The asterisk is because the first game here is the completion of a suspended game from a couple of weeks ago:
Missing here is
Alex Faedo, who pitched the first four scoreless innings for the Rays before he was returned to Durham. Once again we called up
Joe Boyle as the 27th man but he wasn't as successful as last time he pitched in a suspended game for us. Meanwhile Zach Eflin did not pitch a Maddux despite what the box above implies - the 84 pitches was the total he threw today as with the game taking place right after the break he was able to step back in after having started it originally. Still I'm not sure too many CGSOs have taken this long to pitch.
Game 2:
And Rasmussen said "take that" to his former teammate Eflin, throwing 8 one-hit innings as the teams traded 2-0 wins on the day.
A busy Friday got even busier off the field as we made a couple of trades to reshape the starting rotation:
With Shane McClanahan still hopefully coming back in August we weren't looking to acquire a starter but this deal seemed too good to pass up as it was offered by Minnesota's AI GM. Ober's a solid starter on pace for a 2-WAR season and earned 2.6 last year and is coming off his best outing of the season, 8 shutout innings against Pittsburgh. He's due $7M in arbitration next year so we can either keep him or flip him. Cook isn't really anything special and was pitching to a 6.51 at AA Montgomery but he does have the potential to be a fifth starter. Bragg, who came over with Ober, is a lefty without much upside and probably won't make the big club.
So that gave us six starters and we dealt away the weakest link:
Littell, whom we planned to move anyway for McClanahan, has struggled (6-9, 4.97, 22 HR allowed in 108 IP) and was a free agent at year's end. We got a useful 2.2 WAR out of him last year but he was at only 0.7 so Ober will be an upgrade. And we get veteran lefty Speier in return who's been excellent this year in relief for Seattle (2.55 ERA with a 7/48 BB/K ratio in 35 IP, good for 0.8 WAR) and gives us a third quality lefty for the pen along with Cleavinger and Puk.
Eric Orze was sent to Durham to make room for Speier.
Game 3:
Speier gets the win in his Rays debut after Taj had to leave with mild shoulder inflammation, which should last five days. Since his turn would come up on our next off-day we can just skip or push back his next start.
Game 4:
Another great series for the Rays as they end up taking 3 of 4 and move to within one of Boston for WC1 (tied in the loss column) and 5 behind the Yankees. Next up: The lowly White Sox come to Steinbrenner for three games.
Players of the (abbreviated) Week:
AL: This guy:
NL: Sean Bouchard (COL), 8-13, 1 HR, 5 RBI
MLB News: Our deal for Ober was probably the biggest trade of late (not counting the Devers deal) until our division rival Yankees made a move for a quality starter and acquired Zac Gallen from Arizona in exchange for highly-touted infield prospect George Lombard Jr. Also the Pirates sent their closer David Bednar to the Giants for a couple of prospects.