The Rays took their customary 2 out of 3 in Anaheim. Having acquired a 1B, SP and late-inning reliever in the last week or two we made no further deals at the deadline.
The bats didn't arrive in SoCal on time as the Rays were held to a mere two hits (both off the bat of
Jeremy Begley) in a 2-0 loss to the Angels. It wasn't as if they were overpowered as LA pitching only managed 4 strikeouts, but just about every batted ball found a glove.
Danny Morales (11-2) was the tough-luck loser at 6.1 6 2 2 3 6.
Offense was at a premium again as the Rays made it 15 innings without scoring a run until breaking through for three in the 7th to take a 3-0 win over the Angels.
Mike Blake (6-3) pitched one of his best games of the season going 6 4 0 0 2 4 and the bullpen held with
Walt Kelly pitching around of couple of hits for his 20th save. The belated offense came thanks mostly to RBI singles from
Justin Blackwell and
Danny Rodriguez.
Tampa Bay took 2 out of 3 in this series with LA despite scoring in only 2 of the 27 innings in which they played but tonight it was quality over quantity as the rode a 10-spot in the 3rd to a 10-3 win over the Angels. The biggest inning of the year got going with
Danny Rodriguez's 3-run homer (#11) and was capped by
Jeremy Begley's grand slam (#28). The outburst enabled
Sergio Espinoza (7-1) to cruise to the win at 6 7 1 1 0 6, lowering his ERA to 2.72.
Team record: 69-37. Next up: A day off before the second week of our two-week road trip begins with 3 at Yankee Stadium.
A big July for Begley:
Barring injury or some other freakish event Begley should be a unanimous AL MVP - his 7.6 WAR to date is a whopping 3 more than his closest competitor and is 1.2 better than the NL leader to give you an idea of what kind of season he's having. Those numbers above go with elite Gold Glove defense as he sports a +13.3 ZR at SS.
MLB News: Colorado's Brady House hit career homer #400.