September 1: Activated OF Joel Bland from his rehab assignment at AAA Durham, recalled P Julio Mattila from Durham.
September roster expansion time and we welcome one of our top hitters back in Bland, who had been out since mid-July with a torn abdominal muscle, and lefty Mattila, our top pitching prospect now that Eljah Whitaker has graduated. The 2052 1st-round pick was 8-2, 3.27 with the Bulls and will pitch in long relief.
Game 1: This one was over almost as soon as it started as the Rays scored 6 in the 2nd on their way to an 8-1 rout of the Pale Hose. Dantel Chinchilla had the big hit, a 3-run homer (#12) which gives him 86 RBI and puts him on pace to drive in 100 out of the 9-hole. Before Chinchilla's clout Paul Mayes had a 2-run double. Elijah Whitaker (11-7) cruised at 7 5 1 1 1 8 for the win.
Game 2: Time for a Patented Publix Park Comeback as the Rays turned a 6-2 deficit in the 7th into a 10-6 win over Chicago. Jorge Barraza had his struggles at 5.1 7 4 4 2 4 and Tim Johnson allowed a couple of more runs as a loss looked incoming. But the bats had other ideas, especially Dave Gonzalez. The C/DH drilled a 2-run single to key a 3-run rally in the bottom of the 7th to pare the White Sox lead to one, and then came through with another 2-run single in the 8th to put them up 7-6. Paul Mayes was involved as well with an RBI double in the 7th and an RBI single in the 8th and Vinny Colon accounted for the first two runs with a pair of solo homers, giving him 18. Erik Witten (6-1) picked up the relief win.
Game 3: Oops, they did it again. Dave Rose had an uncharacteristically bad outing and Tampa Bay was down 6-2 to the White Sox once again, and once again they came back from that specific deficit to pull out a 7-6 win in 10 to complete the series sweep. Rose was a rough 4 8 6 6 1 4 and the comeback came very late. Down 6-3 entering the bottom of the 9th that man again Dave Gonzalez (who had driven in two runs earlier), blasted a 2-run homer (#12) and a rally following the homer saw David Morales single in the tying run. And in the 10th the Rays manufactured the winning run when Joel Bland led off with a walk, stole second, went to third on a groundout, and scored on Paul Mayes' sac fly, making a winner of Mario Berumen (7-7).
Team record: 87-50. There wasn't much of a division race coming into this series and there really isn't one anymore after the Orioles were swept, driving them 11 games behind and reducing the Rays' magic number to 15.
Some honors from the league for a guy whose name was all over these recaps:
Also some other big news:
After being unable to secure a big league job this year, Barela read the writing on the wall and officially announced his retirement, and we wasted no time in announcing the retirement of his #59. He'll go down in history as one of the greatest Rays of all time, winning 5 MVPs with us (and a sixth with the Phillies) along with 7 championships, and is a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame.