[Art Deco]

Well now that the trading deadline has passed, the rosters are set and it's time to see if the Rays can make hay with their upcoming stretch of seven games in ten days against the Yankees, whom they trail by 2 1/2.

August 2-4 vs New York Yankees (3)

Game 1: The game did not get off to an auspicious start for the Rays as Gleyber Torres took Max Fried deep for a 2-run first inning shot. But the Rays responded immediately in the bottom of the inning with 5 runs on 6 hits, chasing Luis Severino as they batted around. And they weren't done as they added solo homers in the 2nd (Meadows), 3rd (Bohm) and 4th (Choi) then two more on a Meadows triple in the 5th to open a 10-2 lead. Fried ran out of gas and into trouble in the 6th as a couple of runs scored and had a mediocre 5 3 4 4 4 1 line but got the win to go 11-7 as the Rays ended up prevailing 10-5. They rapped out 17 hits with everyone in the lineup getting at least one, led by Meadows' 4. So it's 1 1/2 games back now with McKay on the mound tomorrow.

Aug. 2: Sent Blake Snell to AAA Durham for a rehab assignment.

The six-week timetable for his shoulder bursitis was up so off to Durham for Snell, who started for the Bulls tonight against Gwinnett so I made sure to manage the game. How'd it go? Well after 2 innings Snell had to leave with "injury, diagnosis pending" so yeah, it did not go well at all (and by the way Mrs. Lincoln, the Bulls were 1-hit by Sean Newcomb). I'm on to the next day and still no diagnosis so I'm already mentally writing him off for the season (and hoping it doesn't stretch into 2022).

Game 2: Last night the Rays were the windshield, tonight they were the bug. After an early 1-0 lead on back-to-back doubles from Meadows and Renfroe off Trevor Bauer, McKay got knocked around for 2 runs in the 4th and then in the 5th he loaded the bases with nobody out and was up to 94 grueling pitches. With Aaron Judge due up, Jacob Nix came on and promptly gave up the grand slam to make it 6-1 and then allowed 2 more in the inning. The Rays quickly answered with 3 to make it 8-4 on a Kiermaier HR and a 2-run single by Ji-Man, but all they could muster the rest of the game was a second Kiermaier solo shot of the night and the Yankees won 8-5. The bullpen has been so overworked that I had Diego Castillo and Taylor Rogers each go 2 innings in order to save Anderson and Hand for use tomorrow. Here's hoping Glasnow can work another 7-inning outing like last time out, as the pen needs it.

August 4: Option P Jacob Nix to AAA Durham, recalled P Conner Menez. Sent SS Wander Franco to Durham on a rehab assignment.

With the bullpen on fumes, an arm was needed. At least Menez is a better option than Riley O'Brien at the moment. Here's hoping Wander's rehab goes a lot better than Snell's (still no diagnosis on day 3 ::gulp:: ). Wander will play 2-3 games and then join the team this weekend in Oakland if all goes well.

Game 3: Welp. This might have been the worst performance of the year, and here I was thinking with Glasnow on the mound this game was winnable. Glasnow struggled through a 31-pitch first, loading the bases, but got out of it with a couple of Ks. He settled down from there through four with the game scoreless. Then with 2 on and 2 out in the 5th, he served up a 3-run HR to Stanton. At 91 pitches I took Glasnow out for the 6th and brought in Menez in his AL debut* and boy did it not go well. Gio Urshela greeted him with a HR, and then after he put a couple of more on, Gleyber Torres took him deep and it was 7-0. None of that really mattered as the offense was 2-hit by Corey Kluber in a complete game shutout. It was almost a Maddux but he ended up with 101 pitches in what turned out to be a 9-0 Yankees win. So now they're 3 1/2 out and immediately playing at Oakland tomorrow in a 4-game series and on to Yankee Stadium for 3 more with no off days. Meanwhile, it's now Thursday morning after Snell came out Monday night and still no diagnosis. I'm expecting amputation to be recommended at this point. Really, though, just give me the bad news so I can put him on the 60-day and bring up anybody I want.

*Talk about a cursed trade. Yarbrough made his debut tonight for the Giants and went 5.1 12 7 7 0 4 against the Dodgers.

Team record: 69-46.

August 5-8 at Oakland (4)

Game 1: Someday the Rays will win again, but today is not that day. Yonny got the start and gave up 2-run HRs to Matt Olson and Ramon Laureano and allowed a total of 5 runs in 4 innings before having to leave the game with a tender elbow and a 2-week timetable so he's off to the IL. Trevor Richards pitched the final 4 innings and allowed 1 run on 3 hits and he will be Yonny's replacement when his turn comes up at Yankee Stadium (oh boy). The final was 6-4, as the Rays offense showed some life especially in the person of Whit Merrifield who went 4 for 5, homering and driving in a pair. Alec Bohm also went deep and Javy Baez was 1-2 with an RBI and 3 walks but the middle of the order (Meadows, Renfroe, Schwarber) went 0 for 12 to keep them from doing more. With lefty AJ Puk on the mound, Randy Arozarena finally got to play and went 0-4 with a run scored. And now Toronto is closer to the Rays than they are to the Yankees although their lead over Seattle for the final wild card is healthy at 9 1/2 games. For now.

August 6: Placed P Yonny Chirinos (tender elbow) on the 15-day IL, recalled P Jacob Nix from AAA Durham.

Nothing newsworthy on this move, but the big news is on Snell, who has a strained abdonimal muscle and will be out another 6 weeks. So it's possible he could come back for the playoffs, provided it's more than one game but that return date will be mid-September so hopefully Durham or Montgomery is in the playoffs for him to rehab.

Game 2: The Rays ran into a buzzsaw with Jesus Luzardo on the mound for Oakland. He went 8 3 0 0 2 7, but thanks to a fine start from Joe Ryan (5.2 3 1 1 0 7) the A's only led 1-0 through 8 thanks to old friend Matt Joyce who took Ryan deep in the 2nd. Jake Diekman came on to close it out for Oakland and the Rays loaded the bases against him with 1 out. Ji-Man hung in there and drew the walk to tie the game but Renfroe was thrown out at the plate attempting to score on Jason Castro's fly to left. In the bottom of the 9th, Taylor Rogers came up with lefties due up 2nd and 3rd in the inning. He got the righty Chapman to ground out then proceeded to give up three singles to the next four batters although the runner was held at 3rd. Nick Anderson came out to bail him out with a whiff of Chad Pinder, and then the Rays loaded the bases against the next Oakland pitcher, Daniel Hudson, in the 10th and this time the generosity of the Oakland bullpen came through again as Meadows walked, forcing in the go-ahead run. Alec Bohm followed with a 2-run single after Renfroe whiffed, and the Rays were suddenly up 4-1. With three righties due up, Anderson (4-4) stayed in and struck them all out and the Rays got an improbable win, giving the other team a gut-punch loss for a change. With the Yankees losing to Boston, the Rays are now 3 back (although 4 in the loss column).

August 7: Activated SS Wander Franco from the 15-day IL, optioned OF Randy Arozarena to AAA Durham.

Wander was only 1-12 in his 3 games at Durham, but Javy Baez played tired last night so I brought Wander back for this game and will give Javy a night off.

Game 2: A strange game in which pitchers dropped like flies. The Rays jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the 1st against Daulton Jefferies when Kiermaier led off the game with a HR, two outs later Renfroe followed suit with #34 and then Schwarber doubled home Ji-Man who had walked. Jefferies then had to come out with an injury and his replacement, Tyson Ross, had to leave the game two innings later. Meanwhile Max Fried was dealing, striking out 7 A's in the first 3 innings before running into trouble in the 5th as he allowed a 2-run HR to Franklin Barreto and a solo shot to Matt Chapman and suddenly we were tied. Max settled down and got through the 6th (with 11 Ks), and then in the top of the seventh the Rays got their strangest run of the season when with men on 2nd and 3rd Grant Holmes struck out Kiermaier but it was on a wild pitch that allowed Alec Bohm to score and Kiermaier to reach. And then Wander, in first game back in nearly 2 months, deposited a Holmes fastball into the left field stands to make it 7-3. Castillo and Taylor Rogers had scoreless innings and then with no save situation, Jacob Nix came on for the 9th. After allowing another Matt Joyce HR, Nix struck out the next two batters and then he himself had to leave with an injury (shoulder tendinitis, 1-2 weeks) so Hand came on after all to get the final out and preserve the 7-4 victory in which Fried goes to 12-7.

Game 3: Sean Manaea was a tough customer today, pitching a complete game against the Rays with a 9 5 3 2 2 10 line in 117 pitches. The only real offense the Rays got off him came early when Wander walked to lead off the game and Javy Baez went oppo just inside the right-field foul pole. The Rays added another run when Brett Gardner dropped a fly ball. And despite the efforts of Manaea that was all the Rays needed because Brendan McKay was even better, going 7.1 5 0 0 0 4 in a bounceback from a couple of mediocre starts. He did run into trouble in the 8th, allowing two hits, but the Human Eraser Nick Anderson whiffed David Fletcher and Matt Chapman to end the threat, and Hand had a clean ninth for save #22. McKay goes to 13-6, 3.12 with the win as the Rays take the season series from Oakland 4-3 with their third straight win as they fly cross-country to New York for a 4-game set at Yankee Stadium 3 games behind. One amusing moment from the game: for the first time in my 1 2/3 seasons managing the Rays I had a player ejected as Meadows, in a week-long slump, argued a called third strike in the 5th and was tossed.

Also of note in my MLB world: Cleveland's Oscar Mercado had two hits today to extend his hitting streak to 30 games, the longest I've seen so far as well.

Team record: 72-47.
WanderWatch: .342-13-48-23

August 8: Placed P Jacob Nix on the 15-day IL, recalled P Riley O'Brien from AAA Durham.

O'Brien was the only choice off the 40-man to call up with now Snell, Chirinos, Adams and Nix all on the IL. O'Brien will be the emergency long man taking over for Trevor Richards who received a battlefield promotion to the rotation. I considered waiving either Galvis or Brantley to bring up Shane McClanahan, who's looked real good at times since a mid-season promotion to Durham but has had his inconsistencies. A starting pitcher option I could have used at Durham was old friend Drew Smyly, but he too was hurt again recently as I'm fighting a war of attrition with the staff at both the MLB and AAA level.

August 9-12 at New York Yankees (4)

Game 1: Tyler Glasnow was dealing tonight, no-hitting the Yankees through 5 while the Rays built a 3-0 lead on solo HRs by Kiermaier and Renfroe and an RBI double from Wander. But after a leadoff walk in the 6th, he lost the no-hitter on an infield single and then a wild pitch moved the runners to 2nd and 3rd, and a soft single by Tyler Wade scored both when Renfroe misplayed it. Meanwhile the Rays could not add to their lead while Glasnow was pitch-efficient enough to get through the 8th on about 100 pitches. With limited choices in the bullpen I made the call to leave Glasnow in and he retired Wade to lead off the 9th. But then Luke Voit went deep to tie the game and that was that (his final line: a sparkling 8.1 3 3 2 1 12). I brought in Chaz Roe with righties due up and he promptly gave up a double to Gleyber Torres, and then intentionally walked Stanton. Torres and Stanton pulled off a double steal, so I intentionally walked Judge. With the bases loaded and infield in, Aaron Hicks hit into the rare 3-2-3 double play and the Rays were miraculously out of it. They still had to face Aroldis Chapman in the 10th, he of the MLB-leading 34 saves and a 1.49 ERA. But of all people, the lefty-hitting Kiermaier lined one into the short porch in right for his second homer of the night, a semi-tired Nick Anderson got a 1-2-3 inning despite no strikeouts, and the Rays had a crucial 4-3 win to pull within 2 of the Yankees (3 in the loss column). A team that was a terrible 2-7 in extra innings (no doubt contributing to being 3 games below their Pythagorean record) now has won two big extra inning games in the last four days.

Side note: Reigning AL Player of the Month for June and July Austin Meadows, is now in an 0-24 slump. Considering giving Brantley a start in LF.

Game 2: Well with Trevor Richards going up against Corey Kluber (who 2-hit the Rays last week) you figured the Rays would have to outscore the Yankees tonight instead of winning a pitcher's duel. But Richards performed credibly well, going 4 3 2 2 5 6 (the walks were unusual for him but given the lineup he negotiated it well), and the bullpen shut the Yankees out from there. But aside from Wander's RBI single in the 2nd the Rays could not get anyone home despite having many, many more baserunners against Kluber this time around. They left 10 on base and the key sequence came in the 8th when they loaded the bases with one out, only for last night's goat Chapman to come in and whiff Sal Perez and Whit Merrifield. The Rays went 1-2-3 in the 9th and that was it for a game they should have won considering the pitching effort, losing 2-1. By the way it turned out Renfroe had tired and needed to sit so Meadows stayed in the lineup moving over to RF, and he broke out of his slump by reaching three times (two singles and a walk). Joe Ryan goes tomorrow and I'm sure a Yankee fan or two in the outfield seats will be going home with a souvenir. Back to 3 behind.

Game 3: Joe Ryan can survive HRs, but he can't survive walks. And when he walked a man in the 1st, that made Aaron Judge's dinger a 2-run homer instead of a solo shot. However a solo shot would have been enough tonight anyway as the Rays could barely touch Gerrit Cole, who went 7.1 3 0 0 1 9 against them in a 5-0 loss. Judge added an inside-the-park HR off Ryan who had a symmetrical 4.1 4 4 4 4 4 line. The only bright spots were Riley O'Brien's 2 scoreless innings, striking out 4 and getting Ryan out of a jam when he left in the 5th, and Merrifield with 2 of the Rays' 4 hits on the night including their first in the sixth inning. Max Fried will have to salvage a split tomorrow for the Rays to stay in the division race. By the way Ji-Man is slumping again, down to .215. Bohm was the odd man out of the lineup when Franco came back but it might be time to give him some time at his natural position.

Game 4: This one got ugly early after the Rays took a brief 1-0 lead in the top of the 2nd. Max Fried got knocked around for 6 runs in the 2nd on what seemed like single after single. He settled in for the next three innings and ending up fanning 7 but it really didn't matter. Gleyber Torres was unstoppable, going 5 for 5 with 3 RBI as the Yankees prevailed 10-4, pounding out 15 hits. Only Rays who covered themselves in anything but shame today were Merrifield with 3 more hits and an RBI and Kiermaier was 2-3 for with a pair of ribbies. Meanwhile Javy Baez struck out all 5 times up as it's bring on the Blue Jays for one game at season's end since the division is really looking like a lost cause. I know I've said that before and they've made up ground but I'm not expecting the Yankees to go on another stretch where they lose 10 of 11.

Team record: 73-50.
WanderWatch: .339/.412/.570, 13-50-24, 4.3 WAR.

August 13: Claimed LHP Lucas Sims on waivers from Cincinnati; waived IF Joey Wendle; demoted LHP Connor Menez to AAA Durham, added Sims to the active roster.

Sims had been in the Cincinnati rotation most of the season and had fanned 127 in 100 innings so there's no doubting his stuff. He ended up on waivers because he had 52 walks and a 5.10 ERA but I see a multi-inning lefty reliever in there with stuff. Of course I saw the same thing with Menez and he stunk in his 3 outings (albeit all against the Yankees). Wendle has no future other than as a utility player and he's 31 and out of options next year so he either gets waived now or waived in March. There were plenty of decent utility infielders out there for minor league contracts this year (Galvis was one) so I'll pick up one to back up Wander and Merrifield next year (heck it could even be Vidal Brujan).

August 13-15 vs Pittsburgh (3)

Game 1: More frustration for the Rays as they fall to the Pirates 4-3 in 10 innings. McKay pitched pretty well, but a couple of key moments hurt him. One was the solo HR allowed to Socrates Brito and another came after he had struck out a Pirate to apparently end the inning but the ball got away from Sal Perez putting runners on 1st and 3rd and then he gave up an RBI single. He still ended up with a fine 7 7 3 2 0 10 line but the offense couldn't do much for him. Back-to-back doubles from Renfroe and Ji-Man accounted for a run, and then down 3-1 solo homers by Meadows and Javy Baez got the game tied but with a couple of men on in the 8th and 1 out, they couldn't get the go-ahead run (Wander was 0-5 with a couple of rare strikeouts). So in the 10th Brad Hand struck out the first two Pirates but yielded a HR to lefty Adam Haseley and the Rays went down 1-2-3 in the bottom against Pirate closer Nick Burdi for their fourth straight loss. Meanwhile the Blue Jays beat the Yankees, which I'm not sure is good news as it pulls the Jays within a game and a half while keeping the Rays 5 back (they're still 10 ahead of Oakland and Seattle for the 2nd wild card, though).

News from my MLB: Look out DiMaggio, Oscar Mercado's hitting streak is at 34, and Boston's Jose Peraza had a 6-hit game in the Red Sox's 13-2 thrashing of Seattle.

Game 2: The Rays continue to circle the drain, dropping their fifth straight 5-2 to Pittsburgh. Glasnow, after his gem at Yankee Stadium, couldn't get it done against his old team, allowing 5 runs in 5 innings despite whiffing 7. Meanwhile the offense continues in its funk, having no easy time against Hector Noesi, only getting 2 runs in 7 1/3 off him. They had a chance with the bases loaded in the 8th down 5-2 but Alec Bohm hit a weak grounder back to the pitcher to end the threat and they went down meekly 1-2-3 again in the 9th. The bright spots: Meadows was 3-for-3 with a solo shot (#38) and a walk, Wander bounced back with a couple of hits, and Riley O'Brien looked good in 2 innings of relief. Elsewhere, Mercado extended his hitting streak to 35 and right now I'm more excited about that than the Rays.

Game 3: They just keep finding new ways to lose. Trevor Richards got the start, and had trouble with his control, not making it out of the 4th throwing 84 pitches, including three walks, 2 hit batters and a balk with a man on 3rd. Still Lucas Sims in his Rays debut cleaned up his mess and looked good, going 2.1 1 0 0 1 4, and the Rays managed to take a 3-2 lead in the 7th when Kyle Schwarber finally hit his first Rays longball. But the bullpen blew it again. Anderson only needed 6 pitches to get out of the 7th so he started the 8th and gave up a leadoff double that Jose Alvarado allowed to come around and score. And it was probably my mistake to go with Diego Castillo in the 9th with righties due up instead of Hand, giving up two hits and putting runners on first and third. Hand came in, and with the infield in somehow still managed to allow an infield hit to score the winning run. The Rays had the bases loaded and two out in the 9th, but Javy Baez grounded out on a 3-1 count and now it's six in a row. The good news: they won't lose tomorrow. Of course they don't have a game tomorrow. Luckily Seattle and Oakland both lost so their WC magic # is down to 29. Meanwhile, with the Jays beating the Yankees the Rays are only 1/2 game up on Toronto (it probably doesn't matter where the wild card game is played, but still). And hey, Mercado's at 36! That ties him for 10th all-time, and the longest since Jimmy Rollins' 38 in 05-06 if you count streaks over two seasons, or Paul Molitor's 39 in 1987.

Team record: 73-53.
WanderWatch: 334/408/560 13-50-24