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Art Deco · 05-15-2021, 03:16 PM

Game 1: Now that our 20-game win streak was snapped and we've lost 4 games in the last 8 days, the mantle of hottest team in baseball belongs to the Minnesota Twins who rolled into Publix Park on an 8-game winning streak, having fought their way within 1/2 game of the second AL wild card. But in that run the Twins haven't faced anybody quite like baseball's new best all-around player, Jaiden Hardaway. The AL MVP-elect put on a show today, homering to lead off the game and lacing three more hits including a second homer to give him 37 as the Rays disposed of Minnesota 7-1. Today's performance increased his numbers to 376/483/648 with 37 HR, 102 RBI, 31 steals and 10.6 WAR. A couple of our other big bats also came through with the longballs as Bo Angeac hit #41 in the 2nd and Rodolfo Rivas blasted #37 with a man on in the 3rd as they built an early lead for Leo Ortega. The righty was more efficient than overpowering today, going 7 7 1 1 0 3 on 85 pitches and earning his 16th win against 3 losses and lowering his ERA to 3.36. Jordan Diaz struck out the side in the 8th, and Bob Sirna was entrusted with the 9th but walked the bases loaded with one out so Jim Connors came in and got the final two outs. In addition to Hardaway's 4 hits, Angeac and Rivas each had 3 as did Nate Clark who was 3-5 with an RBI double. Haven't really talked enough about what a great season Angeac is having as it's been overshadowed by Hardaway's but the Rays 3B is 322/437/658 with 42 HR, 98 RBI and 8.0 WAR. Any other year and he's the putative MVP but in 2033 he's second fiddle on his own team.

Game 2: Lots of late-inning drama with both teams going back and forth until the Rays came away with a walk-off win thanks to Vlad Guerrero Jr's homer off Minnesota closer Malachi Barber in the bottom of the 10th to give them a 5-4 win. It started off as a duel between Nate Schultz and Minnesota's Jordan Wicks with the teams exchanging single runs through the first five innings. But Schultz gave up a homer in the 6th to put Minnesota on top and another run in the 7th made it 3-1 Twins. Schultz finished 7 4 3 3 1 6 and got off the hook for the loss when Victor de Jesus hit a dramatic 2-out 3-run homer in the bottom of the 8th off former Rays farmhand Franklin Dacosta to give Tampa Bay a 4-3 lead. The homer was De Jesus's 46th and together with an earlier RBI single gave him 4 RBI to go over 100 at 103, the third Ray after Nate Clark and Jaiden Hardaway to reach that mark with Bo Angeac and Rodolfo Rivas soon to join at 98 RBI each. So things looked in hand going into the 9th with Kikuo Kawase taking over but the Japanese righty continued his recent struggles. After whiffing the leadoff man he served up a deep homer to CF by Arturo Jimenez and gave up a triple to the next batter. Fortunately he rediscovered his strikeout pitch to get the next two hitters and strand the man at 3rd but still blew his 3rd save in his last 4 outings. The Rays looked like they'd pull off the win in the bottom of the 9th on a Hardaway single but Omar Rodriguez was gunned down at the plate. Jordan Diaz came in for the 10th and made his case for closing over Kawase by striking out the side, and he recorded his 4th win of the year when Guerrero, in a 3-for-27 mini-slump and 0-4 today, hit his walk-off winner off Barber. Yesterday I touted the MVP-caliber season Angeac was having and today I'll single out de Jesus, himself now 285/404/622 with 46 HR and 103 RBI and 6.8 WAR to date, projected for 7.9 but who also picked the wrong season to win an MVP with those kind of numbers.

Game 3: Deja vu all over again as the Rays got another walk-off homer to beat Minnesota 4-3 and sweep the series. Alex Buitrago led off the 9th against a lefty and although I briefly considered pinch-hitting the rested Nate Clark, I remembered Buitrago's success against lefties this year and sure enough he came through with HR #21. We got to that point as Andy Aparicio wasn't his sharpest today and lost a 3-1 lead in the 6th, finishing 6 8 3 3 1 9. A pretty good start for 90% of the pitchers out there, but the 3 runs he allowed today were the most he's surrendered in a game since July 8, almost two months to the day. Jim Connors turned in two pretty good innings and Tim Siqueiros got through the 9th and picked up his 9th relief win of the season. The three earlier Rays runs came on a double play grounder, a Luis Corpus RBI double and a Victor de Jesus sac fly.

Team record: 113-28. Next up: An off-day then we head to Fenway Park for 3.

05-15-2021, 03:16 PM	#908
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,642	September 5-7, 2033: vs Minnesota (3) Game 1: Now that our 20-game win streak was snapped and we've lost 4 games in the last 8 days, the mantle of hottest team in baseball belongs to the Minnesota Twins who rolled into Publix Park on an 8-game winning streak, having fought their way within 1/2 game of the second AL wild card. But in that run the Twins haven't faced anybody quite like baseball's new best all-around player, Jaiden Hardaway. The AL MVP-elect put on a show today, homering to lead off the game and lacing three more hits including a second homer to give him 37 as the Rays disposed of Minnesota 7-1. Today's performance increased his numbers to 376/483/648 with 37 HR, 102 RBI, 31 steals and 10.6 WAR. A couple of our other big bats also came through with the longballs as Bo Angeac hit #41 in the 2nd and Rodolfo Rivas blasted #37 with a man on in the 3rd as they built an early lead for Leo Ortega. The righty was more efficient than overpowering today, going 7 7 1 1 0 3 on 85 pitches and earning his 16th win against 3 losses and lowering his ERA to 3.36. Jordan Diaz struck out the side in the 8th, and Bob Sirna was entrusted with the 9th but walked the bases loaded with one out so Jim Connors came in and got the final two outs. In addition to Hardaway's 4 hits, Angeac and Rivas each had 3 as did Nate Clark who was 3-5 with an RBI double. Haven't really talked enough about what a great season Angeac is having as it's been overshadowed by Hardaway's but the Rays 3B is 322/437/658 with 42 HR, 98 RBI and 8.0 WAR. Any other year and he's the putative MVP but in 2033 he's second fiddle on his own team. Game 2: Lots of late-inning drama with both teams going back and forth until the Rays came away with a walk-off win thanks to Vlad Guerrero Jr's homer off Minnesota closer Malachi Barber in the bottom of the 10th to give them a 5-4 win. It started off as a duel between Nate Schultz and Minnesota's Jordan Wicks with the teams exchanging single runs through the first five innings. But Schultz gave up a homer in the 6th to put Minnesota on top and another run in the 7th made it 3-1 Twins. Schultz finished 7 4 3 3 1 6 and got off the hook for the loss when Victor de Jesus hit a dramatic 2-out 3-run homer in the bottom of the 8th off former Rays farmhand Franklin Dacosta to give Tampa Bay a 4-3 lead. The homer was De Jesus's 46th and together with an earlier RBI single gave him 4 RBI to go over 100 at 103, the third Ray after Nate Clark and Jaiden Hardaway to reach that mark with Bo Angeac and Rodolfo Rivas soon to join at 98 RBI each. So things looked in hand going into the 9th with Kikuo Kawase taking over but the Japanese righty continued his recent struggles. After whiffing the leadoff man he served up a deep homer to CF by Arturo Jimenez and gave up a triple to the next batter. Fortunately he rediscovered his strikeout pitch to get the next two hitters and strand the man at 3rd but still blew his 3rd save in his last 4 outings. The Rays looked like they'd pull off the win in the bottom of the 9th on a Hardaway single but Omar Rodriguez was gunned down at the plate. Jordan Diaz came in for the 10th and made his case for closing over Kawase by striking out the side, and he recorded his 4th win of the year when Guerrero, in a 3-for-27 mini-slump and 0-4 today, hit his walk-off winner off Barber. Yesterday I touted the MVP-caliber season Angeac was having and today I'll single out de Jesus, himself now 285/404/622 with 46 HR and 103 RBI and 6.8 WAR to date, projected for 7.9 but who also picked the wrong season to win an MVP with those kind of numbers. Game 3: Deja vu all over again as the Rays got another walk-off homer to beat Minnesota 4-3 and sweep the series. Alex Buitrago led off the 9th against a lefty and although I briefly considered pinch-hitting the rested Nate Clark, I remembered Buitrago's success against lefties this year and sure enough he came through with HR #21. We got to that point as Andy Aparicio wasn't his sharpest today and lost a 3-1 lead in the 6th, finishing 6 8 3 3 1 9. A pretty good start for 90% of the pitchers out there, but the 3 runs he allowed today were the most he's surrendered in a game since July 8, almost two months to the day. Jim Connors turned in two pretty good innings and Tim Siqueiros got through the 9th and picked up his 9th relief win of the season. The three earlier Rays runs came on a double play grounder, a Luis Corpus RBI double and a Victor de Jesus sac fly. Team record: 113-28. Next up: An off-day then we head to Fenway Park for 3. Last edited by Art Deco; 05-15-2021 at 07:17 PM.