October 16, 2042: NLCS Game 5
 

The Reds stay alive. I moved the game to a new laptop and the restore from backup is still a little wonky with hats/logos so that's why Vinny Willard is still sporting a Rays cap.

https://i.imgur.com/6xfP1wp.png

October 17, 2042: ALCS Game 6
 

We're going the distance...

https://i.imgur.com/PoKBY4R.png

High drama at Publix Park as Andy Ruggles homered in the bottom of the 10th to give the Rays a 7-6 win over Houston and force a seventh game of the ALCS. It was a back and forth affair early with the Rays getting a 3-run homer from Josh Beckett and a solo shot from Kevin Morley but Johnny Soland struggled once again in these playoffs before the bullpen held serve late. Jose Mendoza will be on the bump as it's winner-take-all time.

October 18, 2042: ALCS Game 7 & NLCS Game 6
 

https://i.imgur.com/5BHgbkw.png

We're back in the World Series and our streak dating back to 2028 of either losing in the ALDS or winning the World Series remains intact after beating Houston 7-2 in the decisive Game 7 of the ALCS. For the second straight day the hero was Andy Ruggles. After walking off Game 6 with a homer, Ruggles delivered a 3-run homer in the 5th to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 lead after the Rays had squandered several previous opportunities to score and saw Dan Gregory thrown out at the plate. Josh Alexander's RBI double in the 7th provided some insurance, and then Doug Johns became the second Rays pinch-hitter to go deep in as many days after Ruggles' shot last night by hitting a 2-run homer to put it away in the 8th. Jose Mendoza was outstanding aside from giving up an early 2-run homer to Kevin Kane, and with the game still on the line in the 8th Kikuo Kawase came in after Ed Pretty brought the tying run to the plate with two out and got the whiff before closing it out in the 9th for his 27th career postseason save. So now we will await either the Reds or the Giants because....

https://i.imgur.com/EhXEceZ.png

The Reds have forced a Game 7 in the NLCS after being down 3-1, with former Ray Jordan Perez getting it done today.

October 19, 2042: NLCS Game 7
 

https://i.imgur.com/VI61hu1.png

The Reds came back all the way from 3-1 down to take the NLCS and set up a date with the Rays in the World Series, a rematch of last year's Fall Classic which Tampa Bay took. This time around the Rays facing several pitchers who were with the winning side last year but one they won't be seeing is Danny Romero, who unfortunately partially tore his UCL in the 1st inning of tonight's game and won't be back until next June. Another former Ray did come through big tonight and that was Chris Toombs, who went the final 2 innings preserving a 1-run lead and ended up at the bottom of the dogpile. Also our backup IF of last season Ramon Ruiz went deep.

October 21, 2042: World Series Game 1
 

https://i.imgur.com/Esr7Nn1.png

It wasn't pretty but the Rays took a 5-4 win over Cincinnati in Game 1 of the World Series at Publix Park. They took an early 4-0 lead, watched Cincinnati get back to 4-3, and then had to survive a shaky Kikuo Kawase outing in the 9th in which he loaded the bases and walked in a run before getting Reds slugger Steve Hopfsenberger to ground out to second to end the game. As you can see from the box above, the offense mostly came from the bottom of the order with Josh Beckett and Kevin Morley having big games. Brad Jackson was solid except for his rough 5th inning. In Game 2 Johnny Soland will get another chance to turn things around in the postseason as he's allowed 13 runs on 23 hits over 12.1 IP in his 3 starts so far. Perhaps facing his old team will be the charm.

October 22, 2042: World Series Game 2
 

https://i.imgur.com/L69bxDI.png

Maybe pitching against his old team was all it took for Johnny Soland, the righty who was so good in the regular season (MLB's only 20-game winner) to turn in an excellent postseason start after being bombed in his previous three. Whatever the reason Soland was the story today, fanning 9 including the final three he faced in the 7th to finish with a flourish. Doug Johns supplied the offense with a solo homer and RBI single as he's been insanely productive in limited action during these playoffs with 4 HR and 11 RBI in only 26 AB. Once again things got a bit too interesting in the 9th but Freddy Zamora got out of a jam unscathed to preserve the win as he also recovers from a poor start to the postseason. So the Rays now go to Cincinnati up 2-0 and start ALCS Game 7 hero Jose Mendoza to try to take a near-insurmountable series lead.

October 24, 2042: World Series Game 3
 

Almost there...

https://i.imgur.com/zXLge8W.png

The Rays flipped the script in Game 3 and won going away 8-3 after trailing 3-0 after 5. Now a good deal of that was because Jordan Perez had to leave in the 5th with a tired arm after shutting out his former teammates. But Josh Beckett continued to be a playoff beast, hitting a 2-run homer in the 6th to put them ahead to stay and then added a 2-run double in the 8th to break it open. MLB's batting champ has driven in 15 runs in 13 playoff games with a 423/444/731 performance after missing last year's postseason due to injury. Josh Alexander also had a big RBI triple to start the comeback. Jose Mendoza was sharp through 3, then wasn't in the 4th and 5th and special mention to seldom-used Jon Harbour, who got Mendoza out of the 5th without further damage and pitched into the 6th for the win, and the bullpen was lights-out the rest of the way. Jim Brophy will try to close it out against his old team on a very familiar mound tomorrow.

October 25, 2042: World Series Game 4
 

Hold the champagne...

https://i.imgur.com/oHaqO7k.png

The Reds staved off elimination largely thanks to Alex Trujillo, who spent most of the year in AAA but held the Rays to 1 run and 3 hits in 7 innings tonight in a 4-2 Cincinnati win. Jim Brophy pitched well against his old team but probably shouldn't have come out for the 7th when he allowed 2 additional runs which proved to be the difference. Brad Jackson will try to get the Rays a gentleman's sweep tomorrow and make sure we're only going back to Tampa for a parade.

October 26, 2042: World Series Game 5
 

https://i.imgur.com/O12ipwk.png

The Rays failed in their second chance to put away the Reds and now we're going back to Publix Park for a Game 6. This time they squandered a 4-0 lead with Brad Jackson on the mound. Jackson made it through 6 up 4-2 but the bullpen faltered as Ed Pretty put two on with two out and Satoshi Sato had a rare bad outing by giving up consecutive hits to score four runs, both to left-handed hitters. They did have a chance in the 9th to come back as with two out Doug Johns doubled off former Ray Chris Toombs to put men on 2nd and 3rd, but Seth Williams grounded to first to end the game. Now Johnny Soland will look to replicate his Game 2 performance to avoid having to go to a Game 7.

October 28, 2042: World Series Game 6
 

Unbelievable...

https://i.imgur.com/bxYVzzQ.png

When Josh Alexander hit a 3-run homer three batters into the bottom of the 1st to put the Rays up 3-0 it looked like the coronation was in progress. But Johnny Soland gave it right back in the 2nd, left with a sore back after giving up a homer to put the Reds in front, and I made the bad decision to go to Sean Forbes (and Chris Williams) in the 6th after Jeff Brockman tired in long relief, and now all of a sudden we're having to play a Game 7. Jose Mendoza will hope to come through like he did in Game 7 of the ALCS to keep the Rays from joining the 2004 Yankees and 2034 Twins (to the Rays) to blow a 3-0 series lead in the playoffs.

October 29, 2042: World Series Game 7
 

https://i.imgur.com/TjlNB7J.png

Finally! It took 7 games but the Rays finally beat back the Rasputin-like Reds after taking a 3-0 series lead with a 12-6 win in the decider. And it wasn't until Josh Alexander hit his second homer of the game, a grand slam in the bottom of the 8th, that they could breathe easy. Alexander was big today and probably should have been named Series MVP for this performance alone as he hit a 2-run homer in the 3rd to tie the game at 3 after the Reds jumped out to a 3-1 lead against Jose Mendoza. When Jimmy Leonard's 2-run single in the 5th made it 6-3 Rays it looked like they were home free but once again those indefatigable Reds tied it with 3 off Dan Anderson in the 6th. But Dave Frick of all people lined a homer to left in the bottom of the 6th to break the tie and provide the series-winning run, and although they made it 8-6 after Dan Gregory tripled leading off the 8th and scored, it looked like it would still be a nail-biter after Doug Johns and Seth Williams failed to bring home another run with the bases loaded. But up stepped Alexander, and his slam assured the Rays of their 12th World Series title and second straight. Kikuo Kawase still got the call in the 9th in what is almost assuredly his final appearance as a Ray, and after giving up a one-out single he got Greg Judson to ground into a double play and the celebration started:

https://i.imgur.com/c22FFDf.png

The Series win continues a remarkable 15-year run of the Rays either losing in the ALDS or winning the World Series with nothing in between after they dropped the 2027 ALCS to the Angels. They've had 9 championships and 6 ALDS losses in that stretch.

2042-43 Offseason, Part 1
 

Always like to start these off when I can with a look at the WS trophy:

https://i.imgur.com/3h2P29r.png

Word from the owner is that we can have a $180M payroll for next season. Here are the projected salaries of players not making the minimum:

https://i.imgur.com/KzznT2x.png

This adds up to a projected payroll of $128.1M so we'll have plenty of money to play with. The owner wants me to re-sign Jeff Brockman but he wants a 4/95 deal which is way more than I want to pay a 5-inning starter. Brockman would be a nasty reliever and was excellent in that role during the playoffs, but I also don't want to pay 4/95 for a reliever. I did qualify him at $17M and I will see what kind of offers he gets once he's on the open market. Our other free agents are Chris Johansen (no thanks, too homer-prone) and Kikuo Kawase, whom I've mentioned before is on the downslope of his career and has lost velocity. I'm not going to completely rule him out if he'll go cheap on the open market.

Otherwise $15M is a lot to pay for Freddy Zamora, but he was a 3-win reliever last year and is probably in line to be our closer. Chris Williams is a question mark after the awful season he had last year, and one guy I could deal is Andy Ruggles. Not so much because he had a down year last season (only 1.8 WAR), but because I'm seriously considering moving Seth Williams off second base. He's just horrendous there with a -20.6 ZR, one of the key reasons we were terrible in defensive efficiency despite having a gold glove-caliber SS and CF. He could be a decent 1B, and if I move him there then Josh Alexander becomes the DH, pushing out Ruggles. Of course then we need a 2B. We have some internal candidates - Jon Callahan is a 60 there and can hit decently, or perhaps prospect Tomas Laboy can play there too (or Laboy can play 3B and Josh Beckett can slide over to 2B). Eventually, the position should go to Juan Davila, the #3 prospect who put up a nice season at Low-A Bowling Green as an 18-year-old (having just turned 19):

https://i.imgur.com/nfF0Wk3.png

but he's at least a year or two away. Otherwise, another guy who should get a run next season is Greg Bookhart, who happens to be the #6 prospect in MLB, put up a dazzling season at Durham and is ready for the bigs:

https://i.imgur.com/ie8bBsB.png

Either he or Joel Gird could be next year's 5th starter behind Jackson, Soland, Mendoza and Brophy, another reason I don't want to re-sign Brockman.

Meanwhile, the end of the season brings a slew of retirements, and notables include longtime veteran Bo Bichette, and a bunch of former Rays pitchers: Leo Ortega, Jon Soranno, Danny Medina and Jordan Diaz, along with former Rays slugger Eric Titcombe.

Awards Season:


Gold Gloves: Dan Gregory took the AL award for CF. Former Ray Jeff Baez won another one with the White Sox, where he somehow stayed healthy the entire season, one reason why the Chisox won 109 games.

Silver Sluggers: Surprisingly we only had two: 2B Seth Williams and 3B Josh Beckett. Thought Josh Alexander had a shot at 1B but he lost out to Minnesota's Joel Avalos, and had Jimmy Leonard not missed two months he would have won RF.

A shock here:

https://i.imgur.com/z4cSb7m.png

No denying how good Sato was, but Zamora pitched way more innings, was more valuable WAR-wise (highest of any reliever) and had 12 saves. My first-place vote for him was amazingly the only one he received. Sato was excellent nonetheless, not allowing a single homer in 49.2 IP and worth 2.7 WAR. He missed some time with a minor injury and I probably should have used him more. Devon McGhie of the White Sox, who had 54 saves and a 1.83 ERA also had to feel jobbed, especially tying with Sato but losing on one first-place vote.

This one a lot less surprising:

https://i.imgur.com/UER41Uo.png

Frick was everything we hoped for and then some. I expected the Gold Glove-caliber defense, and he was second in ZR to Jeff Baez in the AL, but the bat was a pleasant surprise as I did not expect him to hit .282 with 80 RBI.

Cy Young: For a change a Ray didn't win as Houston's Tim Levitt barely nosed out the Chicago's Chris Blain 144-140 in the voting as each received 12 first-place votes. Levitt was 15-8, 2.46 with 170 whiffs in 172 IP while Blain was 18-4, 2.32 but with only 123 Ks in 174 IP. Brad Jackson finished 3rd with 5 first-place votes and 69 points while Johnny Soland was 4th with 1 first-place vote (mine) and 68 points.

In the NL we had a shocker. With no starter clearly head and shoulders above the rest the award went to Mets closer Gilles Belmondo, who did lead the NL with 71 appearances, 49 saves and a 2.05 ERA, good for 2.7 WAR.

It was unanimous:

https://i.imgur.com/qL9BKI6.png

Not a shock Williams won it, but a bit surprised at the unanimity. The impressive thing about Williams is that he put up those numbers despite a slow July and August. 2040 winner Josh Alexander put up an impressive 2nd place showing and Josh Beckett finished 6th.

In the NL, slugging Philly 3B Luis Barela won the award after hitting .314-45-109 with 8.2 WAR as he led them to the playoffs for the first time since 2028.

2042-43 Offseason, Part 2
 

I'll kick off this post with a massive trade:

https://i.imgur.com/KhDCZNy.png

https://i.imgur.com/Dtfr51w.png

Not too often you see the usually anodyne BNN stories call a trade a "major deal" that "stunned the baseball world". Owner Jorge Rios gave me a goal of "acquire an MVP", so we took him up on it and traded for the just-named NL MVP, Luis Barela. Aside from being a premier power (and overall) hitter, Barela is a pretty good 3B - not Brooks Robinson but slightly above average. This solves the issue of moving AL MVP Seth Williams as Josh Beckett will move to 2B, Williams to 1B and Josh Alexander becomes the full-time DH as we vastly improve the right side of the infield defense. And of course the change to the lineup is Barela for Ruggles which is an upgrade as well. We have somewhat depleted our bullpen though. Williams is coming off a bad year but is still a lefty with 80 stuff and decent movement and control, while Brown of course was our supplemental 1st round pick with historic numbers out of college and made it to the big club within two months of being drafted. He was wild in the pros, but he should improve some in that area and be perhaps one of the best closers in baseball before long. But we couldn't pass up the chance to get Barela, who actually is making the minimum this season before being eligible for arbitration next winter.

November 22: We had our arbitration hearings today with one big surprise: Freddy Zamora got $16M instead of the $11M we offered him. He's going to be an integral member of next year's pen so we're not going to begrudge it too much.

December 1: First of the big free agents to sign is former Tiger Chris Thurner, going to the Yankees for 6/157. Thurner is an excellent defensive SS who can get on base and has averaged about 4.5 WAR over the last 3 seasons.

December 3: The Phillies inked long-time Columbus 2B Rob Winchester to a 3/75 deal. Winchester had been a 4-WAR player before dropping off to 2.5 last season. He's a low-average, good-power/OBP guy who's an excellent defender.

December 8: The Yankees signed another free agent, CF Sam Brewer, to a 3/53 deal. The 35-year-old is coming off a 4.1 WAR season with Pittsburgh. Meanwhile the Dodgers signed one of the top pitchers in the NL over the last several years in former Cub lefty Steve Fairweather to a 5/108.6 pact.


December 11: The Phillies signed Yankee fixture Ronnie Herron to take Luis Barela's place at 3B to a 3/61 deal. Herron is a high-average, moderate-power, good glove-type.

December 14: Former Rays OF Michael Valdez, whom we acquired as a prospect from Washington for Joe Barker and Marc Wagner some 11 years ago and then dealt to Seattle for P Alfredo Vega in 2036, has come full circle and signed a 7/151 deal with the Nationals. Valdez has averaged 4 WAR the last 2 years with the Mariners.

December 22: Added 3B Francis Moranchel, P Greg Bookhart and P Jose Morales to the 40-man roster.

Rule 5 time again, and Bookhart and Moranchel as top prospects were no-brainers. Morales is a lefty with 75 stuff whom we might have a spot for with Chris Williams traded. I still have 3 spots open on the 40-man as none of the others eligible for the draft stood out to me.

December 23: Only one player was taken in the Rule 5 Draft.

December 25: Jeff Brockman got $81.4M for Christmas as he signed a 4-year deal with the Twins. We'll receive a supplemental 1st-round pick as we had qualified him.

December 27: 37-year-old Nate Schultz, the one-time Rays ace who lost 20 games with Milwaukee last year, signed a 2/14.6 deal with the Yankees.

2042-43 Offseason, Part 3
 

https://i.imgur.com/S2I1ory.png

It was a loaded class with four no-doubters including the #6 (Torres, 724), #10 (Bellinger, 680) and #24 (Betts, 575) home run hitters of all-time while Lindor of course was the best all-around SS in the game for some time. With all of the new ones taking a lot of the oxygen, Rafael Devers dipped from 67.6% to 46.9%. It'll be interesting to see if his vote total bounces back next year. Shohei Ohtani, Adley Rutschman, Ronald Acuna Jr. and Eloy Jimenez (697 career HR) will be the big new names on the 2044 ballot.

January 23: Chris Johansen left our bullpen for the Yankees on a 1/5.3 deal. Hopefully he'll be allowing homers at the same rate he did with us, especially when we face him.

We signed a free agent:

https://i.imgur.com/9AXPhQs.png

Barkley has been one of the top relievers for several years now (350 career saves) and still sports 80 stuff, 60 movement and 60 control.

February 16: A couple of former Rays on the move: OF Alex Buitrago went to the Yankees from Philly in a trade while P Ron Adams signed a 1/4.4 deal with Detroit and will go into their rotation. He's had a hard time staying healthy these last few years since leaving the Tampa Bay (as well as when he was with us).

March 15: How the mighty have fallen. Daniel Malone, until a couple of years ago our starting CF before being dealt to Milwaukee in the Dan Gregory deal, had to settle for a minor league deal with the Padres after a couple of mediocre years with the Brewers.

March 16: Speaking of fallen former Rays, 3B Jim Gebers inked a minor league pact with Cincinnati.

March 27: After a year in Philly we'll be seeing a lot more of former Rays C Mike McKee as he signed a 1/8 deal with Boston.

2043 Opening Day Roster & Preseason Predictions
 

One injury of note as Spring Training was ending: C Kevin Morley suffered a foot contusion after being hit by a pitch and will miss the first week of the season, meaning Nelson Bocardo will start the year as the backup.

March 31: Designated P Alex Stephens and OF Randy Bahr for assignment and placed them on waivers.

Both were out of options and weren't making the big club.

The Opening Day roster:

C-Cordova, Bocardo
1B-S.Williams
2B-Beckett
SS-Frick
3B-Barela
IF-Laboy
OF-Willis, Gregory, Leonard, Johns, Mendez
DH-J.Alexander

SP-B.Jackson, Soland, Mendoza, Brophy, Gird
LR-Harbour, Forbes
MR-Combs, Burgess, D.Anderson
SU-Barkley, Sato, Pretty
CL-Zamora

Tomas Laboy made it as the backup over Jon Callahan due to being out of options, while Greg Bookhart nearly made the staff after a great Spring Training but with Doug Combs and Ken Burgess healthy there wasn't room for him. Unlike Burgess, Combs has an option left so he may go down if feel Bookhart needs to come up.

The preseason predictions:

https://i.imgur.com/O4AfD6B.png

The Houston Astros at 72-90 is pretty shocking. Part of that is no doubt due to star OF Ricky Clark starting the year on the IL as well as starting OF Ian Rhodes. Having them healthy should only improve them by 5-6 wins at most, though.

April 2-4, 2043: at Columbus (3)
 

The traditional Opening Day box:

https://i.imgur.com/jaPNee4.png

The Rays got off to a winning start in 2043 but it wasn't easy as they had to overcome a horrendous Brad Jackson start (see the numbers above, if you dare) to defeat Columbus 8-7 at Nationwide Ballpark. Jackson's numbers could have been even worse had Mike Willis and Jimmy Leonard not thrown runners out at the plate in consecutive innings. Luis Barela had a great Rays debut with a double and a solo homer which tied the game at 6 in the 4th, and he added a walk and a sac fly. Sean Forbes supplied 3 innings of relief to get the one as the bullpen was great except for Mike Barkley allowing a solo homer in his Rays debut.

Game 2: The Rays got another rough outing from a starter and this time didn't have the offense to overcome it as they fell 5-3 to the Lightning. Johnny Soland wasn't sharp at 5 6 5 5 3 3 and dropped to 0-1. Dan Gregory was 2-4 with HR #1 and 2 RBI while Josh Alexander had a solo shot for his 1st.

Game 3: For a change the Rays got a good start and took the rubber game from Columbus as a result 5-2. Jose Mendoza went 6 5 2 2 3 9 for the win, Dan Anderson and Satoshi Sato had clean innings, and Mike Barkley picked up his 1st Rays save with a scoreless 9th. Dan Gregory's RBI double helped give them an early, Dave Frick's RBI single in the 6th brought home the winner, and Josh Alexander's 2-run double in the 9th provided insurance.

Team record: 2-1. Next up: An off-day then we travel to Boston for 3.

April 6-8, 2043: at Boston (3)
 

Game 1: Jim Brophy was sharp in his first start of the season and the Rays took a 5-2 win at Fenway Park in the series opener. The lefty went 7.1 4 2 2 1 7 for the win and Mike Barkley notched save #2 despite allowing a couple of hits to start the 9th. Josh Alexander homered (#2) and drove in 2 and Josh Beckett knocked in a pair.

Game 2: The Rays took leads of 3-0 and 6-4 but the bullpen couldn't get the job done and they lost on a walk-off wild pitch in the 9th 8-7. It was 3-0 after 5 and Joel Gird was cruising, but he gave up a pair of 2-run homers in the 6th to put Boston on top. Tampa Bay immediately responded with a 3-run Luis Barela HR (#2) which gave the new acquisition 5 RBI on the day. But Dan Anderson gave it right back with a 2-run homer, Boston took the lead in the 8th off Freddy Zamora, and although the Rays tied it back up in the top of the 9th, Ed Pretty put men on 1st and 3rd in the 9th with 1 out and Satoshi Sato came in and immediately wild-pitched the winning run home.

Game 3: As they did in the opening series in Columbus the Rays took the rubber game 8-4 behind a balanced offensive attack. Mike Willis was 2-4 with two steals, a double and 2 RBI, Seth Williams was 3-4 with 2 RBI and Dan Gregory had a 2-run double. Brad Jackson started, and although he was better than his horrible outing on Opening Day, he lost the plot in the 5th and 6th and ended up 5.2 9 4 4 0 4 but still got the win. Sean Forbes pitched the 8th and after the lead expanded to 8-4 in the 9th he stayed on for his first MLB save.

Team record: 4-2. Next up: Another off-day then we have our home-opening series against the Yankees on the weekend.

MLB notes: Maybe the preseason predictions were onto something as Houston has started the year 1-6, while former Ray utility infielder Ramon Ruiz signed a 1-year deal with the Orioles so we'll be seeing a lot of him in the months to come. Kansas City is MLB's only unbeaten team at 6-0.

April 10-12, 2043: vs NY Yankees (3)
 

Game 1: The Rays came back late to take their 2043 home opener at Publix Park 5-3 from the Yankees. Doug Johns' pinch-hit homer (#1) in the 7th tied it at 3, and Dan Gregory's 2-run shot (#2) in the 8th was the game-winner. Earlier Seth Williams went deep for the first time this year. The late-game thunder made a winner of Ed Pretty, who got the final out in the 8th, and Mike Barkley nabbed his 3rd save by striking out the side after giving up a leadoff double in the 9th. Johnny Soland started and was mediocre at 5.2 9 3 3 1 4.

April 11: Activated C Kevin Morley from the 10-day IL, optioned C Nelson Bocardo to AAA Durham.

Game 2: A 5-run 3rd inning highlighted by a Jimmy Leonard grand slam (#1) propelled the Rays to an 8-4 win over the Yankees. Josh Beckett was 2-4 with his first homer of the year and Josh Alexander drove in a pair to supplement the attack. Jose Mendoza went to 2-0, 3.27 with the win but needed 108 pitches to put up a 5 2 2 2 5 6 line.

Game 3: Sundays are traditionally the day when some of the bench players get to start and rookie Tomas Laboy took advantage of the opportunity, going 4-4 with 4 RBI to lead the Rays to a series sweep of the Yankees in a 7-3 win. Including among his 4 hits were a 2-run double and a pair of RBI singles while Doug Johns also went 4-4. Dave Frick drove in the other 3 runs with a 4th inning homer (#1) to break the game open at 6-1. Jim Brophy was excellent for the second straight start, going 7.2 5 1 1 0 7 on 89 pitches to go to 2-0, 1.80. Jon Harbour struggled with a 7-1 lead in the 9th, allowing 2 runs and putting 2 more in, necessitating Freddy Zamora to get the final out for save #2.

Team record: 7-2. Next up: 4 more at home vs Texas.

April 13-16, 2043: vs Texas (4)
 

Game 1: Joel Gird and two relievers combined on a shutout as the Rays blanked the Rangers 8-0 in the opener of their 4-game series at Publix Park. Gird won his first game of the year after a 6 7 0 0 1 3 performance and he had plenty of support led by Josh Alexander, who drove in 3 including a 2-run double, and Jimmy Leonard, who knocked in a pair.

Game 2: Brad Jackson had his best start of the young season and the Rays edged the Rangers 3-2 for their 6th straight win. Jackson was 6 5 1 1 1 7 and improved to 2-0 despite having two poor outings to begin the season. Mike Barkley did his usual Houdini act in the 9th, giving up 2 hits but striking out the side around that for his 4th save. Luis Barela's RBI double in the 6th broke a 1-1 tie and Jose Mendez singled him home for what proved to be the game-winner.

Game 3: This game was rained out on Wednesday so we played a doubleheader on Thursday and Texas got the better of the Rays 6-2 in the first game. Johnny Soland's rough start to the season continued after going 6 7 5 5 5 4 - he's now 0-2, 7.02 in 3 starts. Luis Barela's 2-run homer (#3) accounted for the only Tampa Bay scoring.

Game 4: The Rays salvaged the nightcap with a 9-3 thrashing of Texas. Jimmy Leonard hit his 2nd homer, and grand slam, of the young season, Josh Alexander had a 2-run single and Tony Cordova added a bases-clearing double to provide all the scoring. Jose Mendoza started and was brilliant with 3 perfect innings but had to leave with mild back spasms, so Sean Forbes pitched the middle three and picked up the win despite allowing a couple of runs. Mendoza should be fine for his next start.

Team record: 10-3. Next up: A return date with the Yankees, this time in New York for 3.

MLB News: Kikuo Kawase finally signed and he got a hefty $19M from the Dodgers for one season of work. A couple of projected contenders suffered key losses: Cincinnati's slugging superstar Nelson Gamez will miss 4 months with bone chips in his elbow, and Houston, which had bounced back to take 5 of 6 after starting the year 0-6, will be without star OF Ricky Clark for 3-4 months with a partially torn labrum.

April 17-19, 2043: at NY Yankees (3)
 

Game 1: The Rays rallied late to take a 3-2 win over the Yankees at the Stadium in their series opener. Mike Willis' 2-run single in the 8th turned a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead, and Satoshi Sato (who picked up win #1) and Freddy Zamora (who nabbed save #3) held on for the win. They got an excellent start from Jim Brophy once again as the lefty went 6.2 5 2 2 2 3 in a no-decision. Luis Barela's 4th homer, a 435-foot shot to dead center in the 2nd, put the Rays on the board.

Game 2: Joel Gird had a rough go of it in the early innings putting the Rays behind 4-2, and that ended up the final score as the bats were largely quiet again. Former Rays ace Nate Schultz held them down over the final two innings for the save as he's now the Yankee closer. Gird allowed a pair in the first and two more in the 3rd before settling down to go 6 8 4 4 1 5 and fell to 1-1. Seth Williams' RBI double in the first was the offensive highlight.

Game 3: The Rays' run-scoring troubles in this series continued in the finale, but despite that they took a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the 9th, only for Freddy Zamora to give up a 2-run homer to let the Yankees equalize before giving up another one in the 10th, sending the Rays to a 3-2 loss on the day and a lost series. Had the bats not managed only 2 runs on 4 hits through 10 innings Zamora's troubles might have been averted, but in the end Brad Jackson's best outing of the year (7 2 0 0 2 9) was for naught. Josh Alexander had an RBI double for the only Rays hit of note.

Team record: 11-5, and we're actually 1/2 game behind the hot-starting Blue Jays. Next up: 3 games in Kansas City.