The 2020 (and beyond) Tampa Bay Rays - Page 6

Art Deco · 07-21-2020, 08:27 PM

Game 1: This was a Boston massacre as the Rays blasted the Red Sox 14-6 and the score was actually flattering to the Sox after they got 4 in the 8th resulting from a pair of Rays errors. After going quickly in the 1st the Rays started teeing off on Chris Sale, who leaves the game with a 10.95 ERA and is a shadow of the ace he once was. Alec Bohm homered for the third consecutive game to kick things off and Wander followed with a 2-run double to make it 3-0 in the 2nd. Keibert Ruiz, who had a 4-hit night, took Sale deep in the 3rd to make it 5-0 and the rout was on. It was all more than enough for Tyler Glasnow, who went 7 4 2 2 3 7 to go to 3-0. If I were to quibble, I'd note the 3 walks now give him 12 in 24.1 innings but I'll let it slide. Wander ended with 4 hits and 3 RBI, Meadows was 3-6 with a 2-run homer and 4 runs scored, and Rylan Bannon got the start at DH and hit his first Rays HR in the 8th. The Rays pounded out 18 hits in all and ironically the only one who didn't get a hit was Rafael Devers, who went 0-5 in his return to Fenway (Toro went 0-4). Austin Franklin came on in the 8th with a 10-2 lead and would have thrown a perfect inning except Devers and then Brujan booted grounders, and things got away from Franklin a bit with Bogaerts hitting a bases-clearing double to cut it to 10-6 but then the Rays got the 4 back in the 8th. The Yankees won yesterday but lost tonight in San Francisco so the lead is up to 9.

Game 2: They say winning never gets boring, but the Rays are starting to push it these days with another routine 8-1 win over Boston (watch, they'll lose tomorrow now that I've said this), a season-high 8th straight. Rafael Devers, 0-5 with an error in his return to Fenway, came out angry and inspired, and immediately set out to business by taking a Cionel Perez offering over the Monster for a 2-run shot in the first inning, and then the game was effectively over in the 3rd when Alec Bohm homered in his fourth straight game (#10) for a pair and Brandon Marsh added a 3-run shot. Chris Paddack said thank you very much for the offense as he completely shut down the Sox through 8 innings with the only Boston run coming in the 8th when a dropped third strike by Ronaldo Hernandez allowed Jackie Bradley to reach and he scored on an Abe Toro single. It was unearned and Paddack's final line was 8 6 1 0 0 8 as he went to 5-1 (16-1 overall including the playoffs as a Ray) and lowered his ERA to 2.74. Just on the principle of it, Austin Meadows got that run back in the 9th on an RBI groundout. In addition to the HR, Devers doubled twice for a 3-hit game. Yankees won so the lead remains 9.

Game 3: Well they didn't lose as I had semi-predicted, but it wasn't another boring romp despite what the final 6-1 score might imply. For most of this game it was a tight duel between Max Fried and Justin Dunn, with the Rays going up 1-0 in the 3rd when Max Kepler doubled and scored on Vidal Brujan's sac fly. The Rays added a run in the 6th when Rafael Devers singled in Brandon Marsh and 2-0 was enough to get Max Fried the win. Although he had baserunners here and there, Fried managed 7 shutout innings on 7 hits, walking 1 and striking out 4 to go to 3-1. It stayed 2-0 until the 9th with Nick Anderson pitching a perfect 8th but then the Rays added 4 in the top of the inning, all unearned off a Buster Posey throwing error and a Teoscar Hernandez fielding error with a 2-run Keibert Ruiz RBI single and an Alec Bohm sac fly making it 6-0. Aaron Ashby came on for the bottom of the inning and it was sloppy on the Rays' end as well with a Brujan error, an Ashby wild pitch and a Ruiz passed ball costing the Rays the shutout, although Ashby did strike out the side around that. The Yankees lost but Baltimore won to move into 2nd, so the lead is now 9 1/2 games.

Team record: 23-4.

Art Deco · 07-22-2020, 12:09 PM

Before we get into the KC series, some award updates:

Yeah, yeah, we know we can't afford what you'd get as a free agent.

Lotta talk about Baz and Lacy coming through the system but Sandy Gaston has stuff that's as filthy as anyone we have with an 80 in the category. Harnessing it is the question with 40 control but so far so good. You'll notice he's pictured here with a Durham hat as the AI promoted him the same day here.

Game 1: This was more like a 2022 game with its football score outcome as the Rays beat the Royals 13-8. It was only briefly close as the Rays jumped out for 4 runs in the top of the 1st. Brujan tripled, Wander homered, and then later in the inning Alec Bohm hit his 5th in 6 games and 11th overall to make it 4-0. KC got within 5-3 in the 5th off Joe Ryan, who for the second straight game didn't allow a homer, but his error and some KC base hits got the Royals on the board. The lead was expanded to 8-3, Ryan left in the 6th allowing a run to make it 8-4 and leave with a 5.2 7 4 3 2 6 line to still go to 4-2 and 4.11 ERA (the only starter in the rotation with an ERA over 4) and we proceeded to the bottom of the 8th with that scoreline. Decided to go with Shane McClanahan against some lefties in the bottom of the 8th, and that was a mistake as he gave up a single, double, and then a HR to Julio Pablo Martinez and boom it was 8-7. Enter Alvarado, and he struggled some, loading the bases but striking his way out of it. Then the Rays tacked 5 more on in the top of the 9th and Will Smith will have to wait another day for a save. Austin Franklin pitched the ninth and gave up Martinez's 2nd HR in as many innings but that was it and the Rays go to 25-4 and the win streak reaches 10. In addition to Franco and Bohm, Rafael Devers had a solo HR in the 5th, Brujan drove in 4 runs with 2 hits, Seth Beer had his first 3-hit day which included a double and a triple (!) and they had 18 hits as a team with everyone getting at least one except Max Kepler, but he walked 3 times. Baltimore won (they're now 16-14, good for them) so the lead stays 9 1/2.

Game 2: We were due for a bad game, and bad it was as Kansas City dumped the Rays 7-1 to end their 10-game winning streak. The omens were bad from the beginning: After Brujan and Wander walked to lead off the game, Brujan was thrown out at 3rd on an attempted double steal, short-circuiting a potential early rally. Then Noah Syndergaard took the mound and that man again, Julio Pablo Martinez, took him deep to lead off the game and the Royals scored another run off a couple of hits in the inning to go up 2-0. Thor was not on his game at all, and ended 3.2 8 5 5 0 3 and had to leave with a mild calf strain which will not cause him to miss his next start. Dany Jimenez came on and allowed 2 of Thor's inherited runners to score, and Shane McClanahan came on and while otherwise good (4 Ks in 1.2 scoreless innings), his wild pitch allowed an inherited Jimenez runner to score. Meanwhile the offense took the night off, getting only 4 hits and the 1 run off Matt Wisler and a pair of Royals relievers, with Alex Kirilloff getting 2 of them and the lone RBI. Keibert Ruiz's 13-game hitting streak ended as well. And speaking of streaks snapped, until I got a popup on the screen I did not realize that Syndergaard had won his last 15 decisions last year with the Mets, and the 6 with the Rays had made it 21. It turns out he ended up 3 short of Carl Hubbell's record of 24. Baltimore lost, so the lead remains 9 1/2.

Game 3: Well there's a first for everything and for the first time this season the Rays have dropped two games in a row. Tonight the Royals prevailed 7-5, and Tyler Glasnow wasn't at his sharpest but neither was the pen. The Royals got 3 off him in the first 2 innings and another in the fourth as he went 5 6 4 3 2 4. But even worse was the bullpen as Aaron Ashby put 3 men on in the 6th and Scott Barlow proceeded to walk two of them in after loading the bases with a walk himself. For the Rays, Seth Beer had a 2-run double, Yusniel Diaz had a pinch-hit RBI double and Austin Meadows had 4 hits, but their 3-run 8th inning rally was too little, too late. Meanwhile, Xavier Edwards haunted his former organization by going 3-4 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored and a stolen base. The Yankees and Orioles both won, so for the first time in a long time the Rays' lead is reduced, now 8 1/2 games.

Game 4: One thing I've always hated as a baseball fan is rooting for the road team in an extra-inning game. When you don't score in the top of the inning, you then know your team has to shut down the other team for at least 2 innings, one to stay alive and the other (hopefully) to preserve the lead. Well that was the Rays in the 10th and 11th innings today but they broke through in the 12th on a Ronaldo Hernandez double which scored Max Kepler, and Aaron Ashby as the last non-tired man in the pen finished a 3 1/3 inning outing by striking out Lewis Brinson with men on first and third in the bottom of the inning as the Rays pulled out a 4-3 win to split the series and stop a 2-game losing streak. There was definitely an air of "here we go again" when the Royals scratched out runs in the first two innings against Chris Paddack, but he settled down after that to go 6 6 2 2 0 7. On offense they were having a hard time with former Gator great Brady Singer, although with 2 out in the 4th they got on the board when Alec Bohm doubled in Austin Meadows who had walked. And Bohm was at the center of things when they took the lead in the 6th as Rafael Devers doubled in Wander who had walked and then Bohm hit his 2nd RBI double of the game to score Devers. With a 3-2 lead in the 7th it was time to turn it over to the Alvarado/Anderson/Smith troika and while Alvarado pitched a perfect 7th, Nick Anderson put a couple of men on in the 8th and Ronaldo's passed ball allowed the tying run to score. Will Smith came for the 9th but had to leave after retiring two batters with a mild abdominal strain that will keep him out tomorrow but no longer, so enter Ashby with the rest of the pen tired and after getting the last out in the 9th he went 3 more heroic innings to keep KC off the board and secure the win, atoning for his rough outing the day before. Some bad news marred the win, though: Alex Kirilloff ruptured a tendon in his finger making a diving catch attempt in the 5th and will be out a little over 3 months (101 days according to the editor to be precise). This is the second straight year he'll miss half the season with an injury as a bad hamstring strain cost him a similar length of time last year. With the bullpen on the tired side, for now I'll likely bring up a pitcher which we'll probably need as we head to Baltimore where it always seems to be a high scoring affair. Speaking of the O's, neither they nor the Yankees played so the lead is back up to 9.

Team record: 26-6.

Art Deco · 07-23-2020, 08:54 AM

Ack! that should read at Baltimore (3), wish there was a way to edit the header.

May 5: Placed Alex Kirilloff on the 60-day IL with a ruptured finger tendon, recalled P Drew Strotman from AAA Durham.

Strotman comes up now as we need a fresh arm. I have 2 40-man roster spots open now with Gallegos also on the 60-day, so I'm going to mull over who to bring up as the 13th bat over the next few days, it's possible it could be a free agent infielder, or perhaps someone from Durham.

Game 1: Well this was not what we expected from a game at Camden Yards: a pitchers' duel. Grayson Rodriguez, the typically wild but hard throwing Orioles starter, somehow managed to go 8 innings and only walk 2 and strike out 2, while Max Fried held the Orioles largely in check and we went 2-2 to the bottom of the 8th. With Fried at 107 pitches, Nick Anderson came on and promptly gave up a Renato Nunez single and an Austin Hays HR and Baltimore took a 4-2 win to pull within 8 games. The Rays got 2 men on against Orioles closer Jairo Diaz in the 9th with one out but Max Kepler and Brandon Marsh each hit line drives right at Nunez at 1B to end the game. The offense continues in its mini-slump, only managing 5 hits on the night and two were of the infield variety. Seth Beer hit HR #5 to tie it in the 7th after Brujan's RBI single had tied it at 1 in the 5th. Fried, who went 7 7 2 2 3 6, gave up a pair of Adley Rutschman RBI singles for Baltimore's first 2 runs.

Game 2: Now this was the Camden Yards slugfest I was promised. Unfortunately the Rays came out on the short end of it, 11-8, as Joe Ryan served up 3 HRs, Shane McClanahan a pair and Dany Jimenez one. It was a back-and-forth game with the Rays taking 5-2 and 8-6 leads thanks to 2 HRs from Austin Meadows, one from Wander and one from Marsh, but Rays pitchers kept giving 'em back. Austin Hays, who homered to win last night's game in the 8th, homered in his first two plate appearances to get the Oriole offense going early, Anthony Santander hit a pair including the winner against McClanahan, and Rio Ruiz didn't care about the lefty-on-lefty matchup with McClanahan either as his 2-run HR tied it at 8 in the 7th. Shane has really struggled lately with his ERA up to 8.79, so he'll be used in low-leverage situations for a while. Vidal Brujan was 3-4 with a steal. The fourth loss in five games sees their lead cut to 7 as the O's appear to be for real this year, at least with the bats. Here's hoping Noah Syndergaard puts an end to the nonsense tomorrow.

Game 3: The final was 6-0 with Noah Syndergaard on the mound so it sounds like a Rays win, right? Nope. Caleb Smith, who has given us fits in the past, did it again going 7.2 6 0 0 0 6 (albeit against a makeshift lineup, more on that in a moment), while Thor uncharacteristically walked 2 in the 2nd leading to 2 Orioles runs, and then served up 3 HRs in the middle innings as his ERA balloons to 4.20 after his second straight subpar performance. Injury was added to insult when Rafael Devers tweaked a hamstring and had to leave after doubling in the 2nd, he'll have to miss a couple of days. Also Austin Meadows and Vidal Brujan had to sit as they were tired (so was Devers, but I was down a hitter so he played and got hurt), which meant lefties like Beer and Kepler had to end up playing when they wouldn't have. The only positive from Syndergaard's outing was that he went 7 and Drew Strotman (on the express back to Durham) pitched the 8th so the bullpen got some rest for the next series. But suddenly Baltimore is now only 6 back and the Rays have hit their first extended patch of adversity, with only an extra-inning win in KC keeping them from having lost 6 straight. I'm sorry I said anything about boredom a week ago when they swept Boston.

Team record: 26-9.

Art Deco · 07-23-2020, 06:00 PM

May 8: Optioned P Drew Strotman to AAA Durham, recalled IF Triston Casas from AAA Durham.

Needed to go back to 13/13, and with Devers out temporarily I needed to call up someone so Casas, acquired along with Devers, got the nod as he was having a good season at Durham with 8 HR in 89 AB and hitting .270. He hit 4 HR in about 10 games in a brief Boston callup last year and will get the start tonight at 3B.

Game 1: Tyler Glasnow came out firing on all cylinders, striking out the first 5 Diamondbacks tonight on his way to an excellent 6 3 1 1 2 9 outing. But he found himself down 1-0 in the middle of the 5th before the Rays scratched out a couple of runs around a key Nick Ahmed error on a sac fly from Brujan (which would have been the 3rd out without the error) and an RBI infield single from Wander. Then Austin Meadows launched #8 into the RF stands to make it 3-1 and it was time to back end of the pen to take over. Nick Anderson had a perfect 7th with a pair of Ks and then Brandon Marsh hit #7 in the bottom of the inning and Keibert Ruiz doubled in Wander to make it 5-1. Alvarado still came on for the 8th, and had maybe his worst outing in 2 years, giving up 3 runs on 4 hits to suddenly make it 5-4, and Scott Barlow had to get the final out with the tying run at 2nd. Max Kepler added his third homer of the season in the bottom of the 8th to give the Rays a cushion, and Will Smith got his save situation but he too was shaky, putting the first two men on before getting a double play and foul pop to nail down the 6-4 win and get save #6. Glasnow goes to 4-1, 3.06 with the victory and the Rays snap a 3-game losing streak. Triston Casas was 0-4 but it was his groundball that Ahmed booted in the 5th, and he hit one to the RF track in the 7th. The Red Sox, behind Abe Toro's 8th HR of the season, beat Baltimore so the lead is back up to 7.

May 9: Signed CF Alberto Almora Jr. to a minor league contract, assigned him to AAA Durham.

Outside of a bad 2021 season, Almora's had 3 WAR and 2 WAR seasons in 20 and 22, and while I don't view him as any kind of potential starter he's a right-handed bat who can play the OF and will make a decent backup once he's had some at-bats at Durham. Last year he was .279-17-75 for the Cubs, and he does destroy lefties (to the tune of 348/383/663 last year, a bit of an outlier in his career power-wise but still).

Game 2: It was all there: Rays fall behind several runs early, Rays offense goes to work 2nd/3rd time through the order and takes the lead, bullpen shuts it down rest of the way. Well they had 2 of those 3 things happen, but the bullpen part let them down. Chris Paddack, who had walked 4 batters all season, walked 3 in a 39-pitch first inning and gave up 3 runs, then a fourth after walking a couple more, ending with a schizophrenic 5 5 4 4 5 6 line. But the offense got to Corbin Martin, starting with a Seth Beer HR against the organization he was traded from (and who with Martin moved from Houston to Arizona in the 2019 Zack Greinke deal) then Ronaldo singling in Kepler who had doubled to cut it to 4-2 then with it 4-3 in the 6th Wander laced a 2-run double to right to put the Rays up and scored on a Devers sac fly and it suddenly was 6-4. Aaron Ashby, who pitched a perfect 6 with 2 Ks, stayed in with two lefties up and put them on base. Then Scott Barlow came in (Anderson and Alvarado were tired) and was even worse, allowing Ashby's runners to score along with 3 of his own after a bases-loaded walk and a bases-clearing triple by Drew Ellis. And Arizona was back ahead 9-6. Beer hit his 2nd HR of the game off Alex Colome in the bottom of the 7th to make it 9-7, but that turned out to be the final score as the Rays lost their fifth in seven. The only bright spot from the pen was the return to form of Shane McClanahan, who pitched a hitless 8th and 9th striking out 5 and looking like his dominant self. The Orioles won so the lead is back down to 6.

Game 3: After seven games of five losses and two narrow wins, it was nice to see a dominant performance on both sides of the ball for the Rays as they crushed the Diamondbacks 11-0 with Max Fried throwing a complete game, 4-hit shutout. Fried was in control all the way, walking 2 and striking out 9, only running into trouble in the top of the 5th while nursing a 1-0 lead after a Devers error, a single, and a double steal put runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out, but he whiffed the next two to get out of the inning. And it was in the bottom of the inning that the offense came alive as Arizona closer-turned-starter JB Bukauskas (the 3rd guy Arizona got in the 2019 Greinke deal) gave up a pair of hits and a walk to load the bases for Austin Meadows, who crushed a ball to dead center for a grand slam and a 5-0 Rays lead. Triston Casas got a start at 1B with Alec Bohm in a recent slump (he had the dreaded snowflake next to his name) and got off to a rough start at the plate today, whiffing twice and then hitting into a double play. But in the bottom of the 7th he found himself up with the bases loaded and drilled his first Rays HR into the RF stands for the team's second slam of the game and a 9-0 lead. And for good measure he came up again in the 8th and went deep almost to the same spot, giving him 6 HR in 41 MLB at-bats after a brief callup by Boston last year. Fried goes to 4-1 with a 2.59 ERA, off to his best start in a season for the Rays, and Meadows ended up 4-5 with 5 RBI as he also had a first inning RBI single. Baltimore won to improve to 22-16 and stay 6 behind.

Team record: 28-10.

Art Deco · 07-24-2020, 10:55 AM

Game 1: First time we've seen the Yankees this year, and they've struggled - Aaron Judge is only slugging .309 right now, for example. It was Joe Ryan tonight against Yankee rookie Miguel Yajure who was just called up from AAA. Well Ryan didn't waste any time giving up his usual HR, as Gleyber Torres took him deep for a solo shot in the 3rd. But Ryan didn't give up another hit until Torres led off the 7th with a single, which chased him from the mound. But the Rays weren't doing too much better against Yajure, who was getting a lot of soft contact with a few exceptions. The exceptions being Max Kepler and Brandon Marsh, who hit back-to-back doubles in the 3rd to tie the game, and Alec Bohm, who saw Triston Casas hit 2 HR in his place the other day as he sat due to a slump, and who launched HR #12 to deep LCF after getting a couple days off. Bohm's longball made it 2-1, and that's where we stayed when Ryan came out in the 7th. Nick Anderson made quick work of the next 3 Yankee hitters, and Alvarado got the first two out in the 8th, but ran into trouble again allowing a Kolten Wong double and then a walk to Luke Voit. With Torres due up, Scott Barlow came on and got him on a fly ball, and Will Smith struck out Stanton, Judge and Hicks to get save #7 and preserve the 2-1 win. While the Rays only managed 6 hits for the night, the Yankees were held to 3. Ryan improves to 5-2 with the win. The Orioles were thrashed 13-2 by the Angels, so the lead is back up to 7.

Game 2: This was a game that was a laugher for the Rays, then it wasn't, then it was again, and then it wasn't again as they held on to beat the Yankees 11-8. After the Yankees scored in the first against Noah Syndergaard, the Rays got two back in the bottom of the inning against an unusually wild Jose Urena, who ended up walking 7 in his 3 2/3 innings. They tacked on one in the 2nd and then when the Yankees cut it to 3-2 in the 4th, they appeared to blow it open with 5 runs in the 4th to make it 8-2 on a 2-run single by Meadows, an RBI double by Alec Bohm and an RBI single from Seth Beer. But a Rafael Devers error in the top of the 6th allowed the Yankees to get a pair of unearned runs off Thor, who was pretty hittable today and ended with a 6 9 4 2 2 6 line but got win #7. The Rays added one more in the sixth and two more in the seventh to make it 11-4, but after Austin Franklin pitched a perfect 7th, he ran into some trouble in the 8th, allowing a run and leaving two on for Dany Jimenez. Jimenez immediately surrendered a 3-run HR to Yankee backup C (or perhaps starter now with Andrew Knizner out injured) Raudy Read to make it 11-8. Jimenez got the next two to get out of the inning and with the big 3 RH bats of Voit, Torres and Stanton due, Nick Anderson got the call and set them down in order with a pair of Ks to nab his 2nd save of the year. Meadows ended 4-4 with 3 runs scored, 4 RBI and 2 doubles, Alec Bohm was 2-4 with 3 RBI, Beer and Keibert Ruiz were 2-4 with 2 RBI each and Brandon Marsh reached base all 4 times up on 3 walks and a single with 3 runs scored and a steal as his OBP reaches .423. Baltimore came back with 4 runs in the last two innings to beat the Angels 10-9 so the lead stays 7.

Game 3: The Yankees started Shawn Semple, who came in with an 8.33 ERA, but you'd never know that by the 8 6 2 1 2 2 line he put up as the Rays made plenty of contact, just mostly weak in a 4-2 loss. Things looked good early when Austin Meadows hit #10 in the first inning to put them up 1-0 and Tyler Glasnow looked good through 3 himself. But in the 4th Aaron Judge hit a blast to tie it, and then in the 5th things got away from Glasnow when he allowed 4 hits and 3 runs it to make it 4-1. Meadows singled in Brandon Marsh in the 8th to cut it to 4-2 but they could get no closer and meekly went down 1-2-3 against new Yankee closer David Bednar. The only bright spot was the bullpen, which pitched 3.2 scoreless after struggling of late, with Shane McClanahan looking good again with 5 up, 5 down, 3 on strikeouts. With the 2 RBI today, Meadows leads MLB with 44. Remember when he couldn't buy a hit the first 10 games or so of the season? The Angels did us a favor beating Baltimore as the lead remains 7.

Team record: 30-11.

Art Deco · 07-24-2020, 03:58 PM

First off, some weekly honors:

Game 1: The offensive funk continues as this time even Meadows couldn't get the offense going as they fell 2-0 at Miami. Chris Paddack and Braxton Garrett were hooked up in a duel, and Paddack blinked first in the 8th inning when he gave up a 2-run HR to Cedric Mullins. The Rays had a few opportunities with multiple baserunners but couldn't get the big hit when they needed it; of course they only had 5 for the night, 2 of them from Alec Bohm. Paddack had a complete game, going 8 4 2 2 3 8, but unlike where that would normally be enough to win, given his 16-1 all-time record as a Ray (well now 16-2) today it wasn't. Baltimore won yesterday while the Rays were off but lost today, so the lead is 6 1/2.

Game 2: Another pathetic performance in South Florida as the Rays were thumped by the Marlins 7-1. They actually took a 1-0 in the 3rd on a Kepler triple and a Marsh double leading off the inning, but after Max Fried bunted Marsh over the inability to get him home should have been an omen, and in the bottom of the inning Fried served up a 2-run HR to lefty hitter Dominic Smith. 2-1 is where we stayed until the bottom of the 6th when former Ray Travis d'Arnaud hit his own 2-run HR to make it 4-1, and then Scott Barlow shat the bed in the 7th putting three on with one scoring and Shane McClanahan gave up a double allowing the other two Barlow runners to score and the game was out of hand. The offense that couldn't be stopped now only has 3 runs in its last 3 games combined and the team is now 5-9 since starting 25-4. Fortunately the Yankees, our next opponent in a trip to the Bronx, handled Baltimore so we're still up 6 1/2.

Team record: 30-13.

Art Deco · 07-24-2020, 09:27 PM

Game 1: I'll start with the good news. After a "here we go again" first inning that saw the Yankees score 4 times off Joe Ryan thanks to Austin Meadows' dropped fly ball and a 2-run HR from Aaron Judge, the Rays fought their way back to take a 9-4 win which was much closer than that score would indicate as they tacked on 4 runs in the top of the 9th. Down 4-2 in the 6th, Max Kepler hit a two-out, 3-run HR off Jose Urena to give the Rays the lead to stay. Now the bad news: While Ryan settled down after that first inning to pitch well, with one out in the 6th he had to come out with what appeared to be an elbow injury and it turns out he has a partially torn UCL and is headed for Tommy John surgery. All kinds of options here from making McClanahan a starter to promoting Clarke Schmidt or Shane Baz or going out and finding someone in trade. Ryan was the 5th starter, so he'd be skipped come playoff time so the question for now is how much it will impact winning the division. It likely hurts more for 2024 as now 2 starters have to be replaced with Syndergaard going to free agency. Anyway, there will be more time to discuss this. Back to the game, they got back in it in the 3rd when Brujan and Wander doubled and Devers singled home Wander, then came the Kepler HR. After Ryan came out, Aaron Ashby finished with a couple of strikeouts but then gave up a leadoff single to lefty Kolten Wong in the 7th. Enter Nick Anderson, who got 3 quick outs and they were so quick he pitched the 8th as well, striking out 4 and only throwing 20 pitches over those 2 innings. Will Smith had another save opportunity snatched from him when they got 4 in the 9th, so Jose Alvarado, who had been struggling big-time lately, got a lower-leverage opportunity and struck out the three batters he faced to end the game. After all that Ryan at least got the win, ending his season 6-2 with a 4.50 ERA. Elsewhere Baltimore got a run in the 9th to tie Cleveland, then beat them in extras. That was after they lost last night so the lead stands at 7.

May 20: Placed P Joe Ryan on the 60-day IL with a partially torn UCL, recalled P Drew Strotman from AAA Durham.

Strotman is the easy choice for now as a fifth starter won't be needed for 8 days with an off day coming up on Monday. Clarke Schmidt or Shane Baz will likely be the internal option. While I view McClanahan as a starter for next season, right now I want to keep him as the multi-inning lefty.

Game 2: It's officially time to worry about Noah Syndergaard. He's been mediocre to bad the last 3 starts and today he was even worse, getting bombed for 7 runs and 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings in a 7-1 loss to the Yankees as he his ERA ballooned to 4.68. After the Rays took a brief 1-0 lead on a Devers RBI single, Thor gave up a 2-run HR to Aaron Hicks and a solo shot to Gio Urshela in the 2nd, and then a grand slam to Miguel Andujar in the 6th. And it might have been worse had he not been bailed out with 3 double plays. Meanwhile the offense had no answers for Shawn Semple once again, after going 8 6 2 1 2 2 against them six days ago, today he went all the way with a 9 5 1 1 0 6 as batter after batter hit pop ups or ground balls. Just an ugly day all around, but this team could be in trouble if Syndergaard doesn't turn it around. Fortunately Baltimore lost and didn't gain any ground but the malaise continues as the team is now in a 6-10 slump.

Game 3: It was a matchup of two of the hardest throwing starters in the AL, and it did not disappoint. Tyler Glasnow and Gerrit Cole went head-to-head and fought to a draw through 8 innings, both leaving as the game went 2-2 into the 9th. Glasnow 8 7 2 2 3 7 on 108 pitches and Cole was 8 8 2 2 2 8 on 124. The Rays had to deal with some early frustration as on two different occasions they had runners thrown out at the plate trailing 2-0, but there was no throwing out Austin Meadows' 11th HR of the year, a 2-run in the 6th. Yankee closer David Bednar came on in the 9th and the Rays loaded the bases with 1 out, but Max Kepler struck out and Brandon Marsh grounded out to end the threat. Nick Anderson came on in the bottom of the 9th and did his job with a perfect inning, and then in the top of the 10th the Rays put two more on with two out but this time Keibert Ruiz came through with a double to score Vidal Brujan (who had singled and stolen 2nd) with the go-ahead run, and although Alec Bohm struck out for the 4th time in 5 hitless ABs to keep them from getting any more, Will Smith finally got his save situation. And although he had to face 3 tough righties in Voit, Torres and Stanton, he got them all including Voit and Stanton on strikes, and the Rays go to 2-0 in extra inning games this year with the 3-2 win. Anderson gets his first win and Smith nabs save #8. With the Rays record now 32-14 it's kind of odd that a team's closer has only saved 1/4 of its wins but there have been a lot of blowouts. Baltimore lost, so the lead grows back to 8.

Team record: 32-14.

Art Deco · 07-25-2020, 04:36 PM

Game 1: I'll let a picture say a thousand words (although I'll write a few hundred anyway):

As you can see it was quite the dramatic walk-off win for the Rays against the Dodgers in what would be nice to be a preview of the 2023 World Series. Chris Paddack, who has pitched against LA a time or two during his years with the Padres, was outstanding through 6, only allowing a Joc Pederson HR. With one out in the 7th, he put a couple of men on and unfortunately Jose Alvarado let them score, allowing an RBI single to Cory Seager and then uncorking a wild pitch to let the go-ahead man score. This was after a Alec Bohm 500-ft HR to dead center tied the game in the 5th and Vidal Brujan doubled in Rylan Bannon who had walked to put the Rays up 2-1. Julio Urias was otherwise tough on Tampa Bay, though, and left ahead 3-2 in the 7th. It stayed that way through the 8th and then Aaron Ashby didn't exactly distinguish himself, allowing 3 baserunners and a run to make it 4-2 heading to the bottom of the 9th. That's when Edwin Diaz, the Dodgers' new closer, after retiring Bohm on a pop-up gave up a single to pinch-hitter Max Kepler, then a walk to pinch-hitter Seth Beer, an infield single to Brandon Marsh to load the bases, and then a single to center from Brujan who scored Kepler to make it 4-3 but the slow Beer was held at 3rd against the cannon arm of Cory Bellinger. No matter, though, as brief former Ray Taylor Rogers came on to face Wander who had his own infield single to tie it, and then Rafael Devers hit one over the head of RF Jacob Robson to win it. Ashby got this 3rd win of the season, however undeserved. Paddack ended up 6.1 4 3 3 3 6 and really pitched better than that. Baltimore won with a run in the bottom of the 9th against the Yankees and had won yesterday while the Rays were idle so the lead is 7 1/2.

Game 2: No drama at the Trop tonight as the Rays jumped all-over All-Star pitcher Walker Buehler for 5 runs in the first inning and never looked back in a 14-1 rout of the Dodgers. Rafael Devers picked up where he left off with his walk-off hit the night before by going 5-5 and hitting for the cycle, scoring 4 and driving in 4, while Keibert Ruiz terrorized his former team with a pair of 2-run HRs. Brujan and Wander started the bottom of the 1st with infield hits, and after a Meadows fielder's choice, Devers doubled in Brujan, Ruiz walked to load the bases and then Alec Bohm drilled a double to deep LCF scoring a pair, Seth Beer singled in Devers, and Max Kepler's sac fly scored Bohm. Ruiz tacked on a 2-HR in the 3rd, Devers homered to lead off the 5th, and then Ruiz doubled his season-to-date HR total with his second 2-run shot in the 7th. Brandon Marsh added a 2-run HR of his own in the 8th, and then the only suspense left was Devers' cycle and he obliged with a 2-run triple to complete it. The beneficiary of all this run support was Max Fried, who held the Dodgers in check to the tune of 7 7 1 1 0 7, rarely getting into any trouble and improving to 5-2, 2.77. Austin Franklin and Drew Strotman pitched scoreless innings to finish it out. Baltimore finished a sweep of the Yankees to stay 7 1/2 back.

Team record: 34-14.

Art Deco · 07-25-2020, 08:31 PM

Game 1: It was fitting that the man nicknamed Thor pitched for the Rays tonight as they were a team of avengers looking for payback against Cleveland's Kantaro Yokoyama, who went 8 innings to beat the Rays and snap their AL-record 25-game winning streak last August. Syndergaard was an iron man tonight, going 8 innings himself as the Rays defeated Cleveland 4-2 for their 4th straight win. It was a welcome return to form for the ace righthander, going 8 5 1 1 1 7 and picking up his AL-leading 8th win. He could have been involved in the endgame except Will Smith was owed a save situation, which he managed to achieve despite allowing a solo HR to Bobby Bradley. The Rays got on the board against Yokoyama quickly when Austin Meadows hulked out with a first inning 2-run HR. After Meadows reached on a Jose Rondon error in the 5th, Keibert Ruiz doubled him home to make it 3-0, and after Cleveland scratched out a run in the 7th, Beer was served in the RF bleachers when pinch-hitter Seth hit #8 off one-time longtime Rays reliever Diego Castillo. Also, I misspoke when I said the Orioles had swept the Yankees yesterday; they in fact had one more game today and it went something like this:

I remember when we used to play those kind of games. As a result the lead is now 8 1/2.

Durham update: It's been a while since we checked on our boys in AAA and after a rough 8-13 start to the season the Bulls are 15-4 in their last 19. Spencer Torkelson is ridiculously hot right now. Earlier in the year he was hitting HRs but not much else and his average dipped below .200. Well now he's at 275/328/700 with 19 HR in only 160 AB and has 6 HR and 16 RBI in his last 6 games. Also hitting the ball out of park is Chris Betts, who could probably start or least be the backup for 2/3 of the teams in MLB but is stuck behind Keibert and Ronaldo. He has 10 HR in 92 at-bats and an OPS of 1.004. Nick Schnell also continues to rake at 303/395/533 with 9 HR of his own. Jimmy Lewis has been the most consistent starter, 4-1 with a 3.08 ERA and a 16/58 BB/K ratio in 49 innings, although Clarke Schmidt will get the call to start tomorrow as I don't want to be calling up Baz or Lewis before super-2 time in June and Schmidt has toiled at Durham long enough to earn another start or two to audition for the #5 role before I turn to Baz or Lewis or make a trade. Another name to remember is Sandy Gaston, who has been closing since his promotion from AA Montgomery and has 16 Ks in 6 2/3 innings with 80 stuff right now, not "potential". He may be a part of the big club's bullpen before long.

May 26: Optioned P Drew Strotman to AAA Durham, recalled P Clarke Schmidt from AAA Durham.

As advertised. Schmidt gets the start tonight against Shane Bieber.

Game 2: This turned out to be one of the more satisfying wins of the season as Clarke Schmidt pitched really well and the Rays relied on the long ball for a change from their usual offensive M.O. to take a 6-4 win over Cleveland and Shane Bieber. Bieber stifled the Rays in the early innings, retiring the first 11 before a Rafael Devers single. Down 3-0 in the 5th they finally broke through when Bieber hit Seth Beer with a pitch (the 10th time this season Beer has been hit, and this time he was forced to leave with a bruised forearm), gave up a single to Triston Casas who was starting in place of Alec Bohm (who came in for Beer) and then Max Kepler, who's been doing this a lot of late, hit a big 3-run HR to tie the game. Devers then homered off Bieber in the 7th to put the Rays in front to stay, Brandon Marsh had an RBI triple in the 8th, and Casas homered (his 3rd in 20 AB since the call-up) in the 9th to round out the scoring. Meanwhile, Schmidt looked much more impressive tonight than he did in his earlier start against the White Sox. Nolan Jones took him deep in the 2nd and he would have been out of the 3rd unscathed except Wander booted a ground ball for his first error of the season and Jake Bauers ripped a 2-run double to make it 3-0. But he held tough while the Rays tied it up and took the lead, and ended up with a quite good 5.1 3 3 1 0 6 line, the lack of walks and the 6 Ks impressed me most. With Cleveland stacking the lineup with lefties, Shane McClanahan took over in the 6th and retired all 5 batters he faced through the 7th (with only one K), Nick Anderson pitched the 8th (he allowed 2 hits but Keibert Ruiz caught Pat Valaika napping off first and threw him out). Will Smith came on for the save and for the second day in a row gave up a solo HR (Jones' 2nd of the night) and with two out gave up a base hit to Bobby Bradley who foolishly decided to try to stretch his single into a double despite being down by 2 and was gunned down by Kepler to end the game. So Schmidt gets his first major league win (and another start) while Smith gets a shaky save #10. After a 19-18 game yesterday Baltimore went to Coors Field to play the Rockies and the score was.......4-1 Orioles?? I'm not sure which of those games is the more improbable. Anyway the lead remains 8 1/2.

Game 3: A frustrating outing in which the Rays couldn't get a hit with men on base to save their lives, wasted a great outing from Tyler Glasnow and with Will Smith tired from going the last two nights watched Scott Barlow blow a save in the ninth as they fell 2-1 to Cleveland. Glasnow was almost unhittable, going 7 4 0 0 0 10 in his best outing of the year but the offense continually put men on base, and continually failed to bring them home. They outhit Cleveland 11-5, had another run on via the base on balls, but had 2 men caught stealing, hit into 2 double plays and seemed to get a hit every inning with 2 out. In fact their only run came in the 5th when they loaded the bases against Luis Castillo with nobody out and Brandon Marsh hit into a double play. Still they could have won if Barlow hadn't melted down in the ninth. After Jose Alvarado pitched a perfect 8th, Barlow walked the first two batters in the ninth on four pitches each, got Christian Arroyo to ground out but they couldn't turn the DP, and with runners on 1st and 3rd he allowed a Jose Rondon double to score the tying run and put men on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out. With lefty Nolan Jones due, Shane McClanahan was summoned in hopes of a strikeout, but Jones hit a fly ball deep enough to right to bring home the winner for Cleveland. The Orioles won in Coors in a more Coors-like game, 13-9, so the lead is down to 7 1/2.

Game 4: Another terrible performance from the offense doomed them in a 4-2 loss, as they only managed 4 hits for the game. Chris Paddack was victimized twice by Gregory Polanco, first for a 2-run HR in the 2nd and then a solo shot in the 6th that broke a 2-2 tie. Otherwise he was solid with a 7 7 3 3 2 6 line but the only real offense he got was an Austin Meadows homer leading off the 2nd and a run scored in the 5th off a Jose Rondon throwing error. Aaron Ashby came on in the 8th and immediately surrendered a HR to Christian Arroyo, continuing his struggles. Brujan and Wander have stopped hitting at the top of the lineup and when they don't get on it's tough to score runs. Just when it looked like the team was snapping out of its funk and winning five straight, they now drop two winnable games in a row at Cleveland. Baltimore swept the Rockies so the lead is cut again to 6 1/2.

Team record: 36-16.

Art Deco · 07-26-2020, 01:10 PM

First off, some news from the International League:

Gonna be interesting to see how long I can keep Torkelson down on the farm as he hit #20 yesterday and remember the IL didn't start until mid-April.

Game 1: After being called out for their lack of hitting the last two days, the Rays came out on Memorial Day with a vengeance, bombing the Blue Jays 15-5. Brujan and Wander in particular had been the subject of some consternation but both had big days, each with 2 hits and 2 RBI with Wander hitting a double and a triple. Austin Meadows stayed hot with a 2-run HR as part of a 3-5, 3 RBI day, Keibert Ruiz was 2-5 with a HR and 3 RBI, Devers was 2-4 with 2 RBI and Alec Bohm was 3-4 with 2 RBI as the top of the lineup was deadly today. But there's something about Max Fried pitching with a big lead against the Blue Jays and although he wasn't at his sharpest allowing 2 runs through his first 4 innings, in the 5th despite an 11-2 lead he just couldn't get the third out, ending with a 4.2 9 5 5 3 5 line. Fried gave way to the middle inning monster known as Shane McClanahan, who was great again going 2.1 0 0 0 1 4 to get his 3rd win of the year. And Dany Jimenez closed it out with 2 scoreless innings, a positive sign from a guy who has struggled all year despite the situation. The Orioles keep winning (now 32-24) so the lead remains 6 1/2.

Game 2: Max Kepler was the hero tonight as the Rays had to dig themselves out of a 5-2 hole that Noah Syndergaard put them in to pull out a 7-5 victory. Trailing 5-4 in the 6th, Kepler hit HR #6 of the year to tie it, and in the 8th his 2-run triple with 2 out scored a pair to provide the win. Syndergaard started out very shaky, allowing 5 runs in the first 3 innings including a mammoth 3-run blast by Bo Bichette. He did settle down after that to throw 4 scoreless innings to buy the Rays some time to come back (he ended 7 5 5 5 4 6, the walks were a surprise). The Rays were up against Rick Porcello, who bedeviled them earlier this season in Toronto but today they got to him for 2 runs and 4 hits in the 1st inning. Rafael Devers' 2-out triple scored a run to make it 5-3 in the 5th, and then in the 6th Keibert Ruiz hit HR #6 before Kepler's tying blast. Jose Alvarado pitched a scoreless eighth to pick up his first win of the season, and Will Smith got 3 groundball outs in a perfect 9th for save #11. Wander, in a relative slump of late, went 0-4 to see his BA drop below .300. We usually know how that turns out. Yes, Baltimore won again so no change in the division lead.

Game 3: It was almost a carbon copy of yesterday's game, with the starting pitching giving up 5 runs and putting them behind, only for the offense and the bullpen to take over to get the win with the difference between today's score was 8-5 instead of 7-5. Clarke Schmidt looked good through 3 innings but the wheels came off in the 4th when he gave up a leadoff Rowdy Tellez HR and then later in the inning a 3-run shot to Bo Bichette and a 4-0 Rays lead became a 5-4 deficit. This time it didn't take as long to retake the lead as in the bottom of the 4th Wander tripled in Brujan and scored on a Devers groundout. Meanwhile a parade of relievers shut the Jays down over the final 5 innings: Aaron Ashby went 1 2/3, walked a couple but Scott Barlow put out the fire in the 6th by whiffing Vlad Jr. Barlow then pitched a clean 7th, Alvarado put a couple on but then got a pair of strikeouts to end his inning, and Will Smith, who couldn't buy a save situation until recently, got yet another save with a 1-2-3 2K inning, #12. Ashby picked up the win to go 4-0. The bats were going off early against Toronto starter Isaac Mattson with Meadows staying unconscious by drilling a 2-run HR in the first, #15, and they added 2 more in the 3rd on a Meadows groundout (his AL-leading 56th RBI) and a Bohm single. Ronaldo had an RBI single in the 6th to make it 7-5, and a Brujan triple (he scored 4 times) was followed by a Wander groundout for run #8. Somehow they did manage 8 runs on only 6 hits (7 walks helped) as they swept the Jays. Seth Beer was back in the lineup after 5 missing games with a bruised forearm after suffering an HBP in Cleveland and the rust showed as he went 0-4 with 3 Ks. And Baltimore finally lost, so the lead is back up to 7 1/2.

Team record: 39-16.

Art Deco · 07-26-2020, 04:14 PM

Some more monthly hardware for Rays prospects. Torkelson won IL hitter of the month, but since I just posted his player of the week blurb, I'll pass and instead feature one of his teammates:

A few thoughts. First, that looks nothing like Shane Baz. Second, I've got three options with my fifth starter. I could give Schmidt another start in Detroit next week. I could skip him since Monday is an off-day. Or third I could bring up Baz to pitch instead especially now that we're into June and Super-2 isn't a consideration. Right now Baz is starting on the same schedule as Schmidt so it would be an easy swap. Regardless he's penciled into next year's rotation so he'll be with the big club sooner or later.

Vernon has a great arm and he was acquired in one of the many deals with the Cubs (don't ask me which one) over the past couple of years. He probably needs some time at Durham later this year or next but is definitely a strong candidate for a bullpen spot with the big club.

Game 1: Every once in a while I'm reminded to give thanks to Neal Huntingon, GM of the Pirates in 2018 who traded Austin Meadows, Tyler Glasnow and Shane Baz to the Rays for Chris Archer. Anytime you think I might have fleeced the AI GM in a deal, keep this deal in mind. And the reason I'm reminded of that deal is the show that Glasnow and Meadows put on tonight. We'll start with Glasnow who threw a 6-hit shutout, walking 0 and striking out 11. This makes two starts in a row where he's been damn near untouchable. And like that last start, for the longest time the Rays were giving him no run support (you'll recall he didn't get the win last time when Cleveland got 2 in the 9th off Scott Barlow to win 2-1). But enter Austin Meadows, on a hot streak of his own. Despite coming into the game with a 6+ ERA, Daniel Norris had that lefty mojo going against the offense through 6 innings and we were at 0-0. But in the 7th Meadows took him deep to break the ice. And in the 8th, the Rays tried to scratch out a run as Brujan walked, stole second and went to third on Mitch Garver's bad throw and then Wander walked. Up stepped Meadows again and again he went deep to make it 4-0 and the only suspense was whether Glasnow would get the shutout. He got a Miguel Sano groundout, a Matt Olson fly ball and then struck out Garver to put the exclamation point on the shutout. The shutout was the first of his career and nearly a Maddux as he ended with 103 pitches and lowered his ERA to 2.51. Meadows meanwhile is on quite the tear with the two today giving him 3 HR in 2 games and 5 in his last 5. Baltimore was idle so the lead grows to 8.

Game 2: Welp, you play 162 games a season and you're going to have debacles like tonight as the Twins crushed the Rays 15-1. Chris Paddack just didn't have it in his worst start as a Ray, going 3.1 10 7 7 2 4 and then Austin Franklin, Dany Jimenez and Scott Barlow all took beatings of their own the rest of the way. And to add injury to insult Vidal Brujan suffered a mild oblique strain legging out an infield hit in the 1st inning and will be out 5 days. Rylan Bannon (who has not impressed in his limited playing time this year) will get some starts, especially if I just go ahead and put Brujan on the IL. The Rays' only run came on Keibert Ruiz's 7th HR of the year. Baltimore beat the Giants so the lead is now 7.

Game 3: Not sure what's going on with Max Fried but it seems the worst thing you can do is stake him to a decent-sized early lead because he's just gonna give it right back. That's what happened again today when the Rays took a 4-1 lead after the 1st inning on a 3-run HR by Seth Beer, only to see Fried give it right back with 3 runs in the top of the 2nd. And then after the Rays regained the lead in bottom of the 2nd on a Ronaldo Hernandez blast, Fried allowed two more in the top of the 4th to make it 6-5 Minnesota. He got through the 5th after the Rays tied it at 6 in the bottom of the 4th, but he departed with an ugly 5 6 6 6 4 4 line as walks continued to bite him. So it was bullpen time and Shane McClanahan got them through the 6th, walked the leadoff lefty in the 7th and with 3 righties due it was Nick Anderson time and he was perfect including striking out Mitch Garver to start the 8th. Meanwhile the Rays had eked ahead when Brandon Marsh doubled home Rylan Bannon, getting the start in place of the injured Brujan and rapping out a pair of hits himself. After Anderson got Garver, Jose Alvarado got the last two outs in the 9th and then we had the Will Smith adventure in the 9th. With two lefties leading off it looked all set up for him but he walked Nick Gordon and gave up a single to Andrew Benintendi. After striking out Matt Olson, Miguel Sano came up and ripped a single to left, but Austin Meadows gunned down Gordon at the plate to preserve the lead and get the second out. Smith then continued to raise blood pressures across Tampa Bay by walking Josh Donaldson to load the bases, but he got Jorge Polanco to ground into a force to end the game and pick up the shakiest of saves in the 7-6 win. McClanahan picked up another win in relief and Smith's save #13 has to go down as lucky. And stop the presses - the 22-36 Giants managed to beat the Orioles so the lead is back up to 8.

Game 4: Noah Syndergaard had really struggled over his last few starts. Combine that with the fine start Blake Snell has had with the Mets (and the extension they gave him) and the big offseason trade was looking questionable. It might still be questionable, but Syndergaard's performance today is what we thought were getting, a complete game 9 6 1 1 0 6 performance. Still it looked like it might not be enough as the Rays had to go with a makeshift lineup. Not only is Brujan still gimpy, but Meadows and Devers showed as fatigued so Yusniel Diaz and Triston Casas had to replace them in the lineup. And those two were missed as the Rays could only scratch out one run themselves on a Wander double and Keibert Ruiz single. But in the bottom of the 9th with 1 out Seth Beer stepped up and drove one into the RF seats to give the Rays a 2-1 walk-off win. Beer's HR was his 10th and it came off Twins closer Zack Littell. Syndergaard goes to 9-3 and his 9 wins lead the AL as we have an off-day tomorrow before heading to Detroit. With the win the Rays are now 26-5 at the Trop. Elsewhere, the Giants brought their bats to Baltimore and beat them 10-9 in 10 innings so the division lead stretches to 9.

Team record: 42-17.

Art Deco · 07-27-2020, 12:53 PM

Game 1: Expectations were low for this one given the pitching matchup was Clarke Schmidt against Tigers ace Matt Manning. But it was the Rays who jumped out quickly with a 2-0 lead on back-to-back 2nd inning HRs from Alec Bohm and Seth Beer and they extended the lead in the 3rd on a Devers groundout. But Schmidt gave Detroit 2 runs back in the 3rd, and after the Rays went up 4-2 on a wild pitch in the 5th, Schmidt gave that lead back with 2 runs against in the 5th, ending a very mediocre 5 6 4 4 2 4 in what could be his last start. But the Rays persevered and took advantage of a Tigers error in the 6th to get a run on a Max Kepler RBI single to go back up 5-4. But Scott Barlow, a disappointment this season given how un-clutch he's been, took over for Schmidt and gave up a leadoff triple which scored to tie it at 5. Shane McClanahan then came on in the 7th and had a nice inning and was back out for the 8th, got the first two out then gave up a HR to Isaac Paredes, and the Tigers led for the first time all night at 6-5. Detroit closer Joe Jimenez came on to save it, and he impressively struck out Brandon Marsh, Wander and Meadows to preserve the Tiger victory. It was a game I didn't expect to win going in, but on how it played out they should have. Fortunately Baltimore lost at Texas so the lead remains 9.

Game 2: Tyler Glasnow was on the mound tonight, coming off two brilliant outings of 16 shutout innings combined. However tonight's Tyler Glasnow resembled that one in name only, walking 3 men in the first inning and wild pitching one of them in. The Rays bounced back in the 2nd on RBI singles from Brandon Marsh and Vidal Brujan (back in the lineup) to take the lead, and Rafael Devers homered for the first of his 3 hits today to make it 3-1 in the 3rd. But Glasnow gave it right back on a Willie Calhoun HR in the bottom of the inning. The Rays restored the two-run lead in the 5th on an Alec Bohm RBI single, but Glasnow ran into trouble in the 6th after a Brujan error put the leadoff man on and he gave up a couple of hits to let him score. With two on and one out and Glasnow at 100 pitches and struggling, I rolled the dice by bringing in Scott Barlow again. This time Barlow struck out the first man he faced, and after wild pitching the runners to 2nd and 3rd got a groundout to escape the inning. Austin Meadows then added some insurance in the 7th with an opposite field HR, his 18th, and it was time to turn the game over to Alvarado/Anderson/Smith. The first two got through the 7th and 8th fairly easily, but Will Smith made it an adventure again in the 9th. Back in the late 70s, Earl Weaver called his closer Don Stanhouse "Full Pack" because his penchant for putting baserunners on before getting out of it caused him to smoke a full pack of cigs. Well Stanhouse would have been proud of Smith tonight, as the lefty loaded the bases with nobody out with a HBP and 2 walks, but then got a strikeout, shallow fly ball and another strikeout to hang on to the 5-3 win and pick up save #14. Glasnow was far from his sharpest at 5.1 6 3 2 4 4, but improved to 6-2 with the win. Baltimore lost again so the lead grows to a season-high 10 games.

Game 3: Chris Paddack had become synonymous with the Rays winning, as he went 17-1 in his first 18 decisions with the Rays. But he came into this game on a 3-game losing streak, the first two of those being tough-luck losses before he was absolutely creamed by the Twins the last time out. So it's good to report Paddack back the win column again as he was brilliant in an 8 4 2 1 1 8 outing in a 4-2 win over Detroit. With Will Smith worn out from his Houdini act last night, Jose Alvarado came in for the save with two lefties due in the 9th and although he allowed the leadoff man a single, he got a double play and a groundout to grab save #2. The game really shouldn't have been that close as the offense underachieved, leaving 11 men on base. Still they did enough to win: Alec Bohm's RBI double in the 4th was followed by Max Kepler's bases-load walk for the first 2 runs, Austin Meadows' force-out was his MLB-leading 63rd RBI in the 5th, and Vidal Brujan doubled in Brandon Marsh in the 6th. Paddack's only real blemish was a Daz Cameron HR in the 4th, the other run he allowed reached base on a Rafael Devers error. Baltimore won so the lead stays at 10. Next up is a trip to Fenway, where the Red Sox have been resurgent since we last saw them back in April and early May, now 33-31 and Abraham Toro is having a near MVP-type season (335/428/558 with 13 HR and 41 RBI, already good for 3.2 WAR) making the Devers deal look kinda not so good at the moment.

Team record: 44-18.

Art Deco · 07-27-2020, 07:33 PM

June 9: Traded 22-year-old minor league starting pitcher Ben Peoples and 21-year-old minor league reliever Trent Black to the Miami Marlins, getting 26-year-old starting pitcher Daniel Lynch and 19-year-old minor league reliever Ivan Floriano in return.

Sorry, Shane Baz. Noticed from shopping some players around that Miami was making NL ERA leader Daniel Lynch (1.75) available, so we worked out this deal. Obviously I'm not buying Lynch as a 1.75 pitcher, a lot of this is due to the run-suppressed environment in Marlins Park (although his road numbers are just as good), and getting to face pitchers instead of DHs. However, he has an excellent prospect pedigree and his FIP is 3.09. I'm not even looking for 3.09, something in the high 3s/low 4s will be acceptable in a fifth starter. We shall see. The cost was Peoples, who gets it up there at 97-99 and has struck out over 13 per 9 innings at A Bowling Green and A+ Port Charlotte. His problem is control. Black was a body to get the deal done, he's a long shot to amount to anything. Floriano is an interesting addition in the deal, he too throws 97-99 but he's much further away than Peoples. Lynch pitched Wednesday the 7th so Schmidt will get one more start in Fenway.

Game 1: Maybe Lynch can take Max Fried's spot. The veteran lefty was positively awful tonight, walking 6 in 3 innings as part of a 3 5 5 5 6 2 line as the Rays fell 6-1 to the red-hot Red Sox. That's Fried's 3rd straight terrible start after the gem against the Dodgers; he's allowed 16 runs in his last 12 2/3 innings with 13 walks. Fried was outclassed by an even more veteran lefty, Chris Sale, who pitched a complete-game 4-hitter. Last we saw Sale about 4-5 weeks ago, he had an ERA of 9 and looked done. He's been on a roll lately, and rolled back the clock in tonight's performance. The only offense tonight came from Wander Franco, who took Sale deep for HR #8 and also had a single and a stolen base. Otherwise the rest of the lineup was completely handcuffed. Austin Franklin and Dany Jimenez pitched the final 5 innings and acquitted themselves well, allowing only one run but the die was cast. Abraham Toro was 2-4 with 2 RBI, thanks for asking. Baltimore lost so the lead stays 10, but Boston is now only 1 game behind them so they might become the new team to watch.

Game 2: Ugh, what a terrible loss. Up 7-3 in the 6th with Noah Syndergaard on the mound, you should be in great shape to win. But Thor, with an exception here and there, has been mediocre to terrible over the last several weeks and today was more of the same. Although a Wander error contributed heavily to the Red Sox tying it up in the bottom of the 6th with 4 runs, Syndergaard was all over the place today going 6 8 7 3 5 3, and there's no excuse for giving up a 3-run HR to Marcell Ozuna to tie it when you need one more out. And it was Ozuna again in the bottom of the 11th off Scott "I can't pitch in high leverage situations" Barlow with a 2-run shot after Ryan Mountcastle singled to lead off the inning and win the game 9-7 for Boston. How did this guy save 16 games for KC last year? McClanahan, Anderson and Alvarado got the Rays through 4 innings with shutout relief, but the Boston pen did them one better with 5 innings after the Rays hit Boston starter Zac Eflin hard. They didn't homer but they hit 8 doubles, including 2 apiece from Wander, Meadows (3 more RBI) and Beer, but the bats went cold after the 6th when one more run could have gotten the job done. At least they held Toro to 0-6. Baltimore lost again so with the Boston win both teams are now 10 behind the Rays.

June 11: Optioned P Clarke Schmidt to AAA Durham, recalled P Shane Baz from AAA Durham.

Surprise, surprise, surprise! Yes this was an emotional decision after losing the last two games. Couldn't bear the thought of Schmidt getting knocked around in Fenway. Sure, Baz could get knocked around too, or he could be brilliant. Or something in between. YOLO and all of that. This is still a one-time start with Lynch joining the rotation tomorrow.

Game 3: After the Rays had their own Boston massacre early this season with a sweep at Fenway, the Red Sox returned the favor to complete a lost weekend for Tampa Bay with a 5-0 win. The Rays offense was befuddled by a lefty once again, this time the immortal Cionel Perez who went 8.1 3 0 0 0 3 against them. They provided no support for Shane Baz in his debut, who looked good through 4 shutout innings despite putting a few baserunners on, but the wheels came off for him in the fifth when the Sox scored three times and he ended up 4.1 6 3 3 4 3, which I guess Schmidt could have done as well. Given that they couldn't score it really didn't matter who was pitching. At least they held Marcell Ozuna to 0-5 with 4 strikeouts. With the win Boston gets within 9 and improves to 36-31, a far cry from last year's horrible season, and Baltimore won as well so they're 9 back too.

Team record: 44-21 (now a mediocre 18-16 on the road).

Art Deco · 07-28-2020, 08:22 AM

So just how did Daniel Lynch's Tampa Bay Rays debut go? See for yourself:

Game 1: It was the second one-hitter I've had since I've been managing the Rays, after Blake Snell's 1-hitter against Toronto in 2021. This one saw fewer baserunners and fewer strikeouts, but man what an impressive debut. The A's aren't Murderer's Row but they're not the Marlins or Giants either. Matt Chapman's 2-out double in the 4th was the only hit off Lynch, who only needed to throw 107 pitches in the gem. I was not expecting Lynch to lower his 1.75 ERA coming into his AL debut, but he certainly did. The slumping offense did enough today, getting the only run they'd need in the 3rd aided by an Oakland error and scoring on a Wander RBI single, and then the Rays strung together a bunch of hits in the 5th off Frankie Montas which kicked off with a Seth Beer double and saw RBI singles from Marsh and Devers and a Wander RBI groundout. Keibert Ruiz put the cherry on top with an 8th inning solo HR, his 8th of the year. Boston won while Baltimore was off so the lead remains 9.

Game 2: After a string of brilliant starts, Tyler Glasnow had his second straight rough one, only lasting four innings and having to throw 106 pitches to get through them, going 4 5 4 4 3 7 and hitting a couple of guys. But fortunately the Rays offense and bullpen was able to overcome it in a 9-6 win. It was an impressive performance by the offense considering Wander Franco and Brandon Marsh were both fatigued and had to sit, but Rafael Devers picked up the slack, going 4-5 with 3 doubles and 3 RBI. The team banged out 16 hits as a whole, and jumped on Oakland's Daulton Jefferies for 7 runs in the first two innings. Bohm, Beer, Kepler and Yusniel Diaz had consecutive RBI hits in a 5-run first but Glasnow couldn't deal with prosperity and had to leave up 7-4 after 4. Enter Middle Innings McClanahan, who got them through the 5th and 6th although he gave up a Kennys Vargas homer. At 7-5 in the 7th it was time for the big three again to finish, and Anderson struck out the side around a Sean Murphy HR that cut it to 7-6 and made things tense. But Vidal Brujan had a big two-out, two-run single in bottom of the 7th to make it 9-6, and Alvarado got through the 8th despite giving up a one-out triple and Will Smith nabbed save #15 with a perfect ninth, eschewing the drama he's created in recent save chances. McClanahan picked up win #5 for his efforts. Boston won its 8th straight game to stay 9 back.

Game 3: The Rays sweep the series from the A's in a game very similar to yesterday's except starter Chris Paddack didn't let Oakland back into the game. They wasted no time scoring against Grant Holmes as Brujan led off with a single and then Wander went deep into the RF stands. And after two out, Alec Bohm singled and Seth Beer tripled him home. Beer was on base all 4 times today with that triple, a walk, and 2 more HBPs. The Rays hadn't hit too many HRs lately and even in the games where they scored a lot of runs, it was mostly singles and doubles. That changed today. In addition to Wander's blast, Ronaldo Hernandez went deep in the 2nd, Austin Meadows hit #19, and Wander homered a second time. Wander, who had 31 last year but came into today with only 8, was overdue in that department. Ronaldo ended up productive again in his occasional appearances, going 2-4 and driving in a total of 3. He's at 273/333/545 in 66 AB with 5 HR and 13 RBI and it would be interesting to see what kind of numbers he could put up playing everyday, but Keibert Ruiz isn't going anywhere. As mentioned, Paddack did fine with all this run support, and although he allowed a couple of solo HRs, that was all he allowed, going 7 8 2 2 1 5 to improve to 7-4. Aaron Ashby with a six-run lead came on in the eighth and someday he'll pitch a 1-2-3 inning but that day wasn't today as he gave up a lefty-on-lefty HR to Kyle Schwarber and put two more men on before escaping. Austin Franklin, though, had a nice 1-2-3 inning with a pair of Ks to close out the 8-3 win. Boston finally lost but Baltimore won so the Orioles move into second, 9 1/2 back.

Team record: 47-21

Art Deco · 07-28-2020, 06:12 PM

Game 1: The saying goes "you can't predict baseball", or YCPB for short. Max Fried came into the game with a snowflake next to his name on the heels of 3 horrible starts with 16 runs allowed in 12 2/3 innings. So of course today he pitches a 2-hit shutout with 0 walks and 5 Ks. Fried retired the first 11 batters before hitting Mike Trout with a pitch and didn't give up a hit until the 5th when Marcus Semien singled off him. Semien had the other Angels hit in the 8th and those were the only three batters to reach safely. The offense did enough to support him in the 4-0 win with Alec Bohm's 2-run single in the first followed by Wander's 3rd HR in 2 days, a 2-run shot in the 7th as the Rays got the better of Patrick Sandoval. The shutout was Fried's 2nd of the year and the Rays' second in 4 games after the Lynch 1-hitter. One ominous bit of bad news, though: Austin Meadows had to leave beating out an infield hit with knee tendinitis and will be out 9 days, so he'll go on the IL and an OF will be brought up (not sure who at the moment). OOTP doesn't specify which knee but of course Meadows missed 4 months with a torn meniscus last year so hopefully it's not some kind of recurrence. In other games, Baltimore lost but Boston won as the two teams trade 2nd place but the exchange means the Rays' lead is a season-high 10 games.

June 16: Placed OF Austin Meadows on the 10-day IL with knee tendinitis, purchased the contract of OF Albert Almora Jr. from AAA Durham.

Meadows was officially diagnosed as day-to-day for 8 more days, with a 10-game lead I'm not going to fool around and risk getting him hurt worse, so up comes Almora to give us a right-handed bench off the bat with Yusniel Diaz getting more PT. Also, I'm considering playing Seth Beer in LF against some righties with Triston Casas (remember him? he's still on the team) DHing. Beer's a 35 in LF so it's a bit of a gamble.

Game 2: This was perhaps the most bizarre game of the year as the win probability chart looked like a Coney Island rollercoaster. Syndergaard got off to another rough start, falling behind 3-0 after 3 innings and allowing HRs to Anthony Rizzo and Mike Trout. He returned to his dominant self over the middle innings but the Rays couldn't get anything going despite getting hits against opener Brad Wieck and follower Andrew Heaney, with a runner thrown out at the plate and another picked off first. So to the bottom of the 6th it was still at 3-0 and the Rays finally turned hits into runs. Alec Bohm singled in a run, Yusniel Diaz doubled one in, and then Albert Almora Jr in his Rays debut took Heaney deep for a 3-run HR to suddenly put Tampa Bay up 5-3. The Rays then re-loaded the bases and Keibert Ruiz knocked in a run to make it 6-3. Syndergaard whizzed through the 7th and in the bottom of the inning Diaz hit a 2-run HR, his 1st of the year to make it 8-3. So going into the 8th with Syndergaard and the might of our bullpen behind him there was no way they could blow this one, right? Well Thor gave up a leadoff triple and a single to make it 8-4 and with Trout due up, Nick Anderson came on. Anderson walked Trout, struck out Anthony Rendon but then gave up a single to Billy McKinney to load the bases. With lefty Rizzo due up and another lefty two batters behind him, Alvarado came on, walked Rizzo on 4 pitches to make it 8-5, struck out Marcus Semien for out #2, but then gave up a bases-clearing double to lefty hitter Austin Allen and improbably we were tied at 8. The Rays went down meekly in the bottom of the inning and then Will Smith came on for the 9th, put two men on and got out of it by striking out McKinney. In the bottom of the 9th the first two Rays dutifully went down but then Brandon Marsh hit a triple, and Vidal Brujan hit a liner to right that McKinney appeared to catch but trapped, and the Rays had a walk-off 9-8 win in a game that should have done and dusted earlier. Smith gets his first win as a Ray, and Almora had 3 hits and a walk in his first four trips as a Ray before making an out in the 9th. The Rays had 18 hits in total with everyone in the starting lineup getting at least one. As far as the division goes, Boston and Baltimore played just as ridiculous (if not moreso) a game as the Rays did. Boston led 10-4 going into the bottom of the 9th when they allowed the Orioles to score 6 and tie it, then got 2 in the top of the 10th to go back up 12-10 only to give up 3 in the bottom of the inning on a Renato Nunez walk-off shot and Baltimore won 13-12. So the Orioles nose back into second but Boston losing means the Rays are now up by a season-high 10 1/2 games.

Game 3: Daniel Lynch, ladies and gentlemen. When you pitch a 1-hit shutout in your team debut there's nowhere to go but down but Lynch did not drop very far, extending his shutout streak with the Rays to 15 1/3 innings before finally being touched for a Marcus Semien HR in the 7th inning. Lynch finished 7 7 1 1 1 6 in another outstanding performance to go 2-0 as a Ray in a 6-3 win. The Rays got a couple off Angel opener Jacob Barnes in the 1st on a Devers RBI single and an Alec Bohm RBI double then added 3 more in the third on a wild pitch and Bohm's 15th HR of the year, a 2-run blast. Vidal Brujan (2-3, walk, SB, 3 runs scored) hit his second double in the bottom of the 7th and scored on a Keibert Ruiz single to get the run back Lynch gave up. Lynch came out for the 8th at 99 pitches but gave up a leadoff single, so I tried to get through it without using Alvarado or Anderson (Will Smith was tired) and brought in (gulp) Scott Barlow. He immediately got a double play but gave up 2 more hits and with a lefty up Shane McClanahan got the call. Mac got a flyball to end the inning and came out for the ninth and struck out the righty Marcus Semien. He then walked lefty Anthony Rizzo but got Matt Thaiss to fly out. With one more out to go, lefty Austin Allen was up, the guy who tied last night's game off Alvarado despite the perceived platoon disadvantage. Well, we've established he can hit lefties now as he took McClanahan yard to make it 6-3. Still trying to get the final out he then gave up a double to Luis Renfigo so I had to call on Nick Anderson to face Nick Solak. Solak then singled off Anderson to put 2 on and bring the tying run to the plate in the person of Mike Trout (gulp). Fortunately Anderson got Trout to hit an infield pop and the game was finally over and he picked up save #3. The win was the sixth straight for the Rays on this homestand and they improve to a ridiculous 32-5 at the Trop. Baltimore defeated Boston again so the lead stays 10 1/2.

Game 4: With Meadows on the IL and Devers and Keibert fatigued, it was an interesting lineup today for the Rays with Almora hitting 2nd, Wander moved to 3rd in the order, Yusniel at DH, Bannon at 3B and Kepler playing against a lefty. No matter, they still put up 9 runs in a 9-0 thrashing of the Angels. Responsible for 6 innings of the "0" was Tyler Glasnow, who once again was wild (5 walks + plus a Mike Trout HBP that knocked Trout out of the game) but he offset that by only allowing 3 hits and whiffing 7 to go to 7-2, 2.70. Ronaldo Hernandez, productive as always playing every 4th-5th game, hit HR #6 in the 2nd to put the Rays on the board for the first of his three hits, and they added 2 more in the 3rd on a Bohm sac fly and a wild pitch. 3-0 is where we stood after 6, and with Nick Anderson tired Scott Barlow came on for the 7th and just when it looked like he'd pitch a rare 1-2-3 inning after getting two groundouts, he walked a batter and gave up a hit but still got out of it with a Billy McKinney strikeout. Then in the bottom of the 7th they bullpen-proofed the lead with something you don't see that often: two bases-clearing doubles in the same inning. The first was courtesy of Rylan Bannon, whose production has been disappointing this year but was 2-3 with a walk including that double. The second came from new boy Almora, who spent his first weekend as a Ray going 5-10 with a HR and 6 RBI. Austin Franklin pitched a nice 8th with 2 Ks, and Dany Jimenez looked in 21-22 form by striking out the side in a perfect 9th to finish it off. Baltimore beat Boston again so the lead remains 10 1/2.

Team record: 51-21.

Art Deco · 07-29-2020, 01:07 PM

Game 1: It's always an adventure at Yankee Stadium and typically if you're gonna win it's by outslugging them. The Rays managed that tonight in a 9-6 win that showed how hard it is to trust the secondary bullpen arms. Chris Paddack vs Gerrit Cole isn't what you'd figure as a 9-6 game but the Rays jumped on Cole in the 1st with a Wander HR as he continues his recent power binge, and added another in the 3rd on a Marsh double and Keibert RBI single. Aaron Judge equalized in the bottom of the 4th with a 2-run shot off Paddack but the Rays chased Cole in the 5th when he loaded the bases and then surrendered a grand slam to Alec Bohm. Giancarlo Stanton doubled in a run in the bottom of the frame to make it 6-3, and Paddack with his pitch count over 100 had to leave in the 6th in favor of Shane McClanahan. After Wander walked and stole second in the 7th, Devers drove him in but in the bottom of the inning McClanahan saw Gleyber Torres take him deep to make it 7-4. Then McClanahan put two on in the bottom of the 8th to bring the tying run to the plate but Nick Anderson immediately got him out of it with a Kolten Wong double play grounder. Rylan Bannon, played for a fatigued Vidal Brujan, ripped a 2-run HR in the 9th to make it a comfortable-seeming 9-4 so Austin Franklin started the ninth rather than Will Smith, and of course Franklin got into trouble, giving up a one-out 2-run HR to Stanton and then walking the next batter, so Smith had to come in after all and he struck out the final two batters to get save #16. Paddack got the win with a 5.1 7 3 3 2 3 line to go to 8-4 as the Rays take their 8th straight win. The Orioles won in Seattle so the lead is still 10 1/2 and over in the NL the Padres got 2 runs in the 8th to pull out a 4-3 win over Milwaukee to extend their winning streak to 17 games.

June 20: Signed IF/OF Wil Myers to a minor league contract; assigned him to AAA Durham.

Who says you can't go home again? Well that home is Durham, Myers was signed to give them some depth as the Durham roster was been thinned considerably with callups and injuries. I don't expect he'll see time with the big club.

Game 2: This one came a little easier for the Rays as they ended up winning 11-3, although 5 of those runs came in the 9th inning. Max Fried was in pretty good form considering the opponent and the site, and went a respectable 6.1 7 1 1 1 9 to get his 7th win of the season. It was actually scoreless after 3 innings before the Rays put up a 5-spot in the top of the 4th. Getting the ball rolling was Triston Casas, filling in for a tired Alec Bohm. Casas took advantage of the short Yankee Stadium RF porch to hit his 4th HR of the season to make it 2-0, and the Rays piled on from there with a 2-run single from Seth Beer capping the rally. The Yanks got one back against Fried in the bottom of the inning on 3 hits, but Rylan Bannon hit his 2nd HR in as many days to get that run back in the top of the 5th. Bannon had 3 hits on the night as he too was playing for a tired player, Wander Franco, with Brujan sliding over to SS. It's good to see him finally hitting as advertised after his 300/350/500 season in about 280 AB for KC last year. Fried came out with one gone in the 7th and Dany Jimenez got the call and got the next two Yankees to finish the inning as he got to pitch for the first time in a long time with the lead. Jimenez came out for the 8th and whiffed the first two he faced in that inning to give him Ks of 3 of the first 4 he faced, but then he served up back-to-back HRs to Aaron Hicks and Miguel Andujar and Nick Anderson had to finish the inning. The Rays then added the 5 in the 9th on a 2-run HR by Devers and a 3-run shot from Max Kepler and Aaron Ashby was taken out of mothballs and had a perfect 9th to end the game as the Rays made it 9 in a row. Baltimore keeps winning so the lead stays the same and San Diego made it 18 straight.

Game 3: It was getaway day at Yankee Stadium as the Rays are heading cross-country to play Oakland in a 4-game series starting tomorrow, with Noah Syndergaard returning to the city where he made his name, up against Yankee rookie Roansy Contreras making his major league debut. You might think this is a lead-in to how despite the pitching matchup the Yankees shocked the Rays, but that wasn't the case. Thor, obviously inspired by his return to the Big Apple, pitched a 5-hit shutout as the Rays swept the series with a 5-0 win. He walked 2 and whiffed 8 for his AL-leading 10th win despite some up and down performances this season. Contreras baffled the Rays for the first three innings, but the second and third times through the lineup were his undoing. Wander tripled to lead off the 4th and scored an Alec Bohm sac fly, Albert Almora Jr. doubled in a run and Franco drove him home in the 5th, and then Bohm and Seth Beer went back-to-back with HRs in the 6th. Almora, playing for the fatigued Brandon Marsh, had 3 more hits and is 8-14 with a HR and 7 RBI since coming up for Meadows, one of the reasons the team is on a 10-game winning streak despite being without their all-star LF. Bohm's HR was his 17th as he's heated up again. Baltimore finally lost so the lead grows to 11 1/2 and I'm just going to throw it out there that the magic # is 76, while San Diego got 2 runs in the bottom of the 8th to beat Milwaukee 2-1 and extend their winning streak to 19.

Team record: 54-21.

Art Deco · 07-29-2020, 07:13 PM

Game 1: It was time for Daniel Lynch's third start for the Rays and a rematch with the team he one-hit in his debut, and he wasn't nearly as effective this time out. But it was good enough for him to go 3-0 as the Rays downed the A's 10-4 to extend their winning streak to 11. He got through the first 3 scoreless although he was battling baserunners all along while the Rays built a 4-0 lead on Keibert sac fly in the 1st, a 2-run HR from Wander (again) and a solo HR from Bohm (again). Lynch got touched for a run in the 4th and then gave up a 2-run HR to Matt Chapman in the 6th which cut the lead to 4-3 and ended his evening at 5 7 3 3 2 2. Shane McClanahan got the next three outs and then the Rays exploded for 6 runs in the 7th, including yet another 2-run HR from Wander and 2-run single from Max Kepler. McClanahan had another scoreless inning and Dany Jimenez pitched the final 2, allowing a run. Baltimore won so the lead remains 11 1/2, and the Padres were off so no update on their streak.

Game 2: The Rays just keep on a-rollin' as Tyler Glasnow was dominant tonight (well except for the two solo HRs he allowed) over 8 innings in a 7-2 win which makes it 12 straight. Glasnow was matched up with Oakland ace Jesus Luzardo, who set the Rays down in order over the first 3 innings. But they broke through in the 4th when Brujan led off with an infield single, and - you guessed it - Wander went deep for #15 and #7 in his last 9 games. Shortly thereafter the also-hot Alec Bohm tripled and scored on a Yusniel Diaz single. Matt Chapman and Ramon Laureano hit solo HRs in the 4th and 6th to cut the lead to 3-2, but a Yusniel triple followed by a Rylan Bannon (also red-hot) double made it 4-2, and then the Rays teed off on Miguel Romero for 3 more in the 9th on a Yusniel double, an Almora sac fly, a Bannon triple (they had a trio of 3-baggers tonight), a Marsh double and a Brujan double. Glasnow ended 8 5 2 2 0 12 to go to 8-2 and lower his AL-leading ERA to 2.66. Even Scott Barlow pitched a perfect inning in the 9th, although in fairness I have to note that the first batter hit a liner that Almora made a diving catch on, and then the next one lined one right back at Barlow before he struck out Kyle Schwarber to end the game. The Rays ended with 5 doubles, 3 triples and a HR among their 12 hits tonight. Baltimore lost so they're further back in the rearview mirror at 12 1/2 behind and the Padres' 19-game winning streak was snapped in Pittsburgh tonight 3-1.

Game 3: One constant throughout the winning streak has been excellent starting pitching, and it's no coincidence it started with Daniel Lynch's 1-hitter in his Rays debut. They were missing that today with Chris Paddack, and while the offense gamely tried to overcome the 7 runs he allowed in 4+ innings, the streak ended today with a 7-6 loss. It looked good for a little while early, Brujan drove in Ronaldo Hernandez in the top of the 3rd to make it 1-0, and after Paddack gave Oakland the lead on a walk and two doubles they struck for 3 more in the top of the 4th to go up 4-2 on RBI singles from Ronaldo, Marsh and Wander. But Paddack gave those 3 runs right back in the bottom of the frame on Matt Chapman's 3rd HR in 3 days and a 2-run shot by Sean Murphy. The Rays responded yet again to tie it at 5 in the top of the 5th on a Kepler RBI groundout, only for Paddack to be chased by a double and a triple. Shane McClanahan gave up a sac fly to make it 7-5, but shut things down after that. Albert Almora Jr, who came in for Yusniel Diaz when Diaz strained his hip (out 5 days) homered off Kyle Gibson in the 7th to make it 7-6 but the Rays could get no closer, putting two men on with two out in the 9th against Miguel Romero, but Almora grounded out to end the game and the streak with it. Austin Franklin and Aaron Ashby combined for 2 2/3 perfect innings of relief, which was nice. Baltimore crushed Seattle 11-0 to inch back within 11 1/2.

Game 4: This was a hard-fought, low-scoring, extra-inning game that the Rays managed to win in 10 by the score of 2-1. Max Fried wasn't brilliant, but he was effective, going 6 3 0 0 4 4 on 97 pitches while Jesus Camargo held the Rays to an 8 5 1 1 1 3 line with a Keibert Ruiz 7th-inning HR the only damage. With that 1-0 lead, Nick Anderson came on for the bottom of the 7th and was uncharacteristically ineffective, giving up a hit, walk and a hit to David Fletcher to score the tying run but he cleaned up his own mess for a change and the game trudged on to the 10th. With one out the Rays got consecutive singles off Zack Grotz from Triston Casas (playing for a tired Devers), Albert Almora Jr and Max Kepler to give them the edge, and Will Smith closed it out in the bottom of the 10th, pitching around a walk to the dangerous Ramon Laureano to nail down save #17. The win went to Scott Barlow who got a 1-2-3 9th on only 5 pitches, his first as a Ray. Jose Alvarado had a 1-2-3 8th before that. Baltimore keeps on winning (46-34, we may see them in the first round as they're looking good for a wild card spot) so the lead stays 11 1/2.

Art Deco · 07-30-2020, 09:33 AM

June 26: Traded 29-year-old center fielder Albert Almora Jr. and 24-year-old minor league catcher Adam Kerner to the Los Angeles Dodgers, getting 25-year-old minor league starting pitcher Dustin May and 23-year-old minor league catcher Kameron Guangorena in return. Activated OF Austin Meadows from the 10-day IL.

It was time for Meadows to come off the DL, so an outfielder had to go, and the choice was Almora since he was on a one-year minor league deal instead of Yusniel Diaz, who still has team control. I'll always be grateful for the great 10 days of performance from Almora, which helped us win a game or two, but I couldn't pass up turning a guy I signed as a free agent 6 weeks ago to a minor league deal and a C+ catching prospect into Dustin May. The Dodgers buried May at AAA this year after being a part of their rotation last year, a year in which they won the World Series. His AAA numbers weren't great but I'll take his MLB numbers from last year which were worth 2 WAR as my fifth starter next year. He's not the dominant guy that he's being projected to be IRL circa July 2020 but he's still pretty good and the scouting reports still like him. For now he goes to Durham because there's no room in the rotation. And I'm not sure the Kerner for Guangorena part of this is a net loss even though Kerner got the deal done. Kerner is a better defensive catcher, but Guangorena, a 2021 2nd round pick, looks the better hitter.

Game 1: Noah Syndergaard was far from his sharpest but as the accomplished vet he is, he made the big pitches when he needed to. His 7.1 11 2 2 1 6 line won't be hung in the Louvre but it was good enough to help propel the Rays to a 5-2 win at Target Field over the Twins. The big hit in the game came in the 5th. After Greg Elizondo had frustrated the Rays through 4 innings allowing only one hit, they loaded the bases against him with nobody out. Max Kepler hit an infield pop, but Brandon Marsh said enough of this nonsense and blasted a long grand slam to RCF to make it 4-0. Keibert Ruiz made it 5-0 in the 6th with a solo shot as he's been on a bit of a HR binge himself lately, it seemed like he was stuck on 4 for quite awhile, but now he's up to 10. Syndergaard rolled along until he finally got into trouble in the 8th, giving up Luis Arraez's fourth hit of the game and then giving up a 2-run HR to Miguel Sano. After Matt Olson followed with a single, Jose Alvarado came on and after giving up a single of his own he got a double play to end the threat. Will Smith had a quick 1-2-3 9th for save #18 as Thor goes to 11-3, 3.88 and the team makes it 14 out of 15. And for a change they're winning on the road, taking 7 out of 8 on the current trip. Elsewhere in a battle of red-hot teams, the Padres knocked off the Orioles at Camden Yards so the lead is back up to 12 1/2 and the magic # is 70.

Game 2: Regression was always coming for Daniel Lynch; his 1.75 ERA in the NL and a similar number through his first 3 starts for the Rays was always unsustainable and it caught up to him tonight in Minnesota although his defense didn't help either in a 9-4 loss. The Rays were on the front foot early thanks to Wander Franco, who went triple-HR-HR in his first 3 ABs to give the Rays a 4-2 lead in the middle of the 5th. But then things went really bad for Lynch, who had given up a 2-run HR to Josh Donaldson in the 4th. After getting the leadoff man, he went single-triple-Bohm error-Sano 2-run HR-single before being relieved by Austin Franklin, who gave up another single and then Brujan booted a grounder. Franklin whiffed Mitch Garver, which should have been the third (fourth) out, but with the bases loaded former Ray Hunter Renfroe hit a bases-clearing double to make it 9-4 and that was it for the scoring as the Rays couldn't do anything with Lewis Thorpe who pitched 3 2/3 perfect innings to close out the game. Lynch was a not-good 4.1 6 7 5 3 2. San Diego took care of Baltimore so the division lead isn't dented.

Game 3: The back end of the bullpen has been so good this year (and in years past) that when the Rays took a 5-3 lead in the top of the 7th you had to figure the win was theirs. But Jose Alvarado gave up a leadoff triple that scored in the bottom of the 7th, and Nick Anderson surrendered a Miguel Sano HR in the bottom of the 8th to tie it at 5. Anderson made it through a second inning to get it to extras but Shane McClanahan and Scott Barlow conspired to allow the game-winner in the bottom of the 10th and the Rays dropped their second straight to Minnesota, 6-5. Tyler Glasnow got the start and was a decent 6 5 3 3 2 8 with Travis Swaggerty the thorn in his side as the Twins CF singled, stole second and scored on a sac fly in the 1st and then homered to center off him in the 5th. Yusniel Diaz had a 2-run HR, his 2nd of the year, to put the Rays ahead 2-1, and then Franco singled in Marsh in the 3rd to make it 3-2. After Swaggerty's HR tied it, Rafael Devers, who had 4 hits, blasted a 2-run HR to right to put the Rays ahead 5-3 in the top of the 7th before it all slipped away. Baltimore was off so the division lead is now 12.

Team record: 58-24.

Art Deco · 07-30-2020, 04:18 PM

Well, we're halfway (+1 game) through the season and like the last two years it's been another great start with the team on pace to win 115 games and looking like the best team in baseball at the moment.

We're #1 or near #1 in most hitting and pitching categories, except HRs as this is a team of good hitters, not necessarily sluggers and isn't reliant on the longball to score runs. With Devers and Bohm in the lineup in place of Toro and Choi/Gallo, we've traded walks for hits as evidenced by the fairly low team walk totals but it's just a different way of scoring runs as the team OBP of .356 is still the AL's best. The starting rotation has been the best in the AL this year and the 3rd place in bullpen ERA does show up the one weakness - after the big 3 of Alvarado, Anderson and Will Smith, the secondary pieces in the pen have been very inconsistent (Barlow, Ashby, McClanahan, Franklin, Jimenez). If a deal for this year is going to be made before the deadline (sorry, no big rentals coming in this deadline unlike the last 2 seasons as we don't need them and there isn't anyone on the level of Baez, Gallo or Josh Bell as a pending FA) it's going to be to upgrade the pen. The team defense remains much better as the aforementioned Devers and Bohm are upgrades with the glove over last year's guys. The division is pretty much locked up barring a complete collapse so it's a matter of keeping everyone healthy and fine-tuning a few things. Here are the grades by position:

C: Keibert Ruiz (A), Ronaldo Hernandez (A-). Ruiz continued to hit for average but the power was missing most of the year until he went on a recent HR tear. Ronaldo continues to be super productive playing every 4th-5th day and probably deserves an everyday job but it's not happening on this team.

1B: Alec Bohm (B+). Bohm's .272-18-56 is pretty good for a half season. He's never going to make the trade for Nate Lowe a winner for us after how Lowe turned out in Philly but at least he's no longer miscast as a 3B and has been very productive, albeit streaky.

2B: Vidal Brujan (A). 312/394/435 is a great slash line for your leadoff man and he has 19 steals to go with it. He's been super dependable and his penchant for infield hits keeps him from slumps. Xavier Edwards, called up about a month into the season by KC, has been 316/425/415 so far in his rookie season so these guys really were two peas in a pod. Bannon and Barlow haven't been the contributors I hoped from that trade but the big piece remains Spencer Torkelson, who has 21 HR at Durham right now and that's after only hitting 1 in his last 20 games or so.

SS: Wander Franco (A+) Wander is on pace for 7.6 WAR so that kind of speaks for itself and he's rediscovered his power stroke over the last month. Gotta get him extended this winter.

3B: Rafael Devers (B+). Devers is .307-12-59, doing maybe a little bit less than his normal thing but he's still Rafael Devers. The problem in his case, of course, is that Abraham Toro has taken it to the next level in Boston and has outplayed Devers so that trade is looking dicey at the moment. Obviously had I known Toro would take the kind of leap he has the deal wouldn't have been made.

LF: Austin Meadows (B+). A B+ for a 307/378/602 line might seem a bit stingy, but this is Austin Meadows we're talking about it and I'm expecting a bigger second half as long as his health isn't an issue.

CF: Brandon Marsh (A). Marsh is on pace for 5.6 WAR and is a star in the making. His triple slash is 292/376/496 and although I feared a platoon issue with him, he's hit lefties just about as consistently and has solidified an everyday spot.

RF: Max Kepler (C+). Max has been the weak link in the lineup against righties (he's been terrible against lefties so he sits) as 232/343/389 with 7 HR isn't really getting it done and if he doesn't pick it up soon Yusniel Diaz might get some starts against righties in his place as may Alex Kirilloff when he's back later in July as well. I gave him the C+ instead of the C because for what it's worth it seems when he does get a HR or a hit it's often a big one. Max will be traded or non-tendered in the offseason as I really have no desire to pick up the $10-11M or so team option.

DH: Seth Beer (B): Beer's 245/360/480 with 12 HR in 200 AB so he's getting it done, just not spectacularly. He gets on base, which is helpful in this offense but I would like to see a few more HRs and a few more hits to maybe get that BA closer to 260 and OBP to 375. With the hitters in the pipeline (and Kirilloff) his job isn't 100% secure but he's mostly been who we thought he'd be.

Bench (B-). Not counting Ronaldo, the primary bench has been Yusniel Diaz, Rylan Bannon and Triston Casas. The first two were off to largely dreadful starts but have hit well lately, while Casas has been productive the times he's been given a chance but Beer and Bohm haven't shown the need for replacement much so ABs have been tough to come by. I just hope I'm not stunting his growth.

Rotation: (A-) As you see from the stats above, I really have no complaints about the rotation. Syndergaard hasn't been as ace-like as I'd hoped but still is getting the job done, Glasnow has been the best pitcher on the staff after missing a few weeks early, Paddack is consistent and Fried hasn't been consistent but has had enough brilliant games to overcome the stinkers that it evens out for him too. Daniel Lynch is probably an upgrade on the injured Joe Ryan but the jury is out on that one as he's about 2 1/2 for 4 in his starts so far. If Lynch falters, the newly-acquired Dustin May could be up in his place, but we are talking about a guy who's ERA for the season is still 2.13 so I'm not going to freak out over one mediocre start and one bad one.

Bullpen (B-). This is an average of the A- the big 3 of Alvarado/Anderson/Smith get and the C- the rest of the batch get. Anyone reading along knows what an adventure Barlow, Ashby and Jimenez have been, and McClanahan seems to only pitch well in the middle innings and not in the later ones. Not going to bag on Austin Franklin as he's done well about as hoped as the 13th man. Barlow in particular has been my biggest bete noire although Ashby hasn't given me the extra shutdown lefty I thought I might be getting.

Art Deco · 07-30-2020, 05:55 PM

Game 1: It was the Chris Paddack show as he becomes the fourth of the current five starters to pitch a complete game shutout in a 3-0 win over the Texas Rangers. Paddack was brilliant, allowing only 3 hits, walking 1 and striking out 11 on 106 pitches to improve to 9-5. It turned out all the support he needed was supplied by Austin Meadows, who hit HR #20 in the 1st off the Rangers' fine young lefty Tarik Skubal. But Wander added 2 more with his 18th longball of the season in the 5th with Vidal Brujan on base. Brujan had singled to extend his hitting streak to 17, while Franco was 3-4 with the HR and 2 steals. Paddack joins Max Fried (2), Noah Syndergaard and Daniel Lynch with shutouts this year, the total of 5 has to be the most by a club in a while and we're only halfway through the year. Elsewhere Baltimore lost so the lead is now a baker's dozen.

Game 2: After complaining about the bullpen in my midseason roundup above, they showed why I have my concerns after a 6-2 loss to Texas. What was a 1-1 pitcher's duel between Brock Burke and Max Fried into the 8th inning got out of hand after Fried allowed a 1-out single and was pulled. Nick Anderson came on, walked a batter and then gave up a 3-run HR to Lewin Diaz to make it 4-1. In the bottom of the 8th the Rays loaded the bases but could only scratch out a run on a Brujan sac fly (which ended his hitting streak, you knew it was good as over when I finally mentioned it yesterday). It was still a game at 4-2 but rather than burn Jose Alvarado with lefties due up I turned to Aaron Ashby. He got the first two batters on groundouts but walked a guy and then served up a 2-run HR to light-hitting lefty catcher Nick Ciuffo and that was that. Fried at 7.1 5 2 2 1 7 deserved a better fate, and the offense should shoulder some blame here too as they only managed 6 hits in 8 innings off Burke, continuing their pattern of being stymied from time-to-time by random lefties. Wander homered in the 1st to tie the game at 1 (#19) so he stays hot. Job #1 for me as GM between now and the end of the month is to find a lefty who's an improvement over Ashby and once that's done he's going to become quite familiar with Durham and its surroundings (or maybe another organization if he's part of the trade). Elsewhere, Baltimore has cooled off considerably with another loss today, so the lead isn't touched, and in the story of the day, Miami's Evan Fitterer, making his MLB debut, pitched a no-hitter against the Phillies in a 2-0 win. Shockingly he was left in to throw 144(!) pitches as he walked 5 and struck out 10, and although he started the season making 5 starts at AA, in AAA he was used as a reliever. I think the AI is going to wreck his arm. Fitterer was the first player to throw a no-hitter in his MLB debut since Bumpus Jones (you remember him?) on October 15, 1892, so it took 131 years to happen again.

Game 3: Normal service restored at the Trop as the Rays downed the Rangers 5-1. Noah Syndergaard's start today encapsulated his season with the Rays: Very hittable at times, and then ace-quality pitching at others. Today he gave up 3 hits in the first without allowing a run, gave up 2 more in the second and one in the third, but ended up only allowing 3 over the final 6 innings in a complete game 9-hitter. He walked nobody, which obviously helped, and struck out 6. The lone run against him was unearned when the man who scored had reached on a dropped fly ball by Max Kepler (who was also 0-3 today, way to fight for that RF job). He added to his AL-leading win total, now at 12. After I mentioned in my midseason report that this offense didn't rely on the HR, today they did with 3 of them accounting for 4 of the 5 runs. Alec Bohm hit #19 in the second to make it 1-0, Rafael Devers hit #13 to make it 3-0 in the 4th, and Brandon Marsh hit #10 just inside the RF foul pole in the 5th to make it 4-0. Seth Beer's RBI double in the 6th brought home the 5th run. Those four hits were 2/3 of their safeties on the day with Austin Meadows getting the other 2 on a double and single. The 3 homers came off Matt Magill, who had surprisingly shut them down in a start last season in Texas. Baltimore won so the lead remains 13, and in an update on the magic number, it's now 65. Those same Orioles come to town for the next 3 games.

Team record: 60-25.

07-21-2020, 08:27 PM	#101
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,933	April 28-30, 2023 at Boston (3) Game 1: This was a Boston massacre as the Rays blasted the Red Sox 14-6 and the score was actually flattering to the Sox after they got 4 in the 8th resulting from a pair of Rays errors. After going quickly in the 1st the Rays started teeing off on Chris Sale, who leaves the game with a 10.95 ERA and is a shadow of the ace he once was. Alec Bohm homered for the third consecutive game to kick things off and Wander followed with a 2-run double to make it 3-0 in the 2nd. Keibert Ruiz, who had a 4-hit night, took Sale deep in the 3rd to make it 5-0 and the rout was on. It was all more than enough for Tyler Glasnow, who went 7 4 2 2 3 7 to go to 3-0. If I were to quibble, I'd note the 3 walks now give him 12 in 24.1 innings but I'll let it slide. Wander ended with 4 hits and 3 RBI, Meadows was 3-6 with a 2-run homer and 4 runs scored, and Rylan Bannon got the start at DH and hit his first Rays HR in the 8th. The Rays pounded out 18 hits in all and ironically the only one who didn't get a hit was Rafael Devers, who went 0-5 in his return to Fenway (Toro went 0-4). Austin Franklin came on in the 8th with a 10-2 lead and would have thrown a perfect inning except Devers and then Brujan booted grounders, and things got away from Franklin a bit with Bogaerts hitting a bases-clearing double to cut it to 10-6 but then the Rays got the 4 back in the 8th. The Yankees won yesterday but lost tonight in San Francisco so the lead is up to 9. Game 2: They say winning never gets boring, but the Rays are starting to push it these days with another routine 8-1 win over Boston (watch, they'll lose tomorrow now that I've said this), a season-high 8th straight. Rafael Devers, 0-5 with an error in his return to Fenway, came out angry and inspired, and immediately set out to business by taking a Cionel Perez offering over the Monster for a 2-run shot in the first inning, and then the game was effectively over in the 3rd when Alec Bohm homered in his fourth straight game (#10) for a pair and Brandon Marsh added a 3-run shot. Chris Paddack said thank you very much for the offense as he completely shut down the Sox through 8 innings with the only Boston run coming in the 8th when a dropped third strike by Ronaldo Hernandez allowed Jackie Bradley to reach and he scored on an Abe Toro single. It was unearned and Paddack's final line was 8 6 1 0 0 8 as he went to 5-1 (16-1 overall including the playoffs as a Ray) and lowered his ERA to 2.74. Just on the principle of it, Austin Meadows got that run back in the 9th on an RBI groundout. In addition to the HR, Devers doubled twice for a 3-hit game. Yankees won so the lead remains 9. Game 3: Well they didn't lose as I had semi-predicted, but it wasn't another boring romp despite what the final 6-1 score might imply. For most of this game it was a tight duel between Max Fried and Justin Dunn, with the Rays going up 1-0 in the 3rd when Max Kepler doubled and scored on Vidal Brujan's sac fly. The Rays added a run in the 6th when Rafael Devers singled in Brandon Marsh and 2-0 was enough to get Max Fried the win. Although he had baserunners here and there, Fried managed 7 shutout innings on 7 hits, walking 1 and striking out 4 to go to 3-1. It stayed 2-0 until the 9th with Nick Anderson pitching a perfect 8th but then the Rays added 4 in the top of the inning, all unearned off a Buster Posey throwing error and a Teoscar Hernandez fielding error with a 2-run Keibert Ruiz RBI single and an Alec Bohm sac fly making it 6-0. Aaron Ashby came on for the bottom of the inning and it was sloppy on the Rays' end as well with a Brujan error, an Ashby wild pitch and a Ruiz passed ball costing the Rays the shutout, although Ashby did strike out the side around that. The Yankees lost but Baltimore won to move into 2nd, so the lead is now 9 1/2 games. Team record: 23-4. Last edited by Art Deco; 07-22-2020 at 09:23 AM.

07-22-2020, 12:09 PM	#102
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,933	May 1-4, 2023: at Kansas City (4) Before we get into the KC series, some award updates: Yeah, yeah, we know we can't afford what you'd get as a free agent. Lotta talk about Baz and Lacy coming through the system but Sandy Gaston has stuff that's as filthy as anyone we have with an 80 in the category. Harnessing it is the question with 40 control but so far so good. You'll notice he's pictured here with a Durham hat as the AI promoted him the same day here. Game 1: This was more like a 2022 game with its football score outcome as the Rays beat the Royals 13-8. It was only briefly close as the Rays jumped out for 4 runs in the top of the 1st. Brujan tripled, Wander homered, and then later in the inning Alec Bohm hit his 5th in 6 games and 11th overall to make it 4-0. KC got within 5-3 in the 5th off Joe Ryan, who for the second straight game didn't allow a homer, but his error and some KC base hits got the Royals on the board. The lead was expanded to 8-3, Ryan left in the 6th allowing a run to make it 8-4 and leave with a 5.2 7 4 3 2 6 line to still go to 4-2 and 4.11 ERA (the only starter in the rotation with an ERA over 4) and we proceeded to the bottom of the 8th with that scoreline. Decided to go with Shane McClanahan against some lefties in the bottom of the 8th, and that was a mistake as he gave up a single, double, and then a HR to Julio Pablo Martinez and boom it was 8-7. Enter Alvarado, and he struggled some, loading the bases but striking his way out of it. Then the Rays tacked 5 more on in the top of the 9th and Will Smith will have to wait another day for a save. Austin Franklin pitched the ninth and gave up Martinez's 2nd HR in as many innings but that was it and the Rays go to 25-4 and the win streak reaches 10. In addition to Franco and Bohm, Rafael Devers had a solo HR in the 5th, Brujan drove in 4 runs with 2 hits, Seth Beer had his first 3-hit day which included a double and a triple (!) and they had 18 hits as a team with everyone getting at least one except Max Kepler, but he walked 3 times. Baltimore won (they're now 16-14, good for them) so the lead stays 9 1/2. Game 2: We were due for a bad game, and bad it was as Kansas City dumped the Rays 7-1 to end their 10-game winning streak. The omens were bad from the beginning: After Brujan and Wander walked to lead off the game, Brujan was thrown out at 3rd on an attempted double steal, short-circuiting a potential early rally. Then Noah Syndergaard took the mound and that man again, Julio Pablo Martinez, took him deep to lead off the game and the Royals scored another run off a couple of hits in the inning to go up 2-0. Thor was not on his game at all, and ended 3.2 8 5 5 0 3 and had to leave with a mild calf strain which will not cause him to miss his next start. Dany Jimenez came on and allowed 2 of Thor's inherited runners to score, and Shane McClanahan came on and while otherwise good (4 Ks in 1.2 scoreless innings), his wild pitch allowed an inherited Jimenez runner to score. Meanwhile the offense took the night off, getting only 4 hits and the 1 run off Matt Wisler and a pair of Royals relievers, with Alex Kirilloff getting 2 of them and the lone RBI. Keibert Ruiz's 13-game hitting streak ended as well. And speaking of streaks snapped, until I got a popup on the screen I did not realize that Syndergaard had won his last 15 decisions last year with the Mets, and the 6 with the Rays had made it 21. It turns out he ended up 3 short of Carl Hubbell's record of 24. Baltimore lost, so the lead remains 9 1/2. Game 3: Well there's a first for everything and for the first time this season the Rays have dropped two games in a row. Tonight the Royals prevailed 7-5, and Tyler Glasnow wasn't at his sharpest but neither was the pen. The Royals got 3 off him in the first 2 innings and another in the fourth as he went 5 6 4 3 2 4. But even worse was the bullpen as Aaron Ashby put 3 men on in the 6th and Scott Barlow proceeded to walk two of them in after loading the bases with a walk himself. For the Rays, Seth Beer had a 2-run double, Yusniel Diaz had a pinch-hit RBI double and Austin Meadows had 4 hits, but their 3-run 8th inning rally was too little, too late. Meanwhile, Xavier Edwards haunted his former organization by going 3-4 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored and a stolen base. The Yankees and Orioles both won, so for the first time in a long time the Rays' lead is reduced, now 8 1/2 games. Game 4: One thing I've always hated as a baseball fan is rooting for the road team in an extra-inning game. When you don't score in the top of the inning, you then know your team has to shut down the other team for at least 2 innings, one to stay alive and the other (hopefully) to preserve the lead. Well that was the Rays in the 10th and 11th innings today but they broke through in the 12th on a Ronaldo Hernandez double which scored Max Kepler, and Aaron Ashby as the last non-tired man in the pen finished a 3 1/3 inning outing by striking out Lewis Brinson with men on first and third in the bottom of the inning as the Rays pulled out a 4-3 win to split the series and stop a 2-game losing streak. There was definitely an air of "here we go again" when the Royals scratched out runs in the first two innings against Chris Paddack, but he settled down after that to go 6 6 2 2 0 7. On offense they were having a hard time with former Gator great Brady Singer, although with 2 out in the 4th they got on the board when Alec Bohm doubled in Austin Meadows who had walked. And Bohm was at the center of things when they took the lead in the 6th as Rafael Devers doubled in Wander who had walked and then Bohm hit his 2nd RBI double of the game to score Devers. With a 3-2 lead in the 7th it was time to turn it over to the Alvarado/Anderson/Smith troika and while Alvarado pitched a perfect 7th, Nick Anderson put a couple of men on in the 8th and Ronaldo's passed ball allowed the tying run to score. Will Smith came for the 9th but had to leave after retiring two batters with a mild abdominal strain that will keep him out tomorrow but no longer, so enter Ashby with the rest of the pen tired and after getting the last out in the 9th he went 3 more heroic innings to keep KC off the board and secure the win, atoning for his rough outing the day before. Some bad news marred the win, though: Alex Kirilloff ruptured a tendon in his finger making a diving catch attempt in the 5th and will be out a little over 3 months (101 days according to the editor to be precise). This is the second straight year he'll miss half the season with an injury as a bad hamstring strain cost him a similar length of time last year. With the bullpen on the tired side, for now I'll likely bring up a pitcher which we'll probably need as we head to Baltimore where it always seems to be a high scoring affair. Speaking of the O's, neither they nor the Yankees played so the lead is back up to 9. Team record: 26-6. Last edited by Art Deco; 07-23-2020 at 08:11 AM.

07-23-2020, 08:54 AM	#103
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,933	May 5-7, 2023: at Kansas City (3) Ack! that should read at Baltimore (3), wish there was a way to edit the header. May 5: Placed Alex Kirilloff on the 60-day IL with a ruptured finger tendon, recalled P Drew Strotman from AAA Durham. Strotman comes up now as we need a fresh arm. I have 2 40-man roster spots open now with Gallegos also on the 60-day, so I'm going to mull over who to bring up as the 13th bat over the next few days, it's possible it could be a free agent infielder, or perhaps someone from Durham. Game 1: Well this was not what we expected from a game at Camden Yards: a pitchers' duel. Grayson Rodriguez, the typically wild but hard throwing Orioles starter, somehow managed to go 8 innings and only walk 2 and strike out 2, while Max Fried held the Orioles largely in check and we went 2-2 to the bottom of the 8th. With Fried at 107 pitches, Nick Anderson came on and promptly gave up a Renato Nunez single and an Austin Hays HR and Baltimore took a 4-2 win to pull within 8 games. The Rays got 2 men on against Orioles closer Jairo Diaz in the 9th with one out but Max Kepler and Brandon Marsh each hit line drives right at Nunez at 1B to end the game. The offense continues in its mini-slump, only managing 5 hits on the night and two were of the infield variety. Seth Beer hit HR #5 to tie it in the 7th after Brujan's RBI single had tied it at 1 in the 5th. Fried, who went 7 7 2 2 3 6, gave up a pair of Adley Rutschman RBI singles for Baltimore's first 2 runs. Game 2: Now this was the Camden Yards slugfest I was promised. Unfortunately the Rays came out on the short end of it, 11-8, as Joe Ryan served up 3 HRs, Shane McClanahan a pair and Dany Jimenez one. It was a back-and-forth game with the Rays taking 5-2 and 8-6 leads thanks to 2 HRs from Austin Meadows, one from Wander and one from Marsh, but Rays pitchers kept giving 'em back. Austin Hays, who homered to win last night's game in the 8th, homered in his first two plate appearances to get the Oriole offense going early, Anthony Santander hit a pair including the winner against McClanahan, and Rio Ruiz didn't care about the lefty-on-lefty matchup with McClanahan either as his 2-run HR tied it at 8 in the 7th. Shane has really struggled lately with his ERA up to 8.79, so he'll be used in low-leverage situations for a while. Vidal Brujan was 3-4 with a steal. The fourth loss in five games sees their lead cut to 7 as the O's appear to be for real this year, at least with the bats. Here's hoping Noah Syndergaard puts an end to the nonsense tomorrow. Game 3: The final was 6-0 with Noah Syndergaard on the mound so it sounds like a Rays win, right? Nope. Caleb Smith, who has given us fits in the past, did it again going 7.2 6 0 0 0 6 (albeit against a makeshift lineup, more on that in a moment), while Thor uncharacteristically walked 2 in the 2nd leading to 2 Orioles runs, and then served up 3 HRs in the middle innings as his ERA balloons to 4.20 after his second straight subpar performance. Injury was added to insult when Rafael Devers tweaked a hamstring and had to leave after doubling in the 2nd, he'll have to miss a couple of days. Also Austin Meadows and Vidal Brujan had to sit as they were tired (so was Devers, but I was down a hitter so he played and got hurt), which meant lefties like Beer and Kepler had to end up playing when they wouldn't have. The only positive from Syndergaard's outing was that he went 7 and Drew Strotman (on the express back to Durham) pitched the 8th so the bullpen got some rest for the next series. But suddenly Baltimore is now only 6 back and the Rays have hit their first extended patch of adversity, with only an extra-inning win in KC keeping them from having lost 6 straight. I'm sorry I said anything about boredom a week ago when they swept Boston. Team record: 26-9. Last edited by Art Deco; 07-23-2020 at 02:02 PM.

07-23-2020, 06:00 PM	#104
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,933	May 8-10, 2023: vs Arizona (3) May 8: Optioned P Drew Strotman to AAA Durham, recalled IF Triston Casas from AAA Durham. Needed to go back to 13/13, and with Devers out temporarily I needed to call up someone so Casas, acquired along with Devers, got the nod as he was having a good season at Durham with 8 HR in 89 AB and hitting .270. He hit 4 HR in about 10 games in a brief Boston callup last year and will get the start tonight at 3B. Game 1: Tyler Glasnow came out firing on all cylinders, striking out the first 5 Diamondbacks tonight on his way to an excellent 6 3 1 1 2 9 outing. But he found himself down 1-0 in the middle of the 5th before the Rays scratched out a couple of runs around a key Nick Ahmed error on a sac fly from Brujan (which would have been the 3rd out without the error) and an RBI infield single from Wander. Then Austin Meadows launched #8 into the RF stands to make it 3-1 and it was time to back end of the pen to take over. Nick Anderson had a perfect 7th with a pair of Ks and then Brandon Marsh hit #7 in the bottom of the inning and Keibert Ruiz doubled in Wander to make it 5-1. Alvarado still came on for the 8th, and had maybe his worst outing in 2 years, giving up 3 runs on 4 hits to suddenly make it 5-4, and Scott Barlow had to get the final out with the tying run at 2nd. Max Kepler added his third homer of the season in the bottom of the 8th to give the Rays a cushion, and Will Smith got his save situation but he too was shaky, putting the first two men on before getting a double play and foul pop to nail down the 6-4 win and get save #6. Glasnow goes to 4-1, 3.06 with the victory and the Rays snap a 3-game losing streak. Triston Casas was 0-4 but it was his groundball that Ahmed booted in the 5th, and he hit one to the RF track in the 7th. The Red Sox, behind Abe Toro's 8th HR of the season, beat Baltimore so the lead is back up to 7. May 9: Signed CF Alberto Almora Jr. to a minor league contract, assigned him to AAA Durham. Outside of a bad 2021 season, Almora's had 3 WAR and 2 WAR seasons in 20 and 22, and while I don't view him as any kind of potential starter he's a right-handed bat who can play the OF and will make a decent backup once he's had some at-bats at Durham. Last year he was .279-17-75 for the Cubs, and he does destroy lefties (to the tune of 348/383/663 last year, a bit of an outlier in his career power-wise but still). Game 2: It was all there: Rays fall behind several runs early, Rays offense goes to work 2nd/3rd time through the order and takes the lead, bullpen shuts it down rest of the way. Well they had 2 of those 3 things happen, but the bullpen part let them down. Chris Paddack, who had walked 4 batters all season, walked 3 in a 39-pitch first inning and gave up 3 runs, then a fourth after walking a couple more, ending with a schizophrenic 5 5 4 4 5 6 line. But the offense got to Corbin Martin, starting with a Seth Beer HR against the organization he was traded from (and who with Martin moved from Houston to Arizona in the 2019 Zack Greinke deal) then Ronaldo singling in Kepler who had doubled to cut it to 4-2 then with it 4-3 in the 6th Wander laced a 2-run double to right to put the Rays up and scored on a Devers sac fly and it suddenly was 6-4. Aaron Ashby, who pitched a perfect 6 with 2 Ks, stayed in with two lefties up and put them on base. Then Scott Barlow came in (Anderson and Alvarado were tired) and was even worse, allowing Ashby's runners to score along with 3 of his own after a bases-loaded walk and a bases-clearing triple by Drew Ellis. And Arizona was back ahead 9-6. Beer hit his 2nd HR of the game off Alex Colome in the bottom of the 7th to make it 9-7, but that turned out to be the final score as the Rays lost their fifth in seven. The only bright spot from the pen was the return to form of Shane McClanahan, who pitched a hitless 8th and 9th striking out 5 and looking like his dominant self. The Orioles won so the lead is back down to 6. Game 3: After seven games of five losses and two narrow wins, it was nice to see a dominant performance on both sides of the ball for the Rays as they crushed the Diamondbacks 11-0 with Max Fried throwing a complete game, 4-hit shutout. Fried was in control all the way, walking 2 and striking out 9, only running into trouble in the top of the 5th while nursing a 1-0 lead after a Devers error, a single, and a double steal put runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out, but he whiffed the next two to get out of the inning. And it was in the bottom of the inning that the offense came alive as Arizona closer-turned-starter JB Bukauskas (the 3rd guy Arizona got in the 2019 Greinke deal) gave up a pair of hits and a walk to load the bases for Austin Meadows, who crushed a ball to dead center for a grand slam and a 5-0 Rays lead. Triston Casas got a start at 1B with Alec Bohm in a recent slump (he had the dreaded snowflake next to his name) and got off to a rough start at the plate today, whiffing twice and then hitting into a double play. But in the bottom of the 7th he found himself up with the bases loaded and drilled his first Rays HR into the RF stands for the team's second slam of the game and a 9-0 lead. And for good measure he came up again in the 8th and went deep almost to the same spot, giving him 6 HR in 41 MLB at-bats after a brief callup by Boston last year. Fried goes to 4-1 with a 2.59 ERA, off to his best start in a season for the Rays, and Meadows ended up 4-5 with 5 RBI as he also had a first inning RBI single. Baltimore won to improve to 22-16 and stay 6 behind. Team record: 28-10. Last edited by Art Deco; 07-23-2020 at 08:03 PM.

07-24-2020, 10:55 AM	#105
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,933	May 12-14, 2023: vs NY Yankees (3) Game 1: First time we've seen the Yankees this year, and they've struggled - Aaron Judge is only slugging .309 right now, for example. It was Joe Ryan tonight against Yankee rookie Miguel Yajure who was just called up from AAA. Well Ryan didn't waste any time giving up his usual HR, as Gleyber Torres took him deep for a solo shot in the 3rd. But Ryan didn't give up another hit until Torres led off the 7th with a single, which chased him from the mound. But the Rays weren't doing too much better against Yajure, who was getting a lot of soft contact with a few exceptions. The exceptions being Max Kepler and Brandon Marsh, who hit back-to-back doubles in the 3rd to tie the game, and Alec Bohm, who saw Triston Casas hit 2 HR in his place the other day as he sat due to a slump, and who launched HR #12 to deep LCF after getting a couple days off. Bohm's longball made it 2-1, and that's where we stayed when Ryan came out in the 7th. Nick Anderson made quick work of the next 3 Yankee hitters, and Alvarado got the first two out in the 8th, but ran into trouble again allowing a Kolten Wong double and then a walk to Luke Voit. With Torres due up, Scott Barlow came on and got him on a fly ball, and Will Smith struck out Stanton, Judge and Hicks to get save #7 and preserve the 2-1 win. While the Rays only managed 6 hits for the night, the Yankees were held to 3. Ryan improves to 5-2 with the win. The Orioles were thrashed 13-2 by the Angels, so the lead is back up to 7. Game 2: This was a game that was a laugher for the Rays, then it wasn't, then it was again, and then it wasn't again as they held on to beat the Yankees 11-8. After the Yankees scored in the first against Noah Syndergaard, the Rays got two back in the bottom of the inning against an unusually wild Jose Urena, who ended up walking 7 in his 3 2/3 innings. They tacked on one in the 2nd and then when the Yankees cut it to 3-2 in the 4th, they appeared to blow it open with 5 runs in the 4th to make it 8-2 on a 2-run single by Meadows, an RBI double by Alec Bohm and an RBI single from Seth Beer. But a Rafael Devers error in the top of the 6th allowed the Yankees to get a pair of unearned runs off Thor, who was pretty hittable today and ended with a 6 9 4 2 2 6 line but got win #7. The Rays added one more in the sixth and two more in the seventh to make it 11-4, but after Austin Franklin pitched a perfect 7th, he ran into some trouble in the 8th, allowing a run and leaving two on for Dany Jimenez. Jimenez immediately surrendered a 3-run HR to Yankee backup C (or perhaps starter now with Andrew Knizner out injured) Raudy Read to make it 11-8. Jimenez got the next two to get out of the inning and with the big 3 RH bats of Voit, Torres and Stanton due, Nick Anderson got the call and set them down in order with a pair of Ks to nab his 2nd save of the year. Meadows ended 4-4 with 3 runs scored, 4 RBI and 2 doubles, Alec Bohm was 2-4 with 3 RBI, Beer and Keibert Ruiz were 2-4 with 2 RBI each and Brandon Marsh reached base all 4 times up on 3 walks and a single with 3 runs scored and a steal as his OBP reaches .423. Baltimore came back with 4 runs in the last two innings to beat the Angels 10-9 so the lead stays 7. Game 3: The Yankees started Shawn Semple, who came in with an 8.33 ERA, but you'd never know that by the 8 6 2 1 2 2 line he put up as the Rays made plenty of contact, just mostly weak in a 4-2 loss. Things looked good early when Austin Meadows hit #10 in the first inning to put them up 1-0 and Tyler Glasnow looked good through 3 himself. But in the 4th Aaron Judge hit a blast to tie it, and then in the 5th things got away from Glasnow when he allowed 4 hits and 3 runs it to make it 4-1. Meadows singled in Brandon Marsh in the 8th to cut it to 4-2 but they could get no closer and meekly went down 1-2-3 against new Yankee closer David Bednar. The only bright spot was the bullpen, which pitched 3.2 scoreless after struggling of late, with Shane McClanahan looking good again with 5 up, 5 down, 3 on strikeouts. With the 2 RBI today, Meadows leads MLB with 44. Remember when he couldn't buy a hit the first 10 games or so of the season? The Angels did us a favor beating Baltimore as the lead remains 7. Team record: 30-11. Last edited by Art Deco; 07-24-2020 at 02:39 PM.

07-24-2020, 03:58 PM	#106
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,933	May 16-17, 2023 at Miami (2) First off, some weekly honors: Game 1: The offensive funk continues as this time even Meadows couldn't get the offense going as they fell 2-0 at Miami. Chris Paddack and Braxton Garrett were hooked up in a duel, and Paddack blinked first in the 8th inning when he gave up a 2-run HR to Cedric Mullins. The Rays had a few opportunities with multiple baserunners but couldn't get the big hit when they needed it; of course they only had 5 for the night, 2 of them from Alec Bohm. Paddack had a complete game, going 8 4 2 2 3 8, but unlike where that would normally be enough to win, given his 16-1 all-time record as a Ray (well now 16-2) today it wasn't. Baltimore won yesterday while the Rays were off but lost today, so the lead is 6 1/2. Game 2: Another pathetic performance in South Florida as the Rays were thumped by the Marlins 7-1. They actually took a 1-0 in the 3rd on a Kepler triple and a Marsh double leading off the inning, but after Max Fried bunted Marsh over the inability to get him home should have been an omen, and in the bottom of the inning Fried served up a 2-run HR to lefty hitter Dominic Smith. 2-1 is where we stayed until the bottom of the 6th when former Ray Travis d'Arnaud hit his own 2-run HR to make it 4-1, and then Scott Barlow shat the bed in the 7th putting three on with one scoring and Shane McClanahan gave up a double allowing the other two Barlow runners to score and the game was out of hand. The offense that couldn't be stopped now only has 3 runs in its last 3 games combined and the team is now 5-9 since starting 25-4. Fortunately the Yankees, our next opponent in a trip to the Bronx, handled Baltimore so we're still up 6 1/2. Team record: 30-13. Last edited by Art Deco; 07-24-2020 at 05:12 PM.

07-24-2020, 09:27 PM	#107
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,933	May 19-21, 2023: at New York Yankees (3) Game 1: I'll start with the good news. After a "here we go again" first inning that saw the Yankees score 4 times off Joe Ryan thanks to Austin Meadows' dropped fly ball and a 2-run HR from Aaron Judge, the Rays fought their way back to take a 9-4 win which was much closer than that score would indicate as they tacked on 4 runs in the top of the 9th. Down 4-2 in the 6th, Max Kepler hit a two-out, 3-run HR off Jose Urena to give the Rays the lead to stay. Now the bad news: While Ryan settled down after that first inning to pitch well, with one out in the 6th he had to come out with what appeared to be an elbow injury and it turns out he has a partially torn UCL and is headed for Tommy John surgery. All kinds of options here from making McClanahan a starter to promoting Clarke Schmidt or Shane Baz or going out and finding someone in trade. Ryan was the 5th starter, so he'd be skipped come playoff time so the question for now is how much it will impact winning the division. It likely hurts more for 2024 as now 2 starters have to be replaced with Syndergaard going to free agency. Anyway, there will be more time to discuss this. Back to the game, they got back in it in the 3rd when Brujan and Wander doubled and Devers singled home Wander, then came the Kepler HR. After Ryan came out, Aaron Ashby finished with a couple of strikeouts but then gave up a leadoff single to lefty Kolten Wong in the 7th. Enter Nick Anderson, who got 3 quick outs and they were so quick he pitched the 8th as well, striking out 4 and only throwing 20 pitches over those 2 innings. Will Smith had another save opportunity snatched from him when they got 4 in the 9th, so Jose Alvarado, who had been struggling big-time lately, got a lower-leverage opportunity and struck out the three batters he faced to end the game. After all that Ryan at least got the win, ending his season 6-2 with a 4.50 ERA. Elsewhere Baltimore got a run in the 9th to tie Cleveland, then beat them in extras. That was after they lost last night so the lead stands at 7. May 20: Placed P Joe Ryan on the 60-day IL with a partially torn UCL, recalled P Drew Strotman from AAA Durham. Strotman is the easy choice for now as a fifth starter won't be needed for 8 days with an off day coming up on Monday. Clarke Schmidt or Shane Baz will likely be the internal option. While I view McClanahan as a starter for next season, right now I want to keep him as the multi-inning lefty. Game 2: It's officially time to worry about Noah Syndergaard. He's been mediocre to bad the last 3 starts and today he was even worse, getting bombed for 7 runs and 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings in a 7-1 loss to the Yankees as he his ERA ballooned to 4.68. After the Rays took a brief 1-0 lead on a Devers RBI single, Thor gave up a 2-run HR to Aaron Hicks and a solo shot to Gio Urshela in the 2nd, and then a grand slam to Miguel Andujar in the 6th. And it might have been worse had he not been bailed out with 3 double plays. Meanwhile the offense had no answers for Shawn Semple once again, after going 8 6 2 1 2 2 against them six days ago, today he went all the way with a 9 5 1 1 0 6 as batter after batter hit pop ups or ground balls. Just an ugly day all around, but this team could be in trouble if Syndergaard doesn't turn it around. Fortunately Baltimore lost and didn't gain any ground but the malaise continues as the team is now in a 6-10 slump. Game 3: It was a matchup of two of the hardest throwing starters in the AL, and it did not disappoint. Tyler Glasnow and Gerrit Cole went head-to-head and fought to a draw through 8 innings, both leaving as the game went 2-2 into the 9th. Glasnow 8 7 2 2 3 7 on 108 pitches and Cole was 8 8 2 2 2 8 on 124. The Rays had to deal with some early frustration as on two different occasions they had runners thrown out at the plate trailing 2-0, but there was no throwing out Austin Meadows' 11th HR of the year, a 2-run in the 6th. Yankee closer David Bednar came on in the 9th and the Rays loaded the bases with 1 out, but Max Kepler struck out and Brandon Marsh grounded out to end the threat. Nick Anderson came on in the bottom of the 9th and did his job with a perfect inning, and then in the top of the 10th the Rays put two more on with two out but this time Keibert Ruiz came through with a double to score Vidal Brujan (who had singled and stolen 2nd) with the go-ahead run, and although Alec Bohm struck out for the 4th time in 5 hitless ABs to keep them from getting any more, Will Smith finally got his save situation. And although he had to face 3 tough righties in Voit, Torres and Stanton, he got them all including Voit and Stanton on strikes, and the Rays go to 2-0 in extra inning games this year with the 3-2 win. Anderson gets his first win and Smith nabs save #8. With the Rays record now 32-14 it's kind of odd that a team's closer has only saved 1/4 of its wins but there have been a lot of blowouts. Baltimore lost, so the lead grows back to 8. Team record: 32-14. Last edited by Art Deco; 07-25-2020 at 03:13 PM.

07-25-2020, 04:36 PM	#108
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,933	May 23-24, 2023: vs LA Dodgers (2) Game 1: I'll let a picture say a thousand words (although I'll write a few hundred anyway): As you can see it was quite the dramatic walk-off win for the Rays against the Dodgers in what would be nice to be a preview of the 2023 World Series. Chris Paddack, who has pitched against LA a time or two during his years with the Padres, was outstanding through 6, only allowing a Joc Pederson HR. With one out in the 7th, he put a couple of men on and unfortunately Jose Alvarado let them score, allowing an RBI single to Cory Seager and then uncorking a wild pitch to let the go-ahead man score. This was after a Alec Bohm 500-ft HR to dead center tied the game in the 5th and Vidal Brujan doubled in Rylan Bannon who had walked to put the Rays up 2-1. Julio Urias was otherwise tough on Tampa Bay, though, and left ahead 3-2 in the 7th. It stayed that way through the 8th and then Aaron Ashby didn't exactly distinguish himself, allowing 3 baserunners and a run to make it 4-2 heading to the bottom of the 9th. That's when Edwin Diaz, the Dodgers' new closer, after retiring Bohm on a pop-up gave up a single to pinch-hitter Max Kepler, then a walk to pinch-hitter Seth Beer, an infield single to Brandon Marsh to load the bases, and then a single to center from Brujan who scored Kepler to make it 4-3 but the slow Beer was held at 3rd against the cannon arm of Cory Bellinger. No matter, though, as brief former Ray Taylor Rogers came on to face Wander who had his own infield single to tie it, and then Rafael Devers hit one over the head of RF Jacob Robson to win it. Ashby got this 3rd win of the season, however undeserved. Paddack ended up 6.1 4 3 3 3 6 and really pitched better than that. Baltimore won with a run in the bottom of the 9th against the Yankees and had won yesterday while the Rays were idle so the lead is 7 1/2. Game 2: No drama at the Trop tonight as the Rays jumped all-over All-Star pitcher Walker Buehler for 5 runs in the first inning and never looked back in a 14-1 rout of the Dodgers. Rafael Devers picked up where he left off with his walk-off hit the night before by going 5-5 and hitting for the cycle, scoring 4 and driving in 4, while Keibert Ruiz terrorized his former team with a pair of 2-run HRs. Brujan and Wander started the bottom of the 1st with infield hits, and after a Meadows fielder's choice, Devers doubled in Brujan, Ruiz walked to load the bases and then Alec Bohm drilled a double to deep LCF scoring a pair, Seth Beer singled in Devers, and Max Kepler's sac fly scored Bohm. Ruiz tacked on a 2-HR in the 3rd, Devers homered to lead off the 5th, and then Ruiz doubled his season-to-date HR total with his second 2-run shot in the 7th. Brandon Marsh added a 2-run HR of his own in the 8th, and then the only suspense left was Devers' cycle and he obliged with a 2-run triple to complete it. The beneficiary of all this run support was Max Fried, who held the Dodgers in check to the tune of 7 7 1 1 0 7, rarely getting into any trouble and improving to 5-2, 2.77. Austin Franklin and Drew Strotman pitched scoreless innings to finish it out. Baltimore finished a sweep of the Yankees to stay 7 1/2 back. Team record: 34-14. Last edited by Art Deco; 07-25-2020 at 06:50 PM.

07-25-2020, 08:31 PM	#109
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,933	May 25-28, 2023 at Cleveland (4) Game 1: It was fitting that the man nicknamed Thor pitched for the Rays tonight as they were a team of avengers looking for payback against Cleveland's Kantaro Yokoyama, who went 8 innings to beat the Rays and snap their AL-record 25-game winning streak last August. Syndergaard was an iron man tonight, going 8 innings himself as the Rays defeated Cleveland 4-2 for their 4th straight win. It was a welcome return to form for the ace righthander, going 8 5 1 1 1 7 and picking up his AL-leading 8th win. He could have been involved in the endgame except Will Smith was owed a save situation, which he managed to achieve despite allowing a solo HR to Bobby Bradley. The Rays got on the board against Yokoyama quickly when Austin Meadows hulked out with a first inning 2-run HR. After Meadows reached on a Jose Rondon error in the 5th, Keibert Ruiz doubled him home to make it 3-0, and after Cleveland scratched out a run in the 7th, Beer was served in the RF bleachers when pinch-hitter Seth hit #8 off one-time longtime Rays reliever Diego Castillo. Also, I misspoke when I said the Orioles had swept the Yankees yesterday; they in fact had one more game today and it went something like this: I remember when we used to play those kind of games. As a result the lead is now 8 1/2. Durham update: It's been a while since we checked on our boys in AAA and after a rough 8-13 start to the season the Bulls are 15-4 in their last 19. Spencer Torkelson is ridiculously hot right now. Earlier in the year he was hitting HRs but not much else and his average dipped below .200. Well now he's at 275/328/700 with 19 HR in only 160 AB and has 6 HR and 16 RBI in his last 6 games. Also hitting the ball out of park is Chris Betts, who could probably start or least be the backup for 2/3 of the teams in MLB but is stuck behind Keibert and Ronaldo. He has 10 HR in 92 at-bats and an OPS of 1.004. Nick Schnell also continues to rake at 303/395/533 with 9 HR of his own. Jimmy Lewis has been the most consistent starter, 4-1 with a 3.08 ERA and a 16/58 BB/K ratio in 49 innings, although Clarke Schmidt will get the call to start tomorrow as I don't want to be calling up Baz or Lewis before super-2 time in June and Schmidt has toiled at Durham long enough to earn another start or two to audition for the #5 role before I turn to Baz or Lewis or make a trade. Another name to remember is Sandy Gaston, who has been closing since his promotion from AA Montgomery and has 16 Ks in 6 2/3 innings with 80 stuff right now, not "potential". He may be a part of the big club's bullpen before long. May 26: Optioned P Drew Strotman to AAA Durham, recalled P Clarke Schmidt from AAA Durham. As advertised. Schmidt gets the start tonight against Shane Bieber. Game 2: This turned out to be one of the more satisfying wins of the season as Clarke Schmidt pitched really well and the Rays relied on the long ball for a change from their usual offensive M.O. to take a 6-4 win over Cleveland and Shane Bieber. Bieber stifled the Rays in the early innings, retiring the first 11 before a Rafael Devers single. Down 3-0 in the 5th they finally broke through when Bieber hit Seth Beer with a pitch (the 10th time this season Beer has been hit, and this time he was forced to leave with a bruised forearm), gave up a single to Triston Casas who was starting in place of Alec Bohm (who came in for Beer) and then Max Kepler, who's been doing this a lot of late, hit a big 3-run HR to tie the game. Devers then homered off Bieber in the 7th to put the Rays in front to stay, Brandon Marsh had an RBI triple in the 8th, and Casas homered (his 3rd in 20 AB since the call-up) in the 9th to round out the scoring. Meanwhile, Schmidt looked much more impressive tonight than he did in his earlier start against the White Sox. Nolan Jones took him deep in the 2nd and he would have been out of the 3rd unscathed except Wander booted a ground ball for his first error of the season and Jake Bauers ripped a 2-run double to make it 3-0. But he held tough while the Rays tied it up and took the lead, and ended up with a quite good 5.1 3 3 1 0 6 line, the lack of walks and the 6 Ks impressed me most. With Cleveland stacking the lineup with lefties, Shane McClanahan took over in the 6th and retired all 5 batters he faced through the 7th (with only one K), Nick Anderson pitched the 8th (he allowed 2 hits but Keibert Ruiz caught Pat Valaika napping off first and threw him out). Will Smith came on for the save and for the second day in a row gave up a solo HR (Jones' 2nd of the night) and with two out gave up a base hit to Bobby Bradley who foolishly decided to try to stretch his single into a double despite being down by 2 and was gunned down by Kepler to end the game. So Schmidt gets his first major league win (and another start) while Smith gets a shaky save #10. After a 19-18 game yesterday Baltimore went to Coors Field to play the Rockies and the score was.......4-1 Orioles?? I'm not sure which of those games is the more improbable. Anyway the lead remains 8 1/2. Game 3: A frustrating outing in which the Rays couldn't get a hit with men on base to save their lives, wasted a great outing from Tyler Glasnow and with Will Smith tired from going the last two nights watched Scott Barlow blow a save in the ninth as they fell 2-1 to Cleveland. Glasnow was almost unhittable, going 7 4 0 0 0 10 in his best outing of the year but the offense continually put men on base, and continually failed to bring them home. They outhit Cleveland 11-5, had another run on via the base on balls, but had 2 men caught stealing, hit into 2 double plays and seemed to get a hit every inning with 2 out. In fact their only run came in the 5th when they loaded the bases against Luis Castillo with nobody out and Brandon Marsh hit into a double play. Still they could have won if Barlow hadn't melted down in the ninth. After Jose Alvarado pitched a perfect 8th, Barlow walked the first two batters in the ninth on four pitches each, got Christian Arroyo to ground out but they couldn't turn the DP, and with runners on 1st and 3rd he allowed a Jose Rondon double to score the tying run and put men on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out. With lefty Nolan Jones due, Shane McClanahan was summoned in hopes of a strikeout, but Jones hit a fly ball deep enough to right to bring home the winner for Cleveland. The Orioles won in Coors in a more Coors-like game, 13-9, so the lead is down to 7 1/2. Game 4: Another terrible performance from the offense doomed them in a 4-2 loss, as they only managed 4 hits for the game. Chris Paddack was victimized twice by Gregory Polanco, first for a 2-run HR in the 2nd and then a solo shot in the 6th that broke a 2-2 tie. Otherwise he was solid with a 7 7 3 3 2 6 line but the only real offense he got was an Austin Meadows homer leading off the 2nd and a run scored in the 5th off a Jose Rondon throwing error. Aaron Ashby came on in the 8th and immediately surrendered a HR to Christian Arroyo, continuing his struggles. Brujan and Wander have stopped hitting at the top of the lineup and when they don't get on it's tough to score runs. Just when it looked like the team was snapping out of its funk and winning five straight, they now drop two winnable games in a row at Cleveland. Baltimore swept the Rockies so the lead is cut again to 6 1/2. Team record: 36-16. Last edited by Art Deco; 07-26-2020 at 09:44 AM.

07-26-2020, 01:10 PM	#110
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,933	May 29-31, 2023 vs Toronto (3) First off, some news from the International League: Gonna be interesting to see how long I can keep Torkelson down on the farm as he hit #20 yesterday and remember the IL didn't start until mid-April. Game 1: After being called out for their lack of hitting the last two days, the Rays came out on Memorial Day with a vengeance, bombing the Blue Jays 15-5. Brujan and Wander in particular had been the subject of some consternation but both had big days, each with 2 hits and 2 RBI with Wander hitting a double and a triple. Austin Meadows stayed hot with a 2-run HR as part of a 3-5, 3 RBI day, Keibert Ruiz was 2-5 with a HR and 3 RBI, Devers was 2-4 with 2 RBI and Alec Bohm was 3-4 with 2 RBI as the top of the lineup was deadly today. But there's something about Max Fried pitching with a big lead against the Blue Jays and although he wasn't at his sharpest allowing 2 runs through his first 4 innings, in the 5th despite an 11-2 lead he just couldn't get the third out, ending with a 4.2 9 5 5 3 5 line. Fried gave way to the middle inning monster known as Shane McClanahan, who was great again going 2.1 0 0 0 1 4 to get his 3rd win of the year. And Dany Jimenez closed it out with 2 scoreless innings, a positive sign from a guy who has struggled all year despite the situation. The Orioles keep winning (now 32-24) so the lead remains 6 1/2. Game 2: Max Kepler was the hero tonight as the Rays had to dig themselves out of a 5-2 hole that Noah Syndergaard put them in to pull out a 7-5 victory. Trailing 5-4 in the 6th, Kepler hit HR #6 of the year to tie it, and in the 8th his 2-run triple with 2 out scored a pair to provide the win. Syndergaard started out very shaky, allowing 5 runs in the first 3 innings including a mammoth 3-run blast by Bo Bichette. He did settle down after that to throw 4 scoreless innings to buy the Rays some time to come back (he ended 7 5 5 5 4 6, the walks were a surprise). The Rays were up against Rick Porcello, who bedeviled them earlier this season in Toronto but today they got to him for 2 runs and 4 hits in the 1st inning. Rafael Devers' 2-out triple scored a run to make it 5-3 in the 5th, and then in the 6th Keibert Ruiz hit HR #6 before Kepler's tying blast. Jose Alvarado pitched a scoreless eighth to pick up his first win of the season, and Will Smith got 3 groundball outs in a perfect 9th for save #11. Wander, in a relative slump of late, went 0-4 to see his BA drop below .300. We usually know how that turns out. Yes, Baltimore won again so no change in the division lead. Game 3: It was almost a carbon copy of yesterday's game, with the starting pitching giving up 5 runs and putting them behind, only for the offense and the bullpen to take over to get the win with the difference between today's score was 8-5 instead of 7-5. Clarke Schmidt looked good through 3 innings but the wheels came off in the 4th when he gave up a leadoff Rowdy Tellez HR and then later in the inning a 3-run shot to Bo Bichette and a 4-0 Rays lead became a 5-4 deficit. This time it didn't take as long to retake the lead as in the bottom of the 4th Wander tripled in Brujan and scored on a Devers groundout. Meanwhile a parade of relievers shut the Jays down over the final 5 innings: Aaron Ashby went 1 2/3, walked a couple but Scott Barlow put out the fire in the 6th by whiffing Vlad Jr. Barlow then pitched a clean 7th, Alvarado put a couple on but then got a pair of strikeouts to end his inning, and Will Smith, who couldn't buy a save situation until recently, got yet another save with a 1-2-3 2K inning, #12. Ashby picked up the win to go 4-0. The bats were going off early against Toronto starter Isaac Mattson with Meadows staying unconscious by drilling a 2-run HR in the first, #15, and they added 2 more in the 3rd on a Meadows groundout (his AL-leading 56th RBI) and a Bohm single. Ronaldo had an RBI single in the 6th to make it 7-5, and a Brujan triple (he scored 4 times) was followed by a Wander groundout for run #8. Somehow they did manage 8 runs on only 6 hits (7 walks helped) as they swept the Jays. Seth Beer was back in the lineup after 5 missing games with a bruised forearm after suffering an HBP in Cleveland and the rust showed as he went 0-4 with 3 Ks. And Baltimore finally lost, so the lead is back up to 7 1/2. Team record: 39-16. Last edited by Art Deco; 07-26-2020 at 03:49 PM.

07-26-2020, 04:14 PM	#111
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,933	June 1-4, 2023 vs Minnesota (4) Some more monthly hardware for Rays prospects. Torkelson won IL hitter of the month, but since I just posted his player of the week blurb, I'll pass and instead feature one of his teammates: A few thoughts. First, that looks nothing like Shane Baz. Second, I've got three options with my fifth starter. I could give Schmidt another start in Detroit next week. I could skip him since Monday is an off-day. Or third I could bring up Baz to pitch instead especially now that we're into June and Super-2 isn't a consideration. Right now Baz is starting on the same schedule as Schmidt so it would be an easy swap. Regardless he's penciled into next year's rotation so he'll be with the big club sooner or later. Vernon has a great arm and he was acquired in one of the many deals with the Cubs (don't ask me which one) over the past couple of years. He probably needs some time at Durham later this year or next but is definitely a strong candidate for a bullpen spot with the big club. Game 1: Every once in a while I'm reminded to give thanks to Neal Huntingon, GM of the Pirates in 2018 who traded Austin Meadows, Tyler Glasnow and Shane Baz to the Rays for Chris Archer. Anytime you think I might have fleeced the AI GM in a deal, keep this deal in mind. And the reason I'm reminded of that deal is the show that Glasnow and Meadows put on tonight. We'll start with Glasnow who threw a 6-hit shutout, walking 0 and striking out 11. This makes two starts in a row where he's been damn near untouchable. And like that last start, for the longest time the Rays were giving him no run support (you'll recall he didn't get the win last time when Cleveland got 2 in the 9th off Scott Barlow to win 2-1). But enter Austin Meadows, on a hot streak of his own. Despite coming into the game with a 6+ ERA, Daniel Norris had that lefty mojo going against the offense through 6 innings and we were at 0-0. But in the 7th Meadows took him deep to break the ice. And in the 8th, the Rays tried to scratch out a run as Brujan walked, stole second and went to third on Mitch Garver's bad throw and then Wander walked. Up stepped Meadows again and again he went deep to make it 4-0 and the only suspense was whether Glasnow would get the shutout. He got a Miguel Sano groundout, a Matt Olson fly ball and then struck out Garver to put the exclamation point on the shutout. The shutout was the first of his career and nearly a Maddux as he ended with 103 pitches and lowered his ERA to 2.51. Meadows meanwhile is on quite the tear with the two today giving him 3 HR in 2 games and 5 in his last 5. Baltimore was idle so the lead grows to 8. Game 2: Welp, you play 162 games a season and you're going to have debacles like tonight as the Twins crushed the Rays 15-1. Chris Paddack just didn't have it in his worst start as a Ray, going 3.1 10 7 7 2 4 and then Austin Franklin, Dany Jimenez and Scott Barlow all took beatings of their own the rest of the way. And to add injury to insult Vidal Brujan suffered a mild oblique strain legging out an infield hit in the 1st inning and will be out 5 days. Rylan Bannon (who has not impressed in his limited playing time this year) will get some starts, especially if I just go ahead and put Brujan on the IL. The Rays' only run came on Keibert Ruiz's 7th HR of the year. Baltimore beat the Giants so the lead is now 7. Game 3: Not sure what's going on with Max Fried but it seems the worst thing you can do is stake him to a decent-sized early lead because he's just gonna give it right back. That's what happened again today when the Rays took a 4-1 lead after the 1st inning on a 3-run HR by Seth Beer, only to see Fried give it right back with 3 runs in the top of the 2nd. And then after the Rays regained the lead in bottom of the 2nd on a Ronaldo Hernandez blast, Fried allowed two more in the top of the 4th to make it 6-5 Minnesota. He got through the 5th after the Rays tied it at 6 in the bottom of the 4th, but he departed with an ugly 5 6 6 6 4 4 line as walks continued to bite him. So it was bullpen time and Shane McClanahan got them through the 6th, walked the leadoff lefty in the 7th and with 3 righties due it was Nick Anderson time and he was perfect including striking out Mitch Garver to start the 8th. Meanwhile the Rays had eked ahead when Brandon Marsh doubled home Rylan Bannon, getting the start in place of the injured Brujan and rapping out a pair of hits himself. After Anderson got Garver, Jose Alvarado got the last two outs in the 9th and then we had the Will Smith adventure in the 9th. With two lefties leading off it looked all set up for him but he walked Nick Gordon and gave up a single to Andrew Benintendi. After striking out Matt Olson, Miguel Sano came up and ripped a single to left, but Austin Meadows gunned down Gordon at the plate to preserve the lead and get the second out. Smith then continued to raise blood pressures across Tampa Bay by walking Josh Donaldson to load the bases, but he got Jorge Polanco to ground into a force to end the game and pick up the shakiest of saves in the 7-6 win. McClanahan picked up another win in relief and Smith's save #13 has to go down as lucky. And stop the presses - the 22-36 Giants managed to beat the Orioles so the lead is back up to 8. Game 4: Noah Syndergaard had really struggled over his last few starts. Combine that with the fine start Blake Snell has had with the Mets (and the extension they gave him) and the big offseason trade was looking questionable. It might still be questionable, but Syndergaard's performance today is what we thought were getting, a complete game 9 6 1 1 0 6 performance. Still it looked like it might not be enough as the Rays had to go with a makeshift lineup. Not only is Brujan still gimpy, but Meadows and Devers showed as fatigued so Yusniel Diaz and Triston Casas had to replace them in the lineup. And those two were missed as the Rays could only scratch out one run themselves on a Wander double and Keibert Ruiz single. But in the bottom of the 9th with 1 out Seth Beer stepped up and drove one into the RF seats to give the Rays a 2-1 walk-off win. Beer's HR was his 10th and it came off Twins closer Zack Littell. Syndergaard goes to 9-3 and his 9 wins lead the AL as we have an off-day tomorrow before heading to Detroit. With the win the Rays are now 26-5 at the Trop. Elsewhere, the Giants brought their bats to Baltimore and beat them 10-9 in 10 innings so the division lead stretches to 9. Team record: 42-17. Last edited by Art Deco; 07-27-2020 at 10:45 AM.

07-27-2020, 12:53 PM	#112
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,933	June 6-8, 2023: at Detroit (3) Game 1: Expectations were low for this one given the pitching matchup was Clarke Schmidt against Tigers ace Matt Manning. But it was the Rays who jumped out quickly with a 2-0 lead on back-to-back 2nd inning HRs from Alec Bohm and Seth Beer and they extended the lead in the 3rd on a Devers groundout. But Schmidt gave Detroit 2 runs back in the 3rd, and after the Rays went up 4-2 on a wild pitch in the 5th, Schmidt gave that lead back with 2 runs against in the 5th, ending a very mediocre 5 6 4 4 2 4 in what could be his last start. But the Rays persevered and took advantage of a Tigers error in the 6th to get a run on a Max Kepler RBI single to go back up 5-4. But Scott Barlow, a disappointment this season given how un-clutch he's been, took over for Schmidt and gave up a leadoff triple which scored to tie it at 5. Shane McClanahan then came on in the 7th and had a nice inning and was back out for the 8th, got the first two out then gave up a HR to Isaac Paredes, and the Tigers led for the first time all night at 6-5. Detroit closer Joe Jimenez came on to save it, and he impressively struck out Brandon Marsh, Wander and Meadows to preserve the Tiger victory. It was a game I didn't expect to win going in, but on how it played out they should have. Fortunately Baltimore lost at Texas so the lead remains 9. Game 2: Tyler Glasnow was on the mound tonight, coming off two brilliant outings of 16 shutout innings combined. However tonight's Tyler Glasnow resembled that one in name only, walking 3 men in the first inning and wild pitching one of them in. The Rays bounced back in the 2nd on RBI singles from Brandon Marsh and Vidal Brujan (back in the lineup) to take the lead, and Rafael Devers homered for the first of his 3 hits today to make it 3-1 in the 3rd. But Glasnow gave it right back on a Willie Calhoun HR in the bottom of the inning. The Rays restored the two-run lead in the 5th on an Alec Bohm RBI single, but Glasnow ran into trouble in the 6th after a Brujan error put the leadoff man on and he gave up a couple of hits to let him score. With two on and one out and Glasnow at 100 pitches and struggling, I rolled the dice by bringing in Scott Barlow again. This time Barlow struck out the first man he faced, and after wild pitching the runners to 2nd and 3rd got a groundout to escape the inning. Austin Meadows then added some insurance in the 7th with an opposite field HR, his 18th, and it was time to turn the game over to Alvarado/Anderson/Smith. The first two got through the 7th and 8th fairly easily, but Will Smith made it an adventure again in the 9th. Back in the late 70s, Earl Weaver called his closer Don Stanhouse "Full Pack" because his penchant for putting baserunners on before getting out of it caused him to smoke a full pack of cigs. Well Stanhouse would have been proud of Smith tonight, as the lefty loaded the bases with nobody out with a HBP and 2 walks, but then got a strikeout, shallow fly ball and another strikeout to hang on to the 5-3 win and pick up save #14. Glasnow was far from his sharpest at 5.1 6 3 2 4 4, but improved to 6-2 with the win. Baltimore lost again so the lead grows to a season-high 10 games. Game 3: Chris Paddack had become synonymous with the Rays winning, as he went 17-1 in his first 18 decisions with the Rays. But he came into this game on a 3-game losing streak, the first two of those being tough-luck losses before he was absolutely creamed by the Twins the last time out. So it's good to report Paddack back the win column again as he was brilliant in an 8 4 2 1 1 8 outing in a 4-2 win over Detroit. With Will Smith worn out from his Houdini act last night, Jose Alvarado came in for the save with two lefties due in the 9th and although he allowed the leadoff man a single, he got a double play and a groundout to grab save #2. The game really shouldn't have been that close as the offense underachieved, leaving 11 men on base. Still they did enough to win: Alec Bohm's RBI double in the 4th was followed by Max Kepler's bases-load walk for the first 2 runs, Austin Meadows' force-out was his MLB-leading 63rd RBI in the 5th, and Vidal Brujan doubled in Brandon Marsh in the 6th. Paddack's only real blemish was a Daz Cameron HR in the 4th, the other run he allowed reached base on a Rafael Devers error. Baltimore won so the lead stays at 10. Next up is a trip to Fenway, where the Red Sox have been resurgent since we last saw them back in April and early May, now 33-31 and Abraham Toro is having a near MVP-type season (335/428/558 with 13 HR and 41 RBI, already good for 3.2 WAR) making the Devers deal look kinda not so good at the moment. Team record: 44-18. Last edited by Art Deco; 07-27-2020 at 06:28 PM.

07-27-2020, 07:33 PM	#113
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,933	June 9-11, 2023: at Boston (3) June 9: Traded 22-year-old minor league starting pitcher Ben Peoples and 21-year-old minor league reliever Trent Black to the Miami Marlins, getting 26-year-old starting pitcher Daniel Lynch and 19-year-old minor league reliever Ivan Floriano in return. Sorry, Shane Baz. Noticed from shopping some players around that Miami was making NL ERA leader Daniel Lynch (1.75) available, so we worked out this deal. Obviously I'm not buying Lynch as a 1.75 pitcher, a lot of this is due to the run-suppressed environment in Marlins Park (although his road numbers are just as good), and getting to face pitchers instead of DHs. However, he has an excellent prospect pedigree and his FIP is 3.09. I'm not even looking for 3.09, something in the high 3s/low 4s will be acceptable in a fifth starter. We shall see. The cost was Peoples, who gets it up there at 97-99 and has struck out over 13 per 9 innings at A Bowling Green and A+ Port Charlotte. His problem is control. Black was a body to get the deal done, he's a long shot to amount to anything. Floriano is an interesting addition in the deal, he too throws 97-99 but he's much further away than Peoples. Lynch pitched Wednesday the 7th so Schmidt will get one more start in Fenway. Game 1: Maybe Lynch can take Max Fried's spot. The veteran lefty was positively awful tonight, walking 6 in 3 innings as part of a 3 5 5 5 6 2 line as the Rays fell 6-1 to the red-hot Red Sox. That's Fried's 3rd straight terrible start after the gem against the Dodgers; he's allowed 16 runs in his last 12 2/3 innings with 13 walks. Fried was outclassed by an even more veteran lefty, Chris Sale, who pitched a complete-game 4-hitter. Last we saw Sale about 4-5 weeks ago, he had an ERA of 9 and looked done. He's been on a roll lately, and rolled back the clock in tonight's performance. The only offense tonight came from Wander Franco, who took Sale deep for HR #8 and also had a single and a stolen base. Otherwise the rest of the lineup was completely handcuffed. Austin Franklin and Dany Jimenez pitched the final 5 innings and acquitted themselves well, allowing only one run but the die was cast. Abraham Toro was 2-4 with 2 RBI, thanks for asking. Baltimore lost so the lead stays 10, but Boston is now only 1 game behind them so they might become the new team to watch. Game 2: Ugh, what a terrible loss. Up 7-3 in the 6th with Noah Syndergaard on the mound, you should be in great shape to win. But Thor, with an exception here and there, has been mediocre to terrible over the last several weeks and today was more of the same. Although a Wander error contributed heavily to the Red Sox tying it up in the bottom of the 6th with 4 runs, Syndergaard was all over the place today going 6 8 7 3 5 3, and there's no excuse for giving up a 3-run HR to Marcell Ozuna to tie it when you need one more out. And it was Ozuna again in the bottom of the 11th off Scott "I can't pitch in high leverage situations" Barlow with a 2-run shot after Ryan Mountcastle singled to lead off the inning and win the game 9-7 for Boston. How did this guy save 16 games for KC last year? McClanahan, Anderson and Alvarado got the Rays through 4 innings with shutout relief, but the Boston pen did them one better with 5 innings after the Rays hit Boston starter Zac Eflin hard. They didn't homer but they hit 8 doubles, including 2 apiece from Wander, Meadows (3 more RBI) and Beer, but the bats went cold after the 6th when one more run could have gotten the job done. At least they held Toro to 0-6. Baltimore lost again so with the Boston win both teams are now 10 behind the Rays. June 11: Optioned P Clarke Schmidt to AAA Durham, recalled P Shane Baz from AAA Durham. Surprise, surprise, surprise! Yes this was an emotional decision after losing the last two games. Couldn't bear the thought of Schmidt getting knocked around in Fenway. Sure, Baz could get knocked around too, or he could be brilliant. Or something in between. YOLO and all of that. This is still a one-time start with Lynch joining the rotation tomorrow. Game 3: After the Rays had their own Boston massacre early this season with a sweep at Fenway, the Red Sox returned the favor to complete a lost weekend for Tampa Bay with a 5-0 win. The Rays offense was befuddled by a lefty once again, this time the immortal Cionel Perez who went 8.1 3 0 0 0 3 against them. They provided no support for Shane Baz in his debut, who looked good through 4 shutout innings despite putting a few baserunners on, but the wheels came off for him in the fifth when the Sox scored three times and he ended up 4.1 6 3 3 4 3, which I guess Schmidt could have done as well. Given that they couldn't score it really didn't matter who was pitching. At least they held Marcell Ozuna to 0-5 with 4 strikeouts. With the win Boston gets within 9 and improves to 36-31, a far cry from last year's horrible season, and Baltimore won as well so they're 9 back too. Team record: 44-21 (now a mediocre 18-16 on the road). Last edited by Art Deco; 07-27-2020 at 10:11 PM.

07-28-2020, 08:22 AM	#114
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,933	June 12-14, 2023: vs Oakland (3) So just how did Daniel Lynch's Tampa Bay Rays debut go? See for yourself: Game 1: It was the second one-hitter I've had since I've been managing the Rays, after Blake Snell's 1-hitter against Toronto in 2021. This one saw fewer baserunners and fewer strikeouts, but man what an impressive debut. The A's aren't Murderer's Row but they're not the Marlins or Giants either. Matt Chapman's 2-out double in the 4th was the only hit off Lynch, who only needed to throw 107 pitches in the gem. I was not expecting Lynch to lower his 1.75 ERA coming into his AL debut, but he certainly did. The slumping offense did enough today, getting the only run they'd need in the 3rd aided by an Oakland error and scoring on a Wander RBI single, and then the Rays strung together a bunch of hits in the 5th off Frankie Montas which kicked off with a Seth Beer double and saw RBI singles from Marsh and Devers and a Wander RBI groundout. Keibert Ruiz put the cherry on top with an 8th inning solo HR, his 8th of the year. Boston won while Baltimore was off so the lead remains 9. Game 2: After a string of brilliant starts, Tyler Glasnow had his second straight rough one, only lasting four innings and having to throw 106 pitches to get through them, going 4 5 4 4 3 7 and hitting a couple of guys. But fortunately the Rays offense and bullpen was able to overcome it in a 9-6 win. It was an impressive performance by the offense considering Wander Franco and Brandon Marsh were both fatigued and had to sit, but Rafael Devers picked up the slack, going 4-5 with 3 doubles and 3 RBI. The team banged out 16 hits as a whole, and jumped on Oakland's Daulton Jefferies for 7 runs in the first two innings. Bohm, Beer, Kepler and Yusniel Diaz had consecutive RBI hits in a 5-run first but Glasnow couldn't deal with prosperity and had to leave up 7-4 after 4. Enter Middle Innings McClanahan, who got them through the 5th and 6th although he gave up a Kennys Vargas homer. At 7-5 in the 7th it was time for the big three again to finish, and Anderson struck out the side around a Sean Murphy HR that cut it to 7-6 and made things tense. But Vidal Brujan had a big two-out, two-run single in bottom of the 7th to make it 9-6, and Alvarado got through the 8th despite giving up a one-out triple and Will Smith nabbed save #15 with a perfect ninth, eschewing the drama he's created in recent save chances. McClanahan picked up win #5 for his efforts. Boston won its 8th straight game to stay 9 back. Game 3: The Rays sweep the series from the A's in a game very similar to yesterday's except starter Chris Paddack didn't let Oakland back into the game. They wasted no time scoring against Grant Holmes as Brujan led off with a single and then Wander went deep into the RF stands. And after two out, Alec Bohm singled and Seth Beer tripled him home. Beer was on base all 4 times today with that triple, a walk, and 2 more HBPs. The Rays hadn't hit too many HRs lately and even in the games where they scored a lot of runs, it was mostly singles and doubles. That changed today. In addition to Wander's blast, Ronaldo Hernandez went deep in the 2nd, Austin Meadows hit #19, and Wander homered a second time. Wander, who had 31 last year but came into today with only 8, was overdue in that department. Ronaldo ended up productive again in his occasional appearances, going 2-4 and driving in a total of 3. He's at 273/333/545 in 66 AB with 5 HR and 13 RBI and it would be interesting to see what kind of numbers he could put up playing everyday, but Keibert Ruiz isn't going anywhere. As mentioned, Paddack did fine with all this run support, and although he allowed a couple of solo HRs, that was all he allowed, going 7 8 2 2 1 5 to improve to 7-4. Aaron Ashby with a six-run lead came on in the eighth and someday he'll pitch a 1-2-3 inning but that day wasn't today as he gave up a lefty-on-lefty HR to Kyle Schwarber and put two more men on before escaping. Austin Franklin, though, had a nice 1-2-3 inning with a pair of Ks to close out the 8-3 win. Boston finally lost but Baltimore won so the Orioles move into second, 9 1/2 back. Team record: 47-21 Last edited by Art Deco; 07-28-2020 at 04:56 PM.

07-28-2020, 06:12 PM	#115
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,933	June 15-18, 2023: vs LA Angels (4) Game 1: The saying goes "you can't predict baseball", or YCPB for short. Max Fried came into the game with a snowflake next to his name on the heels of 3 horrible starts with 16 runs allowed in 12 2/3 innings. So of course today he pitches a 2-hit shutout with 0 walks and 5 Ks. Fried retired the first 11 batters before hitting Mike Trout with a pitch and didn't give up a hit until the 5th when Marcus Semien singled off him. Semien had the other Angels hit in the 8th and those were the only three batters to reach safely. The offense did enough to support him in the 4-0 win with Alec Bohm's 2-run single in the first followed by Wander's 3rd HR in 2 days, a 2-run shot in the 7th as the Rays got the better of Patrick Sandoval. The shutout was Fried's 2nd of the year and the Rays' second in 4 games after the Lynch 1-hitter. One ominous bit of bad news, though: Austin Meadows had to leave beating out an infield hit with knee tendinitis and will be out 9 days, so he'll go on the IL and an OF will be brought up (not sure who at the moment). OOTP doesn't specify which knee but of course Meadows missed 4 months with a torn meniscus last year so hopefully it's not some kind of recurrence. In other games, Baltimore lost but Boston won as the two teams trade 2nd place but the exchange means the Rays' lead is a season-high 10 games. June 16: Placed OF Austin Meadows on the 10-day IL with knee tendinitis, purchased the contract of OF Albert Almora Jr. from AAA Durham. Meadows was officially diagnosed as day-to-day for 8 more days, with a 10-game lead I'm not going to fool around and risk getting him hurt worse, so up comes Almora to give us a right-handed bench off the bat with Yusniel Diaz getting more PT. Also, I'm considering playing Seth Beer in LF against some righties with Triston Casas (remember him? he's still on the team) DHing. Beer's a 35 in LF so it's a bit of a gamble. Game 2: This was perhaps the most bizarre game of the year as the win probability chart looked like a Coney Island rollercoaster. Syndergaard got off to another rough start, falling behind 3-0 after 3 innings and allowing HRs to Anthony Rizzo and Mike Trout. He returned to his dominant self over the middle innings but the Rays couldn't get anything going despite getting hits against opener Brad Wieck and follower Andrew Heaney, with a runner thrown out at the plate and another picked off first. So to the bottom of the 6th it was still at 3-0 and the Rays finally turned hits into runs. Alec Bohm singled in a run, Yusniel Diaz doubled one in, and then Albert Almora Jr in his Rays debut took Heaney deep for a 3-run HR to suddenly put Tampa Bay up 5-3. The Rays then re-loaded the bases and Keibert Ruiz knocked in a run to make it 6-3. Syndergaard whizzed through the 7th and in the bottom of the inning Diaz hit a 2-run HR, his 1st of the year to make it 8-3. So going into the 8th with Syndergaard and the might of our bullpen behind him there was no way they could blow this one, right? Well Thor gave up a leadoff triple and a single to make it 8-4 and with Trout due up, Nick Anderson came on. Anderson walked Trout, struck out Anthony Rendon but then gave up a single to Billy McKinney to load the bases. With lefty Rizzo due up and another lefty two batters behind him, Alvarado came on, walked Rizzo on 4 pitches to make it 8-5, struck out Marcus Semien for out #2, but then gave up a bases-clearing double to lefty hitter Austin Allen and improbably we were tied at 8. The Rays went down meekly in the bottom of the inning and then Will Smith came on for the 9th, put two men on and got out of it by striking out McKinney. In the bottom of the 9th the first two Rays dutifully went down but then Brandon Marsh hit a triple, and Vidal Brujan hit a liner to right that McKinney appeared to catch but trapped, and the Rays had a walk-off 9-8 win in a game that should have done and dusted earlier. Smith gets his first win as a Ray, and Almora had 3 hits and a walk in his first four trips as a Ray before making an out in the 9th. The Rays had 18 hits in total with everyone in the starting lineup getting at least one. As far as the division goes, Boston and Baltimore played just as ridiculous (if not moreso) a game as the Rays did. Boston led 10-4 going into the bottom of the 9th when they allowed the Orioles to score 6 and tie it, then got 2 in the top of the 10th to go back up 12-10 only to give up 3 in the bottom of the inning on a Renato Nunez walk-off shot and Baltimore won 13-12. So the Orioles nose back into second but Boston losing means the Rays are now up by a season-high 10 1/2 games. Game 3: Daniel Lynch, ladies and gentlemen. When you pitch a 1-hit shutout in your team debut there's nowhere to go but down but Lynch did not drop very far, extending his shutout streak with the Rays to 15 1/3 innings before finally being touched for a Marcus Semien HR in the 7th inning. Lynch finished 7 7 1 1 1 6 in another outstanding performance to go 2-0 as a Ray in a 6-3 win. The Rays got a couple off Angel opener Jacob Barnes in the 1st on a Devers RBI single and an Alec Bohm RBI double then added 3 more in the third on a wild pitch and Bohm's 15th HR of the year, a 2-run blast. Vidal Brujan (2-3, walk, SB, 3 runs scored) hit his second double in the bottom of the 7th and scored on a Keibert Ruiz single to get the run back Lynch gave up. Lynch came out for the 8th at 99 pitches but gave up a leadoff single, so I tried to get through it without using Alvarado or Anderson (Will Smith was tired) and brought in (gulp) Scott Barlow. He immediately got a double play but gave up 2 more hits and with a lefty up Shane McClanahan got the call. Mac got a flyball to end the inning and came out for the ninth and struck out the righty Marcus Semien. He then walked lefty Anthony Rizzo but got Matt Thaiss to fly out. With one more out to go, lefty Austin Allen was up, the guy who tied last night's game off Alvarado despite the perceived platoon disadvantage. Well, we've established he can hit lefties now as he took McClanahan yard to make it 6-3. Still trying to get the final out he then gave up a double to Luis Renfigo so I had to call on Nick Anderson to face Nick Solak. Solak then singled off Anderson to put 2 on and bring the tying run to the plate in the person of Mike Trout (gulp). Fortunately Anderson got Trout to hit an infield pop and the game was finally over and he picked up save #3. The win was the sixth straight for the Rays on this homestand and they improve to a ridiculous 32-5 at the Trop. Baltimore defeated Boston again so the lead stays 10 1/2. Game 4: With Meadows on the IL and Devers and Keibert fatigued, it was an interesting lineup today for the Rays with Almora hitting 2nd, Wander moved to 3rd in the order, Yusniel at DH, Bannon at 3B and Kepler playing against a lefty. No matter, they still put up 9 runs in a 9-0 thrashing of the Angels. Responsible for 6 innings of the "0" was Tyler Glasnow, who once again was wild (5 walks + plus a Mike Trout HBP that knocked Trout out of the game) but he offset that by only allowing 3 hits and whiffing 7 to go to 7-2, 2.70. Ronaldo Hernandez, productive as always playing every 4th-5th game, hit HR #6 in the 2nd to put the Rays on the board for the first of his three hits, and they added 2 more in the 3rd on a Bohm sac fly and a wild pitch. 3-0 is where we stood after 6, and with Nick Anderson tired Scott Barlow came on for the 7th and just when it looked like he'd pitch a rare 1-2-3 inning after getting two groundouts, he walked a batter and gave up a hit but still got out of it with a Billy McKinney strikeout. Then in the bottom of the 7th they bullpen-proofed the lead with something you don't see that often: two bases-clearing doubles in the same inning. The first was courtesy of Rylan Bannon, whose production has been disappointing this year but was 2-3 with a walk including that double. The second came from new boy Almora, who spent his first weekend as a Ray going 5-10 with a HR and 6 RBI. Austin Franklin pitched a nice 8th with 2 Ks, and Dany Jimenez looked in 21-22 form by striking out the side in a perfect 9th to finish it off. Baltimore beat Boston again so the lead remains 10 1/2. Team record: 51-21. Last edited by Art Deco; 07-29-2020 at 08:42 AM.

07-29-2020, 01:07 PM	#116
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,933	June 19-21, 2023: at NY Yankees (3) Game 1: It's always an adventure at Yankee Stadium and typically if you're gonna win it's by outslugging them. The Rays managed that tonight in a 9-6 win that showed how hard it is to trust the secondary bullpen arms. Chris Paddack vs Gerrit Cole isn't what you'd figure as a 9-6 game but the Rays jumped on Cole in the 1st with a Wander HR as he continues his recent power binge, and added another in the 3rd on a Marsh double and Keibert RBI single. Aaron Judge equalized in the bottom of the 4th with a 2-run shot off Paddack but the Rays chased Cole in the 5th when he loaded the bases and then surrendered a grand slam to Alec Bohm. Giancarlo Stanton doubled in a run in the bottom of the frame to make it 6-3, and Paddack with his pitch count over 100 had to leave in the 6th in favor of Shane McClanahan. After Wander walked and stole second in the 7th, Devers drove him in but in the bottom of the inning McClanahan saw Gleyber Torres take him deep to make it 7-4. Then McClanahan put two on in the bottom of the 8th to bring the tying run to the plate but Nick Anderson immediately got him out of it with a Kolten Wong double play grounder. Rylan Bannon, played for a fatigued Vidal Brujan, ripped a 2-run HR in the 9th to make it a comfortable-seeming 9-4 so Austin Franklin started the ninth rather than Will Smith, and of course Franklin got into trouble, giving up a one-out 2-run HR to Stanton and then walking the next batter, so Smith had to come in after all and he struck out the final two batters to get save #16. Paddack got the win with a 5.1 7 3 3 2 3 line to go to 8-4 as the Rays take their 8th straight win. The Orioles won in Seattle so the lead is still 10 1/2 and over in the NL the Padres got 2 runs in the 8th to pull out a 4-3 win over Milwaukee to extend their winning streak to 17 games. June 20: Signed IF/OF Wil Myers to a minor league contract; assigned him to AAA Durham. Who says you can't go home again? Well that home is Durham, Myers was signed to give them some depth as the Durham roster was been thinned considerably with callups and injuries. I don't expect he'll see time with the big club. Game 2: This one came a little easier for the Rays as they ended up winning 11-3, although 5 of those runs came in the 9th inning. Max Fried was in pretty good form considering the opponent and the site, and went a respectable 6.1 7 1 1 1 9 to get his 7th win of the season. It was actually scoreless after 3 innings before the Rays put up a 5-spot in the top of the 4th. Getting the ball rolling was Triston Casas, filling in for a tired Alec Bohm. Casas took advantage of the short Yankee Stadium RF porch to hit his 4th HR of the season to make it 2-0, and the Rays piled on from there with a 2-run single from Seth Beer capping the rally. The Yanks got one back against Fried in the bottom of the inning on 3 hits, but Rylan Bannon hit his 2nd HR in as many days to get that run back in the top of the 5th. Bannon had 3 hits on the night as he too was playing for a tired player, Wander Franco, with Brujan sliding over to SS. It's good to see him finally hitting as advertised after his 300/350/500 season in about 280 AB for KC last year. Fried came out with one gone in the 7th and Dany Jimenez got the call and got the next two Yankees to finish the inning as he got to pitch for the first time in a long time with the lead. Jimenez came out for the 8th and whiffed the first two he faced in that inning to give him Ks of 3 of the first 4 he faced, but then he served up back-to-back HRs to Aaron Hicks and Miguel Andujar and Nick Anderson had to finish the inning. The Rays then added the 5 in the 9th on a 2-run HR by Devers and a 3-run shot from Max Kepler and Aaron Ashby was taken out of mothballs and had a perfect 9th to end the game as the Rays made it 9 in a row. Baltimore keeps winning so the lead stays the same and San Diego made it 18 straight. Game 3: It was getaway day at Yankee Stadium as the Rays are heading cross-country to play Oakland in a 4-game series starting tomorrow, with Noah Syndergaard returning to the city where he made his name, up against Yankee rookie Roansy Contreras making his major league debut. You might think this is a lead-in to how despite the pitching matchup the Yankees shocked the Rays, but that wasn't the case. Thor, obviously inspired by his return to the Big Apple, pitched a 5-hit shutout as the Rays swept the series with a 5-0 win. He walked 2 and whiffed 8 for his AL-leading 10th win despite some up and down performances this season. Contreras baffled the Rays for the first three innings, but the second and third times through the lineup were his undoing. Wander tripled to lead off the 4th and scored an Alec Bohm sac fly, Albert Almora Jr. doubled in a run and Franco drove him home in the 5th, and then Bohm and Seth Beer went back-to-back with HRs in the 6th. Almora, playing for the fatigued Brandon Marsh, had 3 more hits and is 8-14 with a HR and 7 RBI since coming up for Meadows, one of the reasons the team is on a 10-game winning streak despite being without their all-star LF. Bohm's HR was his 17th as he's heated up again. Baltimore finally lost so the lead grows to 11 1/2 and I'm just going to throw it out there that the magic # is 76, while San Diego got 2 runs in the bottom of the 8th to beat Milwaukee 2-1 and extend their winning streak to 19. Team record: 54-21. Last edited by Art Deco; 07-29-2020 at 05:13 PM.

07-29-2020, 07:13 PM	#117
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,933	June 22-25, 2023: at Oakland (4) Game 1: It was time for Daniel Lynch's third start for the Rays and a rematch with the team he one-hit in his debut, and he wasn't nearly as effective this time out. But it was good enough for him to go 3-0 as the Rays downed the A's 10-4 to extend their winning streak to 11. He got through the first 3 scoreless although he was battling baserunners all along while the Rays built a 4-0 lead on Keibert sac fly in the 1st, a 2-run HR from Wander (again) and a solo HR from Bohm (again). Lynch got touched for a run in the 4th and then gave up a 2-run HR to Matt Chapman in the 6th which cut the lead to 4-3 and ended his evening at 5 7 3 3 2 2. Shane McClanahan got the next three outs and then the Rays exploded for 6 runs in the 7th, including yet another 2-run HR from Wander and 2-run single from Max Kepler. McClanahan had another scoreless inning and Dany Jimenez pitched the final 2, allowing a run. Baltimore won so the lead remains 11 1/2, and the Padres were off so no update on their streak. Game 2: The Rays just keep on a-rollin' as Tyler Glasnow was dominant tonight (well except for the two solo HRs he allowed) over 8 innings in a 7-2 win which makes it 12 straight. Glasnow was matched up with Oakland ace Jesus Luzardo, who set the Rays down in order over the first 3 innings. But they broke through in the 4th when Brujan led off with an infield single, and - you guessed it - Wander went deep for #15 and #7 in his last 9 games. Shortly thereafter the also-hot Alec Bohm tripled and scored on a Yusniel Diaz single. Matt Chapman and Ramon Laureano hit solo HRs in the 4th and 6th to cut the lead to 3-2, but a Yusniel triple followed by a Rylan Bannon (also red-hot) double made it 4-2, and then the Rays teed off on Miguel Romero for 3 more in the 9th on a Yusniel double, an Almora sac fly, a Bannon triple (they had a trio of 3-baggers tonight), a Marsh double and a Brujan double. Glasnow ended 8 5 2 2 0 12 to go to 8-2 and lower his AL-leading ERA to 2.66. Even Scott Barlow pitched a perfect inning in the 9th, although in fairness I have to note that the first batter hit a liner that Almora made a diving catch on, and then the next one lined one right back at Barlow before he struck out Kyle Schwarber to end the game. The Rays ended with 5 doubles, 3 triples and a HR among their 12 hits tonight. Baltimore lost so they're further back in the rearview mirror at 12 1/2 behind and the Padres' 19-game winning streak was snapped in Pittsburgh tonight 3-1. Game 3: One constant throughout the winning streak has been excellent starting pitching, and it's no coincidence it started with Daniel Lynch's 1-hitter in his Rays debut. They were missing that today with Chris Paddack, and while the offense gamely tried to overcome the 7 runs he allowed in 4+ innings, the streak ended today with a 7-6 loss. It looked good for a little while early, Brujan drove in Ronaldo Hernandez in the top of the 3rd to make it 1-0, and after Paddack gave Oakland the lead on a walk and two doubles they struck for 3 more in the top of the 4th to go up 4-2 on RBI singles from Ronaldo, Marsh and Wander. But Paddack gave those 3 runs right back in the bottom of the frame on Matt Chapman's 3rd HR in 3 days and a 2-run shot by Sean Murphy. The Rays responded yet again to tie it at 5 in the top of the 5th on a Kepler RBI groundout, only for Paddack to be chased by a double and a triple. Shane McClanahan gave up a sac fly to make it 7-5, but shut things down after that. Albert Almora Jr, who came in for Yusniel Diaz when Diaz strained his hip (out 5 days) homered off Kyle Gibson in the 7th to make it 7-6 but the Rays could get no closer, putting two men on with two out in the 9th against Miguel Romero, but Almora grounded out to end the game and the streak with it. Austin Franklin and Aaron Ashby combined for 2 2/3 perfect innings of relief, which was nice. Baltimore crushed Seattle 11-0 to inch back within 11 1/2. Game 4: This was a hard-fought, low-scoring, extra-inning game that the Rays managed to win in 10 by the score of 2-1. Max Fried wasn't brilliant, but he was effective, going 6 3 0 0 4 4 on 97 pitches while Jesus Camargo held the Rays to an 8 5 1 1 1 3 line with a Keibert Ruiz 7th-inning HR the only damage. With that 1-0 lead, Nick Anderson came on for the bottom of the 7th and was uncharacteristically ineffective, giving up a hit, walk and a hit to David Fletcher to score the tying run but he cleaned up his own mess for a change and the game trudged on to the 10th. With one out the Rays got consecutive singles off Zack Grotz from Triston Casas (playing for a tired Devers), Albert Almora Jr and Max Kepler to give them the edge, and Will Smith closed it out in the bottom of the 10th, pitching around a walk to the dangerous Ramon Laureano to nail down save #17. The win went to Scott Barlow who got a 1-2-3 9th on only 5 pitches, his first as a Ray. Jose Alvarado had a 1-2-3 8th before that. Baltimore keeps on winning (46-34, we may see them in the first round as they're looking good for a wild card spot) so the lead stays 11 1/2. Last edited by Art Deco; 07-30-2020 at 08:51 AM.

07-30-2020, 09:33 AM	#118
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,933	June 27-29, 2023: at Minnesota (3) June 26: Traded 29-year-old center fielder Albert Almora Jr. and 24-year-old minor league catcher Adam Kerner to the Los Angeles Dodgers, getting 25-year-old minor league starting pitcher Dustin May and 23-year-old minor league catcher Kameron Guangorena in return. Activated OF Austin Meadows from the 10-day IL. It was time for Meadows to come off the DL, so an outfielder had to go, and the choice was Almora since he was on a one-year minor league deal instead of Yusniel Diaz, who still has team control. I'll always be grateful for the great 10 days of performance from Almora, which helped us win a game or two, but I couldn't pass up turning a guy I signed as a free agent 6 weeks ago to a minor league deal and a C+ catching prospect into Dustin May. The Dodgers buried May at AAA this year after being a part of their rotation last year, a year in which they won the World Series. His AAA numbers weren't great but I'll take his MLB numbers from last year which were worth 2 WAR as my fifth starter next year. He's not the dominant guy that he's being projected to be IRL circa July 2020 but he's still pretty good and the scouting reports still like him. For now he goes to Durham because there's no room in the rotation. And I'm not sure the Kerner for Guangorena part of this is a net loss even though Kerner got the deal done. Kerner is a better defensive catcher, but Guangorena, a 2021 2nd round pick, looks the better hitter. Game 1: Noah Syndergaard was far from his sharpest but as the accomplished vet he is, he made the big pitches when he needed to. His 7.1 11 2 2 1 6 line won't be hung in the Louvre but it was good enough to help propel the Rays to a 5-2 win at Target Field over the Twins. The big hit in the game came in the 5th. After Greg Elizondo had frustrated the Rays through 4 innings allowing only one hit, they loaded the bases against him with nobody out. Max Kepler hit an infield pop, but Brandon Marsh said enough of this nonsense and blasted a long grand slam to RCF to make it 4-0. Keibert Ruiz made it 5-0 in the 6th with a solo shot as he's been on a bit of a HR binge himself lately, it seemed like he was stuck on 4 for quite awhile, but now he's up to 10. Syndergaard rolled along until he finally got into trouble in the 8th, giving up Luis Arraez's fourth hit of the game and then giving up a 2-run HR to Miguel Sano. After Matt Olson followed with a single, Jose Alvarado came on and after giving up a single of his own he got a double play to end the threat. Will Smith had a quick 1-2-3 9th for save #18 as Thor goes to 11-3, 3.88 and the team makes it 14 out of 15. And for a change they're winning on the road, taking 7 out of 8 on the current trip. Elsewhere in a battle of red-hot teams, the Padres knocked off the Orioles at Camden Yards so the lead is back up to 12 1/2 and the magic # is 70. Game 2: Regression was always coming for Daniel Lynch; his 1.75 ERA in the NL and a similar number through his first 3 starts for the Rays was always unsustainable and it caught up to him tonight in Minnesota although his defense didn't help either in a 9-4 loss. The Rays were on the front foot early thanks to Wander Franco, who went triple-HR-HR in his first 3 ABs to give the Rays a 4-2 lead in the middle of the 5th. But then things went really bad for Lynch, who had given up a 2-run HR to Josh Donaldson in the 4th. After getting the leadoff man, he went single-triple-Bohm error-Sano 2-run HR-single before being relieved by Austin Franklin, who gave up another single and then Brujan booted a grounder. Franklin whiffed Mitch Garver, which should have been the third (fourth) out, but with the bases loaded former Ray Hunter Renfroe hit a bases-clearing double to make it 9-4 and that was it for the scoring as the Rays couldn't do anything with Lewis Thorpe who pitched 3 2/3 perfect innings to close out the game. Lynch was a not-good 4.1 6 7 5 3 2. San Diego took care of Baltimore so the division lead isn't dented. Game 3: The back end of the bullpen has been so good this year (and in years past) that when the Rays took a 5-3 lead in the top of the 7th you had to figure the win was theirs. But Jose Alvarado gave up a leadoff triple that scored in the bottom of the 7th, and Nick Anderson surrendered a Miguel Sano HR in the bottom of the 8th to tie it at 5. Anderson made it through a second inning to get it to extras but Shane McClanahan and Scott Barlow conspired to allow the game-winner in the bottom of the 10th and the Rays dropped their second straight to Minnesota, 6-5. Tyler Glasnow got the start and was a decent 6 5 3 3 2 8 with Travis Swaggerty the thorn in his side as the Twins CF singled, stole second and scored on a sac fly in the 1st and then homered to center off him in the 5th. Yusniel Diaz had a 2-run HR, his 2nd of the year, to put the Rays ahead 2-1, and then Franco singled in Marsh in the 3rd to make it 3-2. After Swaggerty's HR tied it, Rafael Devers, who had 4 hits, blasted a 2-run HR to right to put the Rays ahead 5-3 in the top of the 7th before it all slipped away. Baltimore was off so the division lead is now 12. Team record: 58-24. Last edited by Art Deco; 07-30-2020 at 04:07 PM.

07-30-2020, 04:18 PM	#119
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,933	2023 Midseason Report Card Well, we're halfway (+1 game) through the season and like the last two years it's been another great start with the team on pace to win 115 games and looking like the best team in baseball at the moment. We're #1 or near #1 in most hitting and pitching categories, except HRs as this is a team of good hitters, not necessarily sluggers and isn't reliant on the longball to score runs. With Devers and Bohm in the lineup in place of Toro and Choi/Gallo, we've traded walks for hits as evidenced by the fairly low team walk totals but it's just a different way of scoring runs as the team OBP of .356 is still the AL's best. The starting rotation has been the best in the AL this year and the 3rd place in bullpen ERA does show up the one weakness - after the big 3 of Alvarado, Anderson and Will Smith, the secondary pieces in the pen have been very inconsistent (Barlow, Ashby, McClanahan, Franklin, Jimenez). If a deal for this year is going to be made before the deadline (sorry, no big rentals coming in this deadline unlike the last 2 seasons as we don't need them and there isn't anyone on the level of Baez, Gallo or Josh Bell as a pending FA) it's going to be to upgrade the pen. The team defense remains much better as the aforementioned Devers and Bohm are upgrades with the glove over last year's guys. The division is pretty much locked up barring a complete collapse so it's a matter of keeping everyone healthy and fine-tuning a few things. Here are the grades by position: C: Keibert Ruiz (A), Ronaldo Hernandez (A-). Ruiz continued to hit for average but the power was missing most of the year until he went on a recent HR tear. Ronaldo continues to be super productive playing every 4th-5th day and probably deserves an everyday job but it's not happening on this team. 1B: Alec Bohm (B+). Bohm's .272-18-56 is pretty good for a half season. He's never going to make the trade for Nate Lowe a winner for us after how Lowe turned out in Philly but at least he's no longer miscast as a 3B and has been very productive, albeit streaky. 2B: Vidal Brujan (A). 312/394/435 is a great slash line for your leadoff man and he has 19 steals to go with it. He's been super dependable and his penchant for infield hits keeps him from slumps. Xavier Edwards, called up about a month into the season by KC, has been 316/425/415 so far in his rookie season so these guys really were two peas in a pod. Bannon and Barlow haven't been the contributors I hoped from that trade but the big piece remains Spencer Torkelson, who has 21 HR at Durham right now and that's after only hitting 1 in his last 20 games or so. SS: Wander Franco (A+) Wander is on pace for 7.6 WAR so that kind of speaks for itself and he's rediscovered his power stroke over the last month. Gotta get him extended this winter. 3B: Rafael Devers (B+). Devers is .307-12-59, doing maybe a little bit less than his normal thing but he's still Rafael Devers. The problem in his case, of course, is that Abraham Toro has taken it to the next level in Boston and has outplayed Devers so that trade is looking dicey at the moment. Obviously had I known Toro would take the kind of leap he has the deal wouldn't have been made. LF: Austin Meadows (B+). A B+ for a 307/378/602 line might seem a bit stingy, but this is Austin Meadows we're talking about it and I'm expecting a bigger second half as long as his health isn't an issue. CF: Brandon Marsh (A). Marsh is on pace for 5.6 WAR and is a star in the making. His triple slash is 292/376/496 and although I feared a platoon issue with him, he's hit lefties just about as consistently and has solidified an everyday spot. RF: Max Kepler (C+). Max has been the weak link in the lineup against righties (he's been terrible against lefties so he sits) as 232/343/389 with 7 HR isn't really getting it done and if he doesn't pick it up soon Yusniel Diaz might get some starts against righties in his place as may Alex Kirilloff when he's back later in July as well. I gave him the C+ instead of the C because for what it's worth it seems when he does get a HR or a hit it's often a big one. Max will be traded or non-tendered in the offseason as I really have no desire to pick up the $10-11M or so team option. DH: Seth Beer (B): Beer's 245/360/480 with 12 HR in 200 AB so he's getting it done, just not spectacularly. He gets on base, which is helpful in this offense but I would like to see a few more HRs and a few more hits to maybe get that BA closer to 260 and OBP to 375. With the hitters in the pipeline (and Kirilloff) his job isn't 100% secure but he's mostly been who we thought he'd be. Bench (B-). Not counting Ronaldo, the primary bench has been Yusniel Diaz, Rylan Bannon and Triston Casas. The first two were off to largely dreadful starts but have hit well lately, while Casas has been productive the times he's been given a chance but Beer and Bohm haven't shown the need for replacement much so ABs have been tough to come by. I just hope I'm not stunting his growth. Rotation: (A-) As you see from the stats above, I really have no complaints about the rotation. Syndergaard hasn't been as ace-like as I'd hoped but still is getting the job done, Glasnow has been the best pitcher on the staff after missing a few weeks early, Paddack is consistent and Fried hasn't been consistent but has had enough brilliant games to overcome the stinkers that it evens out for him too. Daniel Lynch is probably an upgrade on the injured Joe Ryan but the jury is out on that one as he's about 2 1/2 for 4 in his starts so far. If Lynch falters, the newly-acquired Dustin May could be up in his place, but we are talking about a guy who's ERA for the season is still 2.13 so I'm not going to freak out over one mediocre start and one bad one. Bullpen (B-). This is an average of the A- the big 3 of Alvarado/Anderson/Smith get and the C- the rest of the batch get. Anyone reading along knows what an adventure Barlow, Ashby and Jimenez have been, and McClanahan seems to only pitch well in the middle innings and not in the later ones. Not going to bag on Austin Franklin as he's done well about as hoped as the 13th man. Barlow in particular has been my biggest bete noire although Ashby hasn't given me the extra shutdown lefty I thought I might be getting. Last edited by Art Deco; 07-30-2020 at 04:54 PM.

07-30-2020, 05:55 PM	#120
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,933	June 30-July 2, 2023: vs Texas (3) Game 1: It was the Chris Paddack show as he becomes the fourth of the current five starters to pitch a complete game shutout in a 3-0 win over the Texas Rangers. Paddack was brilliant, allowing only 3 hits, walking 1 and striking out 11 on 106 pitches to improve to 9-5. It turned out all the support he needed was supplied by Austin Meadows, who hit HR #20 in the 1st off the Rangers' fine young lefty Tarik Skubal. But Wander added 2 more with his 18th longball of the season in the 5th with Vidal Brujan on base. Brujan had singled to extend his hitting streak to 17, while Franco was 3-4 with the HR and 2 steals. Paddack joins Max Fried (2), Noah Syndergaard and Daniel Lynch with shutouts this year, the total of 5 has to be the most by a club in a while and we're only halfway through the year. Elsewhere Baltimore lost so the lead is now a baker's dozen. Game 2: After complaining about the bullpen in my midseason roundup above, they showed why I have my concerns after a 6-2 loss to Texas. What was a 1-1 pitcher's duel between Brock Burke and Max Fried into the 8th inning got out of hand after Fried allowed a 1-out single and was pulled. Nick Anderson came on, walked a batter and then gave up a 3-run HR to Lewin Diaz to make it 4-1. In the bottom of the 8th the Rays loaded the bases but could only scratch out a run on a Brujan sac fly (which ended his hitting streak, you knew it was good as over when I finally mentioned it yesterday). It was still a game at 4-2 but rather than burn Jose Alvarado with lefties due up I turned to Aaron Ashby. He got the first two batters on groundouts but walked a guy and then served up a 2-run HR to light-hitting lefty catcher Nick Ciuffo and that was that. Fried at 7.1 5 2 2 1 7 deserved a better fate, and the offense should shoulder some blame here too as they only managed 6 hits in 8 innings off Burke, continuing their pattern of being stymied from time-to-time by random lefties. Wander homered in the 1st to tie the game at 1 (#19) so he stays hot. Job #1 for me as GM between now and the end of the month is to find a lefty who's an improvement over Ashby and once that's done he's going to become quite familiar with Durham and its surroundings (or maybe another organization if he's part of the trade). Elsewhere, Baltimore has cooled off considerably with another loss today, so the lead isn't touched, and in the story of the day, Miami's Evan Fitterer, making his MLB debut, pitched a no-hitter against the Phillies in a 2-0 win. Shockingly he was left in to throw 144(!) pitches as he walked 5 and struck out 10, and although he started the season making 5 starts at AA, in AAA he was used as a reliever. I think the AI is going to wreck his arm. Fitterer was the first player to throw a no-hitter in his MLB debut since Bumpus Jones (you remember him?) on October 15, 1892, so it took 131 years to happen again. Game 3: Normal service restored at the Trop as the Rays downed the Rangers 5-1. Noah Syndergaard's start today encapsulated his season with the Rays: Very hittable at times, and then ace-quality pitching at others. Today he gave up 3 hits in the first without allowing a run, gave up 2 more in the second and one in the third, but ended up only allowing 3 over the final 6 innings in a complete game 9-hitter. He walked nobody, which obviously helped, and struck out 6. The lone run against him was unearned when the man who scored had reached on a dropped fly ball by Max Kepler (who was also 0-3 today, way to fight for that RF job). He added to his AL-leading win total, now at 12. After I mentioned in my midseason report that this offense didn't rely on the HR, today they did with 3 of them accounting for 4 of the 5 runs. Alec Bohm hit #19 in the second to make it 1-0, Rafael Devers hit #13 to make it 3-0 in the 4th, and Brandon Marsh hit #10 just inside the RF foul pole in the 5th to make it 4-0. Seth Beer's RBI double in the 6th brought home the 5th run. Those four hits were 2/3 of their safeties on the day with Austin Meadows getting the other 2 on a double and single. The 3 homers came off Matt Magill, who had surprisingly shut them down in a start last season in Texas. Baltimore won so the lead remains 13, and in an update on the magic number, it's now 65. Those same Orioles come to town for the next 3 games. Team record: 60-25. Last edited by Art Deco; 07-30-2020 at 10:42 PM.