[Art Deco]

August 16, off-day news: IF Joey Wendle cleared waivers and was assigned to AAA Durham.

Glad to see Wendle stays around, although I don't see a place for him on next year's 40-man. Meanwhile, Oscar Mercado's hitting streak is up to 37 for Cleveland. Also, I tried making a deal with Arizona for free-agent-to-be closer Archie Bradley for a 26-year-old A-ball pitcher but unsurprisingly Bradley did not make it through waivers. And the Jays won, dropping the Rays to 3rd on percentage points.

August 17-18 vs St. Louis (2)

Game 1: Joe Ryan pitched his heart out and so did Dakota Hudson for the Cardinals as both took dueling 1-hit shutouts into the 7th. Probably not my best decision to let Ryan face Paul Goldschmidt the third time around in the 7th but his pitch count was reasonable. Mistake, of course as Goldy doubled, then I *still* left Ryan in and Tommy Edman singled Goldschmidt home. Chaz Roe came on and then things got messy as Howie Kendrick's sac bunt was thrown away by Ji-Man, putting runners on 2nd and 3rd, Harrison Bader singled in Edman, and then Paul DeJong hit a sac fly to make it 3-0 and consecutive loss #7 seemed all but assured. But a Cardinals error of their own by Hudson put Renfroe on after Javy Baez's single, and Ji-Man drilled one into the rightfield stands to tie the game. Nick Anderson came on in the 8th and did his striking-out-the-side thing, and then in bottom of the eight Merrifield and Kiermaier made outs but Wander drew a walk, Baez singled, and Meadows then singled but Wander couldn't score. The AI manager left Hudson in and he proceeded to walk Renfroe, forcing in the run that should have scored on the Meadows single. Brad Hand gave up a one-out single but that was it, and the losing streak is over! Anderson (5-4) gets the win, save #23 for Hand. The Blue Jays lost so the Rays are back in 2nd, still 5 1/2 behind the Yankees though. And Mercado's at 38!

Game 2: Man, I needed this one for my mental health. The Rays put a couple of touchdowns on the board and walloped the Cards 14-1. Kevin Kiermaier and Hunter Renfroe were the stars tonight, with the former going 5-for-5 with 3 doubles and 2 RBI, and the latter hitting two home runs, one inside and one outside the park and driving in 5. The Cards actually led this game 1-0 in the top of the 4th before Renfroe hit a 2-run inside job and Sal Perez followed with a massive solo blast. They then tuned it on for 8 more in the 5th highlighted by the 3-run Renfroe shot. They pounded out 17 hits on the night with everyone in the lineup except Schwarber getting at least one (he walked twice and scored, but is only at .213 with 1 HR since joining the team). The beneficiary of all this run support was Max Fried, who wasn't at his most dominating (7 5 1 1 3 3) but pretty efficient. He goes to 13-8 and ties teammate McKay for 2nd in the AL in wins. Riley O'Brien had 2 nice innings with 3 Ks in garbage time. The only negative was that Ji-Man suffered a bruised hand and is DTD for 6 days after being hit by a pitch. The Jays keep the heat on with an ever bigger blowout: 23-5 over Ohtani and the Angels.

Team record: 75-53.
WanderWatch: 332/407/550, 13-51-24.

August 19: Placed 1B Ji-Man Choi on the 10-day IL, recalled IF Yandy Diaz from AAA Durham.

Welcome back Yandy. With 8 of the next 11 games against projected lefty starters, I wanted to add a decent RH bat. Bohm will play the majority at 1B, but Yandy could fill in there or at DH against lefties to give Schwarber a break. He was at 288/364/498 at Durham after being sent down in May.

August 19-22 at Baltimore (4)

Game 1: A terrible loss to a terrible team (Orioles now 48-80, but 5-5 vs the Rays) as they fall 6-1. The game was a pitcher's duel between McKay and Matt Shoemaker going into the bottom of the 6th, but McKay served up a HR to Adley Rutschman and then after a walk, one to Renato Nunez and it was 3-0. Meanwhile Shoemaker stole the Rays' sole, limiting them to 3 hits through 7 before Kyle Schwarber took him deep to make it 3-1. The Rays got 2 more on with 1 out but last night's hero Kiermaier grounded into a double play. Then Taylor Rogers flopped in his ongoing audition to be next year's Rays closer by serving up a 2-run HR to Austin Hays and then the second of the night for Nunez (who now has 45 HR). With yet another Blue Jays win, the Rays drop back to 3rd in the division. And sadly Oscar Mercado went 0-4 tonight to end his hitting streak at 38 games.

Game 2: Wasn't sure they could play worse than they did last night, but they topped themselves. While the final was only one run worse (7-1) than last night, the play in the field was atrocious, two errors in the first inning led to two unearned first inning runs off Glasnow, but plenty of it was his fault as well as he was knocked around for 9 hits and 6 runs (4 earned) in 4 2/3 innings. But of course as bad as the fielding and pitching was, the offense stunk it up yet again as a great lineup on paper failed to live up to its billing as they've now lost 8 of 10. Of the 5 hits they did manage (granted they were going up against Caleb Smith who has been tough this year, but still), 3 came from Merrifield including a solo HR for the only Rays run. But even he managed to get himself picked off down several runs, as did Meadows after a walk. I'm getting to point where I feel like autoplaying the remainder of the season than spending 15 minutes at a time watching play like this unfold. Right now the only thing going for them is a 9-game lead on Oakland for the second wild card and with the A's losing their magic number drops to 26.

August 21: Sent P Yonny Chirinos to AAA Durham on a rehab assignment.

Hopefully he comes back better from this injury than the last one. His rehab start at Durham was successful: 5 4 0 0 0 5 on 63 pitches. He's in turn with the 5th spot in the Rays rotation and will get one more start at Durham and if all goes well he'll get a start for the Rays in 10 days.

Game 3: After Trevor Richards' adventures last time out, Lucas Sims got the start for the Rays and he pitched well, shutting out the O's through the first five innings. The Rays caught a break when Baltimore starter Blaine Hardy had to leave in the 4th with injury as he too had not allowed any runs. The Rays were given a gift in the 5th when reliever Zac Lowther loaded the bases with walks and Wander hit a sac fly to put the Rays up 1-0, and then in the top of the 6th a Renfroe single was followed by a Javy Baez HR to make it 3-0. Sims ran out of gas in the bottom of the inning when he gave those two runs right back on an Anthony Santander HR and then he was pulled after a walk. Chaz Roe got out of it, Anderson and Castillo pitched scoreless innings, but it was still tense at 3-2 when Wander added some insurance in the top of the 9th with a 2-run HR, his 14th. Wander had been pretty unproductive since returning from the DL (hitting only .200 in 65 AB) so maybe he'll get going now. Hand worked around a Wander error in the bottom of the 9th to nail down the 5-2 win with save #24 and Sims got the win in his Rays debut start and will get another shot in 5 days. Another A's loss to the Angels coupled with today's win knocks the WC magic # down to 24.

Game 4: The Rays salvaged a split of this 4-game series with a 10-1 shellacking of the Orioles. Joe Ryan was absolutely brilliant with his best start since his season debut at Toronto, going 7 4 0 0 1 8 for his fifth win. The Rays got to Matt Boyd, who gave them trouble at the Trop last month, with 3rd inning HRs from Merrifield and Meadows (a 2-run shot), and then broke it open in the 4th with a Bohm blast and then after a Rio Ruiz error kept the inning alive, Renfroe capped it with a grand slam off old friend Alex Cobb making it 9-0. Riley O'Brien couldn't get it done in relief of Ryan and his bases-loaded walk to Rutschman cost the team the shutout; Trevor Richards was shaky but finished it off (those two walked 5 between them in the last two innings). A's won so the magic number for a wild card drops to 23.

Team record: 77-55.
WanderWatch: 327/403/545 14-54-25

August 23: Traded 24-year-old minor league reliever Michael Plassmeyer and 20-year-old minor league right fielder Jason Hodges to the Boston Red Sox, getting 23-year-old minor league right fielder JJ Bleday in return.

And you thought I was done trading for the season. Of course minor leaguers not on the 40-man can be dealt after the MLB deadline, so I got Bleday back. After I traded him to the Cubs in the Baez deal, the Cubs turned around and traded him to the Red Sox for Dansby Swanson (guess they needed a SS, wonder why?). Anyway I noticed he was on the block of sorts for the Red Sox so I shipped out Plassmeyer (a semi-intriguing lefty but there's no room to keep him on the 40-man this winter) and Hodges, who's kind of a lottery ticket. The key with Bleday (aside from him being a fine prospect) is that he doesn't required Rule 5 protection. Expect several more of these type of deals as I have about 8-10 guys I'd like to keep but don't have room for on the 40-man.

August 23-25 at Cleveland (3)

First time the Rays have played Cleveland since they swept a 4-game series from them at the Trop way back in late March, and the game started out weird as the Rays apparently left their gloves in Baltimore. Four errors in the first three innings, all but one of which Max Fried worked around (Sal Perez's throw into centerfield on a Jose Ramirez steal attempt allowed a runner to score from third, but that runner reached after Hunter Renfroe dropped a fly ball). But they did not forget their bats as they scored all 6 of their runs on 5 longballs in a 6-1 win. Wander Franco and Renfroe blasted solo shots in the top of the 1st (#39 for Renfroe, tying him with Meadows for the team lead), a 4th-inning solo blast from Schwarber, a truly mammoth blast from the red-hot Merrifield (392/425/595 in August) which Oscar Mercado didn't even turn around to look at in the 5th, and then a 2-run Bohm in the 6th. Fried, once he didn't have to keep getting 4 or more outs every inning, rolled from there, going 7 5 1 0 0 5 and getting his 14th win to move into second in the AL in that category. Taylor Rogers finished with two uneventful innings. Oakland lost again so the Rays are 10 up on them with a magic # of 21. Barring a Yankees collapse the only suspense left in this season is whether the wild card game will be at the Trop or the Rogers Centre.

Game 2: Talk about your pitcher's duels. Brendan McKay and Tyler Anderson each went 8 scoreless, and then their respective bullpens each went 3 more scoreless before the Rays broke through in the 12th off Aaron Bummer. With one out Bohm walked, Perez singled, and then after a Schwarber groundout advanced them to 2nd and 3rd, Kiermaier doubled over the head of Oscar Mercado scoring them both. Merrifield then singled home Kiermaier, and Brad Hand got save #25 by setting his old teammates down 1-2-3 with a pair of Ks. McKay was 8 4 0 0 1 8 to lower his ERA to 2.99 and Anderson, Alvarado and Castillo all pitched scoreless innings with Diego getting the win. Oakland lost again, wild card magic # down to 19. Meanwhile thanks to the Rays' two defeats of Cleveland, the AL Central stands like this: Cleveland 67-65, Detroit 67-65, White Sox 66-65.

Game 3: Well as mentioned when they played the Angels, it's tough to sweep a team in 7 games for the season and tonight Cleveland finally got the better of the Rays behind Mike Clevinger. Glasnow was OK, but Oscar Mercado deposited his first pitch of the game into the rightfield stands and that would be all Cleveland would need in a 3-0 win. Glasnow also gave up a Daniel Johnson HR after a walk and was great outside of those two pitches (albeit a bit wild for him), going 6 3 3 3 3 7. Meanwhile Clevinger shut down the Rays, whiffing 11 through 6 2/3 and while the Rays had some baserunners (they actually outhit Cleveland 7-4) it was usually one per inning. It didn't help I had to sit Wander and Perez due to fatigue and Kiermaier himself played with it as I realized I don't have anyone else to play CF on the roster (expect a callup tomorrow). The A's won so no reduction of the magic number.

Team record: 79-56.
WanderWatch: 325/399/548, 15-55-25

August 26-29 vs Seattle (4)

Game 1: The Rays played HR Derby in a 7-4 win with Baez (2), Meadows, Perez and Schwarber all going deep. The Rays built a 4-0 lead on Baez's 2-run shot in the first, Baez's sac fly in the third and Perez's solo shot in the 4th, and Lucas Sims was rolling along in his second Rays start but ran into trouble in the 5th. He allowed a 2-run HR to Robinson Chirinos and then I left him in one batter too long trying to get through the inning when Jarred Kelenic also hit a 2-run blast. Trevor Richards had to come in and clean up, and whiffed 4 in 1 1/3 innings. Baez restored the lead in the bottom of the inning with his 2nd HR and then Meadows (#40) and Schwarber later homered to pad the lead. Richards got the win, his first of the season (he's now 1-5 despite a 3.71 ERA) and the bullpen shut it down from there with Hand notching save #26. The magic number drops to 18 as Oakland won.

Game 2: A tough loss in extra innings (which haven't been kind to the Rays this season) as the Rays squandered a golden chance to win in the 10th before falling 4-3 in 11. Randy Arozarena finally got his first MLB hit of 2021 with a leadoff triple, but Kiermaier struck out, Merrifield hit a grounder right at the drawn-in 2nd baseman, and then Wander popped out. Diego Castillo then surrendered an RBI double to Kyle Lewis in the 11th. Before then, the Rays got 5 mixed innings from Joe Ryan, his line was 5 3 2 2 4 8 so he ended up throwing 95 pitches in those five innings. Chaz Roe allowed a run to make it 3-1 Seattle before Baez had an RBI double and Renfroe a sac fly to tie it. He had homered in the 1st for the Rays initial run, joining Meadows on 40 HR and making it what I believe is the first time in Rays history two players hit 40 in the same season. The negative from this game aside from this loss is that 6 relievers ended up getting used with Ryan's short start and the game going 11 so Fried will need to be on his best tomorrow. Oakland won so no reduction of the magic number.

August 28: Optioned OF Randy Arozarena to AAA Durham, recalled P Riley O'Brien.

With Fried, Richards and Anderson the only non-tired arms for today's game, I needed another one. I should have thought of this yesterday and not let Conner Menez go for Durham last night. He did, though, and took a no-hitter into the 8th striking out 11, so good for him.

Game 3: It was a day of rest for about half the team, given all the bullpen arms that were tired and then I saw that Baez, Merrifield and Perez all needed to rest, so welcome Freddy Galvis and Yandy Diaz to the lineup. And whaddya know, they came through. After Max Fried gave up a first inning 2-run HR to Eugenio Suarez (traded by the Reds mid-season for Shed Long), he settled in after that, and while he didn't get the very long outing I was hoping it was because he was striking out everyone, 12 in 6 1/3 to be precise at 106 pitches. Meanwhile Wander answered Suarez's first-inning HR with one of his own, and then in the 3rd the Rays added 3 more with RBI doubles from Galvis and Yandy. Schwarber who's finally heating up, added another with his fifth Rays homer, a solo shot, and the score was 5-2 when Fried came out. And that's where it ended as well with Trevor Richards coming on and pitching the last 2 2/3 and only allowing a walk, giving him his first save to go with his first win with both coming this week. He's the seventh different Ray to pick up a save this year while Fried gets win #15 which keeps him second in the AL behind Lance McCullers Jr.'s 16. The A's keep winning so the magic number only dropped to 17, and the Rays moved back ahead of Toronto after the Jays lost in Anaheim. The Jays also lost Vlad Jr to a fractured foot but it's only a 3-week injury so we still should see him the wild card game.

MLB oddity of the day: The light-hitting Royals outslugged the Yankees today 14-12 with Gerrit Cole starting. They hit 8 HRs and chased Cole with 7 runs (on 5 homers!) in the 1st. YCPB. No Mike Zunino (on the bench) or Brandon Lowe (on a long-term injury) involved. The Yankees actually came back to tie the game at 11 in the 6th before KC put up 3 more in the 7th. Also remember how I mentioned Aaron Judge missed three months? Well he still has 25 HR and they've come in 207 AB. Yowsah.

August 29: Activated 1B Ji-Man Choi from the IL, optioned IF Yandy Diaz to AAA Durham.

Game 4: Ouch. McKay was popped for 5 runs in the 1st on 49 pitches, and given that the bullpen remains tired, he hung in there for 3 innings and 93 pitches down 6-0. Riley O'Brien came on in the 4th, gave up a 3-run HR to Kyle Lewis, and got the privilege of pitching the rest of the way in the 11-1 loss. Only #41 for Renfroe denied Justus Sheffield a shutout. We'll put this one in the rear-view mirror and enjoy tomorrow's day off to get the bullpen rested. Oakland and Toronto were shut out, though, leaving the Rays in 2nd and dropping the magic # to 16.

Team record: 81-58.
WanderWatch: 322/395/546, 16-57-25

August 31: Activated P Jacob Nix from his rehab assignment, optioned P Riley O'Brien to AAA Durham.

Nix had two nice 2-3 inning "starts" in Durham, so he's ready to come back as a middle/long man, and O'Brien gets to pitch for Durham as they approach the playoffs which they are a lock to make. Bad news on the minor league injury front though as 2B prospect Vidal Brujan suffered a torn labrum and is out for 6 months. This will bring him back around the beginning of spring training but it might set him back relative to other 2B prospect Xavier Edwards, one of which may be the utility infielder next year playing a lot of 2B with Merrifield getting some OF starts. I'm also eyeing DH next year as a revolving door with one of these two rotating in, Seth Beer or Alex Kiriloff (both of whom are raking at Durham). Brujan does have an edge over Edwards in that he's already on the 40-man.