makes it 5-4 Rays. But Mike Wherry loads the bases with nobody out, wild pitches in a run and allows another to score and it's 6-5 Boston. Edgar Rios and Kevin Kerstetter each pitch a scoreless inning to bring some semblance of order and that enables Jaiden Hardaway to hit a 3-run HR (#11) in the bottom of the 8th to make it 8-6. Kerstetter stays in to face the leadoff lefty and gets him, then Kikuo Kawase comes in. He proceeds to load the bases without getting an out, but whiffs lefties Pierson Gibis and Rafael Devers to mercifully end the game and get his 12th save while Kerstetter notches win #2.

Team record: 37-11. Next up: Baltimore is in town for the weekend. Fun fact: the 4 other AL East teams are the worst 4 teams in the league, all playing .400 or below ball.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: It was a pretty routine 6-2 win over Baltimore, a game in which all the scoring came early. Nate Schultz started for the Rays and struggled in the 1st, allowing 2 runs on 3 hits, gave the Orioles the odd hit here and there but nothing else the rest of the way going 7 8 2 2 0 4 and improving to 5-3 with the ERA now down to 4.68 after a dreadful start to the season. Billy Hoyte and Edgar Rios each had a scoreless inning to close out the game. All the Tampa Bay runs came in the 3rd inning when Oriole starter Chris Pendergrast and his 30 control once again couldn't find the plate against the Rays, walking 6 including one with the sacks full to Victor de Jesus before Danny Ayala singled in the tying run and Vlad Guerrero Jr singled in two more to put them ahead. Another bases-loaded walk to Jon Jimenez forced in one more while Jeff Baez had a sac fly to cap the inning.

Game 2: Deja vu all over again at Publix Park as the Rays took another 6-2 win over Baltimore, their 7th straight. This time the runs came late as Danny Ayala's 8th-inning grand slam (#13) broke a 2-2 tie to give Tampa Bay the win. Earlier Nate Boesel's 3rd HR of the year, a 2-run shot in the 2nd, was offset by a TJ Friedl 2-run double off Leo Ortega in the 4th. The righty was outstanding aside from that, going 7 5 2 2 0 8. Tim Siqueiros had a 1-2-3 2K 8th and picked up his 5th win already, and Mike Wherry had a scoreless 9th to complete the proceedings. One bit of bad news, though: later in the 8th Boesel beat out an infield single but in the process strained his oblique, a "moderate" 2-week injury so he's IL-bound.

May 28: Placed OF Nate Boesel on the 10-day IL with a strained oblique, purchased the contract of OF Marco Abrego from AA Montgomery.

There are plenty of bats which were more qualified to be called up but I needed a right-handed hitting OF to take Boesel's place and all the good bats at Durham are lefties. So I dipped down to Montgomery where I could have called up Jeff Hayes and his 23 HR but I didn't want to start his service/arb clock. So the choice was Abrego, who was doing OK there and he's about a 50 across the board in the batting ratings but an excellent defensive OF who can play a 60 CF, a 65 RF and a 75 LF. He's only keeping the spot warm for Omar Rodriguez who should be back in a few weeks after his IL time is up and he plays a few rehab games. By the Abrego was acquired from St. Louis 5 years ago in the Victor de Jesus-for-Jeremy Bienick and Kevin Epperly deal (both are pitching for St. Louis these days).

Game 3: The Rays just had to go and score a run in the bottom of the 8th to ruin what would have been a perfectly symmetrical series against Baltimore, winning 7-2 instead of the 6-2 scoreline of the previous two games. Jaiden Hardaway had a monster game, hitting a solo homer in the 3rd, a 2-run shot 5th (giving him 13) and that bases-loaded walk in the 8th which threw off the balance. He's now taken the WAR lead from Victor de Jesus (who had today off), 3.6 to 3.4 and is hitting 387/481/653 as he bids for another MVP award. Alex Buitrago, who played in place of de Jesus, also smacked a 2-run homer (#3) to support Andy Aparicio, who was excellent today going 7 7 1 1 1 7 to improve to 5-4, 4.46. AA still couldn't shake his gopher ball propensity with the only run coming on a homer from old friend Mike Harms. Bob Sirna pitched the 8th and gave up a run (and put a man on in the 9th) before Danny Medina got the final 3 batters, 2 on strikes, to finish the game.

Team record: 40-11. Next up: We head on a west coast swing starting with 4 in Oakland.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: Jon Soranno couldn't handle an early lead and the Rays squandered some opportunities in a 6-4 loss to Oakland on Memorial Day to kick off the road trip. They took a 2-0 lead on Victor de Jesus' 20th HR of the year and a Jeff Baez RBI double but Soranno gave it back with 2 in the 3rd and then 2 more in the 4th. Danny Ayala's 14th HR with a man on in the 5th brought the Rays level again but Soranno continued his struggles in the bottom of the frame, allowing 2 more and finishing 4.1 8 6 6 2 3 to suffer his first loss of the year against 6 wins and see his ERA rise to 4.78. Edgar Rios struck his way out of a bases-loaded jam Soranno left him with one out, and then Kevin Kerstetter did his thing with 5 whiffs in 3 scoreless innings. But the Rays couldn't get over the hump and they were shut down in relief by a former member, Dean Christidis, for 2 2/3 innings. They also hit into 3 double plays to short-circuit some rallies.

Game 2: The Rays jumped on former farmhand Sean Miller for 7 runs in the 3rd inning and cruised to an 8-0 win behind an excellent outing from Nate Thompson. Bo Angeac's bases-clearing triple was the big blow of the inning, along with Danny Ayala's 2-run double. Jaiden Hardaway added HR #14 in the 4th for the final run while Victor de Jesus had 4 hits and an RBI as the Rays pounded out 17 hits. Thompson meanwhile kept the A's in check going 7 5 0 0 2 5 to pick up win #5 and lower his ERA to 4.11. Bob Sirna went the final 2 innings to close it out.

Game 3: It was a 2-0 pitchers' duel in favor of the Rays through 5 before they broke it wide open and came away with an 11-2 win. Nate Schultz continued his renaissance by winning his 5th straight start with a 7 4 1 0 1 7 outing to improve to 6-3, 4.18, impressive considering he started the season 1-3, 7.22 through May 2. Since then he's gone allowed only 4 earned runs in his last 33 innings. Mike Wherry gave up a solo homer in his inning of work and Danny Medina had a 1-2-3 9th. The offense came primarily via the homer with Jaiden Hardaway (#15) and Victor de Jesus (#21) staking them to that 2-0 lead, then in the 6th Danny Ayala hit HR #15 to lead it off. They went on to score 4 more in the inning with a 2-run Alex Buitrago double the key hit. Buitrago then went deep with a man on in the 7th (#4) to give him a 4-RBI day and Jon Jimenez added a 2-run shot (#8).



Game 4: A makeshift Rays lineup still put 8 runs on the board as they took their third straight 8-2 after dropping the series opener. Hardaway, Jenkins, Angeac, Ayala and Baez were all showing as tired so with only 4 on the bench Baez played while Marco Abrego, Melvin Gutierrez, Alex Buitrago all started, along with Luis Corpus at DH with Will Quintana behind the plate. One non-resting Rays star was Victor de Jesus, and he helped carry the team with a 2-run HR in the 1st (#22) and a 2-run double in a 4-run 6th which saw the Rays break a 2-2 deadlock on Jon Jimenez' 2-run single. Quintana added a 2-run single in the 8th for the final runs. Leo Ortega hung in there long enough to get his AL-best win #8, going 6 6 2 2 1 5. Tim Siqueiros, Billy Hoyte and Bob Sirna each had a scoreless inning.

Team record: 43-12. Next up: We head up the coast for a weekend in Seattle.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: The Rays overcame another schizophrenic start from Andy Aparicio and eventually broke through for 7 runs in the 10th inning to beat Seattle 13-6. As in his last start, Aparicio got a ton of strikeouts but gave up a ton of runs, allowing a pair of homers in a 5 7 6 6 0 10 outing as he continues to get torched when not striking out someone. He put the Rays in a 3-0 hole but they scored 5 times in the 4th to take the lead on a 3-run Bo Angeac homer (#16) and a Luis Corpus solo shot (#5). But Aparicio gave it right back and allowed Seattle to go ahead 6-5 in the 5th. Edgar Rios got into some trouble relieving him but Kevin Kerstetter got out of the inning against his former team and went 2 scoreless. This allowed Jon Jimenez to drill an RBI single in the 7th to tie it at 6, and after Tim Siqueiros got through the 8th, Kikuo Kawase got the Mariners in the 9th with a pair of whiffs. This set the stage for the big 10th, when Seattle intentionally walked Corpus to load the bases with nobody out for Melvin Gutierrez who got hit with a pitch to force in a run, then a single and two sac flies brought in 3 more and Vlad Guerrero Jr. capped the inning with a 3-run homer (#12). Bob Sirna pitched the 10th with Kawase picking up win #2.

Game 2: The Rays played a rare one-run game and prevailed in a come-from-behind 5-4 win in Seattle. This was only their 7th one-run game of season in Game #67 and it was a back-and-forth affair. Former Rays farmhand Devon Tuley, who was traded for Kevin Kerstetter and has done nothing but rake for Seattle (a rare win-win deal for both teams), launched a 2-run homer off Jon Soranno in the 3rd to give the M's the lead, but speaking of raking Will Quintana drilled a 2-run shot (#4) to tie it up. The backup catcher has gone 373/422/573 with 4 HR and 18 RBI in 75 AB this year and is earning more of a time share. And Marco Abrego went back-to-back with Quintana with his first MLB hit, a homer to left to make it 3-2 Rays. But Soranno surrendered single runs in the 4th and 6th to put Seattle back on top, and he finished 6 6 4 4 1 4. Danny Medina came in and pitched two perfect innings, long enough for the Rays to tie it up on a Bo Angeac RBI single. And in the 9th they rallied to load the bases and Jeff Baez brought home the game-winner with a sac fly (he's been hitting too, 355/417/516 in 17 games since taking over for the injured Ricky Widmar). Kikuo Kawase came into his second straight game after collecting dust for a while and had a 1-2-3 2K 9th for save #13. MVP candidate Victor de Jesus had to leave in the 7th with a mild abdominal strain. It's considered "moderate" for a week so we won't fool around and he'll go on the 10-day IL.

June 4: Placed 1B/OF Victor de Jesus on the 10-day IL with an abdominal strain, recalled OF Michael Valdez from AA Montgomery.

Valdez is a top 60 prospect and the main guy acquired from Washington when we sent Joe Barker and Marc Wagner there, but he hasn't been tearing it up at Montgomery (223/322/292). He's better than those numbers and got the nod because he's on the 40-man roster, chosen over Zach Mathias as Valdez is a 65/70 OF while Mathias, who's hit much better, is a 40/45 OF.

Game 3: After playing only 6 in their first 66 games, the Rays played a second consecutive 1-run game and lost this one 4-3 to the Mariners in 10 innings. The wily vet Jarred Kelenic, whom the AI was playing despite being so tired he was in the red, homered off Tim Siqueiros with one out in the bottom of the 10th to give the Mariners the walk-off win after the Rays tied it with 2 in the top of the 9th. Nate Thompson started and pitched very well except for two batters: a 2-run homer to Robbie Gaal, Gaal's first of the year as he's only rated 30 for power, after he put his first baserunner on with 2 out in the 3rd on a hit batter, and an RBI double to Bobby Ferguson in the 6th. Thompson went 7 4 3 3 0 3 and with the typical Rays offensive output he'd be in line for a win but the bats were held to 1 run on 4 hits (Alex Buitrago tripled and scored on Luis Corpus's sac fly in the 3rd) before they rallied in the 9th off Seattle closer Frankie Latham. Bo Angeac led off the inning with HR #17 and Buitrago singled in Danny Ayala with two out to tie it. After Edgar Rios had a 1-2-3 2K 8th, Billy Hoyte got through the 9th and the Rays had a good chance to go ahead in the 10th putting Jaiden Hardaway and Dayle Jenkins on to lead off the inning, but after one out Hardaway was thrown out at 3rd on the front end of an attempted double steal and the rally died, leading to the Kelenic game-winner off Siqueiros.

Team record: 45-13. Next up: An off-day as we head cross-country to play two games in our nation's capital against Washington.

[Art Deco]

Draft time again, and here's a quick look at our top picks:

Garrett: Out first round pick is a starter from the University of Texas who throws 98-100 with control, potential 65 stuff and 60 control, but only 40 movement so perhaps he's another Alec Sachais. Projected mid-rotation starter.

Bahr: Considered him in the first round so I was thrilled when he was still there in the 2nd, possibly because it was a rare case where my scout Rob Metzler had him ranked higher than OSA and had a "very high" accuracy on his rating. Bahr is a HS OF from New York and has potential for 50 contact, 75 power, and 60 eye so could be a beast at the plate.

Conzalez: A high-school OF from Pennsylvania, he's a 6'3" OF with potential for 50 contact, 65 power and 55 eye.

Anderson: A finesse (91-93 mph) righty from California whom OSA likes more (mid-rotation potential) than Metzler (back-rotation).

Hill: We love our cold-weather HS OFs, don't we? Hill is from NY and has 65 contact and 60 power potential.

Holston: A speedy HS CF who should be excellent defensively, but the bat is a question mark.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: The Rays fought back from a 5-1 deficit to take a 7-5 lead, but the bullpen blew it for them in an 8-7 loss. Nate Schultz started and pitched well outside of one really bad inning, the 3rd, when Washington scored four times including a revenge 3-run shot from Joe Barker, still bitter about being sat for the 2031 playoffs before we dealt him the following winter. But the Rays had a big 6-run 4th to take the lead which saw a 2-run single from Luis Corpus followed by a 2-run triple from Marco Abrego, continuing to get it done. Schultz settled in nicely and finished 6 6 5 5 0 6 but the trouble started once the game was turned over to the pen. Billy Hoyte and Tim Siqueiros combined to allow Washington to tie it in the 7th at 7, and Mike Wherry served up a solo homer to Brennan Milone to put the Nationals ahead. The Rays put two men on in the 9th but couldn't get them home as Jeff Baez's liner was snagged by the third baseman.

June 7: Claimed P Tyler Jefferson on waivers from Minnesota, optioned P Edgar Rios to AAA Durham.

Not really sure what I'm doing here. I've always liked Jefferson since his days in Toronto and like him in the future as a starter but right now he's going to pitch in relief. Rios didn't deserve the demotion but Jefferson can't be optioned to the minors without his consent and he refused. So for now Jefferson goes into the bullpen, where his ratings and numbers with the Twins were very good:



Game 2: The Rays avenged their loss last night by taking today's matinee 10-3 from the Nationals. They jumped all over Brody Westbrooks for 5 runs in the first 2 innings with a steady progression of base hits, as Danny Ayala, Bo Angeac and Jon Jimenez were among those with RBI singles. Later Ayala homered, his 16th, and Jeff Baez crushed a 3-run homer (#2) to give him a 4-RBI day. Leo Ortega sat back in his rocking chair with the run support and went 6 4 1 1 0 3 to improve to 9-1, 3.59 and go to 26-6 since joining the team last year. Right now he's the only Rays start with an ERA under 4. Tyler Jefferson made his Tampa Bay debut and went the final 3 innings, giving up 2 runs in the 7th but settling in and picking up the save. Our OFs continue to drop like flies, though: Dayle Jenkins left with a bruised knee and while it's considered "minimal" it's supposed to last 1-2 weeks. He'll stay off the IL and probably play a little less during this period. Michael Valdez came in for him and ripped an RBI double in his first MLB at-bat.

Team record: 46-14. Next up: We're finally back home for 4 vs Seattle.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: The Rays returned from a long cross-country road trip and played like they had jet lag, losing 4-1 to Seattle at Publix Park. Of course injury more than travel is a big reason why they only scored one run with the likes of Dayle Jenkins, Victor de Jesus and Ricky Widmar missing from the lineup. Andy Aparicio seemed to be running 3-2 counts on everyone and it caught up to him in the 5th when he gave up his obligatory homer, a 3-run shot which put Seattle ahead 3-1. He finished 5 5 3 3 2 5 on 101 pitches and drops to a very un-Cy like 5-5, 4.91. Even the normally reliable Kevin Kerstetter got nicked for a run in the 6th but pitched two scoreless after that and Danny Medina struck out the side in the 9th. But it didn't matter as all they managed was one run on seven hits, an RBI single from Luis Corpus in the 3rd which saw Jon Jimenez thrown out at the plate. They loaded the bases in the 7th with 2 out but Bo Angeac looked at a called strike on 3-2.

June 9: Sent SS Ricky Widmar to AAA Durham for a rehab assignment.

Jeff Baez has been great in Widmar's stead but will go back to play every day once Widmar's ready after a weekend of games in Durham.

Game 2: More of the same (lack of offense) as Willie Gutierrez and the Mariners shut out the Rays 3-0. Dayle Jenkins was back in the lineup but that didn't help as Gutierrez held the Rays to 4 hits over 8 innings and when they did get someone on base they hit into 3 double plays including one to end the game. An excellent outing from Jon Soranno was wasted as the lefty went 6 3 1 1 2 8 but he had no margin for error, and he lost that margin when he allowed a 6th-inning homer. Tim Siqueiros and Mike Wherry pitched scoreless innings but Billy Hoyte put two men on in the 9th with 1 out and with the game only 1-0 I brought in Kikuo Kawase hoping he'd get a couple of quick whiffs. Instead he gave up consecutive run-scoring singles and took 23 pitches to get out of the inning so I might have burned him for tomorrow if we need to protect a slim lead.

Game 3: The Rays offense re-emerged today in a 10-6 win over Seattle. Vlad Guerrero Jr. got things off to a quick start with a 3-run homer in the 1st inning, his 13th of the year, and after Seattle crept within 3-2 in the 5th Jeff Baez came through with a 2-run single as part of his 3-RBI day. Luis Corpus was 3-5 with a homer and 2 RBI and Jaiden Hardaway had a 4-hit day including an RBI. Nate Thompson pitched pretty well, going 6 5 3 3 2 6 to improve to 6-1, 4.11 while the bullpen was a mixed bag. Mike Wherry had a 1-2-3 7th but Bob Sirna gave up a 2-run homer and got only one out in the 8th before Tim Siqueiros had to finish off the inning. And Tyler Jefferson was unconvincing in the 9th, giving up a leadoff triple which scored and walking another.

Game 4: The Rays managed a split of the series after they scored early and let Nate Schultz and the bullpen handle it the rest of the way in a 6-1 win. Vlad Guerrero Jr had a sac fly in the 1st and then an RBI single in a 4-run second which also saw a 2-run single from Dayle Jenkins and an RBI single from Michael Valdez. Danny Ayala added a sac fly in the 4th and the Rays had an early 6-0 lead, more than enough for Schultz who was overpowering today. The righty went 7 2 1 1 3 10 with the only blemish a 7th inning solo homer from former Rays #1 draft pick Stan Collier and improved to 7-3, 4.18. Danny Medina made a mess in the 8th loading the bases, but Billy Hoyte (and Jeff Baez, who made a great play on a grounder up the middle) got him out of the inning and Hoyte stayed on to finish the 9th and pick up his 2nd save.

Team record: 48-16. Next up: The Blue Jays visit for 3 games.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: The Rays jumped all over the Jays today in an 11-1 win behind a great start from Leo Ortega. The righty went to 10-1, 3.42 after a 6.1 6 1 1 0 9 outing with Tyler Jefferson going the final 2 2/3, allowing only one hit. There was plenty of offense of course, with Danny Ayala kicking things off with a 2-run HR (#17) in the 1st and Toronto starter Chris Gorman lost the plate in the second, walking Dayle Jenkins and Bo Angeac with the bases loaded. Those two each drove in another run, and Luis Corpus also knocked home a pair while Ayala drove in a 3rd.

Game 2: Let's hear it for the bench! With several regulars showing as tired a bunch of guys found their way into the lineup who normally don't and they led a come-from-behind 8-4 win which overcame another iffy start from Andy Aparicio. AA allowed 4 runs in the first two innings and had another of his high-strikeout, high-hits, high-runs allowed games going 6 8 4 4 1 10 with of course a longball included. Hopefully his BABIP luck will turn around come playoff time. He ended up with a no-decision as the comeback came late with the Rays down 4-2. But the trio of Marco Abrego, Michael Valdez and Melvin Gutierrez combined to go 6-12 with 4 RBI as Abrego's single in the 7th tied it up and Gutierrez's 2-run single later in the inning put the Rays ahead 6-4. Jeff Baez then hit a 2-run homer (#3) in the 8th to salt it away as part of a 3-5 day, and earlier Vlad Jr hit #14 in the first to get the Rays on the board. Danny Medina struck out the side in the 7th to notch his 4th win, Tim Siqueiros whiffed a pair in the 8th and Kikuo Kawase fanned two more in the 9th even though his save situation was gone as Rays pitching totaled 17 Ks.

June 14: Activated OF Victor de Jesus from the 10-day IL and SS Ricky Widmar from his rehab assignment at AAA Durham; optioned SS Jeff Baez to AAA Durham and OF Marco Abrego to AA Montgomery.

The boys are back, and Michael Valdez gets to stay up as the backup OF over Abrego while Baez did everything we could ask and more while Widmar was out. He remains on track to be our starting SS next year when Widmar becomes a free agent.

Game 3: The Rays fielded a full-strength lineup today for the first time in a long while, but it didn't help as they fell 7-3 to Toronto. Jon Soranno started and pitched pretty well, except mainly for one bad sequence in the 4th when he loaded the bases and then gave up a bases-clearing double. He rolled after that but probably was pushed a little too far in the 8th even though his pitch count was reasonable as he gave up a solo homer to make it 4-2 Toronto, finishing 7.2 6 4 4 1 8. After the Rays got within a run in the 8th, the bullpen made a bit of a mess as Tyler Jefferson put a man on and then Jon Jimenez booted a ball at first. The extra out had the Jays go with a lefty pinch-hitter, and Mike Wherry came in. Toronto countered again with a righty hitter, Robin Chen, and he greeted Wherry with a 3-run homer. Offensively there wasn't a lot going on with Dayle Jenkins (3-4, RBI) the only hitter having a big game. They did load the bases in the bottom of the 9th to bring Vlad Jr. up as the tying run, but he hit a lazy fly ball to left to end the game.

Team record: 50-17. Next up: a 4-game series at Yankee Stadium.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: A rare low-scoring affair involving the Rays went Tampa Bay's way 2-1 at Yankee Stadium. The bats were profligate today, wasting numerous scoring opportunities with Ricky Widmar singled out for notice as he was 0-5 with 9 LOB. Nevertheless thanks to Nate Thompson and bullpen the two they did manage were enough. Bo Angeac's RBI single in the 1st and Vlad Guerrero Jr's RBI single in the 5th held up as Thompson had his strikeout pitch going and went 5 4 0 0 1 9 on 88 pitches and improved to 7-1, 3.84. With the pitch count a little high and tough Yankee lefties Mario Aguilar and Ivan Vega due, Kevin Kerstetter came out for the 6th. He was nicked for a run in the 7th before Billy Hoyte faced those two lefties in the 8th and had a 1-2-3 inning with a pair of whiffs. Kikuo Kawase came on and made things a little too interesting by allowing a leadoff single and then loading the bases with two out but he got out of it as usual with a strikeout for save #14. On offense they banged out 13 hits but only managed the two runs as Michael Valdez went 4-4 with a leadoff triple in the 7th which saw him stranded of course. Valdez was in for Dayle Jenkins, whose bruised knee needs more time than originally thought so he'll be used sparingly until it gets better.

Game 2: Almost a carbon copy of yesterday's game except Danny Ayala hit an 8th-inning homer so the Rays won 3-1 instead of 2-1. Nate Schultz was the story as he dominated the Yankees outside of an Ivan Vega solo homer in the 2nd to the tune of 7 3 1 1 0 8 and improved to 8-3, 3.95. Tim Siqueiros got four outs, and with the two big Yankee lefties due, Billy Hoyte received the call for the final two outs and got them for save #3. Vlad Guerrero's RBI single in the 1st and Victor de Jesus' sac fly in the 2nd put the Rays ahead against New York ace Eric Peterson, and then Ayala added the late homer (#18) off none other than Shane McClanahan, who's resurfaced as a reliever with the Yankees after being signed as a free agent a couple of weeks ago.

June 17: Sent OF Omar Rodriguez to AAA Durham for a rehab assignment.

Game 3: Leo Ortega was lit up like a Christmas tree and although Jaiden Hardaway tried to almost single-handedly bring them back, the Rays lost 8-6 at Yankee Stadium. After being staked to a quick 1-0 lead when Hardaway homered to lead off the game, Ortega retired the first four Yankees before giving up 3 in the second. The Rays made it 3-2 in the top of the 3rd but Ortega then couldn't retire anyone in the 3rd, giving up 5 hits with all 5 scoring to end with a hideous 2 10 8 8 0 2 line which ballooned his ERA to 4.22. Tyler Jefferson and Bob Sirna combined for 6 scoreless innings to keep the Yankees at bay the rest of the way, and it almost paid off when Danny Ayala hit a 2-run HR (#19) and Hardaway blasted his second of the game, a 2-run shot in the 6th (#17) which pulled them within 8-6. But the offense went limp over the final 3 innings and the Yankees held on for the win. Ricky Widmar turned in another 0-5.

News from Durham: Omar Rodriguez was impressive in his first rehab game, hitting a 2-run homer in his first at-bat and going 3-4. Meanwhile Mike Champagne took a no-hitter into the 9th before losing it and the Bulls had to end up holding on to a 4-3 win over Pawtucket.

Game 4: Another close, low-scoring game in this series went the Rays' way as Andy Aparicio turned in a different kind of performance in a 3-2 win. Aparicio, who had been notorious for piling up the strikeouts as well as hits, runs and homers allowed in recent starts, instead went 7 4 2 2 2 4 and kept the ball in the park. That was good enough for the win to improve to 6-5, 4.80 with Tim Siqueiros getting a couple of outs in the 8th before Mike Wherry took over. With a slew of lefties in the Yankee lineup, Wherry stayed on and finished out the game for save #3. Danny Ayala had the big hit, a 468-ft homer to dead center to break a 2-2 tie in the 6th, his 20th of the year. Earlier Bo Angeac had a sac fly and Will Quintana an RBI single for the first two runs.

Team record: 53-18. Next up: We head southwest to Houston to 3 games.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: The Rays got a strong start from Jon Soranno and took advantage of the wildness of Astros pitching in a 7-3 win. Soranno was excellent overall, especially after getting out of some early jams which drove up his pitch count. He finished 6 5 0 0 2 7 to improve to 7-3, 4.29. Kevin Kerstetter had a rough outing, allowing 3 runs in 2 innings on a pair of homers before Mike Wherry pitched a scoreless 9th. On offense the big hit came after Houston starter Ricardo Jackson walked in a run, balked in a run, re-loaded the bases with another walk (he had 5 in his 2 2/3 IP) and Will Quintana cleared them with a double up the LCF gap.

Game 2: The Rays were down 2-0 in the 5th but stormed back to take an easy 8-2 win over Houston. Luis Corpus had a big day at the plate, figuring into the 2-run rally in the 5th to tie it and driving in a pair in the 6th to break the 2-2 tie as part of a 3-4 day with a walk. Jaiden Hardaway had RBI singles in both innings, Dayle Jenkins had an RBI double and an RBI single, and Victor de Jesus blasted a 2-run HR (#23), his first in 19 days (although he was out 11 days with an injury). Nate Thompson recovered from allowing a 2-run homer in the 1st and finished 6 5 2 2 3 4 to improve to 8-1, 3.78 while Bob Sirna went the final 3, allowing only 1 hit, walking none and whiffing 5 for his 3rd save.

Game 3: Tampa Bay completed the sweep of Houston with a 9-3 win as they pounded out 19 hits against Astro pitching. Danny Ayala had the game's biggest hit both literally and figuratively as his 506-foot 3-run homer (#21) put the Rays up for good 3-0 in the 4th as he and four teammates had 3-hit days. Victor de Jesus homered again (#24) in the 5th while Jaiden Hardaway and Jon Jimenez each had 3-hit, 2-RBI days. They blew open a 6-3 game in the 9th by getting 3 runs and 5 hits off former teammate Jordan Diaz, who was getting some work in. Nate Schultz got some work in as well and went 7 3 3 2 3 5 to go to 9-3, 3.84 while Tim Siqueiros had a hold in the 8th and Billy Hoyte finished the game in style by striking out the side.

Team record: 56-18. Next up: An off-day then back home to face the Yankees for 3 over the weekend.

[Art Deco]

Friday night's game was rained out so we're playing a Saturday doubleheader.

June 23: Activated OF Omar Rodriguez from his rehab assignment at AAA Durham; optioned OF Michael Valdez from AA Montgomery.

Valdez impressed in his brief stint, going 10-24 with 3 RBI and playing excellent defense. His AA numbers were pretty pedestrian, though, so he's going to have to prove he can consistently hit.

Game 1: Leo Ortega got into a little early trouble but the bats took over and the Rays ended up with an easy 9-2 win. He allowed 2 runs and 4 hits in the second to put them behind, but Ortega gave little afterwards, going 6 6 2 2 0 6 to go to 11-2, 4.14. Mike Wherry had two scoreless innings and Tyler Jefferson pitched the 9th. Alex Buitrago's 2-run homer in the 4th (#5) put them ahead to stay at 3-2 while Jaiden Hardaway and Danny Ayala each knocked in a pair.

Game 2: The Rays had an insane 4th inning in which they scored 12 (!) runs which would turn out to be all the runs they'd score in the game but more than enough to overcome another lousy Andy Aparicio start in a 12-7 win to sweep the doubleheader. Aparicio gave up a pair of 2-run homers in the 2nd to make it 4-0 New York, and after the Rays jumped ahead 12-4, he allowed a 3-run shot in the 6th. His final line of 5.2 7 7 7 2 7 was enough to get win #7, but his ERA is now an unsightly 5.16 and he's been the Rays' worst starter this year. He's allowed a whopping 23 homers in 99 1/3 innings, double the rate he allowed them the previous two seasons. His 16/119 BB/K ratio is very impressive but nothing else about his pitching this year has. What was impressive was Kevin Kerstetter, who retired all 10 Yankees he faced, 6 via strikeout, for his third save and he has an 8/64 BB/K ratio in 43.1 innings to go with a 2.49 ERA. But I've buried the lede about the 12-run inning that saw the Rays score 9 times before they made an out and saw Bo Angeac drive in 6 on a pair of homers including a grand slam to give him 19 on the year. Also homering in the inning were Jon Jimenez (#9), a 2-run shot, and surprise, surprise a long ball from Melvin Gutierrez with a man on, his first of the season. Not sure there's ever been an MLB game that had 19 runs with all of them scoring in only three half-innings, but that's what we had today.

Game 3: The Rays took a wild 8-7 win over the Yankees today at Publix Park to sweep the series on their fifth homer of the game, Ricky Widmar's tiebreaking blast in the bottom of the 8th (#5) off former Ray Cy Young winner Shane McClanahan. Jaiden Hardaway got the Rays off to a 3-0 lead through 4 on a pair of homers, a solo blast leading off the game and a 2-run shot in the 3rd to give him 19, but Jon Soranno imploded in the 5th and gave up 6 Yankee runs, capped by a 3-run Mario Aguilar homer. Soranno made it through the 6th (going 6 7 6 6 3 6) and was in line for a win when the Rays re-took the lead on 2-run homers from Will Quintana (#5) and Danny Ayala (#22). But Tim Siqueiros and Billy Hoyte combined to let the Yankees equalize at 7 in the 7th. Hoyte made it through the 8th, setting the stage for Widmar's winner off an old fan favorite. Kikuo Kawase came on for the 9th and struck out the side for save #15, including tough lefties Aguilar and Ivan Vega, preserving Hoyte's first win as a Ray.

Team record: 59-18. Next up: Washington visits for a pair of games in Joe Barker's (and Marc Wagner's) return to Publix Park.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: The Washington Nationals made their first-ever visit to Publix Park and didn't enjoy themselves, losing 9-2 to the Rays. The game marked the return of former Rays Joe Barker and Marc Wagner and the Rays treated the latter quite rudely, scoring 6 times off him in 2+ innings. Wagner has come all the way back from Tommy John surgery and can be as dominating as ever, but his one Achilles heel has always been the longball, and the Rays made him pay in that department tonight. Luis Corpus (#7) and Vlad Guerrero Jr (#15) took him deep and they kept a steady stream of baserunners against him with Danny Ayala getting a 2-run single in the 1st and Ricky Widmar an RBI double in the 3rd. Later, Jaiden Hardaway (#20) and Dayle Jenkins (#6) each hit 2-run homers as part of 3-hit days for both. All this run support made things easier for Nate Thompson, who did battle some jams but finished 6 8 2 2 3 5 to improve to 9-1, 3.72. And Danny Medina became the latest Ray to notch a 3-inning save, his 2nd, as he allowed only one hit, no walks and struck out 4.

MLB News: Speaking of former Rays, congratulations to Nate Clark who hit career HR #300 tonight for the Cardinals.

Game 2: The Rays made it 9 straight as they scored 9 again in a 9-1 win over the Nationals. Vlad Guerrero Jr and Danny Ayala had big days, with each homering in the 4th to put the Rays ahead to stay 2-1, and Vlad ended up 3-3 (including HR #16) with a walk and Ayala homered again with a man on in the 7th to give him 24 to go with his MLB-leading 81 RBI in 73 games. Ricky Widmar was 3-4 with an RBI and Jaiden Hardaway drove in a pair. Nate Schultz was in fine form on the mound, going 7 7 1 1 0 7 to improve to 10-3, 3.67. Tyler Jefferson came on for the 8th but had to leave with a mild abdominal strain so Bob Sirna went the final 1 1/3.

Team record: 61-18. Next up: A rare Wednesday off-day then Houston visits for 4 games.

[Art Deco]

June 29: Placed OF Omar Rodriguez on the 10-day IL with a oblique strain retroactive to June 25, recalled OF Michael Valdez from AA Montgomery.

Rodriguez was actually hurt about 4 days ago and was only supposed to be out 3-4 days but I just got word his recovery will take longer, so he goes on the IL. Nate Boesel, who was up earlier, is healthy again but I chose Valdez for his superior defense and his impressive recent stint with the big club.

Game 1: The scoreboard said the Rays blasted Houston 16-5, but they only held a slender 3-2 lead going into the bottom of the 7th before exploding for 13 runs over the final 2 frames to make it a laugher. Dayle Jenkins was 5-6 with 3 RBI, Jon Jimenez 3-5 with 3 RBI, Jaiden Hardway drove in 2 and Danny Ayala walked twice with the bases load to pad his RBI total as they banged out 21 hits but none of them left the park. One did leave the park against Andy Aparicio which isn't a surprise, but he pitched well overall going 7 4 2 2 2 8 to improve to 8-5 and get his ERA just below 5 at 4.99. Mike Wherry walked the bases loaded to start the 8th and gave up a couple of runs, and Tyler Jefferson wasn't sharp either allowing a run in the 9th.

Game 2: What a wacky game as the Rays blew a 4-run lead in the 8th, a 2-run lead in the 9th, fell behind by 2 in the top of the 14th yet scored 3 times in bottom of the inning to pull out a 9-8 win over Houston and extend their win streak to 11. It looked like the Rays would take a comfortable 4-0 win behind Leo Ortega, who went 7 3 0 0 2 9 to lower his ERA back down to 3.83, while Dayle Jenkins hit HR #7 and Bo Angeac drove in a pair. But Danny Medina was terrible in the 8th, allowing 2 runs before leaving, and Billy Hoyte gave up a 2-run single to score one of Medina's runners and one of his own. No problem, though, as Jaiden Hardaway drilled a 2-out, 2-run double in the bottom of the inning to make it 6-4. Kikuo Kawase came on and Houston sent up lefty pinch-hitter after lefty pinch-hitter and the Japanese righty continued his struggles with them, allowing 2 walks, 2 hits and 2 runs for Houston to tie it. So on to extras we went as former Ray Jordan Diaz hurled 2 2/3 scoreless against them while Tim Siqueiros got through the 10th and Kevin Kerstetter took over the in the 11th. Houston finally got to Kerstetter with 2 out in his 4th inning of work on a 2-run homer, but Victor de Jesus led off the bottom of the 14th with #25 to make it 8-7 and after Danny Ayala singled, two batters later Jon Jimenez walked it off with his 10th homer of the year to make Kerstetter a winner, the lefty's third of the season.

Some monthly awards:





Jimenez and Vasquez had kind of underwhelming months to get their respective nods, but I guess they were better than the competition. The guy I want to talk about is Costa, who's an interesting cat. He has 80 control and 60 stuff in relief, and that's MLB-rated. Is there a catch? Of course there's a catch: he has 25 movement. That hasn't caught up to him yet at Durham but I imagine it would with the big club. So in the meantime he's putting up insane BB/K ratios, 4/51 for the season in 40 innings while somehow he hasn't allowed a homer yet for Durham (knock wood). I can see him getting a shot in long relief for us.

Game 3: The Rays took a comfortable 6-1 win over Houston to make it 12 wins without defeat. Jon Soranno was the star today, holding the Astros to 7 6 1 1 1 8 and improving to 8-3, 4.36. The win was a costly one though as Bo Angeac, who had knocked in a run earlier in the game, suffered a strained oblique and will miss about 6 weeks. Vlad Guerrero Jr will take over at the hot corner and that will get some more at-bats for Alex Buitrago. The Rays erupted for 5 runs in what seems to be their favorite inning, the 4th, thanks to a Luis Corpus 3-run shot (#8) and a 2-run Victor de Jesus triple. Danny Medina bounced back from his shaky outing two days ago to throw 2 perfect innings of relief to finish it out, whiffing 3.

Milestone watch: Eloy Jimenez hit HR #600 today with the Cubs, becoming the 15th player in MLB history to reach that mark. Also Joey Gallo recently passed Willie Mays into 7th place on the all-time list with 661 while Gleyber Torres (622) and Cody Bellinger (620) are 11th and 12th on the list, behind Bryce Harper who ended his career 10th at 624. Our Vlad Guerrero Jr is 21st at 569, 4 behind Harmon Killebrew in 20th.

July 2: Placed 3B Bo Angeac on the 10-day IL with a strained oblique, recalled OF Nate Boesel from AAA Durham.

Boesel will keep the roster spot warm for Omar Rodriguez, so Michael Valdez should get to stay up for awhile. Vlad Jr will take over at 3B.

Game 4: Once again the Rays lost a pair of leads and once again they prevailed in the end, making it 13 straight with a 7-4 win over the Astros. They took an early 3-0 lead on a 2-run Alex Buitrago double and Vlad Jr's sac fly, but Nate Thompson got touched for a 2-run homer in the 5th and an RBI triple in the 6th, offsetting an 11-strikeout performance over his 6 innings. Jon Jimenez hit HR #11 in the bottom of the 6th to give the Rays the lead again at 4-3 and put Thompson back in line for the win, but a 2-base throwing error from Victor de Jesus in the top of the 7th led to a Houston run off Mike Wherry, who retired all the other batters in his 2 innings of work. This set the stage for the bottom of the 8th when Astro reliever Tahnaj Thomas loaded the bases, and with two out he walked Jaiden Hardaway to force in a run. Buitrago then followed with a 2-run single to give the Rays a cushion and give himself a 4-RBI day. Kikuo Kawase was much better today with a 1-2-3 9th which saw him whiff a pair of lefty hitters and notch save #16 while Wherry picked up his 3rd win after a harsh blown save.

Team record: 65-18. Next up: We head to Columbus to play 3 games against the NL East-leading Lightning.

[Art Deco]

Another excellent first half which sees on a current 13-game winning streak. The team stats:



The offense has always been great, but never this great with a team slash line of 314/390/539. Danny Ayala and Jon Jimenez have done an excellent job of replacing Nate Clark and Rodolfo Rivas, even though the latter isn't quite hitting with the same kind of power. The one overlooked area of improvement is how well the catchers have hit as you can see from Corpus's and Quintana's numbers below:



It's saying something when you have 5 hitters on pace for 7 WAR or better (although Bo Angeac won't get there now that he's going to miss 6 weeks), and the lowest batting average among your regulars is Angeac's .292. The pitchers:



The starters have been up and down this season, but mostly up lately. If Aparicio could just stop giving out homers like candy, we'd be in great shape. Right now he might only be starting Game 3 or 4 in the ALDS. Otherwise no complaints and the bullpen has been quite solid, even if they did blow a few leads this past weekend.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: After just gushing about the Rays offense in the midseason review, they were held to one run and six hits in a 3-1 loss to Columbus as they saw their 13-game winning streak snapped. Vlad Guerrero Jr gave the Rays a 1-0 lead in the 2nd with his 17th HR of the year, taking a 3-0 Fabian Petrovich fastball over the LF wall. But that would be it for the Rays and Nate Schultz pitched great but gave up a Bobby Alvarez homer in the 7th and left having gone 6.2 7 1 1 1 10, lowering his ERA to 3.52. Billy Hoyte got the final out of the 7th but didn't fare as well in the 8th, surrendering a Cristhian Rodriguez homer to put the Lightning ahead, and then a double which Tim Siqueiros allowed to score with another double. Tampa Bay put a couple of men on in the 9th with two out, but Ricky Widmar lined to center to end that threat and the winning streak.

Game 2: Another brutal outing from Andy Aparicio doomed the Rays in a 7-6 loss in Columbus, their second straight after having won the previous 13. The two-time Cy Young winner continued his 2034 struggles, squandering a 3-0 lead handed to him and finishing 6 6 6 6 3 6 with two more homers allowed. He's now 8-6 with a 5.21 ERA and showing no signs of turning things around. The Rays were lucky to be up 3-0 as they scored three times with only one hit in the first thanks to an error, a passed ball, two hit batters and a balk. Victor de Jesus singled in a run in the 5th to put them back up briefly at 4-3, but Aparicio blew that lead too. In the end, though, it was a run off Bob Sirna in the 8th which proved the difference as they rallied for 2 in the 9th off Columbus closer Pat Gatlin thanks in part to a Jaiden Hardaway RBI double. But Dayle Jenkins struck out to end the game and the Rays dropped another potential World Series preview game.

Game 3: Somehow the Rays won a game they had no business winning today, 5-3 in Columbus, despite being outhit 16-6. It really was something as Leo Ortega went 5 11 1 1 1 3. He didn't get Columbus to ground into any double plays but got a pair anyway when on two occasions Michael Valdez threw a runner out at the plate trying to score on a fly ball. Still it looked like Columbus would win when they got a run off Danny Medina in the 6th and in the 7th Jorge Perez, a one-time Rays prospect traded 11 years ago to the then-Miami Marlins, homered off Tim Siqueiros to make it 3-2 Lightning. But it was another former Ray who cost Columbus the game when Eric Carter came on in the 9th to save it and put two men on ahead of Danny Ayala, who drilled HR #25 to LCF. Kikuo Kawase, who pitched the 8th for the Rays to get some work and keep the game close, stayed on and saved his 3rd win of the season in the 9th (although not without giving up hits #15 and #16 of the game for Columbus in the final frame to make it interesting). Earlier Vlad Guerrero Jr.'s RBI single and Jon Jimenez's 12th HR of the year gave the Rays a brief 2-1 lead. FYI, Ayala leads all of MLB with 88 RBI; the nearest pursuers to him have 69.

Team record: 66-20. Next up: An off-day before more interleague action with 3 games at Citi Field against the Mets, who are neck-and-neck with Columbus for the NL East lead.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: Based on the Columbus series and tonight's game at the Mets it appears the Rays left their offense in Tampa. Tonight they only managed five hits in a 4-2 loss to New York, and Mets starter Mike McClendon actually hit more Rays (4) than they hit him (3). Jaiden Hardaway's 3rd inning sac fly and Dayle Jenkins' 5th inning RBI single gave them a brief 2-1 lead, but Jon Soranno couldn't hold it and finished 6 4 3 3 3 6. Danny Medina came on in the 7th and gave up a couple of doubles for another Mets run while Bob Sirna retired all 4 men he faced, 2 via strikeout.

Game 2: The Rays continued their struggles at the plate on this road trip and Billy Hoyte blew a 2-0 lead in the 8th as Tampa Bay fell for the second straight day to the Mets 3-2 at Citi Field. A Will Quintana RBI groundout and Victor de Jesus' 26th HR of the year were the sum total of the offense, but Nate Thompson made it stood up going 6 4 0 0 2 5 (lowering his ERA to 3.55) and Mike Wherry had a perfect 7th. Enter Hoyte in the 8th, who hit a batter and gave up 3 hits with Vince Giangrasso's 2-run double the last of them scoring the tying and winning runs for New York, despite all but one of them being lefties.

Game 3: Groundhog Day at Citi Field as the Rays once again couldn't hit and couldn't hold a late lead, losing 3-1 to the Mets as they were swept in a series for the first time this season. Danny Ayala singled in Alex Buitrago in the 4th and that run held up until the bottom of the 8th when a different Rays lefty was victimized by Vince Giangrasso today, with Mike Wherry giving up a 2-run homer to cap a 3-run inning for the Mets. Nate Schultz pitched well, going 7 7 0 0 2 6 but was bailed out on three occasions by Mets runs erased from the bases by Rays outfielders with Buitrago gunning down a pair and Michael Valdez one to give him 3 outfield assists for the week. That marked the first time in the 15 seasons of this save we've had that many OF assists. But the Rays complete this NL East road trip 1-5 with only 16 runs to show in their 6 games and the only win coming on a 3-run homer in the 9th. Guess they were due for some offensive regression but not this swiftly and suddenly.

Team record: 66-23. Next up: Back home to the hitter-friendly confines of Publix Park to take on Detroit for 3 games.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: Returning to Publix Park the Rays found their bats where they left them, and perhaps more importantly Andy Aparicio found his groove in a 7-2 win over Detroit. The righty looked more like his 2031/2033 Cy Young self than whatever he's been this year, going 7 3 1 1 1 10 and not allowing a ball to leave the park. He's now 9-6 and his ERA is back below 5 at 4.98. Tyler Jefferson gave up a solo homer but nothing else in his 2 innings of work. On offense Dayle Jenkins got things going with a first-inning RBI double, added another in the 6th and in between they had a big 5-run 4th (it always seems to be the 4th) as Victor de Jesus led off with HR #27, Alex Buitrago hit a bases-clearing triple, and Luis Corpus singled home Buitrago.

July 11: Activated P Gil Wayne from his rehab assignment at AAA Durham and optioned him to Durham; designated P Mike Champagne for assignment and placed him on waivers.

Wayne had been on the 60-day IL. His 50/50/70 ratings remain intact after his torn rotator cuff, but his stamina took a big hit from 60 to 35. He's still pitched well in 5 starts at Durham (2.17 ERA, 7/20 in 29 innings) but if gets back to the big club, it's probably as a reliever. Champagne should clear waivers and also go back to Durham.

UPDATE: Incredible, Wayne started tonight at Durham and tore his rotator cuff again. He's toast. Well at least we'll have a 40-man roster spot open now.

Game 2: More of the same as Leo Ortega pitched a strong game and the bats had their way with Shohei Ohtani in a 10-2 win over Detroit. Danny Ayala and Vlad Guerrero Jr had RBI singles in the first before they exploded for 6 runs in the - you guessed it - 4th inning. Jaiden Hardaway beat out a grounder for an infield single to bring home a run with two out, another scored on a wild pitch and then Victor de Jesus hit a grand slam (#28) to make it 8-1. That was more than enough for Ortega, who went 6.2 6 2 2 1 4 to become the AL's first 12-game winner. Kevin Kerstetter went the final 2 1/3 including getting an out when a Tiger batter was called out for missing the bag on an appeal play, a first in my thousands of games played.

July 12: Activated OF Omar Rodriguez from the 10-day IL, optioned OF Nate Boesel to AAA Durham.

Game 3: The Rays completed the sweep of Detroit with an easy 7-1 win behind some outstanding pitching and a nice game from Alex Buitrago. Jon Soranno started and got the win by going 5.1 6 1 1 1 7 and is now 9-4, 4.24, but Danny Medina was even more impressive, going the final 3 2/3 and striking out 8 Tigers while allowing only one hit. That performance more than earned him his 3rd save of the season. Buitrago meanwhile had an RBI double in the 2nd off Kumar Rocker and a 2-run homer (#6) later in the game. Jaiden Hardaway added an RBI double as the Rays have rediscovered their offense at their home field.

Team record: 69-23. Next up: We hop on a plane to Minnesota for 4 games to take us into the All-Star break.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: Nate Thompson continued his masterful run and the bats came alive after the 5th inning in what turned out to be a 14-1 rout of the Twins at Target Field. Thompson, who has now gone 9 straight starts allowing 3 runs or fewer, was dominating at times today going 7 4 1 1 1 9 to improve to 10-1, 3.40 as he's in kind of a season-long competition with Jon Soranno for the 4th starter role in the playoffs. Tyler Jefferson went 2 perfect innings against his old team to finish up. It was a 1-1 game into the 6th when the offense woke up against their 2032 teammate Alexander Beltre. Victor de Jesus greeted him with a majestic 467-ft homer to dead center and a string of hits culminated in a 2-run Melvin Gutierrez single and a Will Quintana RBI single to make it 5-1. They tacked on two more in the 8th on Alex Buitrago's 7th homer of the year and then piled on 7 more in the 9th including two-run shots from de Jesus (his 2nd of the game and #30 on the year) and Jaiden Hardaway (#21) as they scored 13 times in 4 innings off the Minnesota bullpen. Gutierrez was in the game because Ricky Widmar left injured once again, this time with a mild hamstring strain rated as "minimal" but for a 1-2 week period. He'll likely go on the IL to be safe.

BNN even ran a story on the Widmar injury:



Game 2: Well despite all that Ricky Widmar did play tonight, mainly for two reasons: one, his natural replacement Jeff Baez is out at Durham with a sore back and two, Jaiden Hardaway was fatigued so I needed Melvin Gutierrez to start at 2B. And it was a consequential decision as Widmar had a 2-run homer (#6) and a 2-run double before aggravating the hamstring and having to leave the game in the 8th in an 11-5 Rays win. It's now a "moderate" injury so this time he really will go on the IL. Jon Jimenez got them going with a 2-run double to highlight a 3-run 1st before Widmar went to work. Alex Buitrago continued his hot streak with a 3-run jack in the 9th (#8) off his teammate from last year Jim Connors, currently Minnesota's closer but pressed into mop-up duty tonight. Nate Schultz was outstanding once again with a 7 4 1 1 1 7 line to up his record to 11-3, 3.19 as he is now way, way past his rough start to the season. Billy Hoyte had a quick 1-2-3 8th before Bob Sirna loaded the bases and gave up a slam in the 9th to make it an 11-5 game instead of an 11-1 affair.

July 15: Placed SS Ricky Widmar on the 10-day IL with a hamstring strain, purchased the contract of 3B Stan Melton from AAA Durham.

With a 40-man spot open I brought up Melton, who's toiled at Durham for parts of the past three seasons now after we acquired him in a minor deal with Pittsburgh a few years ago. He's nothing special, 50 power, 50 contact, a 55 3B but with Gutierrez pressed into duty at SS we need a backup 3B for Vlad and he can also play a passable (40) 2B.

Game 3: The Rays made it 6 straight with a 5-4 win over Minnesota which saw a pleasant surprise and an unpleasant reversion to form. First, the pleasant surprise: Stan Melton blasted a 2-run homer in his first MLB at-bat (the first time I think this has happened in my save with a Ray) to give the Rays an early 2-0 lead and he later added a single. The unpleasant reversion to form came from Andy Aparicio, who was so good last time out but returned to struggling, going 5.2 9 4 4 2 6 and allowing a homer. Thanks to the timing of the Rays' scoring and some fine work from the bullpen, he still picked up win #10 on the season but his ERA is back above 5 at 5.04. The Rays took advantage of some uncharacteristic wildness from Minnesota ace Jordan Wicks in the 3rd to go back ahead 3-2 on a wild pitch, and they hit him up for 2 more runs in the 4th on RBI singles from the unlikely duo of Will Quintana and Melvin Gutierrez (meanwhile, Jaiden Hardaway and Dayle Jenkins each went 0-5). Aparicio allowed the Twins back within 5-4, but Danny Medina got four big outs to get them through the 7th, Tim Siqueiros had a 1-2-3 8th and Kikuo Kawase got some help from Omar Rodriguez to get through the 9th. Kawase struck out former Ray Chris Sharp to lead off the inning, gave up a single, and allowed another single but Rodriguez gunned down the lead runner attempting to go to 3rd, and then Kawase got a fly ball to end the game and notch save #17.

Game 4: The Rays go into the All-Star break on a 7-game win streak after sweeping the 4-game series from Minnesota behind Leo Ortega 3-0. The righty was outstanding once again, going 6.1 5 0 0 0 5 to become MLB's first 13-game winner this year. Mike Wherry got two big outs to quell a Twins threat in the 7th, Tim Siqueiros did his thing in the 8th (1-2-3, 2Ks), and Kikuo Kawase struck out the side in the 9th around an infield single for save #18. There wasn't a lot of offense but Jaiden Hardaway had a big day, going 3-4 with a steal and 2 RBI, getting a sac fly in the 2nd and an RBI single in the 9th for some breathing room, with Vlad Guerrero Jr. breaking the ice in the 1st with an RBI single.

Team record: 73-23. Next up: The All-Star break with several Rays involved as always (details in the next post). The Columbus Lightning come to town for 3 the following weekend.