Game 1: A day of frustration for the Rays as despite banging out 12 hits and drawing 3 walks, they hit into 5 double plays and lost 5-3 to the Angels in the opener at Publix Park. Tim Johnson (1-7) struggled some at 4 7 4 3 3 5 but the story was the squandered opportunities by the offense. Jose Lozada was 3-5 with 2 RBI and David Morales went 4-4 but everyone else seemed to be making outs at the wrong time with Kang-cheol Lee grounding into a pair of DPs himself.
Game 2: The Rays bounced back behind Dave Rose to take the second game by the same score they lost the day before, beating the Angels 5-3. Rose (14-6) was his typically solid 7 6 2 2 2 2 6 and Mario Berumen secured his 30th save despite allowing his first run since July 2 and only being scored upon for the second time in his last 30 appearances. Rose was backed by Jesus Avalos and Sung-min Yang, who each had 3 hits including a homer (#21 for Avalos & #13 for Yang) and 2 RBI. Avalos tripled and scored as well.
Game 3: Another day of missed opportunities for Tampa Bay as they lost their second straight series at home thanks to a bitter 3-2 defeat. Instead of hitting into DPs like they did in the first game they just left them on base with 12 in all including 8 from David Morales, who twice left the bases loaded in key situations. As a result they wasted Melvin Lopez's best start in about a month (5 4 1 1 2 6) with the bullpen letting them down as Steve Cleland gave up the equalizer in the 6th and Nate Trevathan (0-1) the winner in the 7th. Jesus Avalos had another 3-hit day and drove in a run but it wasn't enough.
Team record: 67-46. And with the Yankees taking 2 of 3 the Rays have dropped into second place, a game behind New York. Next up: They'll need to sweep the 3 from Baltimore to salvage a winning homestand before they go to Yankee Stadium for a huge series next weekend.
Despite the lousy week as a team, one Ray was able to hold his head up in pride:
Not sure "scrappy" is the best adjective for supremely-talented reigning AL MVP, but it's good to see him raking again after being in almost a month-long slump.