The 2020 (and beyond) Tampa Bay Rays - Page 20

Art Deco · 11-10-2020, 04:34 PM

Game 1: Typically when the Rays lose it's because they couldn't get the hits, but today it was bad pitching that doomed them in a 10-6 loss to Houston. They jumped out ahead 6-3 in the 5th inning and with Mack Anglin on the mound you'd think they were in good shape. But Anglin was far from his best today, giving up 7 hits and 3 runs in his first 4 innings and although he got two quick outs in the 5th, he gave up a string of baserunners, including an RBI triple from Bramdon Perez, culminating in Will Benson's 3-run HR to put the Astros in front to stay. Mike Bayley looked good in the 6th but extended to the 7th he gave up a HR to Eloy Jimenez and Hayden Johns was unusually wild, walking 3 (after only walking 1 in his first 12 IP this year) which led to 2 more runs against. Early on the Rays were hitting like crazy but that stopped after the 4th inning. Yordan Alvarez had an RBI single and an RBI double in his first game back in Houston in an enemy uniform, Hunter Bishop was 3-4 with an RBI double, Wander had an RBI double and Brandon Marsh had a pair of two-baggers. The Yankees keep pulling games out, scoring 2 in the 9th to win at Detroit, so the Rays drop a game behind in 2nd.

Game 2: Like yesterday, the Rays scored a bunch of early runs but unlike yesterday they held up thanks to another dominant performance from Christian Little. The offense scored 8 runs (on only 5 hits!) through the first 4 innings and then took the rest of the game off, getting only one hit the rest of the way. But they made the hits count, including a pair of homers from Wander Franco, a 3-run shot in a 5-run 2nd and a solo blast in the 4th, doubling his season total. Hunter Bishop also went deep with #5, a 2-run shot in the 3rd. Brandon Marsh's 2-run single started the scoring in the 2nd as the Rays jumped all over Lance McCullers Jr., who is not the pitcher he was in the early part of the decade. Meanwhile Little had an unusual start to the game, getting through the first 3 innings with only one whiff and having thrown a mere 24 pitches. The strikeouts started coming in the middle innings, though, and he ended up 8 4 1 1 2 9 to go 3-1, 2.37. His only miscue was a solo homer yielded to Juan Pablo Martinez. Jack Filby made his Rays debut in the 9th and struck out Eloy Jimenez around a couple of hits but got a double play to end the game. The Yankees won't cool down, though, so no ground gained.

April 21: Signed C Andrew Knizner to a 1-year, $3.2M contract, optioned C Carlos Perez to AAA Durham.

We've got our Bailey replacement in Knizner, who came up with the Cardinals and spent the last few years with the Yankees. He's a good-hitting catcher, having hit .314 in 2024 and .321 in 2026 playing about half the time. He's not all-bat, either, he's a 55. He'll make a good complement for Ruiz. Still going to have to make room on the 40-man for Blake Money when he's activated in a day or two.

Game 3: Phew. The only thing worse than losing a game is losing a long extra-inning game, and the Rays avoided that fate with 3 runs in the 14th to beat Houston 6-3. But the pitching was far from efficient and this win has really burned out the bullpen. Rays pitchers threw a total of 261 pitches tonight with Jose Alvarado (35), Jack Filby (42) and Christian Chamberlain (39) now in need of some serious rest. But again, at least they won. Hunter Bishop's 2-run bases loaded single followed by Keibert Ruiz's RBI knock got them the win, and Chamberlain set down the Astros 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 14th after walking a pair in the 13th. He was the last man in the pen (technically it was Hayden Johns, but he was already not going to pitch as he was tired coming in) and thankfully the game didn't got any longer. Blake Money will be activated as a long reliever tomorrow most likely although he would only have 3 days rest from his Sunday start. A callup or two may be in order. It was surprising we got to extras as the Astros continually had men on base, banging out 14 hits in regulation and 3 more early in extras (although Filby and Chamberlain held them hitless over the final 4 innings). Amazingly they didn't turn any double plays although Judson Fabian did throw a runner out at home. Early in the game they got their 3 runs on a 2-run shot from Bishop (#6) which followed an RBI double by Spencer Torkelson in the 3rd. Asa Lacy was pretty bad again, but also pretty lucky, going 5 8 2 1 2 1 with a dropped fly ball from Marsh costing him a run. They nursed a 3-2 lead into the 7th but Steven Casey gave up a leadoff HR to Eloy Jimenez to tie it. Yordan Alvarez was 0-6 and has dropped back below .200 as I'm beginning to wonder if he'll ever get going, although it was his walk that started the 14th inning rally. And of course the Yankees won.

April 22: Optioned P Christian Chamberlain to AAA Durham, recalled P Cole Patten from AAA Durham.

Chamberlain is gassed from yesterday and someone needs to go down to ultimately make room for Blake Money. Patten gets the call for a day or two to give them a fresh arm.

Game 4: Things couldn't have unfolded any better for the Rays today as not only did they win 6-1 but the beleaguered bullpen got a day of rest after last night's 14-inning, 261-pitch affair. Shane McClanahan needed to give them length and that's what he provided as he went 8 7 1 1 1 6 on 105 pitches to go to 3-2, 2.79 on the season. The Rays got a couple of runs in the 5th after Brandon Marsh and Nick Gonzales pulled off a double steal and Wander Franco singled them both home. Mac gave up the obligatory Eloy Jimenez homer in the 6th and it was 2-1 heading to the late innings and it was a question of whose tired bullpen would blink first. It turned to be the Astros' pen as the Rays scored 4 times off Brandon Brennan in the 8th on an RBI single from Triston Casas, a 2-run double from Marsh, and an RBI single from Gonzales who had a big game today giving Vidal Brujan a rest, going 3-5 with 3 steals to go with the ribbie. Cole Patten pitched a 1-2-3 9th, albeit with a couple of hard-hit balls right at outfielders. Andrew Knizner made his Rays debut, going 0-3 with a HBP. And the Yankees lost so we're back to a tie in the AL East.

Team record: 19-7. Next up: Back home from 3 over the weekend against Kansas City.

Art Deco · 11-11-2020, 07:49 AM

April 23: Added P Blake Money to the active roster, optioned P Cole Patten to AAA Durham.

Money will start tomorrow night, bumping Anglin and Little back a day.

Game 1: The Rays were up against Daniel Tillo, one of the league's top pitchers the last few years, and managed to get the better of him in a 6-1 win that was much closer for much longer than the score would indicate. Matt Manning manned the mound for the Rays and he was wild today but used 3 double plays to get out of it. His 6.2 5 1 1 3 7 line looks pretty good but doesn't indicate he hit 3 batters as well. He still picked up the win, though, and is 4-1, 3.41. The star on offense was the forgotten man, Keston Hiura, who got off to a slow start only to see Triston Casas take over his job against righties, who constitute about 80-85% of opposing pitchers. With the lefty Tillo pitching, Hiura got a rare start and made the most of it, going 3-3 with a walk, 2 runs scored, a stolen base and an RBI. He drove in Keibert Ruiz with a single in the 2nd, and then singled, stole second and score on Vidal Brujan's infield single in the 5th. They finally got some breathing room in a 2-1 game in the 7th when Brandon Marsh's sac fly scored Hiura and a wild pitch scored another. Marsh and Wander Franco added RBI singles in the 8th to break it open. Steven Casey got a big final out in the 7th when it was still 2-1 and the Royals had runners on, he stayed for a 1-2-3 8th and then Hayden Johns pitched a scoreless 9th to close it out. The Yankees won so the tie remains atop the AL East.

Game 2: Blake Money made his Rays debut and the good news is he struck out 7 in 4 innings. The bad news of course is that he only went 4 innings and gave up 8 runs (7 earned) on 10 hits. The Royals jumped on him for 6 in the first two innings including homers from Bobby Witt Jr and Thairo Estrada as they went on to an 11-0 win. The offense did manage 11 hits without scoring as all of them were singles and twice they hit into double plays with the bases loaded, so it was just one of those days. Hayden Johns and Mike Bayley each pitched 2 shutout innings in relief and rather than use any more pitchers in an 8-0 game, Nick Gonzales pitched the 9th inning. It went about as expected with 3 runs allowed but he actually could have gotten out of the inning unscathed had Vidal Brujan not booted an easy double play ball. He even got a strikeout, freezing Coby Mayo with a called strike 3. The Yankees won so we slip back a game into second place.

Game 3: The Rays wasted a stellar outing from Mack Anglin and found themselves shut out for the second straight game in a 1-0 loss to the Royals. Anglin was brilliant, going 7 3 0 0 0 11 and gave way to Liam Hendriks in the 8th. After getting the first out Hendriks allowed singles to put runners and 1st and 3rd. With the lefty Khalil Lee due up, Jose Alvarado came in and promptly wild-pitched the man on 3rd home and that was the ballgame. Yordan Alvarez (someday he'll homer again) led off the 9th with a single, but Judson Fabian (still looking for his first HR of the year and terrible of late), Hunter Bishop and Triston Casas all whiffed to end the game and put an exclamation point on their offensive futility today. Unlike yesterday when they had the hits but couldn't score, today they only managed 6 and drew one walk. The only saving grace is that Cleveland beat the Yankees so no ground was lost.

Team record: 20-9. Next up: Cleveland comes to town for a 3-game set. Maybe they'll try scoring some runs.

Art Deco · 11-11-2020, 01:20 PM

Game 1: Things looked good early, jumping out to a 3-0 lead against Cleveland ace Kantaro Yokoyama and with Christian Little striking out people left and right. But Little started running out of gas, and the bullpen flat-out stunk after him dooming the Rays to a 6-3 loss, their third straight. Triston Casas finally got the Rays on the board after two straight shutouts with his 8th HR of the year in the 2nd to make it 1-0, and they strung together several hits to score 2 more in the 4th with RBI singles from Keibert Ruiz and Brandon Marsh expanding the lead to 3-0. But Little ran out of gas in the 5th, giving up 4 hits and 2 runs and departed with a 5 8 2 2 1 9 line. Evan Godwin got them through the 6th, but Liam Hendriks turned in his second straight terrible outing (and 3rd in 4) giving up a hit and then a 2-run HR to Tim Borden, a rookie who hit all of 3 in a full season of AAA ball last year, putting Cleveland in front to stay. Mike Bayley gave up a couple of doubles in the 8th for another run, and Asa Lacy was touched for a run thanks to an infield single and an error. Meanwhile the offense dried up as Yokoyama settled down and ended up 8 10 3 3 0 8, pretty good considering they had 9 hits by the 5th inning. The Yankees were idle so the Rays drop 1 1/2 games back.

Game 2: Normal service restored at the Trop as the Rays bounced Cleveland 8-4. Shane McClanahan pitched like the ace of the staff he is, going 7 7 2 2 1 8 to improve to 4-2, 2.76. He allowed Cesar Idrogo and his 30 power to lead off the game with a homer but was pretty much locked in after that. Yordan Alvarez's RBI single in the third broke a 2-2 tie and put the Rays in the lead to stay after Keibert Ruiz had hit HR #3 earlier and Alvarez had driven in a run on a groundout. They broke the game open with a 4-run 5th to make it 8-2 as the slumping Judson Fabian singled in a run, another scored on a wild pitch, Triston Casas had a sac fly and Ruiz singled in one more. Vidal Brujan had a very nice game, going 2-3 with a walk, an RBI, 3 runs scored and 2 stolen bases. Hayden Johns came on in the 8th and wasn't very good, allowing 2 runs before Evan Godwin got the last 2 outs of the inning and the first out of the 9th. Jack Filby made his Rays debut in the Trop and retired the last two batters. Detroit beat the Yankees so the Rays pull to within a 1/2 game of the lead.

(Typing this at the peak of Tropical Storm Eta here in Tampa Bay, hopefully my power/internet holds out, it's been flickering in here like a disco at times)

Game 3: The Rays had their way with Cleveland today, jumping out to a 10-0 lead after 3 and winning 11-0. Matt Manning was great, even though he didn't have to be, with a 7 4 0 0 2 9 to go to 5-1, 2.86; perhaps he'll emulate Tyler Glasnow's performance from his contract year last season. Asa Lacy threw 2 1-hit innings to complete the team whitewash. Offensively the stars were Vidal Brujan (4-4 with a walk, 3 runs scored and an RBI) and Andrew Knizner who had 3 doubles and 3 RBI in 5 trips to the plate. Judson Fabian was 3-5 with 2 RBI and Yordan Alvarez and Nick Gonzales were each 2-4 with 2 RBI. Everyone got a hit except Brandon Marsh (who walked) as it was one of those games. And the day got even better when the Yankees lost again to Detroit, putting the Rays back into first place.

Team record: 22-10. Next up: Leavin' on a jet plane to Oakland for 4 games starting tomorrow.

Art Deco · 11-11-2020, 10:17 PM

Game 1: After a game in St. Pete yesterday and having to fly cross-country, the Rays bats showed serious signs of jet lag as they were shut out on 4 hits by Oakland's Trent Thornton in a 2-0 loss. Blake Money got his second start as a Ray and it went much better than his debut disaster as he went 6 5 1 0 1 4 with the lone run against him scoring on a Triston Casas throwing error. Mike Bayley put a man on in the 8th and Steven Casey gave up a double allowing him to score but that one run was all Oakland needed as Thornton went 9 4 0 0 0 5 on 107 pitches and two of those hits were erased on double plays. The Yankees got back in the win column so the Rays slip a 1/2 game back.

Game 2: After being shut out last night (and in Mack Anglin's last start, and in 3 of the last 6 games) the Rays busted out early scoring 4 times in the first on the way to a 7-1 win over Oakland. Vidal Brujan and Wander Franco led off with doubles for a run, Spencer Torkelson singled in Wander, and Hunter Bishop hit HR #7 with Tork aboard. Brujan scored on a wild pitch in the 2nd, he then doubled home Keibert Ruiz in the 5th, and Ruiz hit HR #4, a solo shot in the 8th for the rest of the scoring. Anglin was great again going 8 3 1 1 2 5 on 108 pitches; he's now 3-1, 2.49. Asa Lacy pitched a scoreless 9th. Good news from Toronto as well as the Jays stomped the Yankees restoring the Rays to 1st.

From the farm:

We need to talk about Nate Clark. Picked up in a minor league deal from the Yankees last season, he's gone nuts since then and has elevated himself to the #23 prospect in baseball per BNN. He's 25 and ready for MLB right now - the editor shows him as a 300/376/567 hitter (and based on his potential ratings he could get even better) and he's clearly overqualified for AAA. Obviously there's no spot for him in the lineup at the moment - as poorly as Judson Fabian has gone this year, his first 2 seasons say more about him than the first 5 weeks. But Clark could serve as a Wander replacement in this sense: I shopped Fabian to see what I could get and popping up on the list was Austin Martin, Detroit's excellent SS who's under contract for 3 more seasons at a reasonable salary (11/15.4/15.4) after this one and perhaps I could get them to retain some. We'll also of course see how Ricky Widmar develops at AA Montgomery - so far, so good there too. Here's a look under the hood at Clark, there's nothing not to like except his mediocre rating in LF (he could always DH as Tork is a 60 in LF):

An oddity I just noticed: We have 23 wins but only 4 saves. Most of the wins obviously have been comfortable, and the team has only played 6 one-run games out of 34, going 4-2 (which I imagine are the 4 saves). Also the top 4 starting pitchers each have 1.2 WAR, and all have ERAs between 2.49 and 2.86.

Game 3: For 7 innings this was looking like it would be a "famine" game among the team's recent feast-or-famine performances offensively as they trailed 3-1. But a 6-run explosion with nobody out in the 8th gave them a 7-3 win, and with Nate Pearson rolling back the clock for the Blue Jays and shutting out the Yankees, they move to 1 1/2 games on top in the AL East. Christian Little started and went 6 5 3 3 3 9, running into some trouble in the middle innings including yielding a Tyler Nevin homer. And through 7 all the Rays could scratch out was a run in the 5th on Brandon Marsh's infield single after Hunter Bishop hit his 2nd double of the game. But they loaded the bases in the 8th against Zac Grotz and Simon Rosenblum-Larson, and SRL gave up RBI singles to Wander Franco and Yordan Alvarez to tie the game. And up stepped Judson Fabian still looking for his 1st HR of the year as the calendar turned to May, and he hit it, a grand slam to make it 7-3. If SRL's name sounds vaguely familiar it's because he was a former Ray farmhand sent to the Cubs in a 2021 deadline deal for Kyle Schwarber. He finally made the majors this year with Oakland and obviously had a rough time of it today. Liam Hendriks picked up the win having pitched a 1-2-3 7th, and Jose Alvarado and Jack Filby pitched a scoreless 8th and 9th as we get another win without a save.

Game 4: No waiting until late today as the Rays scored 6 times in the first two innings on the way to a comfortable second-straight 7-3 win over Oakland. The big early hit was a bases-clearing triple from Hunter Bishop in the first inning after Judson Fabian put the Rays on the board with a sac fly. Spencer Torkelson's 2-RBI single in the 2nd made it 6-0 and Wander Franco had an RBI groundout in the 6th. Yordan Alvarez was 3-5 with a pair of doubles; he's still stuck on 2 HR but he's been hitting lately. Shane McClanahan (5-2, 2.68) was in charge with the brief exception of a couple of runs allowed in the 5th, going 8 5 2 2 1 7 on 99 pitches. Hayden Johns made a bit of a mess in the 9th, allowing a run and leaving two on, so Jose Alvarado came into what was technically a save situation and whiffed former teammate Chris Betts to end the game and get his 3rd save of the year and only the team's 5th. The Jays completed their sweep of the Yankees so the Rays have their biggest division lead of the season at 2 1/2 games.

Team record: 25-11. Next up: An off-day followed by 3 in Chicago against the White Sox.

Art Deco · 11-12-2020, 04:33 PM

Game 1: To say the Rays started this game slow would be an understatement. In fact they should have been blown out in the early innings as Patrick Sandoval set down the first 12 Rays in order and Matt Manning was struggling big-time, allowing 4 runs in the first 4 innings and lucky not to have allowed 2 more as Hunter Bishop and Judson Fabian threw runners out at home in the 1st and 2nd innings. But they hung in there at 4-0, and managed a late rally to tie it and won 6-4 in 12 innings on Wander Franco's 5th HR of the year, a 2-run shot. Manning (6 8 4 4 2 5) was up against it the whole night but to his credit he got through the 5th and 6th without incident which was important in the end because it would have been rough for the bullpen to have covered those innings as the game ended up going 12. Sandoval meanwhile had them shut out on 3 hits through 6, but in the 7th two men reached in front of Bishop, who launched a 3-run HR (#8) to make it 4-3. And in the 8th Vidal Brujan doubled and ended up going to third on a balk which was crucial as he scored on Wander's sac fly. They had a golden chance to go ahead in the 9th with men on 2nd and 3rd and nobody out, but a strikeout, grounder to the drawn-in infield and fly ball ended the inning. The other story was the bullpen, which accounted for 6 shutout innings from 5 relievers with Jose Alvarado picking up the win and Steven Casey his first MLB save in getting the final out. The Yankees won to stay 2 1/2 back.

Game 2: Blake Money was just that tonight and the offense did enough to make it 5 wins in a row with a 4-2 victory over the White Sox. He went 6 7 1 1 1 7 so there were a few baserunners but he was "money" when it came down to it, only allowing the one to score, and notching his first Rays win. Judson Fabian had an RBI single in the 1st and Wander Franco a sac fly in the 2nd to make it 2-0, and then Wander came through with HR #6 off Dayveon Whittle in the 5th to make it 3-1. Brandon Marsh added some insurance in the 9th with his 2nd HR of the year, off Roberto Osuna. Those who were particularly eagle-eyed or have been following this thread since the beginning might recognize Whittle as a former Rays minor leaguer who was part of a big 6-player trade with the White Sox in 2021. That was the deal which sent July 2 $5M man Sergio Pagan to Chicago along with Jake Woodford and Whittle for Alex Kirilloff, Andrew Vaughn and Cooper Bradford. The deal turned out to be much less important than it seemed at the time with Pagan washing out and retiring after 2024 and Woodford spending a couple of years with the Sox but now bouncing around the league, while I thought I was acquiring a couple of middle-of-the-order studs (Bradford blew out his arm in 2023 and retired). Vaughn ended up having a cup of coffee with the Rays (and later the Angels) but basically proved to be a Quadruple-A player, and Kirilloff always seemed to get hurt when we had him but at least along with Shane Baz he brought us Matt Manning in trade. So that leaves Whittle, who's pitched pretty well for Chicago, as a middle reliever last year with a 3.67 ERA in 81 innings and now a solid part of their rotation where he's 3-4, 3.14 in 48 innings, so he's the only one left standing with the team that acquired him. Enough of that digression - back to the game, after Money left Liam Hendriks got a couple of outs in the 7th and Evan Godwin took over with a string of lefties due and was great, getting 4 outs. Jack Filby came on in his first Rays save opportunity and converted it, but it was far from pretty as he walked 2 batters, threw a wild pitch and let one score on a grounder before getting the final out. The Yankees won so still 2.5 up.

(Incidentally, now that the Rays have Blake Money, I keep hearing the beginning of Rayland Baxter's insanely catchy "Casanova" in my head. And now you can, too, by watching this goofy video for the song, which he's said is really about student loan debt - the metaphorical "woman" of the tune)

https://youtu.be/PhcXISdDCk0

Game 3: The Rays pulled off the sweep in a wild game which again saw them down early (3-0) before coming back to win 9-6. But it was a costly win as Spencer Torkelson, sliding into second base in the 8th inning with his second double, tore his meniscus and is out for the season. So remember Nate Clark from a couple of days ago? His time could be 2027 instead of 2028, but we'll see for now. Anyway, the ball was flying out of Guaranteed Rate Field with the teams combining for 7 HRs after they hit a total of 5 in the first 2 games of the series. Mack Anglin did not have it today, only striking out 1 batter in his 5 innings of work and giving up 6 runs and 10 hits, including 3 HRs. But despite the poor start he hung around long enough to get the win, rough justice for him after losing a 1-0 game this year and a few others where he pitched well for naught. Aside from the offense the real story of the game was the heroics of the "B" bullpen. With Alvarado, Hendriks, Filby and Godwin all tired from the last two nights, Hayden Johns took over for Anglin with an man on and 0 out in the 6th, and responded with a 47-pitch, 2.1 1 0 0 2 5 performance with also saw a hit batter and two wild pitches. It was a rollercoaster but he kept getting big whiffs to get out of his jams. Mike Bayley then took over and allowed a hit and 2 walks in his 1 1/3 innings but gave up no runs, and Steven Casey, after walking a man to load the bases in the bottom of the 9th to bring the winning run to the plate, struck out Aaron Schunk to end the game and pick up his 2nd save in 3 days. Offensively, the comeback started in the 4th off Alex Wood in his White Sox debut. After holding them to 1 hit in the first 3 innings, Wood started getting battered with a Wander HR, a Tork RBI double and a run scoring on a balk. They got 2 more in the 5th on back-to-back jacks from Vidal Brujan (#3) and Wander's 2nd of the game (#8), and another 2 in the 6th to put them ahead for good on Andrew Knizner's 2-run shot, his first homer as a Ray. A bases-loaded walk to Yordan Alvarez and a wild pitch gave them 2 big insurance runs in the top of the 9th. With the Yankees idle, the lead is now 3 games (but only 2 in the loss column).

Some thoughts on Tork replacement options: Since he was primarily the DH, our options are wide open. First of all, the 3 non-catchers on the bench are all everyday starter-worthy as Keston Hiura, Nick Gonzales and Jhon Diaz all deserve more at-bats and will get them. So rotating these 3 + Triston Casas through DH and 3B should work. This offense is bigger than any one player, even Wander Franco as we saw in 2025 so while Tork will be missed it's next man up. While Nate Clark would be the sexy callup and would likely have no problem stepping in and hitting, he has 2 things against him: 1) he's not on the 40-man roster and 2 ) I'd rather not start his arbitration clock if I don't have to, especially not a pre-June callup. And while Tork will go on the 60-day IL opening up a 40-man spot, we're going to need that for Aaron Ashby and Jack Perkins, both of whom are due to come off the 60-day in 4 weeks. So it's down to 2 choices of guys already on the 40-man: Julio Cedillo or Nick Loftin. The case for Cedillo is we could use another CF on the roster to spell Brandon Marsh and he's a 70 CF and Marsh's heir apparent next season. The case against is the same as Clark: calling him up now burns a year of team control. The case for Loftin is that he's a marginal guy whom we don't care about $ and has already been up, and he gives us MI cover if Gonzales is DHing. Also it would be nice if Yordan Alvarez, you know, started hitting to pick up some of the slack. Anyway tune in tomorrow to see what I do.

Team record: 28-11 (and 17-4 on the road). Next up: back home for 3 vs Texas before the Yankees come to town in a big early-season series.

Art Deco · 11-13-2020, 09:03 AM

May 7: Placed OF Spencer Torkelson on the 60-day IL with a torn meniscus, recalled IF Nick Loftin from AAA Durham.

So per my discussion in the previous post, Loftin was the logical, if boring, choice. We'll see how it goes for now.

Game 1: Christian Little did Christian Little things, and Wander Franco did Wander Franco things, and the Rays rolled to a 5-0 win over Texas. Little was in dominant form, going 7 4 0 0 0 12 and never was threatened. He had 7 whiffs in the first 3 innings as the Ranger lineup was no match for him. Liam Hendriks (who struck out the side himself) and Asa Lacy (with 2 Ks as well, giving them a team total of 17) finished the shutout. Meanwhile Franco got the offense going right off the bat, continuing his HR binge with his 9th HR of the season (and 4th of the week) in the 1st with Vidal Brujan aboard. He later tripled and scored in the 7th as he's the early frontrunner for AL Player of the Week. And immediately following Wander's dinger, Yordan Alvarez finally went deep himself with only his 3rd of the year and first since April 13. Judson Fabian's sac fly scored Wander in the 7th and Keibert Ruiz had an RBI single to round out the scoring. The Red Sox and Tyler Glasnow beat the Yankees so the division lead grows to 4.

Game 2: If I posted memes in this thread, I'd post the Ron Burgundy "that escalated quickly" one for this game as the Rays turned a 2-1 deficit in the 6th to Texas's young pitching standout Wil Diaz into a 7-2 lead, all with 2 out in the inning on the way to an 8-2 win, the team's 8th consecutive. Nick Gonzales had knocked in Keston Hiura with their only run before that, and Diaz was on a roll. But after Yordan Alvarez led off the 6th win a single, the next two Rays were retired and it looked like he'd be stranded. But Hiura singled him home to tie, Keibert Ruiz (4-4 on the night) singled putting men on 1st and 2nd, and Gonzales after fouling off 5 pitches hit a 3-2 single to score Hiura with the lead and send Ruiz to 3rd. Brandon Marsh's infield single then scored Ruiz, Vidal Brujan singled in a run and Wander Franco doubled in two more and it was 7-2 in a flash. Shane McClanahan started and struggled mightily in the early innings, bending but not breaking through 3 but finally breaking in the 4th on a 2-run Sandro Fabian triple to put Texas ahead. But he shut it down from there, retiring the final 11 batters he faced and ending up with an excellent 7 6 2 2 2 7 line to go to 6-2, 2.67. Mike Bayley had a 2-walk, 2-K scoreless 8th, and Steven Casey locked down the 9th. Wander's bid for POTW continued with a 3-5, 2-double 2-RBI night, Hiura hit his 1st homer later in the game for run #8 to cap a 2-3, 2 RBI, 3-run game, and Gonzales, filling in for Tork at DH against a LHP, was 2-4 with the 2 RBI. The Yankees have come back to earth with another loss to Boston while the Rays remain in orbit at 30-11, 5 games above.

May 9: Sent P Jasseel De La Cruz to AAA Durham on a rehab assignment.

It'll be good to get JDLC (I think that's the first time I've used that acronym/initials for him) back. Not sure who's going to go when he's ready for return, Mike Bayley's been the least effective but still not too bad. I may look into seeing what I can get for Asa Lacy. Between Blake Money and Jack Leiter (lurking at Durham) I don't see him getting his 5th starter job back without a rash of injuries.

Game 3: It was just not the Rays' day as Matt Manning gave up 3 homers and 5 runs in 5 innings and 5 was also the number of hits the offense could muster in a 5-2 loss to Texas to snap their 8-game winning streak. Jacob Gonzalez led the game off for Texas with a longball and after Manning allowed another first inning run, Yordan Alvarez hit his 2nd HR in 3 days and 4th of the season in the 4th to make it 2-1 as he might be snapping out of it. But that's as close as they got as Manning gave it right back to Sam Huff leading off the Texas 5th and then yielded a 2-run shot to Adrian Ramos in a 5 5 5 5 3 7 outing. Asa Lacy went 2 1/3 and Hayden Johns 1 2/3 of scoreless relief to keep the offense within striking distance, but all they could manage was a 6th inning run on a wild pitch. Alvarez also had an infield single and he and Brandon Marsh (a double and a single) had 4 of the team's 5 hits with Judson Fabian getting the other. Nick Loftin got a start at DH and went 0-4, dropping his career MLB BA below .500 (in 32 AB). The Yankees got back on the winning track so the lead is down to 4 ahead of the 4-game series with them.

Team record: 30-12. Next up: 4 at home vs the Yankees.

Art Deco · 11-13-2020, 04:33 PM

Game 1: Well that was ugly. Blake Money got cashiered by the Yankees as the Rays fell 13-2 in the opener of the 4-game series with their closest pursuers, who now move within 3 games. Money gave up a 2-run HR to Gleyber Torres in the 1st but seemed to settle down through 4, and just like yesterday Yordan Alvarez (#5 and his 3rd in 4 games) went deep in the 4th inning to make it 2-1, and also just like yesterday Money gave it back with 3 runs in the 5th, including another homer to Torres and a 2-run shot to Aaron Judge. Mike Bayley came on and got him out of the inning but coughed up 5 more in the 6th including an Anthony Rizzo grand slam (Rizzo already has 13 HR and 38 RBI, where were those last year for the Rays? Oh, right, the 1B black hole). At this point it was "take one for the team" and Bayley gave up 3 more in the 7th before Evan Godwin came for him and got through the 8th. The highlight of the game was Nick Loftin getting to pitch in the 9th. He loaded the bases then got Aaron Judge looking on a called 3rd strike and then got a double play to get out of it unscathed. At 5-1, the offense had a brief chance to make it interesting in the bottom of the 5th when they loaded the bases with nobody out. Brujan was hit by a pitch to force in a run but Wander hit into a 1-2-3 double play and that was the end of that threat. Bayley will likely be sent to Durham for a fresh arm tomorrow, and Money's grip on the 5th starter job is tenuous as he's now 1-3 with a 5.66 ERA in 4 Rays starts. JDLC did not pitch well in his first rehab outing at Durham, blowing the save last night, so he'll need some more work and won't be coming back just yet.

May 11: Optioned P Mike Bayley to AAA Durham, recalled P Christian Chamberlain from AAA Durham.

Game 2: It seems like the Yankees definitely have the Rays' number this year, as tonight's 6-3 loss marked the 4th defeat in 5 games vs the Bronx Bombers, all of which have been at the Trop (in fact their home record is a mediocre 13-10 as opposed to 17-4 on the road). For the third straight game they lost, for the third straight game Yordan Alvarez homered (this time a 2-run shot with 2 out in the 9th to make the score a bit more respectable) and for the third straight game the top of the 5th is where they saw the opponent turn a 1-run lead into something that wouldn't be surmounted. After the Yankees broke through in the 4th to take a 1-0 lead off Mack Anglin, the Rays righty walked a pair and gave up a single leading off the 5th to load the bases for nemesis Gleyber Torres, who followed up his 2 HRs last night with a grand slam to make it 5-0. It was the second straight rough start for Anglin (and 3rd in his last 5 where he's allowed 5 or more runs) as he ended up 5.2 9 5 5 2 4. Christian Chamberlain got him out of the 6th and pitched a scoreless 7th, Steven Casey a 1-2-3 8th, but Jack Filby got nicked for a run in the 9th. The offense was sluggish but had its chances. The main culprit was Hunter Bishop, in the throes of a horrible slump and who made the third out three times by striking out, leaving 7 men on base and extending his drought to 1 for his last 25. Wander Franco was 3-5 with 2 doubles and an RBI but Vidal Brujan had to leave the game with an elbow contusion and is DtD for 7 days. The loss cuts the lead to 2 games over the Yankees and if they don't win one of the next two they'll be in second place on percentage points when New York leaves town.

Game 3: The Rays assured themselves of staying in first place when the Yankees leave town thanks to a 7-1 win behind an incredible performance from Christian Little. The young righthander went 7 1 0 0 1 10 with Anthony Rizzo the only man to reach on a 2nd inning single and a 7th inning walk. He's now 5-1, 2.11 with an eye-popping 11/80 BB/K ratio in 55.1 innings. And the Yordan Alvarez positive regression tour continues as he homered for the 4th straight day and fifth in his last six, this time contributing to a winning effort as his 2-run blast in the 1st gave the Rays all the runs they'd need tonight. They added a third on a wild pitch in the first, Keibert Ruiz doubled in a run in the 3rd, Wander Franco doubled in a run in the 4th, and Keston Hiura (who had a great day reaching base all 5 times with 2 hits and 3 walks) walked with the bases loaded in the 8th after Wander's double-play grounder scored one earlier in the inning. Jhon Diaz went 0-4 with 7 LOB, making him 1-16 since getting a chance to DH against righties after the Spencer Torkelson injury, he'll need to start picking it up. Evan Godwin pitched the final 2 innings, allowing a run in the 8th but getting a 1-2-3 9th.

Game 4: The Rays evened the 4-game series with the Yankees and restored their 4-game AL East lead with a 9-1 thrashing of the Pinstripers. They put up a touchdown and an extra point in the first inning on a Yordan Alvarez infield single, a run-scoring balk, a 3-run HR from Keston Hiura (#2) and the first major league homer for Jhon Diaz, a 2-run blast. That was way more than Shane McClanahan would need, and although he seemed to give up a hit in each inning he held the Yankees off the board until Anthony Siegler homered off him leading off the 7th. Mac ended 6.2 7 1 1 1 9 to improve to 7-2, 2.54 with those 7 wins leading MLB. Asa Lacy was sharp over the final 2 1/3 retiring all 7 Yankees he faced with 3 whiffs. The other two runs came on a Nick Gonzales RBI single and a Vidal Brujan sac fly. One bit of bad news, though: just as Alvarez finally has heated up, he had to leave the game with knee tendinitis. Although it's a minimal DtD injury, it's going to last 15 days so out of an abundance of caution I'm going to put him on the 10-day IL. Hiura, who's been heating up himself, will go back to the everyday job at 3B and Triston Casas will play 1B. Hiura was the DH today so Nick Loftin had to come in and play 1B, a position he isn't even rated for, but handled his chances without incident. In addition to the HR Diaz had his best day as a big leaguer, also singling, doubling and stealing a base in a 3-4 day, apparently responding to my calling him out yesterday.

Team record: 32-14. Next up: 3 at home vs Baltimore. The Orioles aren't the same team they were last year, losing Austins Hays and Riley to free agency, losing Druw Jones (who's back now) to injury for about a month and are 20-23, although they've played much better lately going 9-4 in their last 13.

Art Deco · 11-14-2020, 10:39 AM

May 14: Placed 1B Yordan Alvarez on the 10-day IL with knee tendinitis, signed 1B Alec Bohm to a 1-year, $800,000 contract.

Look who's back! With no other 1B option on the 40-man, I brought back Bohm to play 1B against lefties while Alvarez is out, as we have several of them on the docket over the 10 (or 14) days. I will likely DFA Bohm when Alvarez comes back.

Game 1: The Rays took the opener of their weekend set against Baltimore with a 4-3 walk-off win in 11 innings. With two out and nobody on in the 11th, Judson Fabian was hit by a pitch and Triston Casas doubled into the RCF gap to score him with the winner. We ended up in extras when the Orioles got to Matt Manning for two runs in the 7th after he had 2-hit them through 6. His pitch count was low throughout and he ended up 8 5 3 3 2 6. Jose Alvarado looked great again with a 2K perfect 9th, Liam Hendriks erased a walk he allowed in the 10th with a double play, and Jack Filby gave up a hit but nothing else in the 11th to grab his first Rays win. The Rays had built a 3-1 lead earlier on Vidal Brujan's 4th HR of the year leading off the game, then two more in the 4th on a bases-loaded walk to Keston Hiura and a Keibert Ruiz sac fly. Elsewhere Bramdon Perez is still helping the Rays as he hit a 3-run HR for Houston to lead them to a 7-2 win over the Yankees. This makes the lead 5 games again; earlier in the week the 5-game lead dropped to 2 in 3 days and now 3 days later it's back up to 5.

Game 2: A tough 3-2 loss to Baltimore today that I'm blaming my own managerial malpractice for. Blake Money got the start and was pitching very well into the 6th with a 1-0 lead. He had gotten 2 out and a there was a man on, with lefties Gunnar Henderson and Greg Diechmann due up. I probably should have declared victory for Money there and brought in a lefty but I didn't, and Henderson took him deep to make it 2-1. And again figuring all he needed was one more out I left him in and of course Diechmann went yard and that turned out to be the margin of victory. Of course had the offense done anything it would have been moot but perhaps the absence of guys like Yordan Alvarez and Spencer Torkelson is catching up with them. Also Brandon Marsh and Keibert Ruiz needed to sit with fatigue so it was a makeshift lineup against a lefty. Nick Gonzales was the offense today, driving in both runs with an RBI single in the 3rd and an RBI double in the 7th. The latter hit put men on 2nd and 3rd with one out and a chance to tie or go ahead, but Wander Franco popped out and Judson Fabian flew out to end the threat. Now that we got out of the Alvarez HR watch it's time to start one for Fabian, who hit 28 and 36 HRs in his first 2 MLB seasons but is still sitting on 1 right now in 163 AB in the middle of May. They had another chance in the 8th with a man on 3rd and one out, and couldn't get him home, and then Triston Casas singled to lead off the 9th but Jhon Diaz hit into a double play and Vidal Brujan whiffed to end the game. We did have some nice relief work from Hayden Johns, Evan Godwin and Steven Casey who went 3 1/3 scoreless combined. The Yankees won, so the lead is down to 4.

May 16: Optioned P Christian Chamberlain to AAA Durham, activated P Jasseel De La Cruz from his rehab assignment at AAA Durham.

Game 3: The offense took the longest time to get going, but it finally did and a 6-run 7th propelled the Rays to a 7-3 win. Mack Anglin got the start and for the longest time it looked like he'd suffer one of his patented hard-luck losses or no-decisions but he stuck around long enough to go 7 7 1 1 1 6 and get the win to go to 5-2, 3.43. Liam Hendriks pitched a perfect 8th but Asa Lacy crapped the bed in the 9th with a 6-run lead, giving up 2 runs on 3 hits and a walk and he had to be bailed out by Jasseel De La Cruz. Although he allowed a hit to score the 3rd run, JDLC got a double play to end the game and grab save #3. The Rays trailed 1-0 going into the bottom of the 6th as Gunnar Henderson homered against them again, but Wander Franco (who was 4-4 with an RBI) singled and stole second to lead off the inning and ended up scoring on a passed ball to tie it. Then came the 7th. Keibert Ruiz led off with a double, Brandon Marsh tripled him home, Wander singled in Marsh and Triston Casas delivered a grand slam (#9) to blow it open. The Yankees won in Houston so the lead remains 4.

Team record: 34-15. Next up: An off-day followed by our first visit of the season to Fenway Park for 3 against Boston.

Art Deco · 11-14-2020, 03:20 PM

Game 1: The Rays wasted another gem from Christian Little in a frustrating 2-1 loss to Boston tonight. Little was 7 5 2 2 0 10 allowing single runs in the 1st and 4th but was otherwise dominant. The offense managed 9 hits and 4 walks but could only push across 1 run when Vidal Brujan singled in the 3rd, stole second, and scored on Keibert Ruiz's RBI single. Down 2-1, Keibert led off the 8th with a single and Jhon Diaz pinch ran for him, only to be thrown out attempting to steal. The next two batters walked, and instead of bases loaded and 1 out, it was 2 on and 2 out and they couldn't score. And again in the 9th, Triston Casas pinch-hit for Alec Bohm (who was useless, going 0-2 and hitting into a double play) and drilled a one-out double but Brandon Marsh flied out and Vidal Brujan popped out to end the game. It was just one of those nights. Fortunately the Yankees dropped their game in Milwaukee so the lead stays at 4.

Game 2: The Rays bounced back tonight courtesy of something they couldn't do yesterday, getting key hits with runners in scoring position and picking up a 6-2 win at Fenway. Jhon Diaz's RBI single with 2 out in the second put them on the board, a 2-run single from Vidal Brujan in the 5th was the key hit in a 3-run inning, and Wander Franco's 2-out double in the 7th brought home another. Hunter Bishop and Keston Hiura also each had RBI groundouts. This was all in support of Shane McClanahan, who didn't exactly pitch a Picasso tonight but slogged through it to go 6 7 2 2 3 1 and get his MLB-best 8th win of the season. Liam Hendriks got two outs in the 7th, Evan Godwin the third and the first in the 8th, and Hayden Johns finished up with 1 2/3 scoreless. Diaz had his 2nd 3-hit game in a week, and Nick Gonzales was 2-3 coming off the bench to play RF when Judson Fabian had to leave after tweaking something in his back (it's only a 2-day injury) and Diaz was already in the lineup at DH. He made 5 putouts without incident. And good news from Dairy Land as the Yankees fell in extras at Milwaukee so the lead is back up to 5.

Game 3: Rays pitching gave up a whopping 18 hits on the night, but it wasn't until the bottom of the 11th that Boston managed to beat them 5-4. Jasseel De La Cruz, who got the final 2 outs of the 10th, gave up a leadoff Pierson Gibis single, then a double to Rays-killer David Dahl to set up runners on 2nd and 3rd, and a Gabriel Arias single won it for Boston. The Rays came back from deficits of 3-0 and 4-3 to get it to extras, but there's no coming back from a run scored against you on the road in extra innings. Matt Manning started and was battered for 11 hits in 5+ innings, being yanked after allowing a leadoff double in the 6th. Asa Lacy came in and was pretty bad, allowing that run to score and loading the bases with one out, but Steven Casey got a big strikeout and then the 3rd out to keep it at 4-3, and Wander Franco singled home Vidal Brujan in the 7th to make it 4-4. Earlier Brandon Marsh had a 2-run double and Brujan had an RBI double of his own to erase a 3-0 deficit in the 5th. The Yankees won so the lead drops back to 4.

Team record: 35-17. Next up: a 4-game wraparound weekend series in Detroit which ends on Memorial Day.

Art Deco · 11-15-2020, 09:25 AM

Game 1: The Rays won a business-like 4-1 decision over Detroit, but saw the injury bug bite again. Blake Money got the start and was pitching quite well, but with 2 out in the 5th he had to leave with an elbow strain and will be out 2 weeks. He left 4.2 4 0 0 1 5 and I'll discuss his replacement options in a bit. Hayden Johns took over for him and went 2 1/3, allowing a run on only 17 pitches and picked up his 2nd win, while Jose Alvarado had a nice 8th and Jasseel De La Cruz struck out the side around a walk in the 9th to nab save #4. The offense didn't get a lot done against Kumar Rocker, but they had a 3-run 3rd that gave them enough to win. Jhon Diaz led off with the team's first hit, stole second and scored on an Andrew Knizner single. They then proceeded to load the bases and Hunter Bishop delivered a 2-run single, a welcome development considering he had only 1 RBI in his previous 14 games. Diaz walked with the bases loaded in the 9th to provide an insurance run. The starting options are either going back to Asa Lacy, making Johns a starter, or calling up Jack Leiter which again will burn an arbitration year as I'd need to wait until mid-June to avoid Super 2 status for him. Lacy is probably the option.

May 22: Placed P Blake Money on the 15-day IL with an elbow strain, recalled P Mike Bayley from AAA Durham.

Game 2: The Rays jumped on one of their old prospects with 5 runs in the 3rd off Shane Baz to propel them to a 7-5 win over the Tigers. Trailing 3-1 going into the 3rd, singles by Vidal Brujan, Wander Franco and Hunter Bishop made it 3-2, Triston Casas singled in a run, Baz wild-pitched one in, Keibert Ruiz singled in another, and then the 5th scored on Brandon Marsh's fielder's choice. Judson Fabian drove in the team's other two runs with a double in the 1st and a single in the 6th. Mack Anglin started and had a rough first inning although he should have been out of it with 1 run instead of 3 as Casas's 2-out error prolonged it although Anglin didn't need to give up 2 more RBI hits. He settled down from there and didn't give up anything until Alex Kirilloff's homer leading off the 8th. Anglin ended up 7 10 4 2 0 4, improving to 6-2, 3.39. Evan Godwin had a solid 8th, but with JDLC tired from yesterday, Jack Filby made the 9th interesting, giving up 3 hits and a run and getting his outs via a double play and a liner to Wander to end the game. Still he picked up his 2nd Rays save and 5th of the year overall. Wander ended up 3-5 while Ruiz was 2-3 with the RBI and 2 walks. Seattle scored 4 times in the 8th including a 2-run Patrick Bailey double to beat the Yankees so the lead is back up to 5. Also, I had something happen I had never seen before in the 1000+ Rays games I've played and several hundred for Durham: Brandon Marsh had an apparent double but was called out for failing to touch first base.

Game 3: This was one of those games as the Tigers bombed Christian Little and Rays 8-2. Little did not have it, at least in the first couple of innings, as he was hit hard and often to the tune of 4 10 8 8 2 6. The strikeouts started coming by the 3rd but the damage was done as Gabriel Moreno added a 3-run HR in the 4th to go with his 2-run double in the 1st as Little saw his ERA rise by a full run. Mike Bayley, just back up, pitched 3 nice scoreless innings in relief and Hayden Johns added one, but the offense couldn't get much going against Seth Lonsway despite having a fair # of baserunners. They finally broke through with an Alec Bohm RBI single in the 6th and Keibert Ruiz drove in a run in the 9th to cap a 3-hit day, but that was it. Vidal Brujan was 3-4 with a walk but couldn't be plated by any of his teammates. Fortunately the Yankees fell to Seattle so no loss of the division lead.

May 24: Signed P Jasseel De La Cruz to a 2-year, $12M contract extension, with a vesting option for 2030.

Time to cross one off the long list of players on the team becoming FAs at season's end. $6M/season is a reasonable price for a reliever of JDLC's caliber, and even if it doesn't work out for some reason it's not a lot of money. He gets another year at the same rate if he pitches 40 innings in 2029.

Game 4: Shane McClanahan was dealing today and the Rays hit 4 doubles in a 5-run 2nd inning to take a 6-0 win and 3 out of 4 in this series against Detroit. Mac was 7 2 0 0 2 7 today to improve to 9-2, 2.35 as he looks to join Tyler Glasnow and Matt Manning as Tampa Bay Cy Young winners this decade. His main competition right now is Minnesota's second-year man Jon Hayes, who's 8-0, 2.40 and leads the AL in pitching WAR. Hayden Johns threw 2 scoreless innings to finish off the game and preserve another team shutout. As mentioned, the offense went to town in the 2nd off Alek Manoah. Judson Fabian reached on an error, and then the doubles started. Keston Hiura's was first, scoring Fabian, Keibert Ruiz doubled in Hiura, Jhon Diaz doubled in Ruiz, and after Brandon Marsh whiffed, Vidal Brujan doubled in Diaz. Wander Franco capped the scoring by singling in Brujan. Ruiz added a solo HR (#5) in the 6th for the final Rays run, finishing with a 3-4, 2 RBI day and having a great season at 329/372/476. And Seattle beat the Yankees 2-1, taking 3 of 4 from them as the division lead grows to a season-high 6 games.

Team record: 38-18. Next up: Back home for 3 vs Toronto.

Art Deco · 11-15-2020, 04:07 PM

This one's a biggie as far as prospects go, as SS Isaac DeLeon is a top 15 MLB prospect and gives us another option for Wander's impending departure. And I use the adjective "impending" because this is his current extension demand:

His initial demand was 8 years at $39M/year, I countered with 6 at $34M, and then he came back with that. Okey-dokey.

So about Isaac DeLeon. He's a 65 at SS and a 65 baserunner, which is good, but the real allure here is the power. He's 70 current and 75 potential in power and the editor he says he'd hit 40 HR in the bigs right now. So what's the catch and why did Columbus trade him? Aside from the fact they have #2 prospect in the game Jorge Perez at the position (whom we traded to them several years ago for Asa Lacy), DeLeon has poor plate discipline, and is strikeout-prone and will be about a .250 hitter. But with that kind of power and that glove, I can live with it. Ricky Widmar at AA is still in the mix too, and he's having a decent season at AA Montgomery. DeLeon will play at Durham and between him, Nate Clark, Luis Berdin and Chris Sharp, they'll have a MLB-quality middle of the order. Saucedo is a power reliever with potential 70-80 stuff. The price? The key for Columbus was Waun, our 2nd-round pick in 2025 who's projected to be an above-average MLB CFer. He's got blazing speed, could ultimately be a 65-70 glove in center, and has excellent gap and power potential. The other 3 guys are marginal arms in the system, kind of quantity over quality thing with Manzano the most advanced but he has some flaws.

Designated 1B Alec Bohm for assignment and placed him on waivers; added Isaac DeLeon to the 40-man roster; activated 1B Yordan Alvarez from the 10-day IL.

DeLeon was on Columbus's 40-man, so he has to go on ours, meaning room had to be made. Therefore bye bye Bohm, who didn't do much in his 10-day cameo, and welcome back Yordan. He still shows 4 days left with knee tendinitis, so I'm going to limit him to pinch-hitting duties during that time.

Art Deco · 11-15-2020, 05:40 PM

Game 1: An old friend helped do them in and Asa Lacy was absolutely horrible in his return to the rotation as the Blue Jays bombed the Rays 11-5. Lacy was so bad, so early and dug the team so big a hole that he stayed in just to try and save the bullpen. However it took him 98 pitches just to get to 2 out in the 4th inning as he ended up 3.2 12 9 9 3 3. Oof. After he gave up a leadoff double to Adrian Hernandez, former Ray 4th OF Yusniel Diaz took Lacy deep to make it 2-0, and Grayson Jenista had a 3-run shot later in the inning. Diaz had an RBI double off Lacy in the 3rd and hit his 2nd HR of the evening in the 6th off Liam Hendriks. Lacy left the Rays down 9-2 and the offense did have a few moments in what could be called garbage time. Wander was 3-5 again, Hunter Bishop had an RBI single and a homer in the 9th (#9), Andrew Knizner added an RBI triple and Judson Fabian was 2-4 with a double and 2 RBI. Hendriks went 2 1/3 in relief of Lacy so he's out for a day or two, a tired Mike Bayley gave us 2 innings (and 5 whiffs), and Jack Filby pitched the 9th. Really not sure if I want to give Lacy another start. The good news was that the Yankees lost to Minnesota, so the lead remains at 6 games.

Game 2: The Rays are playing some really bad baseball right now as they were thumped by Toronto again 7-1. It was Matt Manning's turn in the dunk tank as after the Jays put 5 men on in the first 2 innings and he got out of it, the dam broke in the 3rd with 4 runs as Adrian Hernandez's bases-clearing double was the big hit. Unlike Asa Lacy yesterday, Manning managed to make it through 5 and was whiffing people, going 5 7 4 4 3 9. The problem was the "offense" couldn't get anything going, managing a grand total of 3 hits on the night against immortals like Eleiser Medrano and Ljay Newsome. Jhon Diaz doubled and scored on a wild pitch in the 3rd for the only Rays run. Steven Casey went a career-high 3 innings giving up only a Vlad Jr. moonshot that made it 5-1, and Jack Filby came on again in the 9th and melted down after getting the first two batters out, allowing 2 runs and throwing consecutive wild pitches to score one of them. For all their struggles, though, they were bailed out by Minnesota again as the Yankees suffered their own drubbing 12-3. It's been a strange year as the Rays are a brilliant 21-7 on the road but now a mediocre 17-13 at the Trop.

Game 3: The Rays turned the tables on Toronto today and salvaged the third game of this series with an 8-1 win behind Mack Anglin. The second-year righthander was dominant today, going 8 5 1 1 1 9 on 108 pitches and even holding the mighty Vlad Jr hitless. He's now 7-2, 3.16 and showing last year wasn't a fluke. The offense had a ton of baserunners early but could scratch across a couple of early runs before they exploded for 5 in the 5th to break it open. Triston Casas, who had his first MLB 4-hit game, singled in a run in the 1st and Hunter Bishop's RBI groundout plated another but Toronto starter Jared Jones had allowed 5 hits and 5 walks through 4 and it was still a close game. That all changed in the 5th when Keston Hiura's 2-run triple made it 4-0, Keibert Ruiz doubled in Hiura to make it 5-0, Jhon Diaz doubled in Ruiz, and Vidal Brujan singled in Diaz. And our long national nightmare is over as Judson Fabian hit HR #2 in the 8th inning to give us the final margin. Hayden Johns finished up with a perfect 9th as the beleaguered bullpen mostly got a rest today. And the Yankees continue to circle the drain with their 6th straight loss as the division lead grows to 7.

Team record: 39-20. Next up: A rare Friday off-day (so even more rest for the pen), followed by 2 interleague games at home vs the Milwaukee Brewers.

Also this just in: The San Francisco Giants claimed Alec Bohm on waivers. Good luck Alec!

Also on our off day (Friday), Ryan Weathers of the Padres pitched a no-hitter against the Columbus Lightning, walking 2 and whiffing 14 on 110 pitches.

Art Deco · 11-16-2020, 08:13 AM

Game 1: Christian Little bounced back from one of the worst starts of his career to turn in one of his best as the Rays handled Milwaukee 5-1. He went 7 5 0 0 1 10 and got better as the game went on, striking out the side in his 7th and final inning despite being over 100 pitches. The performance brings him to 6-3, 2.82 and gives him 106 whiffs in 73.1 innings. Jose Alvarado gave up a run in the 8th to make it a 3-1 game at that point, but 2 runs in the 8th meant JDLC sat down and Jack Filby came on instead with a 1-2-3 9th. The offense had chances galore early with Brewers starter Cionel Perez walking 6 in his 5 1/3 and giving up 5 hits, but despite having the bases loaded and runners in scoring position with fewer than 2 out, they could only score early on a couple of sac flies from Wander Franco and Keibert Ruiz. Brandon Marsh added an RBI double in the 6th to make it 3-0 and then they broke through in the 8th on RBI singles from Ruiz and Vidal Brujan (who was 3-4 today with a steal). Keston Hiura had a nice game against his old team, going 2-3 with a double, a walk and 2 runs scored. Yordan Alvarez was back in the lineup for the first time in a couple of weeks and the rust showed as he went 0-4. The Yankees had won the night before but lost tonight, so the lead is now 7 1/2 games.

Game 2: Some terrible offense and a couple of defensive mistakes wasted a brilliant effort by Shane McClanahan in a 3-1 loss to Milwaukee. Mac threw a lot of pitches and only made it through 6, but he was dominant going 6 5 1 0 3 12. The only run scored against was in the 2nd when Brandon Marsh dropped a fly ball allowing Nolan Arenado to score. Triston Casas doubled in Judson Fabian in the bottom of the 2nd to tie the game and that's where we went until the 7th when Liam Hendriks came on. Hendriks had Bo Bichette struck out but Keibert Ruiz was called for catcher's interference and with two out Parks Harber doubled to score Bichette with what proved to be the winning run. Evan Godwin didn't get the job done in the 9th when he came in to face lefty Christian Yelich with a man on 2nd and two out, giving up an RBI single that made it 3-1 and cost Steven Casey a run. But it was all for naught as the bats could only muster 5 hits, although they did draw 6 walks. This meant there were several situations with multiple runners on base but Ruiz and Jhon Diaz in particular couldn't get hits when needed with each leaving 5 men on base. They had a shot in the 9th when Brandon Marsh doubled and Vidal Brujan reached on an error with one out, but Wander Franco (who had 2 of the 5 hits) grounded into a double play to end the game. Fortunately their mediocre play of late hasn't cost them in the standings as the Yankees dropped another one, keeping the lead at 7 1/2. Boston has been hot lately and is only 1/2 game behind New York so perhaps they will be the team to watch going forward.

Team record: 40-21. Next up: 3 tough games in Minnesota where the Twins now have the best record in baseball at 40-20 and the Rays get to face 9-0 Jon Hayes in the first game.

Art Deco · 11-16-2020, 02:31 PM

Game 1: The Rays had the daunting task of facing the AL's top pitcher in Minnesota's Jon Hayes, who came in 9-0, 2.33 and the early favorite for the Cy Young (although Christian Little and Shane McClanahan will have something to say about that). Facing Hayes for the Rays was Matt Manning, he of the inconsistent up-and-down 4.19 ERA. So unsurprisingly the final turned out to be 3-0, with the winning pitcher throwing a complete-game 5-hit shutout. Great job by Hayes, right? Nope, great job Matt Manning. In one of the best games he's ever pitched in his 3 1/2 seasons as a Ray, Manning totally shut down the high-flying Twins offense going 9 5 0 0 0 7 on 106 pitches, including whiffs of the first two batters in the 9th. Meanwhile the bats didn't exactly pound Hayes but for a change got key hits when they needed them. Keibert Ruiz's 2-out double in the 2nd was cashed in by Nick Gonzales' RBI single, Wander Franco's 6th inning double was followed by Judson Fabian's RBI single, and Yordan Alvarez took the star lefty deep for HR #8 in the 8th inning with a solo shot as they did get to Hayes for 3 runs and 8 hits in 8 innings. Without a doubt this was the best and most gratifying win of the season to date, and a possible ALCS preview. The Yankees won for a change so no expansion of the 7 1/2 game division lead.

Monthly awards galore:

Glad we signed him to an extension earlier this year.

So yeah, Nate Clark continues to rake. It'd be fun to get him up this year but barring further injuries there's just no place for him (although the argument could be made he'd be an improvement over the Jhon Diaz/Nick Gonzales platoon, Diaz is too good to just put on the shelf.)

And then there's Billy Benedetto. Haven't spoke much of him but he was the third man acquired in the Heston Kjerstad deal with Texas that brought us Ricky Widmar and Hayden Johns. All he's done since joining the org is hit, and of course there's no real path for him right now, and that's not even considering Luis Berdin and Petey Halpin at Durham. It seems like we're always destined to have a glut of OFs that hit.

Game 2: Asa Lacy likely started his last game as a Ray, getting bombed again in a 9-4 loss to the Twins with Blake Money returning in 5 days and Jack Leiter lurking behind the Super 2 deadline. He was let down by the defense in a 4-run 2nd thanks to errors from Keston Hiura and Wander Franco but the 5-run 4th was all him (and Hayden Johns) as he went a putrid 3 9 7 3 0 4 as he seems to remain one of the more hittable MLB pitchers on the planet. Yordan Alvarez's 2-run double in the 3rd gave the Rays a brief glimmer of hope as they got within 4-2, but the rout was on shortly thereafter. Vidal Brujan had an RBI triple and scored on Wander's infield single in the 5th and the scoring ended after that. Johns had an uncharacteristically poor outing, giving up 2 runs on 5 hits in 2 1/3 innings (although still whiffing 4), while Mike Bayley pitched 2.2 1-hit scoreless innings with 4 Ks to wrap it up, so neither will be available tomorrow but the rest of pen was saved. There's also a good chance that not only was it Lacy's last start as a Ray but his last appearance as a Ray as I've been shopping him in anticipation of needing both the active roster spot and the 40-man spot he's taking up. Once again the Rays aren't punished in the standings for a loss as the Yankees continue slumping.

And...he's gone:

The return here is to shore up a couple of positions in which we're organizationally weak. We had quite the catcher drain through trades and Rule 5 over the last couple of years and 3B has been a thin position as well with only Gustave D'Elia at AAA a legitimate prospect. So these two should fill in nicely as Meola will take over for the revolving door of minor league FAs we've been using at AA Montgomery. He's not that special, but projects to be a .275-25 HR guy with average defense at the position. He's a MiLB free agent at year's end so we'll see how he goes before either putting him on the 40-man come the offseason or seeing if he'll take a minor league extension. Burkes was the main attraction here, he's a 70 catcher he's kind of a poor man's Keibert Ruiz in that he's very tough to strike out, hits for average and has excellent gap power if not HR power. He hit .314 at A ball last year with only 45 whiffs to give you an idea. He'll go to A+ Charlotte. Going to the other way aside from Lacy, who in fairness needs to pitch behind a much better defense than we trot out there and could thrive in San Diego, was Kash, a 1B with moderate power who is going back to the Padre organization after we got him in the Lewin Diaz dump last year. He was playing ahead of Marcus Franco at Charlotte, which I wasn't thrilled with, and we have much better 1B prospects in Chris Sharp at AAA and Victor Barillas at AA, and it's not like Yordan Alvarez is going anywhere. Bitsko came over in the Patrick Bailey deal about a month ago but got hurt (out for the season) and as mentioned at the time he was picked up more because the Rays drafted him IRL rather than anything else.

June 2: Recalled P Cole Patten from AAA Durham.

Patten will be with us for a little while until we need a 5th starter as we have two off days sandwiched around the next series and we're waiting for Blake Money to come off the IL.

Game 3: Mack Anglin pitched 7 strong innings and the Rays busted open a 2-2 game with a 5-run 8th inning to take a 7-2 win over Minnesota and 2 out of 3 in the stadium of one of the best teams in baseball. Anglin was staked to a 2-0 lead on a ground-rule RBI double by Brandon Marsh in the 2nd and an RBI single from Keibert Ruiz in the 4th but the Twins got those runs back on a Royce Lewis infield RBI single with 2 out in the 5th and a homer from MLB RBI leader Julio Rodriguez (his 16th HR and 67th RBI) in the 6th. After Rodriguez's homer, Anglin gave up a double and then a single but Brandon Marsh threw the runner out at the plate to keep the Twins from taking the lead and Anglin settled in getting out of the inning and pitching a 1-2-3 7th to end up 7 7 2 2 0 7. He's now 8-2, 3.12. And then the bats went to work. Vidal Brujan led off the 8th with one of his 4 hits on the night and Wander Franco stepped up and drilled HR #10 to make it 4-2. And after Yordan Alvarez reached on an error, Judson Fabian blasted #3 just inside the LF foul pole as he slowly rediscovers his power stroke to make it 6-2. They continued to hit, and Ruiz doubled in Hunter Bishop for the final run. Jack Filby and Steven Casey pitched scoreless innings to close it out. Scoring the Rays' first two runs was Triston Casas, who doubled twice in 4 trips. You could have made a lot of money betting Casas would be within .002 of Wander in batting average over 2 months into the season but here we are with Casas at .297 playing fairly regularly and Wander at .299. In scoreboard-watching, the Yankees won so the lead remains 7 1/2.

Next up: An off-day followed by our first trip of the year to New York to play those same Yankees in a 3-game set. This starts a 3-week stretch where we play nothing but AL East teams.

Art Deco · 11-16-2020, 10:21 PM

<table class="data" style="background-color: rgb(247, 243, 222); color: rgb(27, 27, 27); font-family: "Open Sans", Calibri, Helvetica, Verdana, Geneva, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;" width="968px" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr><td class="dl wrap" style="font-family: "Open Sans", Calibri, Helvetica, Verdana, Geneva, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(27, 27, 27); vertical-align: top; text-align: left; background-color: rgb(247, 243, 222); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(235, 233, 233); padding: 1px 4px 2px; white-space: normal;">Drafted SP Mike Champagne in the 2027 first-year player draft (Round 1, Pick 32, 32nd overall pick).</td></tr><tr><td class="dl wrap" style="font-family: "Open Sans", Calibri, Helvetica, Verdana, Geneva, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(27, 27, 27); vertical-align: top; text-align: left; background-color: rgb(247, 243, 222); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(235, 233, 233); padding: 1px 4px 2px; white-space: normal;">Drafted SP Kevin Lovetere in the 2027 first-year player draft (Supplemental Round 1, Pick 6, 38th overall pick).</td></tr><tr><td class="dl wrap" style="font-family: "Open Sans", Calibri, Helvetica, Verdana, Geneva, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(27, 27, 27); vertical-align: top; text-align: left; background-color: rgb(247, 243, 222); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(235, 233, 233); padding: 1px 4px 2px; white-space: normal;">Drafted RP Mike Brown in the 2027 first-year player draft (Round 2, Pick 31, 69th overall pick).</td></tr><tr><td class="dl wrap" style="font-family: "Open Sans", Calibri, Helvetica, Verdana, Geneva, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(27, 27, 27); vertical-align: top; text-align: left; background-color: rgb(247, 243, 222); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(235, 233, 233); padding: 1px 4px 2px; white-space: normal;">Drafted SP Gil Wayne in the 2027 first-year player draft (Round 3, Pick 25, 96th overall pick).</td></tr><tr><td class="dl wrap" style="font-family: "Open Sans", Calibri, Helvetica, Verdana, Geneva, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(27, 27, 27); vertical-align: top; text-align: left; background-color: rgb(247, 243, 222); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(235, 233, 233); padding: 1px 4px 2px; white-space: normal;">Drafted RF Rogelio Cuellar in the 2027 first-year player draft (Round 4, Pick 29, 125th overall pick).</td></tr><tr><td class="dl wrap" style="font-family: "Open Sans", Calibri, Helvetica, Verdana, Geneva, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(27, 27, 27); vertical-align: top; text-align: left; background-color: rgb(247, 243, 222); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(235, 233, 233); padding: 1px 4px 2px; white-space: normal;">Drafted SP Juan Flores in the 2027 first-year player draft (Round 5, Pick 29, 154th overall pick).</td></tr><tr><td class="dl wrap" style="font-family: "Open Sans", Calibri, Helvetica, Verdana, Geneva, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(27, 27, 27); vertical-align: top; text-align: left; background-color: rgb(247, 243, 222); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(235, 233, 233); padding: 1px 4px 2px; white-space: normal;">Drafted 3B Isaiah Diamond in the 2027 first-year player draft (Round 6, Pick 30, 184th overall pick).</td></tr><tr><td class="dl wrap" style="font-family: "Open Sans", Calibri, Helvetica, Verdana, Geneva, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(27, 27, 27); vertical-align: top; text-align: left; background-color: rgb(247, 243, 222); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(235, 233, 233); padding: 1px 4px 2px; white-space: normal;">Drafted SP Ben Hummel in the 2027 first-year player draft (Round 7, Pick 30, 214th overall pick).</td></tr><tr><td class="dl wrap" style="font-family: "Open Sans", Calibri, Helvetica, Verdana, Geneva, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(27, 27, 27); vertical-align: top; text-align: left; background-color: rgb(247, 243, 222); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(235, 233, 233); padding: 1px 4px 2px; white-space: normal;">Drafted RF Manny Leana in the 2027 first-year player draft (Round 8, Pick 30, 244th overall pick).</td></tr></tbody></table>

As you can see we went pitching-heavy this year. Some quick thoughts on the top draftees:

Mike Champagne: Great name of course, almost worth the pick on its own. I'll be happy if my scouting director's (Rob Metzler) assessment comes through and finds him as a mid-rotation starter but OSA likes him even better, calling Champagne "a golden arm" and that "he should be a top of the rotation pitcher". He's a college guy from Kansas State.

Kevin Lovetere: A high-school lefty projected to have really good movement and command to go with decent stuff, he's a "pitcher" rather than a thrower and Metzler says he should "end up near the top of any MLB rotation" and OSA says "front of the rotation potential".

Mike Brown: The top pure college reliever in the draft out of Texas, projected to have 80 stuff and tabbed by Metzler and OSA as a future closer.

Gil Wayne: A high-school righty with a wicked curveball (75/80 potential depending on who you ask), Metzler sees him as a future #3 starter while OSA says #2 starter.

Rogelio Cuellar: The first hitter we took, he has potential 70 gap power & HR power, he's a 19-year old RF out of JuCo. As always with these types, contact will be the issue.

Juan Flores: Back to the mound we went with this LSU commit out of a GA high school. He's more of a control, groundball artist who could fit at the back end of a rotation (hey, we're late in the 5th round now)

Isaiah Diamond: High school 3B from Georgia whom both Metzler and OSA project as a future regular, good hit and power tools.

Ben Hummel: HS lefty out of Iowa. Has potential 60/65 stuff with a potential 80 changeup. Not the hardest thrower but a decent shot at a 4 or a 5 rotation spot.

Manny Leana. Another Iowa HSer, he's a RF with 70-80 power potential depending on who you ask, very toolsy but raw of course. Metzler uses the famous "penciled in for a lion's share of the starts at his position" line in his report. Could be a steal in the 8th round, more likely not.

Art Deco · 11-17-2020, 09:04 AM

Game 1: It's tough to win when you only manage 3 hits, and that lack of offense doomed the Rays tonight in a 3-1 loss. They actually took the lead in the 3rd on a Wander Franco sac fly to score Nick Gonzales, who had one of those three hits, but that was the sum total of the offense tonight as Antoine Kelly held them to 2 hits and 1 walk over 7 1/3. And therefore Christian Little had no margin for error but he made two of them: a solo HR to Aaron Judge in the 4th and a two-run shot by Gleyber Torres in the 5th. Little ended up a decent 6.2 7 3 3 1 9 but dropped to 6-4, 2.92. Steven Casey got him out of a tough spot in the 7th with a whiff of Torres and Evan Godwin struck out 2 in a scoreless 8th to keep it close. They did bring the tying run to the plate in the 9th when Yordan Alvarez (who had the other 2 hits) singled with one out off Yankee closer Nick Paciorek, but Judson Fabian grounded into a double play to end the game. The Yankees now pull with 6 1/2.

Game 2: This was a sloppy game in which neither team played well, but the Rays will take the 4-2 victory and ask no questions. The Rays were team TOOTBLAN in this game as they had four runners thrown out on the bases, with Hunter Bishop caught stealing twice and Vidal Brujan twice thrown out at home plate by Aaron Judge. The Yankees, meanwhile, saw their 2B Tommy Edman make two critical errors which led to Rays runs, and when they tried to mount a rally in the 8th off Jose Alvarado after Sammy Siani led off with a double, Chase Davis put down a bad bunt that allowed Alvarado to throw Siani out at 3rd and pretty much end that comeback bid. While all this bad baseball was going on, Shane McClanahan was doing his usual thing, going 7 7 2 2 2 5 to become the first 10-game winner in MLB this year and keep his ERA at 2.22. His only bad moments were a Skyler Messinger homer in the 2nd and a wild pitch that sent a runner to third with 1 out where he then scored on a sac fly in the 5th. When they weren't making outs on the basepaths, the offense was opportunistic today with Edman booting a Wander Franco double play ball that would have ended the inning allowing their first run in the 3rd. Then in the 6th another Edman error enabled them to load the bases whereupon Keibert Ruiz walked to force in a run and then Jhon Diaz hit a sac fly to put them up 3-2. They picked up a big insurance run in the 9th when Diaz singled, stole second and scored on a Wander single. Alvarado got through the 8th with that bad bunt and Jasseel De La Cruz got save #5 by striking out Judge and Anthony Rizzo and getting a groundout in a 1-2-3 inning. The win restores the lead to 7 1/2 games.

Asa Lacy made his Padres debut today in relief, and vultured a win after he gave up the game-tying HR in the 8th.

Also in his professional debut with our DSL team, last year's big July 2 signing Omar Rodriguez went 2-4 with a double and an RBI. O-Rod, as I've taken to calling him, is the #21 prospect in baseball per BNN.

Game 3: The Rays rode a 5-run 3rd inning and beat the Yankees and Gerrit Cole soundly by the score of 8-2. Yordan Alvarez got the offense going in the 1st with a 2-run homer (#9) off Cole, just over the short RF fence for a Yankee Stadium special, and then the dam burst in the 3rd when Wander Franco led off with a single, stole second, scored on a Judson Fabian single, and after they loaded the bases Keibert Ruiz cleared them with a double, with Ruiz scoring on a Jhon Diaz groundout. Hunter Bishop added HR #10 in the 7th to round out the scoring. On the mound, Matt Manning picked up where he left off shutting out Minnesota with more shutout ball but had to leave after 5 1/3 with a blister which won't keep him from making his next start. He was 5.1 2 0 0 2 5 to go to 7-3, 3.50. Hayden Johns took over and was immediately greeted by a Gleyber Torres homer and he gave up an RBI double to Torres in the 8th but Evan Godwin got him out of that inning with 2 strikeouts. Cole Patten pitched a 1-2-3 2K 9th to finish off the game as the Rays are now in front by a season-high 8 1/2 games while Boston is 9 back.

Team record: 44-23. Next up: Another off-day followed by 3 at home against the Red Sox.

Art Deco · 11-17-2020, 04:12 PM

June 8: Activated P Blake Money from the 15-day IL, optioned P Cole Patten to AAA Durham.

Game 1: Tyler Glasnow returned to the Trop for the first time since moving to the Red Sox in free agency and he was given a tribute on the video board and received his 2026 World Series ring in a pre-game ceremony. And then Glasnow returned to his old office on the Tropicana Field mound and did what he did so many times there, shutting down the opposition in a 1-0 win. The Rays didn't get their first hit until a Wander Franco single in the 4th, and Glasnow shut them out on 3 hits through the first 7 innings before allowing singles to Keibert Ruiz and Jhon Diaz to start the 8th, whereupon he left to a warm ovation from the crowd. This presented the Rays with their best chance to score tonight, but after Brandon Marsh and Vidal Brujan made outs and Wander walked to load the bases, Yordan Alvarez grounded out to short to end that rally. Judson Fabian did draw a leadoff walk in the 9th against Kyle Crick, but the next 3 batters could do nothing. Mack Anglin got the start and after whiffing two Boston hitters in the 1st, had to leave the game with strained triceps and will miss 3 weeks. It'll end up more like a month since he'll need at least one rehab start after that. More on his potential replacement(s) in a moment. With length needed from the pen, Blake Money came in and looked great, going 5 5 1 1 2 8 and looking downright Glasnow-esque at times. Unfortunately he did allow the one run in the 5th which turned out to be the game-winner, but he was impressive nonetheless in a role he may be ticketed for before long. Evan Godwin got a quick 7th, and Liam Hendriks pitched so efficiently in the 8th he got to pitch the 9th, getting through both perfect innings on a grand total of 18 pitches. The Yankees won so the lead is back down to 7 1/2.

As far as replacing Anglin in the rotation, Money will take his spot in 5 days' time and will stay in the rotation for at least a couple of more turns after that, however we will need a starter on Saturday. I'm considering giving Hayden Johns a start and seeing how that goes. The medium-term plan is to bring Jack Leiter up in two weeks (the 22nd or a couple of days after) which should give us Super 2 safety. Ultimately, Leiter should be in the rotation and when Anglin is back, Money will be used as a multi-inning guy/long reliever. In the short term, Cole Patten probably comes back up to give us an extra reliever.

June 9: Signed OF Spencer Torkelson to a 4-year, $53.5M contract extension.

Tork may be out until almost the end of the season, but he'll be a Ray through 2031. Guys who hit .290 or so with 40+ HRs and walk at a decent clip don't grow on trees, so I got him for what he'd get in arbitration the next two years plus 2 free agency years. Here are the details:

Game 2: The Rays got off to a rough start when Pierson Gibis took Christian Little deep for a 3-run HR in the 1st inning but it was all Rays from there as they beat Boston 8-3. They responded quickly with a 5-run 2nd inning which started with Judson Fabian leading off with his 4th HR of the season and then they went single, double, 2-run double from Keibert Ruiz, Brandon Marsh RBI fielder's choice and a Vidal Brujan RBI double. They later added 2 runs in the 5th on a wild pitch and a Hunter Bishop RBI double and Brandon Marsh hit HR #3 in the 6th. And Little gave Boston nothing after the first inning, ending up 7 5 3 3 2 9 to improve to 7-4, 3.00. Mike Bayley pitched the final 2 innings, giving up only 1 hit and whiffing 4. The Yankees fell to Kansas City so the lead is back up to 8 1/2.

Game 3: For two-thirds of its length, this was a tense, back-and-forth game between the Rays and Red Sox. But after the Red Sox broke through in the 7th to take a 4-2 lead with 2 outs, the Rays responded with a 5-run bottom of the frame to take an 8-4 win and 2 out of 3 in the series. Lefties Shane McClanahan and Justus Sheffield were in a tight battle through 6, with Mac getting dinged for a 1st inning run and then watching as two Rays errors behind him gifted Boston a 5th inning run, offsetting RBI singles from Brandon Marsh and Hunter Bishop. And in the top of the 7th McClanahan put runners on 1st and 3rd with 1 out, got a grounder with the infield in to put men on 2nd and 3rd, and departed for Liam Hendriks. Unfortunately Hendriks served up a 2-run single to Yoan Moncada and the Sox broke the stalemate. But the Rays answered right back in the bottom of the frame. After Sheffield got Keibert Ruiz to ground out to start the inning, Boston brought in Sam Tuivailala and the Rays took advantage. He walked Nick Gonzales, gave up an RBI double to Marsh, a single to Vidal Brujan, and then a single to Wander Franco to tie it up. After Yordan Alvarez reached on an error to load the bases, Tuivailala walked Judson Fabian to force in the go-ahead run, and Bishop ripped a 2-run double to make it 7-4. They added another run in the 8th when Alvarez singled in Gonzales, who had doubled (and had a great night, tripling earlier and ending up 2-3 with a walk and 3 runs scored). Jose Alvarado pitched a perfect 2K 8th, and after the Rays made it 8-4 JDLC sat back down and Steven Casey finished with a 1-2-3 9th. The Yankees and Baltimore both lost, so they're starting to run away with the division now at 9 1/2 games up.

Team record: 46-24. Next up: 3 at home vs Baltimore.

Two disgruntled Rays from 2025 traded for each other:

Art Deco · 11-18-2020, 08:48 AM

Game 1: Andrew Knizner was the offense tonight, belting 2 HRs in a 3-2 win over Baltimore. The night started off rough for Knizner, as Baltimore got the 2nd run of their 2-run 3rd inning when he threw the ball into outfield as a runner attempted to steal third (the first runs off Matt Manning in 18 1/3 innings) but he quickly made up for it with a solo shot in the bottom of the inning. And then down 2-1 in the bottom of the 7th, Nick Gonzales doubled off Orioles starter Zac Lowther and Knizner went deep again to give the Rays their winning margin. Knizner's always been regarded as a good-hitting catcher, hitting over .300 in 2 of his previous 3 seasons, and he's 302/348/628 with 3 HR in 43 AB since signing in late April. Manning of course recovered from that rough 3rd to go 6 4 2 2 3 4. Steven Casey took over in the 7th and put 2 on with 2 out, and Evan Godwin got him out of that and pitched the 8th, picking up his 2nd win. And Jasseel De La Cruz was impressive in getting save #6, striking out the side in a 1-2-3 inning.

Note from the farm: 1st round draft pick Mike Champagne made his professional debut with Class-A Bowling Green and was an impressive 7 3 0 0 3 6 on 84 pitches.

Game 2: A pitiful performance from the offense - especially with runners on base - and some lousy bullpen work combined to waste an impressive spot start from Hayden Johns as the Rays fell 4-0 to Baltimore. Johns started off shaky, walking the bases loaded in the 1st, but he got out of it and only a Xavier Bussey triple followed by a Druw Jones double in the 3rd kept him from throwing 6 shutout innings as he went an impressive 6 3 1 1 3 9 on 106 pitches (30 of them in the 1st). But that one run would be all the Orioles would need as the offense got nothing going early, and once they started putting runners on base they couldn't do anything with them. The primary culprit was Judson Fabian, who came up in both the 6th and the 8th with either a man on 3rd and one out or the bases loaded with one out and whiffed in the 6th and hit a shallow fly ball in the 8th. And both times Hunter Bishop followed him and made the 3rd out. At that point it was only 2-0, but Jose Alvarado was not at his best today, allowing Jack Filby's inherited baserunner to score in the 8th and then putting two on in the 9th, one of which Cole Patten allowed to score and other by Liam Hendriks who had to come in for Patten when Patten tweaked his hamstring. Boston beat the Yankees to keep the lead at 9 1/2.

Game 3: The offense once again could barely hit its way out of a wet paper bag, and the pitching ran out of gas in a 5-2 loss. Blake Money started, and was very good for 5 innings but I left him in a bit too long in the 6th and although he got two outs he then gave up a pair of hits that plated 3 runs and that was a death knell considering how the offense has gone lately. Mike Bayley gave up 2 more in the 7th, including a HR to Adley Rutschman and that was that. The Rays were up against a tough customer in Bryar Johnson, of the AL's best, but they did get through for 2 runs with 2 out in the 3rd. Brandon Marsh singled, went to second on a wild pitch, and scored on Nick Gonzales's RBI single, and then Gonzales stole second and scored on Wander Franco's single. Johnson left with 2 out in the 6th, and the Rays couldn't manage another baserunner in the final 3 1/3 off Baltimore's bullpen as they scored a whopping 5 runs in the 3-game series. Yordan Alvarez had showed some signs of life before going on the IL and shortly after coming off it, but has gone cold again and is hitting 239/307/378 while Bramdon Perez, sent to Houston in the deal that brought Alvarez here, is hitting 337/404/564. I mean we're still tied for 1st in runs scored and sit 8 1/2 games up, but the recent quiet bats have been frustrating, even for a lower-scoring environment this year. The mediocrity at the Trop this year continues as they drop to a 22-17 home record.

Team record: 47-26. Next up: An off-day, followed by 3 games in Toronto, which has been known in the past to perk up the bats.

Art Deco · 11-18-2020, 04:47 PM

Game 1: This was perhaps the most frustrating game of the season as the Rays blew leads of 2-1, 3-2, 4-3, and ultimately 5-4 as they lost 6-5 in 11 innings. The offense started slow before finally getting going, and Christian Little was dominating again over 6 innings, but the bullpen was atrocious as 3 different Rays relievers blew leads. First, Liam Hendriks gave up a Yusniel Diaz homer in the 7th after the Rays went back ahead 3-2 in the top of the inning, then after the Rays went up 4-3 in the top of the 9th JDLC gave up a walk and an RBI double, and finally after scoring in the top of the 11th, Jose Alvarado couldn't get anyone out, giving up the tying and winning runs on 3 hits and a walk. Only Evan Godwin among the relievers, who retired all 4 batters he faced, could hold his head up with pride tonight. Little went 6 5 2 2 0 12, giving up a Vlad Jr HR in the 1st and a run in the 6th (scoring when he got Vlad Jr to hit into a double play). The bats got going somewhat tonight with Triston Casas hitting #10 in the 2nd inning and Hunter Bishop single-handedly doing his best to win the game, homering (#11) in the 7th to make it 3-2, hitting an RBI single in the 9th to make it 4-3, and delivering an RBI double in the 11th to make it 5-4. And Bishop had to end up playing CF because Brandon Marsh sprained an ankle legging out a double and will be out almost a month. His natural and projected replacement at Durham, Julio Cedillo, is himself injured so we'll have to play with a 45 CF in Bishop for a while. This could mean we finally see Nate Clark, I'm going to have to look at things. Jhon Diaz was playing his way out of a job (0-3 tonight with his 4th CS, he's 241/299/310 and a major disappointment playing almost every day), but he may get a reprieve. The Yankees fortunately lost but Baltimore won, so both of those teams are 8 1/2 back.

June 16: Placed OF Brandon Marsh on the 10-day IL with a sprained ankle, purchased the contract of OF Nate Clark from AAA Durham.

Let the Nate Clark era begin! The #10 prospect in baseball, who was merely hitting 370/456/621 at AAA Durham with 13 HR, 46 RBI and 20 SB (the dude has wheels) and a 32/26 BB/K ratio is ready to make his MLB debut. The editor sees him as a 307/382/575 guy. It's June 16, so he's probably safe from a Super 2 perspective. The plan is to play him at DH, with Fabian shifting to LF, Bishop to CF and Jhon Diaz playing RF against righties, and then put him into LF with Fabian shifting to RF against lefties. Perhaps he'll jump-start the offense, which is need of one. We had an open 40-man spot after the Asa Lacy trade, so right now nobody needs to go on waivers, but Aaron Ashby is due back soon from the 60-day IL (he struck out the side on rehab at Durham last night) so someone will have to be waived soon.

If Clark hits, he'll stay in the lineup when Marsh comes back with Diaz the odd man out (unless he really gets going too, a dilemma I'd be happy to deal with). Diaz is out of options, though, so he can't go back to Durham. I've already been exploring the trade market for Diaz and it's still pretty good and might be at its peak now especially if he doesn't start hitting soon.

Game 2: The Nate Clark effect? Making his MLB debut today, the rookie went 2-5 with a steal and it seemed to jump-start the offense as they pounded out 15 hits and 11 runs, including a pair of longballs from the suddenly job-threatened Jhon Diaz in an 11-4 win. Despite the final score, it wasn't all fun and games as Yusniel Diaz continued to torment his former team with a 3-run first-inning homer off Shane McClanahan and the Rays were in an early 3-0 hole. But they answered back in the 3rd with a Judson Fabian RBI double and a 3-run HR from Triston Casas (#11) to make it 4-3. Then Jhon Diaz went to work in the 6th, homering with Clark aboard to make it 6-3, and Yordan Alvarez followed with an RBI double and it was 7-3. Those two did it again in the 8th with Diaz homering to lead off the inning (#3) and Alvarez following with a 3-run HR (#10) to make it 11-3 and complete a 4-5, 4-RBI night. McClanahan meanwhile was lights out after that first inning, not allowing a hit over the next 7 and ending with an 8 2 3 3 2 7 line to improve to 11-2, 2.42. Cole Patten allowed a run in the 9th mopping up. The Yankees and Orioles both won so the lead remains 8 1/2.

Game 3: Nate Clark continues to be the story as his first MLB HR, a 3-run shot in the 2nd, propelled the Rays to an 11-3 rout of the Jays as they take 2 of 3 in Toronto. His 429-foot shot with an exit velocity of 108.1 MPH gave the Rays a 3-0 lead which they never relinquished, although Toronto did get close before the Rays blew it open. Matt Manning started slowly, giving up 3 runs in the first 3 innings after the Rays went up 4-1 on Yordan Alvarez's sac fly, but like Shane McClanahan last night he got it together in the middle innings and ended up 7 6 3 3 1 5, finishing with a flourish by striking out the side in his final inning. Mike Bayley capped it off with 2 scoreless innings. In between the big inning for the Rays was the 5th as they put 6 on the board with a parade of hits. The scoring kicked off with Alvarez's 11th HR of the year and his second in as many games with Wander Franco aboard to make it 6-3, then Hunter Bishop and Triston Casas each doubled for another run, Keibert Ruiz singled home Casas, Clark singled (he ended up 3-5 and should have had 4 hits but was robbed by a diving catch of his liner to RF), Jhon Diaz singled in Ruiz and Vidal Brujan singled in Clark. Hunter Bishop added HR #12 in the 8th and the next batter up Casas was hit by a Simeon Woods Richardson pitch and charged the mound, setting off a bench-clearing brawl. Casas was suspended 4 games for his part in the fracas and will miss the Baltimore series as well as the first game against Oakland next week so Keston Hiura will be getting some extra ABs. The Yankees and Baltimore each won so the lead is still 8 1/2.

Team record: 49-27. Next up: 3 games in Camden Yards. Here's hoping the bats continue to bop as they're out of Tropicana Field, where offense goes to die.

Minor league note: 1st-round Mike Champagne continues to bubble up, going 7.2 7 1 1 3 5 in his 2nd pro start for Bowling Green.

Art Deco · 11-19-2020, 08:31 AM

Game 1: Welcome back to the land of the hitting, Judson Fabian. The Rays OF, who had 4 HRs through nearly half of the season after hitting 36 last year, clubbed a pair tonight to lead the Rays to a 7-5 win over the Orioles. The Rays were up against the tough Bryar Johnson for the second time in less than a week, and this time around they had their way with him. RBI singles from Yordan Alvarez and Hunter Bishop made it 2-0 in the first, and after the Orioles tied it at 2, Fabian stepped up and hit the first of his two homers in the 3rd to put the Rays back in front. That score held until the 6th when Nate Clark slammed an RBI double off Johnson to make it 4-2, and in the 7th after they chased Johnson with a couple of baserunners, Fabian went deep again off Baltimore reliever Ruben Galindo with a 3-run blast to make it 7-2. Hayden Johns did about as well as could be expected in Camden Yards on another fill-in start, going 6 7 2 2 1 4 and getting the win. But as always, it's never easy to hold Baltimore down in this park and the pen ran into some trouble. Steven Casey gave up a HR in the 7th to make it 7-3, and after Evan Godwin whiffed the final batter of the inning and the first two of the 8th he put two men on whom Jack Filby allowed to score on a triple to cut it to 7-5. Jasseel De La Cruz got the first 2 outs of the 9th, but gave up a hit and then a long and loud fly ball to deep left which fortunately nestled in the glove of Fabian to end the game. Fabian also doubled to give him 10 total bases, while in his third game Clark was held to just the one hit, although it was a big one. The Yankees won so they re-took sole possession of second, 8 1/2 back.

Game 2: Keston Hiura hit for the cycle and Hunter Bishop had 5 hits, so that will give you some kind of idea of the day the Rays had today, routing Baltimore 12-2. Bishop's day was nice but he had 4 singles and a double and didn't drive in anyone. Hiura, on the other hand, not only got all the types of hits, he drove in 4 runs including an RBI triple to get them started in the 2nd, and Jhon Diaz singled him home to make it 2-0. The Orioles made it 2-1 in the bottom of the inning but that was as close as they'd get. Nate Clark's RBI groundout (he was held hitless today, 0-5, but didn't whiff) made it 3-1 in the 3rd and a 5-run 5th broke it open including a 2-run single from Keibert Ruiz, an RBI double from Hiura and a 2-run single from Diaz. Hiura added a 2-run homer in the 7th (#3), completed his cycle with a single in the 8th, and Yordan Alvarez clubbed a 2-run HR (#12) in the 9th. While all this was going on Blake Money had his best game as a Ray, going 7 5 1 1 3 8 and getting his 2nd Rays win (against 6 losses but several have been tough-luck as his ERA with the team is 3.88). Mike Bayley had one of his 2-walk, 3K innings in the 8th and then got into a bit of trouble in the 9th allowing a run which scored on a passed ball strikeout, so Cole Patten got the final 3 outs. The Yankees have gotten hot again, winning in Minnesota for the 2nd straight day, so no ground gained but one more day off the calendar.

Game 3: Another day, another rout of the Orioles at Camden Yards with a 15-4 win today. This has been a tough place for the Rays over the years but not this weekend as the offense continues its roll on this road trip and since the Nate Clark recall. Now it could be coincidence that they've scored 56 runs in the 5 games since Clark joined the team - historically, they've hit well in Rogers Centre and Oriole Park - but to see the guy whose job is most threatened by Clark's arrival go nuts over that span including 2 HR and 6 RBI today, and well you can connect the dots. Yes I'm speaking of Jhon Diaz, who belted a 2-run HR to cap a 4-run 2nd which put the Rays up briefly before Baltimore tied it at 4, and who followed that up with a grand slam in a 7-run 5th which turned a 4-4 game into an 11-4 one. In the 5 games since Clark's arrival, Diaz is 10-23 with 4 HR and 13 RBI and if it's not motivation it's a hell of a coincidence. As for the man himself, Clark jump-started that 4-run 2nd inning by singling with two out, stealing second, and scoring on Keston Hiura's double (yesterday's cycler was 2-3 with 2 walks and 2 runs scored to go with that RBI). He also beat out an infield single with his speed and then showed off his power for the second time, hitting a 440-ft shot to dead center in the 8th win a man on to make the rubble bounce as part of a 3-5 day. Wander Franco (#11) and Yordan Alvarez (#13 as part of his own 3-hit day) also homered as the team swatted five. Oh and I almost forgot Keibert Ruiz had 4 hits and an RBI today. Christian Little started and didn't have his best stuff, allowing 4 runs in the first 3 innings and only striking out 1. But once the lead grew he rediscovered his stuff and settled down to go 7 6 4 4 1 6 to up his record to 8-4. Cole Patten pitched the final two innings without incident. The Yankees completed an impressive sweep of the Twins in Minnesota to stay 8 1/2 back.

Team record: 52-27. Next up: An off-day, then we get to see if the irresistible force that the offense has been this week can overcome the immovable object known as Tropicana Field when Oakland comes to town for 3.

11-10-2020, 04:34 PM	#381
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,986	April 19-22, 2027: at Houston (4) Game 1: Typically when the Rays lose it's because they couldn't get the hits, but today it was bad pitching that doomed them in a 10-6 loss to Houston. They jumped out ahead 6-3 in the 5th inning and with Mack Anglin on the mound you'd think they were in good shape. But Anglin was far from his best today, giving up 7 hits and 3 runs in his first 4 innings and although he got two quick outs in the 5th, he gave up a string of baserunners, including an RBI triple from Bramdon Perez, culminating in Will Benson's 3-run HR to put the Astros in front to stay. Mike Bayley looked good in the 6th but extended to the 7th he gave up a HR to Eloy Jimenez and Hayden Johns was unusually wild, walking 3 (after only walking 1 in his first 12 IP this year) which led to 2 more runs against. Early on the Rays were hitting like crazy but that stopped after the 4th inning. Yordan Alvarez had an RBI single and an RBI double in his first game back in Houston in an enemy uniform, Hunter Bishop was 3-4 with an RBI double, Wander had an RBI double and Brandon Marsh had a pair of two-baggers. The Yankees keep pulling games out, scoring 2 in the 9th to win at Detroit, so the Rays drop a game behind in 2nd. Game 2: Like yesterday, the Rays scored a bunch of early runs but unlike yesterday they held up thanks to another dominant performance from Christian Little. The offense scored 8 runs (on only 5 hits!) through the first 4 innings and then took the rest of the game off, getting only one hit the rest of the way. But they made the hits count, including a pair of homers from Wander Franco, a 3-run shot in a 5-run 2nd and a solo blast in the 4th, doubling his season total. Hunter Bishop also went deep with #5, a 2-run shot in the 3rd. Brandon Marsh's 2-run single started the scoring in the 2nd as the Rays jumped all over Lance McCullers Jr., who is not the pitcher he was in the early part of the decade. Meanwhile Little had an unusual start to the game, getting through the first 3 innings with only one whiff and having thrown a mere 24 pitches. The strikeouts started coming in the middle innings, though, and he ended up 8 4 1 1 2 9 to go 3-1, 2.37. His only miscue was a solo homer yielded to Juan Pablo Martinez. Jack Filby made his Rays debut in the 9th and struck out Eloy Jimenez around a couple of hits but got a double play to end the game. The Yankees won't cool down, though, so no ground gained. April 21: Signed C Andrew Knizner to a 1-year, $3.2M contract, optioned C Carlos Perez to AAA Durham. We've got our Bailey replacement in Knizner, who came up with the Cardinals and spent the last few years with the Yankees. He's a good-hitting catcher, having hit .314 in 2024 and .321 in 2026 playing about half the time. He's not all-bat, either, he's a 55. He'll make a good complement for Ruiz. Still going to have to make room on the 40-man for Blake Money when he's activated in a day or two. Game 3: Phew. The only thing worse than losing a game is losing a long extra-inning game, and the Rays avoided that fate with 3 runs in the 14th to beat Houston 6-3. But the pitching was far from efficient and this win has really burned out the bullpen. Rays pitchers threw a total of 261 pitches tonight with Jose Alvarado (35), Jack Filby (42) and Christian Chamberlain (39) now in need of some serious rest. But again, at least they won. Hunter Bishop's 2-run bases loaded single followed by Keibert Ruiz's RBI knock got them the win, and Chamberlain set down the Astros 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 14th after walking a pair in the 13th. He was the last man in the pen (technically it was Hayden Johns, but he was already not going to pitch as he was tired coming in) and thankfully the game didn't got any longer. Blake Money will be activated as a long reliever tomorrow most likely although he would only have 3 days rest from his Sunday start. A callup or two may be in order. It was surprising we got to extras as the Astros continually had men on base, banging out 14 hits in regulation and 3 more early in extras (although Filby and Chamberlain held them hitless over the final 4 innings). Amazingly they didn't turn any double plays although Judson Fabian did throw a runner out at home. Early in the game they got their 3 runs on a 2-run shot from Bishop (#6) which followed an RBI double by Spencer Torkelson in the 3rd. Asa Lacy was pretty bad again, but also pretty lucky, going 5 8 2 1 2 1 with a dropped fly ball from Marsh costing him a run. They nursed a 3-2 lead into the 7th but Steven Casey gave up a leadoff HR to Eloy Jimenez to tie it. Yordan Alvarez was 0-6 and has dropped back below .200 as I'm beginning to wonder if he'll ever get going, although it was his walk that started the 14th inning rally. And of course the Yankees won. April 22: Optioned P Christian Chamberlain to AAA Durham, recalled P Cole Patten from AAA Durham. Chamberlain is gassed from yesterday and someone needs to go down to ultimately make room for Blake Money. Patten gets the call for a day or two to give them a fresh arm. Game 4: Things couldn't have unfolded any better for the Rays today as not only did they win 6-1 but the beleaguered bullpen got a day of rest after last night's 14-inning, 261-pitch affair. Shane McClanahan needed to give them length and that's what he provided as he went 8 7 1 1 1 6 on 105 pitches to go to 3-2, 2.79 on the season. The Rays got a couple of runs in the 5th after Brandon Marsh and Nick Gonzales pulled off a double steal and Wander Franco singled them both home. Mac gave up the obligatory Eloy Jimenez homer in the 6th and it was 2-1 heading to the late innings and it was a question of whose tired bullpen would blink first. It turned to be the Astros' pen as the Rays scored 4 times off Brandon Brennan in the 8th on an RBI single from Triston Casas, a 2-run double from Marsh, and an RBI single from Gonzales who had a big game today giving Vidal Brujan a rest, going 3-5 with 3 steals to go with the ribbie. Cole Patten pitched a 1-2-3 9th, albeit with a couple of hard-hit balls right at outfielders. Andrew Knizner made his Rays debut, going 0-3 with a HBP. And the Yankees lost so we're back to a tie in the AL East. Team record: 19-7. Next up: Back home from 3 over the weekend against Kansas City. Last edited by Art Deco; 11-10-2020 at 10:54 PM.

11-11-2020, 07:49 AM	#382
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,986	April 23-25, 2027: vs Kansas City (3) April 23: Added P Blake Money to the active roster, optioned P Cole Patten to AAA Durham. Money will start tomorrow night, bumping Anglin and Little back a day. Game 1: The Rays were up against Daniel Tillo, one of the league's top pitchers the last few years, and managed to get the better of him in a 6-1 win that was much closer for much longer than the score would indicate. Matt Manning manned the mound for the Rays and he was wild today but used 3 double plays to get out of it. His 6.2 5 1 1 3 7 line looks pretty good but doesn't indicate he hit 3 batters as well. He still picked up the win, though, and is 4-1, 3.41. The star on offense was the forgotten man, Keston Hiura, who got off to a slow start only to see Triston Casas take over his job against righties, who constitute about 80-85% of opposing pitchers. With the lefty Tillo pitching, Hiura got a rare start and made the most of it, going 3-3 with a walk, 2 runs scored, a stolen base and an RBI. He drove in Keibert Ruiz with a single in the 2nd, and then singled, stole second and score on Vidal Brujan's infield single in the 5th. They finally got some breathing room in a 2-1 game in the 7th when Brandon Marsh's sac fly scored Hiura and a wild pitch scored another. Marsh and Wander Franco added RBI singles in the 8th to break it open. Steven Casey got a big final out in the 7th when it was still 2-1 and the Royals had runners on, he stayed for a 1-2-3 8th and then Hayden Johns pitched a scoreless 9th to close it out. The Yankees won so the tie remains atop the AL East. Game 2: Blake Money made his Rays debut and the good news is he struck out 7 in 4 innings. The bad news of course is that he only went 4 innings and gave up 8 runs (7 earned) on 10 hits. The Royals jumped on him for 6 in the first two innings including homers from Bobby Witt Jr and Thairo Estrada as they went on to an 11-0 win. The offense did manage 11 hits without scoring as all of them were singles and twice they hit into double plays with the bases loaded, so it was just one of those days. Hayden Johns and Mike Bayley each pitched 2 shutout innings in relief and rather than use any more pitchers in an 8-0 game, Nick Gonzales pitched the 9th inning. It went about as expected with 3 runs allowed but he actually could have gotten out of the inning unscathed had Vidal Brujan not booted an easy double play ball. He even got a strikeout, freezing Coby Mayo with a called strike 3. The Yankees won so we slip back a game into second place. Game 3: The Rays wasted a stellar outing from Mack Anglin and found themselves shut out for the second straight game in a 1-0 loss to the Royals. Anglin was brilliant, going 7 3 0 0 0 11 and gave way to Liam Hendriks in the 8th. After getting the first out Hendriks allowed singles to put runners and 1st and 3rd. With the lefty Khalil Lee due up, Jose Alvarado came in and promptly wild-pitched the man on 3rd home and that was the ballgame. Yordan Alvarez (someday he'll homer again) led off the 9th with a single, but Judson Fabian (still looking for his first HR of the year and terrible of late), Hunter Bishop and Triston Casas all whiffed to end the game and put an exclamation point on their offensive futility today. Unlike yesterday when they had the hits but couldn't score, today they only managed 6 and drew one walk. The only saving grace is that Cleveland beat the Yankees so no ground was lost. Team record: 20-9. Next up: Cleveland comes to town for a 3-game set. Maybe they'll try scoring some runs. Last edited by Art Deco; 11-11-2020 at 11:06 AM.

11-11-2020, 01:20 PM	#383
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,986	April 26-28, 2027: vs Cleveland (3) Game 1: Things looked good early, jumping out to a 3-0 lead against Cleveland ace Kantaro Yokoyama and with Christian Little striking out people left and right. But Little started running out of gas, and the bullpen flat-out stunk after him dooming the Rays to a 6-3 loss, their third straight. Triston Casas finally got the Rays on the board after two straight shutouts with his 8th HR of the year in the 2nd to make it 1-0, and they strung together several hits to score 2 more in the 4th with RBI singles from Keibert Ruiz and Brandon Marsh expanding the lead to 3-0. But Little ran out of gas in the 5th, giving up 4 hits and 2 runs and departed with a 5 8 2 2 1 9 line. Evan Godwin got them through the 6th, but Liam Hendriks turned in his second straight terrible outing (and 3rd in 4) giving up a hit and then a 2-run HR to Tim Borden, a rookie who hit all of 3 in a full season of AAA ball last year, putting Cleveland in front to stay. Mike Bayley gave up a couple of doubles in the 8th for another run, and Asa Lacy was touched for a run thanks to an infield single and an error. Meanwhile the offense dried up as Yokoyama settled down and ended up 8 10 3 3 0 8, pretty good considering they had 9 hits by the 5th inning. The Yankees were idle so the Rays drop 1 1/2 games back. Game 2: Normal service restored at the Trop as the Rays bounced Cleveland 8-4. Shane McClanahan pitched like the ace of the staff he is, going 7 7 2 2 1 8 to improve to 4-2, 2.76. He allowed Cesar Idrogo and his 30 power to lead off the game with a homer but was pretty much locked in after that. Yordan Alvarez's RBI single in the third broke a 2-2 tie and put the Rays in the lead to stay after Keibert Ruiz had hit HR #3 earlier and Alvarez had driven in a run on a groundout. They broke the game open with a 4-run 5th to make it 8-2 as the slumping Judson Fabian singled in a run, another scored on a wild pitch, Triston Casas had a sac fly and Ruiz singled in one more. Vidal Brujan had a very nice game, going 2-3 with a walk, an RBI, 3 runs scored and 2 stolen bases. Hayden Johns came on in the 8th and wasn't very good, allowing 2 runs before Evan Godwin got the last 2 outs of the inning and the first out of the 9th. Jack Filby made his Rays debut in the Trop and retired the last two batters. Detroit beat the Yankees so the Rays pull to within a 1/2 game of the lead. (Typing this at the peak of Tropical Storm Eta here in Tampa Bay, hopefully my power/internet holds out, it's been flickering in here like a disco at times) Game 3: The Rays had their way with Cleveland today, jumping out to a 10-0 lead after 3 and winning 11-0. Matt Manning was great, even though he didn't have to be, with a 7 4 0 0 2 9 to go to 5-1, 2.86; perhaps he'll emulate Tyler Glasnow's performance from his contract year last season. Asa Lacy threw 2 1-hit innings to complete the team whitewash. Offensively the stars were Vidal Brujan (4-4 with a walk, 3 runs scored and an RBI) and Andrew Knizner who had 3 doubles and 3 RBI in 5 trips to the plate. Judson Fabian was 3-5 with 2 RBI and Yordan Alvarez and Nick Gonzales were each 2-4 with 2 RBI. Everyone got a hit except Brandon Marsh (who walked) as it was one of those games. And the day got even better when the Yankees lost again to Detroit, putting the Rays back into first place. Team record: 22-10. Next up: Leavin' on a jet plane to Oakland for 4 games starting tomorrow. Last edited by Art Deco; 11-11-2020 at 08:49 PM.

11-11-2020, 10:17 PM	#384
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,986	April 29-May 2, 2027: at Oakland (4) Game 1: After a game in St. Pete yesterday and having to fly cross-country, the Rays bats showed serious signs of jet lag as they were shut out on 4 hits by Oakland's Trent Thornton in a 2-0 loss. Blake Money got his second start as a Ray and it went much better than his debut disaster as he went 6 5 1 0 1 4 with the lone run against him scoring on a Triston Casas throwing error. Mike Bayley put a man on in the 8th and Steven Casey gave up a double allowing him to score but that one run was all Oakland needed as Thornton went 9 4 0 0 0 5 on 107 pitches and two of those hits were erased on double plays. The Yankees got back in the win column so the Rays slip a 1/2 game back. Game 2: After being shut out last night (and in Mack Anglin's last start, and in 3 of the last 6 games) the Rays busted out early scoring 4 times in the first on the way to a 7-1 win over Oakland. Vidal Brujan and Wander Franco led off with doubles for a run, Spencer Torkelson singled in Wander, and Hunter Bishop hit HR #7 with Tork aboard. Brujan scored on a wild pitch in the 2nd, he then doubled home Keibert Ruiz in the 5th, and Ruiz hit HR #4, a solo shot in the 8th for the rest of the scoring. Anglin was great again going 8 3 1 1 2 5 on 108 pitches; he's now 3-1, 2.49. Asa Lacy pitched a scoreless 9th. Good news from Toronto as well as the Jays stomped the Yankees restoring the Rays to 1st. From the farm: We need to talk about Nate Clark. Picked up in a minor league deal from the Yankees last season, he's gone nuts since then and has elevated himself to the #23 prospect in baseball per BNN. He's 25 and ready for MLB right now - the editor shows him as a 300/376/567 hitter (and based on his potential ratings he could get even better) and he's clearly overqualified for AAA. Obviously there's no spot for him in the lineup at the moment - as poorly as Judson Fabian has gone this year, his first 2 seasons say more about him than the first 5 weeks. But Clark could serve as a Wander replacement in this sense: I shopped Fabian to see what I could get and popping up on the list was Austin Martin, Detroit's excellent SS who's under contract for 3 more seasons at a reasonable salary (11/15.4/15.4) after this one and perhaps I could get them to retain some. We'll also of course see how Ricky Widmar develops at AA Montgomery - so far, so good there too. Here's a look under the hood at Clark, there's nothing not to like except his mediocre rating in LF (he could always DH as Tork is a 60 in LF): An oddity I just noticed: We have 23 wins but only 4 saves. Most of the wins obviously have been comfortable, and the team has only played 6 one-run games out of 34, going 4-2 (which I imagine are the 4 saves). Also the top 4 starting pitchers each have 1.2 WAR, and all have ERAs between 2.49 and 2.86. Game 3: For 7 innings this was looking like it would be a "famine" game among the team's recent feast-or-famine performances offensively as they trailed 3-1. But a 6-run explosion with nobody out in the 8th gave them a 7-3 win, and with Nate Pearson rolling back the clock for the Blue Jays and shutting out the Yankees, they move to 1 1/2 games on top in the AL East. Christian Little started and went 6 5 3 3 3 9, running into some trouble in the middle innings including yielding a Tyler Nevin homer. And through 7 all the Rays could scratch out was a run in the 5th on Brandon Marsh's infield single after Hunter Bishop hit his 2nd double of the game. But they loaded the bases in the 8th against Zac Grotz and Simon Rosenblum-Larson, and SRL gave up RBI singles to Wander Franco and Yordan Alvarez to tie the game. And up stepped Judson Fabian still looking for his 1st HR of the year as the calendar turned to May, and he hit it, a grand slam to make it 7-3. If SRL's name sounds vaguely familiar it's because he was a former Ray farmhand sent to the Cubs in a 2021 deadline deal for Kyle Schwarber. He finally made the majors this year with Oakland and obviously had a rough time of it today. Liam Hendriks picked up the win having pitched a 1-2-3 7th, and Jose Alvarado and Jack Filby pitched a scoreless 8th and 9th as we get another win without a save. Game 4: No waiting until late today as the Rays scored 6 times in the first two innings on the way to a comfortable second-straight 7-3 win over Oakland. The big early hit was a bases-clearing triple from Hunter Bishop in the first inning after Judson Fabian put the Rays on the board with a sac fly. Spencer Torkelson's 2-RBI single in the 2nd made it 6-0 and Wander Franco had an RBI groundout in the 6th. Yordan Alvarez was 3-5 with a pair of doubles; he's still stuck on 2 HR but he's been hitting lately. Shane McClanahan (5-2, 2.68) was in charge with the brief exception of a couple of runs allowed in the 5th, going 8 5 2 2 1 7 on 99 pitches. Hayden Johns made a bit of a mess in the 9th, allowing a run and leaving two on, so Jose Alvarado came into what was technically a save situation and whiffed former teammate Chris Betts to end the game and get his 3rd save of the year and only the team's 5th. The Jays completed their sweep of the Yankees so the Rays have their biggest division lead of the season at 2 1/2 games. Team record: 25-11. Next up: An off-day followed by 3 in Chicago against the White Sox. Last edited by Art Deco; 11-12-2020 at 01:06 PM.

11-12-2020, 04:33 PM	#385
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,986	May 4-6, 2027: at Chicago White Sox (3) Game 1: To say the Rays started this game slow would be an understatement. In fact they should have been blown out in the early innings as Patrick Sandoval set down the first 12 Rays in order and Matt Manning was struggling big-time, allowing 4 runs in the first 4 innings and lucky not to have allowed 2 more as Hunter Bishop and Judson Fabian threw runners out at home in the 1st and 2nd innings. But they hung in there at 4-0, and managed a late rally to tie it and won 6-4 in 12 innings on Wander Franco's 5th HR of the year, a 2-run shot. Manning (6 8 4 4 2 5) was up against it the whole night but to his credit he got through the 5th and 6th without incident which was important in the end because it would have been rough for the bullpen to have covered those innings as the game ended up going 12. Sandoval meanwhile had them shut out on 3 hits through 6, but in the 7th two men reached in front of Bishop, who launched a 3-run HR (#8) to make it 4-3. And in the 8th Vidal Brujan doubled and ended up going to third on a balk which was crucial as he scored on Wander's sac fly. They had a golden chance to go ahead in the 9th with men on 2nd and 3rd and nobody out, but a strikeout, grounder to the drawn-in infield and fly ball ended the inning. The other story was the bullpen, which accounted for 6 shutout innings from 5 relievers with Jose Alvarado picking up the win and Steven Casey his first MLB save in getting the final out. The Yankees won to stay 2 1/2 back. Game 2: Blake Money was just that tonight and the offense did enough to make it 5 wins in a row with a 4-2 victory over the White Sox. He went 6 7 1 1 1 7 so there were a few baserunners but he was "money" when it came down to it, only allowing the one to score, and notching his first Rays win. Judson Fabian had an RBI single in the 1st and Wander Franco a sac fly in the 2nd to make it 2-0, and then Wander came through with HR #6 off Dayveon Whittle in the 5th to make it 3-1. Brandon Marsh added some insurance in the 9th with his 2nd HR of the year, off Roberto Osuna. Those who were particularly eagle-eyed or have been following this thread since the beginning might recognize Whittle as a former Rays minor leaguer who was part of a big 6-player trade with the White Sox in 2021. That was the deal which sent July 2 $5M man Sergio Pagan to Chicago along with Jake Woodford and Whittle for Alex Kirilloff, Andrew Vaughn and Cooper Bradford. The deal turned out to be much less important than it seemed at the time with Pagan washing out and retiring after 2024 and Woodford spending a couple of years with the Sox but now bouncing around the league, while I thought I was acquiring a couple of middle-of-the-order studs (Bradford blew out his arm in 2023 and retired). Vaughn ended up having a cup of coffee with the Rays (and later the Angels) but basically proved to be a Quadruple-A player, and Kirilloff always seemed to get hurt when we had him but at least along with Shane Baz he brought us Matt Manning in trade. So that leaves Whittle, who's pitched pretty well for Chicago, as a middle reliever last year with a 3.67 ERA in 81 innings and now a solid part of their rotation where he's 3-4, 3.14 in 48 innings, so he's the only one left standing with the team that acquired him. Enough of that digression - back to the game, after Money left Liam Hendriks got a couple of outs in the 7th and Evan Godwin took over with a string of lefties due and was great, getting 4 outs. Jack Filby came on in his first Rays save opportunity and converted it, but it was far from pretty as he walked 2 batters, threw a wild pitch and let one score on a grounder before getting the final out. The Yankees won so still 2.5 up. (Incidentally, now that the Rays have Blake Money, I keep hearing the beginning of Rayland Baxter's insanely catchy "Casanova" in my head. And now you can, too, by watching this goofy video for the song, which he's said is really about student loan debt - the metaphorical "woman" of the tune) https://youtu.be/PhcXISdDCk0 Game 3: The Rays pulled off the sweep in a wild game which again saw them down early (3-0) before coming back to win 9-6. But it was a costly win as Spencer Torkelson, sliding into second base in the 8th inning with his second double, tore his meniscus and is out for the season. So remember Nate Clark from a couple of days ago? His time could be 2027 instead of 2028, but we'll see for now. Anyway, the ball was flying out of Guaranteed Rate Field with the teams combining for 7 HRs after they hit a total of 5 in the first 2 games of the series. Mack Anglin did not have it today, only striking out 1 batter in his 5 innings of work and giving up 6 runs and 10 hits, including 3 HRs. But despite the poor start he hung around long enough to get the win, rough justice for him after losing a 1-0 game this year and a few others where he pitched well for naught. Aside from the offense the real story of the game was the heroics of the "B" bullpen. With Alvarado, Hendriks, Filby and Godwin all tired from the last two nights, Hayden Johns took over for Anglin with an man on and 0 out in the 6th, and responded with a 47-pitch, 2.1 1 0 0 2 5 performance with also saw a hit batter and two wild pitches. It was a rollercoaster but he kept getting big whiffs to get out of his jams. Mike Bayley then took over and allowed a hit and 2 walks in his 1 1/3 innings but gave up no runs, and Steven Casey, after walking a man to load the bases in the bottom of the 9th to bring the winning run to the plate, struck out Aaron Schunk to end the game and pick up his 2nd save in 3 days. Offensively, the comeback started in the 4th off Alex Wood in his White Sox debut. After holding them to 1 hit in the first 3 innings, Wood started getting battered with a Wander HR, a Tork RBI double and a run scoring on a balk. They got 2 more in the 5th on back-to-back jacks from Vidal Brujan (#3) and Wander's 2nd of the game (#8), and another 2 in the 6th to put them ahead for good on Andrew Knizner's 2-run shot, his first homer as a Ray. A bases-loaded walk to Yordan Alvarez and a wild pitch gave them 2 big insurance runs in the top of the 9th. With the Yankees idle, the lead is now 3 games (but only 2 in the loss column). Some thoughts on Tork replacement options: Since he was primarily the DH, our options are wide open. First of all, the 3 non-catchers on the bench are all everyday starter-worthy as Keston Hiura, Nick Gonzales and Jhon Diaz all deserve more at-bats and will get them. So rotating these 3 + Triston Casas through DH and 3B should work. This offense is bigger than any one player, even Wander Franco as we saw in 2025 so while Tork will be missed it's next man up. While Nate Clark would be the sexy callup and would likely have no problem stepping in and hitting, he has 2 things against him: 1) he's not on the 40-man roster and 2 ) I'd rather not start his arbitration clock if I don't have to, especially not a pre-June callup. And while Tork will go on the 60-day IL opening up a 40-man spot, we're going to need that for Aaron Ashby and Jack Perkins, both of whom are due to come off the 60-day in 4 weeks. So it's down to 2 choices of guys already on the 40-man: Julio Cedillo or Nick Loftin. The case for Cedillo is we could use another CF on the roster to spell Brandon Marsh and he's a 70 CF and Marsh's heir apparent next season. The case against is the same as Clark: calling him up now burns a year of team control. The case for Loftin is that he's a marginal guy whom we don't care about $ and has already been up, and he gives us MI cover if Gonzales is DHing. Also it would be nice if Yordan Alvarez, you know, started hitting to pick up some of the slack. Anyway tune in tomorrow to see what I do. Team record: 28-11 (and 17-4 on the road). Next up: back home for 3 vs Texas before the Yankees come to town in a big early-season series. Last edited by Art Deco; 11-12-2020 at 10:17 PM.

11-13-2020, 09:03 AM	#386
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,986	May 7-9, 2027: vs Texas (3) May 7: Placed OF Spencer Torkelson on the 60-day IL with a torn meniscus, recalled IF Nick Loftin from AAA Durham. So per my discussion in the previous post, Loftin was the logical, if boring, choice. We'll see how it goes for now. Game 1: Christian Little did Christian Little things, and Wander Franco did Wander Franco things, and the Rays rolled to a 5-0 win over Texas. Little was in dominant form, going 7 4 0 0 0 12 and never was threatened. He had 7 whiffs in the first 3 innings as the Ranger lineup was no match for him. Liam Hendriks (who struck out the side himself) and Asa Lacy (with 2 Ks as well, giving them a team total of 17) finished the shutout. Meanwhile Franco got the offense going right off the bat, continuing his HR binge with his 9th HR of the season (and 4th of the week) in the 1st with Vidal Brujan aboard. He later tripled and scored in the 7th as he's the early frontrunner for AL Player of the Week. And immediately following Wander's dinger, Yordan Alvarez finally went deep himself with only his 3rd of the year and first since April 13. Judson Fabian's sac fly scored Wander in the 7th and Keibert Ruiz had an RBI single to round out the scoring. The Red Sox and Tyler Glasnow beat the Yankees so the division lead grows to 4. Game 2: If I posted memes in this thread, I'd post the Ron Burgundy "that escalated quickly" one for this game as the Rays turned a 2-1 deficit in the 6th to Texas's young pitching standout Wil Diaz into a 7-2 lead, all with 2 out in the inning on the way to an 8-2 win, the team's 8th consecutive. Nick Gonzales had knocked in Keston Hiura with their only run before that, and Diaz was on a roll. But after Yordan Alvarez led off the 6th win a single, the next two Rays were retired and it looked like he'd be stranded. But Hiura singled him home to tie, Keibert Ruiz (4-4 on the night) singled putting men on 1st and 2nd, and Gonzales after fouling off 5 pitches hit a 3-2 single to score Hiura with the lead and send Ruiz to 3rd. Brandon Marsh's infield single then scored Ruiz, Vidal Brujan singled in a run and Wander Franco doubled in two more and it was 7-2 in a flash. Shane McClanahan started and struggled mightily in the early innings, bending but not breaking through 3 but finally breaking in the 4th on a 2-run Sandro Fabian triple to put Texas ahead. But he shut it down from there, retiring the final 11 batters he faced and ending up with an excellent 7 6 2 2 2 7 line to go to 6-2, 2.67. Mike Bayley had a 2-walk, 2-K scoreless 8th, and Steven Casey locked down the 9th. Wander's bid for POTW continued with a 3-5, 2-double 2-RBI night, Hiura hit his 1st homer later in the game for run #8 to cap a 2-3, 2 RBI, 3-run game, and Gonzales, filling in for Tork at DH against a LHP, was 2-4 with the 2 RBI. The Yankees have come back to earth with another loss to Boston while the Rays remain in orbit at 30-11, 5 games above. May 9: Sent P Jasseel De La Cruz to AAA Durham on a rehab assignment. It'll be good to get JDLC (I think that's the first time I've used that acronym/initials for him) back. Not sure who's going to go when he's ready for return, Mike Bayley's been the least effective but still not too bad. I may look into seeing what I can get for Asa Lacy. Between Blake Money and Jack Leiter (lurking at Durham) I don't see him getting his 5th starter job back without a rash of injuries. Game 3: It was just not the Rays' day as Matt Manning gave up 3 homers and 5 runs in 5 innings and 5 was also the number of hits the offense could muster in a 5-2 loss to Texas to snap their 8-game winning streak. Jacob Gonzalez led the game off for Texas with a longball and after Manning allowed another first inning run, Yordan Alvarez hit his 2nd HR in 3 days and 4th of the season in the 4th to make it 2-1 as he might be snapping out of it. But that's as close as they got as Manning gave it right back to Sam Huff leading off the Texas 5th and then yielded a 2-run shot to Adrian Ramos in a 5 5 5 5 3 7 outing. Asa Lacy went 2 1/3 and Hayden Johns 1 2/3 of scoreless relief to keep the offense within striking distance, but all they could manage was a 6th inning run on a wild pitch. Alvarez also had an infield single and he and Brandon Marsh (a double and a single) had 4 of the team's 5 hits with Judson Fabian getting the other. Nick Loftin got a start at DH and went 0-4, dropping his career MLB BA below .500 (in 32 AB). The Yankees got back on the winning track so the lead is down to 4 ahead of the 4-game series with them. Team record: 30-12. Next up: 4 at home vs the Yankees. Last edited by Art Deco; 11-13-2020 at 03:31 PM.

11-13-2020, 04:33 PM	#387
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,986	May 10-13, 2027: vs NY Yankees (4) Game 1: Well that was ugly. Blake Money got cashiered by the Yankees as the Rays fell 13-2 in the opener of the 4-game series with their closest pursuers, who now move within 3 games. Money gave up a 2-run HR to Gleyber Torres in the 1st but seemed to settle down through 4, and just like yesterday Yordan Alvarez (#5 and his 3rd in 4 games) went deep in the 4th inning to make it 2-1, and also just like yesterday Money gave it back with 3 runs in the 5th, including another homer to Torres and a 2-run shot to Aaron Judge. Mike Bayley came on and got him out of the inning but coughed up 5 more in the 6th including an Anthony Rizzo grand slam (Rizzo already has 13 HR and 38 RBI, where were those last year for the Rays? Oh, right, the 1B black hole). At this point it was "take one for the team" and Bayley gave up 3 more in the 7th before Evan Godwin came for him and got through the 8th. The highlight of the game was Nick Loftin getting to pitch in the 9th. He loaded the bases then got Aaron Judge looking on a called 3rd strike and then got a double play to get out of it unscathed. At 5-1, the offense had a brief chance to make it interesting in the bottom of the 5th when they loaded the bases with nobody out. Brujan was hit by a pitch to force in a run but Wander hit into a 1-2-3 double play and that was the end of that threat. Bayley will likely be sent to Durham for a fresh arm tomorrow, and Money's grip on the 5th starter job is tenuous as he's now 1-3 with a 5.66 ERA in 4 Rays starts. JDLC did not pitch well in his first rehab outing at Durham, blowing the save last night, so he'll need some more work and won't be coming back just yet. May 11: Optioned P Mike Bayley to AAA Durham, recalled P Christian Chamberlain from AAA Durham. Game 2: It seems like the Yankees definitely have the Rays' number this year, as tonight's 6-3 loss marked the 4th defeat in 5 games vs the Bronx Bombers, all of which have been at the Trop (in fact their home record is a mediocre 13-10 as opposed to 17-4 on the road). For the third straight game they lost, for the third straight game Yordan Alvarez homered (this time a 2-run shot with 2 out in the 9th to make the score a bit more respectable) and for the third straight game the top of the 5th is where they saw the opponent turn a 1-run lead into something that wouldn't be surmounted. After the Yankees broke through in the 4th to take a 1-0 lead off Mack Anglin, the Rays righty walked a pair and gave up a single leading off the 5th to load the bases for nemesis Gleyber Torres, who followed up his 2 HRs last night with a grand slam to make it 5-0. It was the second straight rough start for Anglin (and 3rd in his last 5 where he's allowed 5 or more runs) as he ended up 5.2 9 5 5 2 4. Christian Chamberlain got him out of the 6th and pitched a scoreless 7th, Steven Casey a 1-2-3 8th, but Jack Filby got nicked for a run in the 9th. The offense was sluggish but had its chances. The main culprit was Hunter Bishop, in the throes of a horrible slump and who made the third out three times by striking out, leaving 7 men on base and extending his drought to 1 for his last 25. Wander Franco was 3-5 with 2 doubles and an RBI but Vidal Brujan had to leave the game with an elbow contusion and is DtD for 7 days. The loss cuts the lead to 2 games over the Yankees and if they don't win one of the next two they'll be in second place on percentage points when New York leaves town. Game 3: The Rays assured themselves of staying in first place when the Yankees leave town thanks to a 7-1 win behind an incredible performance from Christian Little. The young righthander went 7 1 0 0 1 10 with Anthony Rizzo the only man to reach on a 2nd inning single and a 7th inning walk. He's now 5-1, 2.11 with an eye-popping 11/80 BB/K ratio in 55.1 innings. And the Yordan Alvarez positive regression tour continues as he homered for the 4th straight day and fifth in his last six, this time contributing to a winning effort as his 2-run blast in the 1st gave the Rays all the runs they'd need tonight. They added a third on a wild pitch in the first, Keibert Ruiz doubled in a run in the 3rd, Wander Franco doubled in a run in the 4th, and Keston Hiura (who had a great day reaching base all 5 times with 2 hits and 3 walks) walked with the bases loaded in the 8th after Wander's double-play grounder scored one earlier in the inning. Jhon Diaz went 0-4 with 7 LOB, making him 1-16 since getting a chance to DH against righties after the Spencer Torkelson injury, he'll need to start picking it up. Evan Godwin pitched the final 2 innings, allowing a run in the 8th but getting a 1-2-3 9th. Game 4: The Rays evened the 4-game series with the Yankees and restored their 4-game AL East lead with a 9-1 thrashing of the Pinstripers. They put up a touchdown and an extra point in the first inning on a Yordan Alvarez infield single, a run-scoring balk, a 3-run HR from Keston Hiura (#2) and the first major league homer for Jhon Diaz, a 2-run blast. That was way more than Shane McClanahan would need, and although he seemed to give up a hit in each inning he held the Yankees off the board until Anthony Siegler homered off him leading off the 7th. Mac ended 6.2 7 1 1 1 9 to improve to 7-2, 2.54 with those 7 wins leading MLB. Asa Lacy was sharp over the final 2 1/3 retiring all 7 Yankees he faced with 3 whiffs. The other two runs came on a Nick Gonzales RBI single and a Vidal Brujan sac fly. One bit of bad news, though: just as Alvarez finally has heated up, he had to leave the game with knee tendinitis. Although it's a minimal DtD injury, it's going to last 15 days so out of an abundance of caution I'm going to put him on the 10-day IL. Hiura, who's been heating up himself, will go back to the everyday job at 3B and Triston Casas will play 1B. Hiura was the DH today so Nick Loftin had to come in and play 1B, a position he isn't even rated for, but handled his chances without incident. In addition to the HR Diaz had his best day as a big leaguer, also singling, doubling and stealing a base in a 3-4 day, apparently responding to my calling him out yesterday. Team record: 32-14. Next up: 3 at home vs Baltimore. The Orioles aren't the same team they were last year, losing Austins Hays and Riley to free agency, losing Druw Jones (who's back now) to injury for about a month and are 20-23, although they've played much better lately going 9-4 in their last 13. Last edited by Art Deco; 11-13-2020 at 11:13 PM.

11-14-2020, 10:39 AM	#388
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,986	May 14-16, 2027: vs Baltimore (3) May 14: Placed 1B Yordan Alvarez on the 10-day IL with knee tendinitis, signed 1B Alec Bohm to a 1-year, $800,000 contract. Look who's back! With no other 1B option on the 40-man, I brought back Bohm to play 1B against lefties while Alvarez is out, as we have several of them on the docket over the 10 (or 14) days. I will likely DFA Bohm when Alvarez comes back. Game 1: The Rays took the opener of their weekend set against Baltimore with a 4-3 walk-off win in 11 innings. With two out and nobody on in the 11th, Judson Fabian was hit by a pitch and Triston Casas doubled into the RCF gap to score him with the winner. We ended up in extras when the Orioles got to Matt Manning for two runs in the 7th after he had 2-hit them through 6. His pitch count was low throughout and he ended up 8 5 3 3 2 6. Jose Alvarado looked great again with a 2K perfect 9th, Liam Hendriks erased a walk he allowed in the 10th with a double play, and Jack Filby gave up a hit but nothing else in the 11th to grab his first Rays win. The Rays had built a 3-1 lead earlier on Vidal Brujan's 4th HR of the year leading off the game, then two more in the 4th on a bases-loaded walk to Keston Hiura and a Keibert Ruiz sac fly. Elsewhere Bramdon Perez is still helping the Rays as he hit a 3-run HR for Houston to lead them to a 7-2 win over the Yankees. This makes the lead 5 games again; earlier in the week the 5-game lead dropped to 2 in 3 days and now 3 days later it's back up to 5. Game 2: A tough 3-2 loss to Baltimore today that I'm blaming my own managerial malpractice for. Blake Money got the start and was pitching very well into the 6th with a 1-0 lead. He had gotten 2 out and a there was a man on, with lefties Gunnar Henderson and Greg Diechmann due up. I probably should have declared victory for Money there and brought in a lefty but I didn't, and Henderson took him deep to make it 2-1. And again figuring all he needed was one more out I left him in and of course Diechmann went yard and that turned out to be the margin of victory. Of course had the offense done anything it would have been moot but perhaps the absence of guys like Yordan Alvarez and Spencer Torkelson is catching up with them. Also Brandon Marsh and Keibert Ruiz needed to sit with fatigue so it was a makeshift lineup against a lefty. Nick Gonzales was the offense today, driving in both runs with an RBI single in the 3rd and an RBI double in the 7th. The latter hit put men on 2nd and 3rd with one out and a chance to tie or go ahead, but Wander Franco popped out and Judson Fabian flew out to end the threat. Now that we got out of the Alvarez HR watch it's time to start one for Fabian, who hit 28 and 36 HRs in his first 2 MLB seasons but is still sitting on 1 right now in 163 AB in the middle of May. They had another chance in the 8th with a man on 3rd and one out, and couldn't get him home, and then Triston Casas singled to lead off the 9th but Jhon Diaz hit into a double play and Vidal Brujan whiffed to end the game. We did have some nice relief work from Hayden Johns, Evan Godwin and Steven Casey who went 3 1/3 scoreless combined. The Yankees won, so the lead is down to 4. May 16: Optioned P Christian Chamberlain to AAA Durham, activated P Jasseel De La Cruz from his rehab assignment at AAA Durham. Game 3: The offense took the longest time to get going, but it finally did and a 6-run 7th propelled the Rays to a 7-3 win. Mack Anglin got the start and for the longest time it looked like he'd suffer one of his patented hard-luck losses or no-decisions but he stuck around long enough to go 7 7 1 1 1 6 and get the win to go to 5-2, 3.43. Liam Hendriks pitched a perfect 8th but Asa Lacy crapped the bed in the 9th with a 6-run lead, giving up 2 runs on 3 hits and a walk and he had to be bailed out by Jasseel De La Cruz. Although he allowed a hit to score the 3rd run, JDLC got a double play to end the game and grab save #3. The Rays trailed 1-0 going into the bottom of the 6th as Gunnar Henderson homered against them again, but Wander Franco (who was 4-4 with an RBI) singled and stole second to lead off the inning and ended up scoring on a passed ball to tie it. Then came the 7th. Keibert Ruiz led off with a double, Brandon Marsh tripled him home, Wander singled in Marsh and Triston Casas delivered a grand slam (#9) to blow it open. The Yankees won in Houston so the lead remains 4. Team record: 34-15. Next up: An off-day followed by our first visit of the season to Fenway Park for 3 against Boston. Last edited by Art Deco; 11-14-2020 at 01:30 PM.

11-14-2020, 03:20 PM	#389
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,986	May 18-20, 2027: at Boston (3) Game 1: The Rays wasted another gem from Christian Little in a frustrating 2-1 loss to Boston tonight. Little was 7 5 2 2 0 10 allowing single runs in the 1st and 4th but was otherwise dominant. The offense managed 9 hits and 4 walks but could only push across 1 run when Vidal Brujan singled in the 3rd, stole second, and scored on Keibert Ruiz's RBI single. Down 2-1, Keibert led off the 8th with a single and Jhon Diaz pinch ran for him, only to be thrown out attempting to steal. The next two batters walked, and instead of bases loaded and 1 out, it was 2 on and 2 out and they couldn't score. And again in the 9th, Triston Casas pinch-hit for Alec Bohm (who was useless, going 0-2 and hitting into a double play) and drilled a one-out double but Brandon Marsh flied out and Vidal Brujan popped out to end the game. It was just one of those nights. Fortunately the Yankees dropped their game in Milwaukee so the lead stays at 4. Game 2: The Rays bounced back tonight courtesy of something they couldn't do yesterday, getting key hits with runners in scoring position and picking up a 6-2 win at Fenway. Jhon Diaz's RBI single with 2 out in the second put them on the board, a 2-run single from Vidal Brujan in the 5th was the key hit in a 3-run inning, and Wander Franco's 2-out double in the 7th brought home another. Hunter Bishop and Keston Hiura also each had RBI groundouts. This was all in support of Shane McClanahan, who didn't exactly pitch a Picasso tonight but slogged through it to go 6 7 2 2 3 1 and get his MLB-best 8th win of the season. Liam Hendriks got two outs in the 7th, Evan Godwin the third and the first in the 8th, and Hayden Johns finished up with 1 2/3 scoreless. Diaz had his 2nd 3-hit game in a week, and Nick Gonzales was 2-3 coming off the bench to play RF when Judson Fabian had to leave after tweaking something in his back (it's only a 2-day injury) and Diaz was already in the lineup at DH. He made 5 putouts without incident. And good news from Dairy Land as the Yankees fell in extras at Milwaukee so the lead is back up to 5. Game 3: Rays pitching gave up a whopping 18 hits on the night, but it wasn't until the bottom of the 11th that Boston managed to beat them 5-4. Jasseel De La Cruz, who got the final 2 outs of the 10th, gave up a leadoff Pierson Gibis single, then a double to Rays-killer David Dahl to set up runners on 2nd and 3rd, and a Gabriel Arias single won it for Boston. The Rays came back from deficits of 3-0 and 4-3 to get it to extras, but there's no coming back from a run scored against you on the road in extra innings. Matt Manning started and was battered for 11 hits in 5+ innings, being yanked after allowing a leadoff double in the 6th. Asa Lacy came in and was pretty bad, allowing that run to score and loading the bases with one out, but Steven Casey got a big strikeout and then the 3rd out to keep it at 4-3, and Wander Franco singled home Vidal Brujan in the 7th to make it 4-4. Earlier Brandon Marsh had a 2-run double and Brujan had an RBI double of his own to erase a 3-0 deficit in the 5th. The Yankees won so the lead drops back to 4. Team record: 35-17. Next up: a 4-game wraparound weekend series in Detroit which ends on Memorial Day. Last edited by Art Deco; 11-14-2020 at 10:59 PM.

11-15-2020, 09:25 AM	#390
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,986	May 21-24, 2027: at Detroit (4) Game 1: The Rays won a business-like 4-1 decision over Detroit, but saw the injury bug bite again. Blake Money got the start and was pitching quite well, but with 2 out in the 5th he had to leave with an elbow strain and will be out 2 weeks. He left 4.2 4 0 0 1 5 and I'll discuss his replacement options in a bit. Hayden Johns took over for him and went 2 1/3, allowing a run on only 17 pitches and picked up his 2nd win, while Jose Alvarado had a nice 8th and Jasseel De La Cruz struck out the side around a walk in the 9th to nab save #4. The offense didn't get a lot done against Kumar Rocker, but they had a 3-run 3rd that gave them enough to win. Jhon Diaz led off with the team's first hit, stole second and scored on an Andrew Knizner single. They then proceeded to load the bases and Hunter Bishop delivered a 2-run single, a welcome development considering he had only 1 RBI in his previous 14 games. Diaz walked with the bases loaded in the 9th to provide an insurance run. The starting options are either going back to Asa Lacy, making Johns a starter, or calling up Jack Leiter which again will burn an arbitration year as I'd need to wait until mid-June to avoid Super 2 status for him. Lacy is probably the option. May 22: Placed P Blake Money on the 15-day IL with an elbow strain, recalled P Mike Bayley from AAA Durham. Game 2: The Rays jumped on one of their old prospects with 5 runs in the 3rd off Shane Baz to propel them to a 7-5 win over the Tigers. Trailing 3-1 going into the 3rd, singles by Vidal Brujan, Wander Franco and Hunter Bishop made it 3-2, Triston Casas singled in a run, Baz wild-pitched one in, Keibert Ruiz singled in another, and then the 5th scored on Brandon Marsh's fielder's choice. Judson Fabian drove in the team's other two runs with a double in the 1st and a single in the 6th. Mack Anglin started and had a rough first inning although he should have been out of it with 1 run instead of 3 as Casas's 2-out error prolonged it although Anglin didn't need to give up 2 more RBI hits. He settled down from there and didn't give up anything until Alex Kirilloff's homer leading off the 8th. Anglin ended up 7 10 4 2 0 4, improving to 6-2, 3.39. Evan Godwin had a solid 8th, but with JDLC tired from yesterday, Jack Filby made the 9th interesting, giving up 3 hits and a run and getting his outs via a double play and a liner to Wander to end the game. Still he picked up his 2nd Rays save and 5th of the year overall. Wander ended up 3-5 while Ruiz was 2-3 with the RBI and 2 walks. Seattle scored 4 times in the 8th including a 2-run Patrick Bailey double to beat the Yankees so the lead is back up to 5. Also, I had something happen I had never seen before in the 1000+ Rays games I've played and several hundred for Durham: Brandon Marsh had an apparent double but was called out for failing to touch first base. Game 3: This was one of those games as the Tigers bombed Christian Little and Rays 8-2. Little did not have it, at least in the first couple of innings, as he was hit hard and often to the tune of 4 10 8 8 2 6. The strikeouts started coming by the 3rd but the damage was done as Gabriel Moreno added a 3-run HR in the 4th to go with his 2-run double in the 1st as Little saw his ERA rise by a full run. Mike Bayley, just back up, pitched 3 nice scoreless innings in relief and Hayden Johns added one, but the offense couldn't get much going against Seth Lonsway despite having a fair # of baserunners. They finally broke through with an Alec Bohm RBI single in the 6th and Keibert Ruiz drove in a run in the 9th to cap a 3-hit day, but that was it. Vidal Brujan was 3-4 with a walk but couldn't be plated by any of his teammates. Fortunately the Yankees fell to Seattle so no loss of the division lead. May 24: Signed P Jasseel De La Cruz to a 2-year, $12M contract extension, with a vesting option for 2030. Time to cross one off the long list of players on the team becoming FAs at season's end. $6M/season is a reasonable price for a reliever of JDLC's caliber, and even if it doesn't work out for some reason it's not a lot of money. He gets another year at the same rate if he pitches 40 innings in 2029. Game 4: Shane McClanahan was dealing today and the Rays hit 4 doubles in a 5-run 2nd inning to take a 6-0 win and 3 out of 4 in this series against Detroit. Mac was 7 2 0 0 2 7 today to improve to 9-2, 2.35 as he looks to join Tyler Glasnow and Matt Manning as Tampa Bay Cy Young winners this decade. His main competition right now is Minnesota's second-year man Jon Hayes, who's 8-0, 2.40 and leads the AL in pitching WAR. Hayden Johns threw 2 scoreless innings to finish off the game and preserve another team shutout. As mentioned, the offense went to town in the 2nd off Alek Manoah. Judson Fabian reached on an error, and then the doubles started. Keston Hiura's was first, scoring Fabian, Keibert Ruiz doubled in Hiura, Jhon Diaz doubled in Ruiz, and after Brandon Marsh whiffed, Vidal Brujan doubled in Diaz. Wander Franco capped the scoring by singling in Brujan. Ruiz added a solo HR (#5) in the 6th for the final Rays run, finishing with a 3-4, 2 RBI day and having a great season at 329/372/476. And Seattle beat the Yankees 2-1, taking 3 of 4 from them as the division lead grows to a season-high 6 games. Team record: 38-18. Next up: Back home for 3 vs Toronto. Last edited by Art Deco; 11-15-2020 at 02:03 PM.

11-15-2020, 04:07 PM	#391
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,986	May 25, 2027: Transactionpalooza Edition This one's a biggie as far as prospects go, as SS Isaac DeLeon is a top 15 MLB prospect and gives us another option for Wander's impending departure. And I use the adjective "impending" because this is his current extension demand: His initial demand was 8 years at $39M/year, I countered with 6 at $34M, and then he came back with that. Okey-dokey. So about Isaac DeLeon. He's a 65 at SS and a 65 baserunner, which is good, but the real allure here is the power. He's 70 current and 75 potential in power and the editor he says he'd hit 40 HR in the bigs right now. So what's the catch and why did Columbus trade him? Aside from the fact they have #2 prospect in the game Jorge Perez at the position (whom we traded to them several years ago for Asa Lacy), DeLeon has poor plate discipline, and is strikeout-prone and will be about a .250 hitter. But with that kind of power and that glove, I can live with it. Ricky Widmar at AA is still in the mix too, and he's having a decent season at AA Montgomery. DeLeon will play at Durham and between him, Nate Clark, Luis Berdin and Chris Sharp, they'll have a MLB-quality middle of the order. Saucedo is a power reliever with potential 70-80 stuff. The price? The key for Columbus was Waun, our 2nd-round pick in 2025 who's projected to be an above-average MLB CFer. He's got blazing speed, could ultimately be a 65-70 glove in center, and has excellent gap and power potential. The other 3 guys are marginal arms in the system, kind of quantity over quality thing with Manzano the most advanced but he has some flaws. Designated 1B Alec Bohm for assignment and placed him on waivers; added Isaac DeLeon to the 40-man roster; activated 1B Yordan Alvarez from the 10-day IL. DeLeon was on Columbus's 40-man, so he has to go on ours, meaning room had to be made. Therefore bye bye Bohm, who didn't do much in his 10-day cameo, and welcome back Yordan. He still shows 4 days left with knee tendinitis, so I'm going to limit him to pinch-hitting duties during that time. Last edited by Art Deco; 11-15-2020 at 04:29 PM.

11-15-2020, 05:40 PM	#392
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,986	May 25-27, 2027: vs Toronto (3) Game 1: An old friend helped do them in and Asa Lacy was absolutely horrible in his return to the rotation as the Blue Jays bombed the Rays 11-5. Lacy was so bad, so early and dug the team so big a hole that he stayed in just to try and save the bullpen. However it took him 98 pitches just to get to 2 out in the 4th inning as he ended up 3.2 12 9 9 3 3. Oof. After he gave up a leadoff double to Adrian Hernandez, former Ray 4th OF Yusniel Diaz took Lacy deep to make it 2-0, and Grayson Jenista had a 3-run shot later in the inning. Diaz had an RBI double off Lacy in the 3rd and hit his 2nd HR of the evening in the 6th off Liam Hendriks. Lacy left the Rays down 9-2 and the offense did have a few moments in what could be called garbage time. Wander was 3-5 again, Hunter Bishop had an RBI single and a homer in the 9th (#9), Andrew Knizner added an RBI triple and Judson Fabian was 2-4 with a double and 2 RBI. Hendriks went 2 1/3 in relief of Lacy so he's out for a day or two, a tired Mike Bayley gave us 2 innings (and 5 whiffs), and Jack Filby pitched the 9th. Really not sure if I want to give Lacy another start. The good news was that the Yankees lost to Minnesota, so the lead remains at 6 games. Game 2: The Rays are playing some really bad baseball right now as they were thumped by Toronto again 7-1. It was Matt Manning's turn in the dunk tank as after the Jays put 5 men on in the first 2 innings and he got out of it, the dam broke in the 3rd with 4 runs as Adrian Hernandez's bases-clearing double was the big hit. Unlike Asa Lacy yesterday, Manning managed to make it through 5 and was whiffing people, going 5 7 4 4 3 9. The problem was the "offense" couldn't get anything going, managing a grand total of 3 hits on the night against immortals like Eleiser Medrano and Ljay Newsome. Jhon Diaz doubled and scored on a wild pitch in the 3rd for the only Rays run. Steven Casey went a career-high 3 innings giving up only a Vlad Jr. moonshot that made it 5-1, and Jack Filby came on again in the 9th and melted down after getting the first two batters out, allowing 2 runs and throwing consecutive wild pitches to score one of them. For all their struggles, though, they were bailed out by Minnesota again as the Yankees suffered their own drubbing 12-3. It's been a strange year as the Rays are a brilliant 21-7 on the road but now a mediocre 17-13 at the Trop. Game 3: The Rays turned the tables on Toronto today and salvaged the third game of this series with an 8-1 win behind Mack Anglin. The second-year righthander was dominant today, going 8 5 1 1 1 9 on 108 pitches and even holding the mighty Vlad Jr hitless. He's now 7-2, 3.16 and showing last year wasn't a fluke. The offense had a ton of baserunners early but could scratch across a couple of early runs before they exploded for 5 in the 5th to break it open. Triston Casas, who had his first MLB 4-hit game, singled in a run in the 1st and Hunter Bishop's RBI groundout plated another but Toronto starter Jared Jones had allowed 5 hits and 5 walks through 4 and it was still a close game. That all changed in the 5th when Keston Hiura's 2-run triple made it 4-0, Keibert Ruiz doubled in Hiura to make it 5-0, Jhon Diaz doubled in Ruiz, and Vidal Brujan singled in Diaz. And our long national nightmare is over as Judson Fabian hit HR #2 in the 8th inning to give us the final margin. Hayden Johns finished up with a perfect 9th as the beleaguered bullpen mostly got a rest today. And the Yankees continue to circle the drain with their 6th straight loss as the division lead grows to 7. Team record: 39-20. Next up: A rare Friday off-day (so even more rest for the pen), followed by 2 interleague games at home vs the Milwaukee Brewers. Also this just in: The San Francisco Giants claimed Alec Bohm on waivers. Good luck Alec! Also on our off day (Friday), Ryan Weathers of the Padres pitched a no-hitter against the Columbus Lightning, walking 2 and whiffing 14 on 110 pitches. Last edited by Art Deco; 11-15-2020 at 09:49 PM.

11-16-2020, 08:13 AM	#393
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,986	May 29-30, 2027: vs Milwaukee (2) Game 1: Christian Little bounced back from one of the worst starts of his career to turn in one of his best as the Rays handled Milwaukee 5-1. He went 7 5 0 0 1 10 and got better as the game went on, striking out the side in his 7th and final inning despite being over 100 pitches. The performance brings him to 6-3, 2.82 and gives him 106 whiffs in 73.1 innings. Jose Alvarado gave up a run in the 8th to make it a 3-1 game at that point, but 2 runs in the 8th meant JDLC sat down and Jack Filby came on instead with a 1-2-3 9th. The offense had chances galore early with Brewers starter Cionel Perez walking 6 in his 5 1/3 and giving up 5 hits, but despite having the bases loaded and runners in scoring position with fewer than 2 out, they could only score early on a couple of sac flies from Wander Franco and Keibert Ruiz. Brandon Marsh added an RBI double in the 6th to make it 3-0 and then they broke through in the 8th on RBI singles from Ruiz and Vidal Brujan (who was 3-4 today with a steal). Keston Hiura had a nice game against his old team, going 2-3 with a double, a walk and 2 runs scored. Yordan Alvarez was back in the lineup for the first time in a couple of weeks and the rust showed as he went 0-4. The Yankees had won the night before but lost tonight, so the lead is now 7 1/2 games. Game 2: Some terrible offense and a couple of defensive mistakes wasted a brilliant effort by Shane McClanahan in a 3-1 loss to Milwaukee. Mac threw a lot of pitches and only made it through 6, but he was dominant going 6 5 1 0 3 12. The only run scored against was in the 2nd when Brandon Marsh dropped a fly ball allowing Nolan Arenado to score. Triston Casas doubled in Judson Fabian in the bottom of the 2nd to tie the game and that's where we went until the 7th when Liam Hendriks came on. Hendriks had Bo Bichette struck out but Keibert Ruiz was called for catcher's interference and with two out Parks Harber doubled to score Bichette with what proved to be the winning run. Evan Godwin didn't get the job done in the 9th when he came in to face lefty Christian Yelich with a man on 2nd and two out, giving up an RBI single that made it 3-1 and cost Steven Casey a run. But it was all for naught as the bats could only muster 5 hits, although they did draw 6 walks. This meant there were several situations with multiple runners on base but Ruiz and Jhon Diaz in particular couldn't get hits when needed with each leaving 5 men on base. They had a shot in the 9th when Brandon Marsh doubled and Vidal Brujan reached on an error with one out, but Wander Franco (who had 2 of the 5 hits) grounded into a double play to end the game. Fortunately their mediocre play of late hasn't cost them in the standings as the Yankees dropped another one, keeping the lead at 7 1/2. Boston has been hot lately and is only 1/2 game behind New York so perhaps they will be the team to watch going forward. Team record: 40-21. Next up: 3 tough games in Minnesota where the Twins now have the best record in baseball at 40-20 and the Rays get to face 9-0 Jon Hayes in the first game. Last edited by Art Deco; 11-16-2020 at 10:48 AM.

11-16-2020, 02:31 PM	#394
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,986	May 31-June 2, 2027: at Minnesota (3) Game 1: The Rays had the daunting task of facing the AL's top pitcher in Minnesota's Jon Hayes, who came in 9-0, 2.33 and the early favorite for the Cy Young (although Christian Little and Shane McClanahan will have something to say about that). Facing Hayes for the Rays was Matt Manning, he of the inconsistent up-and-down 4.19 ERA. So unsurprisingly the final turned out to be 3-0, with the winning pitcher throwing a complete-game 5-hit shutout. Great job by Hayes, right? Nope, great job Matt Manning. In one of the best games he's ever pitched in his 3 1/2 seasons as a Ray, Manning totally shut down the high-flying Twins offense going 9 5 0 0 0 7 on 106 pitches, including whiffs of the first two batters in the 9th. Meanwhile the bats didn't exactly pound Hayes but for a change got key hits when they needed them. Keibert Ruiz's 2-out double in the 2nd was cashed in by Nick Gonzales' RBI single, Wander Franco's 6th inning double was followed by Judson Fabian's RBI single, and Yordan Alvarez took the star lefty deep for HR #8 in the 8th inning with a solo shot as they did get to Hayes for 3 runs and 8 hits in 8 innings. Without a doubt this was the best and most gratifying win of the season to date, and a possible ALCS preview. The Yankees won for a change so no expansion of the 7 1/2 game division lead. Monthly awards galore: Glad we signed him to an extension earlier this year. So yeah, Nate Clark continues to rake. It'd be fun to get him up this year but barring further injuries there's just no place for him (although the argument could be made he'd be an improvement over the Jhon Diaz/Nick Gonzales platoon, Diaz is too good to just put on the shelf.) And then there's Billy Benedetto. Haven't spoke much of him but he was the third man acquired in the Heston Kjerstad deal with Texas that brought us Ricky Widmar and Hayden Johns. All he's done since joining the org is hit, and of course there's no real path for him right now, and that's not even considering Luis Berdin and Petey Halpin at Durham. It seems like we're always destined to have a glut of OFs that hit. Game 2: Asa Lacy likely started his last game as a Ray, getting bombed again in a 9-4 loss to the Twins with Blake Money returning in 5 days and Jack Leiter lurking behind the Super 2 deadline. He was let down by the defense in a 4-run 2nd thanks to errors from Keston Hiura and Wander Franco but the 5-run 4th was all him (and Hayden Johns) as he went a putrid 3 9 7 3 0 4 as he seems to remain one of the more hittable MLB pitchers on the planet. Yordan Alvarez's 2-run double in the 3rd gave the Rays a brief glimmer of hope as they got within 4-2, but the rout was on shortly thereafter. Vidal Brujan had an RBI triple and scored on Wander's infield single in the 5th and the scoring ended after that. Johns had an uncharacteristically poor outing, giving up 2 runs on 5 hits in 2 1/3 innings (although still whiffing 4), while Mike Bayley pitched 2.2 1-hit scoreless innings with 4 Ks to wrap it up, so neither will be available tomorrow but the rest of pen was saved. There's also a good chance that not only was it Lacy's last start as a Ray but his last appearance as a Ray as I've been shopping him in anticipation of needing both the active roster spot and the 40-man spot he's taking up. Once again the Rays aren't punished in the standings for a loss as the Yankees continue slumping. And...he's gone: The return here is to shore up a couple of positions in which we're organizationally weak. We had quite the catcher drain through trades and Rule 5 over the last couple of years and 3B has been a thin position as well with only Gustave D'Elia at AAA a legitimate prospect. So these two should fill in nicely as Meola will take over for the revolving door of minor league FAs we've been using at AA Montgomery. He's not that special, but projects to be a .275-25 HR guy with average defense at the position. He's a MiLB free agent at year's end so we'll see how he goes before either putting him on the 40-man come the offseason or seeing if he'll take a minor league extension. Burkes was the main attraction here, he's a 70 catcher he's kind of a poor man's Keibert Ruiz in that he's very tough to strike out, hits for average and has excellent gap power if not HR power. He hit .314 at A ball last year with only 45 whiffs to give you an idea. He'll go to A+ Charlotte. Going to the other way aside from Lacy, who in fairness needs to pitch behind a much better defense than we trot out there and could thrive in San Diego, was Kash, a 1B with moderate power who is going back to the Padre organization after we got him in the Lewin Diaz dump last year. He was playing ahead of Marcus Franco at Charlotte, which I wasn't thrilled with, and we have much better 1B prospects in Chris Sharp at AAA and Victor Barillas at AA, and it's not like Yordan Alvarez is going anywhere. Bitsko came over in the Patrick Bailey deal about a month ago but got hurt (out for the season) and as mentioned at the time he was picked up more because the Rays drafted him IRL rather than anything else. June 2: Recalled P Cole Patten from AAA Durham. Patten will be with us for a little while until we need a 5th starter as we have two off days sandwiched around the next series and we're waiting for Blake Money to come off the IL. Game 3: Mack Anglin pitched 7 strong innings and the Rays busted open a 2-2 game with a 5-run 8th inning to take a 7-2 win over Minnesota and 2 out of 3 in the stadium of one of the best teams in baseball. Anglin was staked to a 2-0 lead on a ground-rule RBI double by Brandon Marsh in the 2nd and an RBI single from Keibert Ruiz in the 4th but the Twins got those runs back on a Royce Lewis infield RBI single with 2 out in the 5th and a homer from MLB RBI leader Julio Rodriguez (his 16th HR and 67th RBI) in the 6th. After Rodriguez's homer, Anglin gave up a double and then a single but Brandon Marsh threw the runner out at the plate to keep the Twins from taking the lead and Anglin settled in getting out of the inning and pitching a 1-2-3 7th to end up 7 7 2 2 0 7. He's now 8-2, 3.12. And then the bats went to work. Vidal Brujan led off the 8th with one of his 4 hits on the night and Wander Franco stepped up and drilled HR #10 to make it 4-2. And after Yordan Alvarez reached on an error, Judson Fabian blasted #3 just inside the LF foul pole as he slowly rediscovers his power stroke to make it 6-2. They continued to hit, and Ruiz doubled in Hunter Bishop for the final run. Jack Filby and Steven Casey pitched scoreless innings to close it out. Scoring the Rays' first two runs was Triston Casas, who doubled twice in 4 trips. You could have made a lot of money betting Casas would be within .002 of Wander in batting average over 2 months into the season but here we are with Casas at .297 playing fairly regularly and Wander at .299. In scoreboard-watching, the Yankees won so the lead remains 7 1/2. Next up: An off-day followed by our first trip of the year to New York to play those same Yankees in a 3-game set. This starts a 3-week stretch where we play nothing but AL East teams. Last edited by Art Deco; 11-16-2020 at 08:01 PM.

11-16-2020, 10:21 PM	#395
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,986	The 2027 Amateur Draft <table class="data" style="background-color: rgb(247, 243, 222); color: rgb(27, 27, 27); font-family: "Open Sans", Calibri, Helvetica, Verdana, Geneva, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;" width="968px" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr><td class="dl wrap" style="font-family: "Open Sans", Calibri, Helvetica, Verdana, Geneva, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(27, 27, 27); vertical-align: top; text-align: left; background-color: rgb(247, 243, 222); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(235, 233, 233); padding: 1px 4px 2px; white-space: normal;">Drafted SP Mike Champagne in the 2027 first-year player draft (Round 1, Pick 32, 32nd overall pick).</td></tr><tr><td class="dl wrap" style="font-family: "Open Sans", Calibri, Helvetica, Verdana, Geneva, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(27, 27, 27); vertical-align: top; text-align: left; background-color: rgb(247, 243, 222); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(235, 233, 233); padding: 1px 4px 2px; white-space: normal;">Drafted SP Kevin Lovetere in the 2027 first-year player draft (Supplemental Round 1, Pick 6, 38th overall pick).</td></tr><tr><td class="dl wrap" style="font-family: "Open Sans", Calibri, Helvetica, Verdana, Geneva, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(27, 27, 27); vertical-align: top; text-align: left; background-color: rgb(247, 243, 222); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(235, 233, 233); padding: 1px 4px 2px; white-space: normal;">Drafted RP Mike Brown in the 2027 first-year player draft (Round 2, Pick 31, 69th overall pick).</td></tr><tr><td class="dl wrap" style="font-family: "Open Sans", Calibri, Helvetica, Verdana, Geneva, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(27, 27, 27); vertical-align: top; text-align: left; background-color: rgb(247, 243, 222); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(235, 233, 233); padding: 1px 4px 2px; white-space: normal;">Drafted SP Gil Wayne in the 2027 first-year player draft (Round 3, Pick 25, 96th overall pick).</td></tr><tr><td class="dl wrap" style="font-family: "Open Sans", Calibri, Helvetica, Verdana, Geneva, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(27, 27, 27); vertical-align: top; text-align: left; background-color: rgb(247, 243, 222); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(235, 233, 233); padding: 1px 4px 2px; white-space: normal;">Drafted RF Rogelio Cuellar in the 2027 first-year player draft (Round 4, Pick 29, 125th overall pick).</td></tr><tr><td class="dl wrap" style="font-family: "Open Sans", Calibri, Helvetica, Verdana, Geneva, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(27, 27, 27); vertical-align: top; text-align: left; background-color: rgb(247, 243, 222); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(235, 233, 233); padding: 1px 4px 2px; white-space: normal;">Drafted SP Juan Flores in the 2027 first-year player draft (Round 5, Pick 29, 154th overall pick).</td></tr><tr><td class="dl wrap" style="font-family: "Open Sans", Calibri, Helvetica, Verdana, Geneva, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(27, 27, 27); vertical-align: top; text-align: left; background-color: rgb(247, 243, 222); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(235, 233, 233); padding: 1px 4px 2px; white-space: normal;">Drafted 3B Isaiah Diamond in the 2027 first-year player draft (Round 6, Pick 30, 184th overall pick).</td></tr><tr><td class="dl wrap" style="font-family: "Open Sans", Calibri, Helvetica, Verdana, Geneva, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(27, 27, 27); vertical-align: top; text-align: left; background-color: rgb(247, 243, 222); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(235, 233, 233); padding: 1px 4px 2px; white-space: normal;">Drafted SP Ben Hummel in the 2027 first-year player draft (Round 7, Pick 30, 214th overall pick).</td></tr><tr><td class="dl wrap" style="font-family: "Open Sans", Calibri, Helvetica, Verdana, Geneva, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(27, 27, 27); vertical-align: top; text-align: left; background-color: rgb(247, 243, 222); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(235, 233, 233); padding: 1px 4px 2px; white-space: normal;">Drafted RF Manny Leana in the 2027 first-year player draft (Round 8, Pick 30, 244th overall pick).</td></tr></tbody></table> As you can see we went pitching-heavy this year. Some quick thoughts on the top draftees: Mike Champagne: Great name of course, almost worth the pick on its own. I'll be happy if my scouting director's (Rob Metzler) assessment comes through and finds him as a mid-rotation starter but OSA likes him even better, calling Champagne "a golden arm" and that "he should be a top of the rotation pitcher". He's a college guy from Kansas State. Kevin Lovetere: A high-school lefty projected to have really good movement and command to go with decent stuff, he's a "pitcher" rather than a thrower and Metzler says he should "end up near the top of any MLB rotation" and OSA says "front of the rotation potential". Mike Brown: The top pure college reliever in the draft out of Texas, projected to have 80 stuff and tabbed by Metzler and OSA as a future closer. Gil Wayne: A high-school righty with a wicked curveball (75/80 potential depending on who you ask), Metzler sees him as a future #3 starter while OSA says #2 starter. Rogelio Cuellar: The first hitter we took, he has potential 70 gap power & HR power, he's a 19-year old RF out of JuCo. As always with these types, contact will be the issue. Juan Flores: Back to the mound we went with this LSU commit out of a GA high school. He's more of a control, groundball artist who could fit at the back end of a rotation (hey, we're late in the 5th round now) Isaiah Diamond: High school 3B from Georgia whom both Metzler and OSA project as a future regular, good hit and power tools. Ben Hummel: HS lefty out of Iowa. Has potential 60/65 stuff with a potential 80 changeup. Not the hardest thrower but a decent shot at a 4 or a 5 rotation spot. Manny Leana. Another Iowa HSer, he's a RF with 70-80 power potential depending on who you ask, very toolsy but raw of course. Metzler uses the famous "penciled in for a lion's share of the starts at his position" line in his report. Could be a steal in the 8th round, more likely not. Last edited by Art Deco; 11-16-2020 at 10:39 PM.

11-17-2020, 09:04 AM	#396
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,986	June 4-6, 2027: at NY Yankees (3) Game 1: It's tough to win when you only manage 3 hits, and that lack of offense doomed the Rays tonight in a 3-1 loss. They actually took the lead in the 3rd on a Wander Franco sac fly to score Nick Gonzales, who had one of those three hits, but that was the sum total of the offense tonight as Antoine Kelly held them to 2 hits and 1 walk over 7 1/3. And therefore Christian Little had no margin for error but he made two of them: a solo HR to Aaron Judge in the 4th and a two-run shot by Gleyber Torres in the 5th. Little ended up a decent 6.2 7 3 3 1 9 but dropped to 6-4, 2.92. Steven Casey got him out of a tough spot in the 7th with a whiff of Torres and Evan Godwin struck out 2 in a scoreless 8th to keep it close. They did bring the tying run to the plate in the 9th when Yordan Alvarez (who had the other 2 hits) singled with one out off Yankee closer Nick Paciorek, but Judson Fabian grounded into a double play to end the game. The Yankees now pull with 6 1/2. Game 2: This was a sloppy game in which neither team played well, but the Rays will take the 4-2 victory and ask no questions. The Rays were team TOOTBLAN in this game as they had four runners thrown out on the bases, with Hunter Bishop caught stealing twice and Vidal Brujan twice thrown out at home plate by Aaron Judge. The Yankees, meanwhile, saw their 2B Tommy Edman make two critical errors which led to Rays runs, and when they tried to mount a rally in the 8th off Jose Alvarado after Sammy Siani led off with a double, Chase Davis put down a bad bunt that allowed Alvarado to throw Siani out at 3rd and pretty much end that comeback bid. While all this bad baseball was going on, Shane McClanahan was doing his usual thing, going 7 7 2 2 2 5 to become the first 10-game winner in MLB this year and keep his ERA at 2.22. His only bad moments were a Skyler Messinger homer in the 2nd and a wild pitch that sent a runner to third with 1 out where he then scored on a sac fly in the 5th. When they weren't making outs on the basepaths, the offense was opportunistic today with Edman booting a Wander Franco double play ball that would have ended the inning allowing their first run in the 3rd. Then in the 6th another Edman error enabled them to load the bases whereupon Keibert Ruiz walked to force in a run and then Jhon Diaz hit a sac fly to put them up 3-2. They picked up a big insurance run in the 9th when Diaz singled, stole second and scored on a Wander single. Alvarado got through the 8th with that bad bunt and Jasseel De La Cruz got save #5 by striking out Judge and Anthony Rizzo and getting a groundout in a 1-2-3 inning. The win restores the lead to 7 1/2 games. Asa Lacy made his Padres debut today in relief, and vultured a win after he gave up the game-tying HR in the 8th. Also in his professional debut with our DSL team, last year's big July 2 signing Omar Rodriguez went 2-4 with a double and an RBI. O-Rod, as I've taken to calling him, is the #21 prospect in baseball per BNN. Game 3: The Rays rode a 5-run 3rd inning and beat the Yankees and Gerrit Cole soundly by the score of 8-2. Yordan Alvarez got the offense going in the 1st with a 2-run homer (#9) off Cole, just over the short RF fence for a Yankee Stadium special, and then the dam burst in the 3rd when Wander Franco led off with a single, stole second, scored on a Judson Fabian single, and after they loaded the bases Keibert Ruiz cleared them with a double, with Ruiz scoring on a Jhon Diaz groundout. Hunter Bishop added HR #10 in the 7th to round out the scoring. On the mound, Matt Manning picked up where he left off shutting out Minnesota with more shutout ball but had to leave after 5 1/3 with a blister which won't keep him from making his next start. He was 5.1 2 0 0 2 5 to go to 7-3, 3.50. Hayden Johns took over and was immediately greeted by a Gleyber Torres homer and he gave up an RBI double to Torres in the 8th but Evan Godwin got him out of that inning with 2 strikeouts. Cole Patten pitched a 1-2-3 2K 9th to finish off the game as the Rays are now in front by a season-high 8 1/2 games while Boston is 9 back. Team record: 44-23. Next up: Another off-day followed by 3 at home against the Red Sox. Last edited by Art Deco; 11-17-2020 at 01:57 PM.

11-17-2020, 04:12 PM	#397
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,986	June 8-10, 2027: vs Boston (3) June 8: Activated P Blake Money from the 15-day IL, optioned P Cole Patten to AAA Durham. Game 1: Tyler Glasnow returned to the Trop for the first time since moving to the Red Sox in free agency and he was given a tribute on the video board and received his 2026 World Series ring in a pre-game ceremony. And then Glasnow returned to his old office on the Tropicana Field mound and did what he did so many times there, shutting down the opposition in a 1-0 win. The Rays didn't get their first hit until a Wander Franco single in the 4th, and Glasnow shut them out on 3 hits through the first 7 innings before allowing singles to Keibert Ruiz and Jhon Diaz to start the 8th, whereupon he left to a warm ovation from the crowd. This presented the Rays with their best chance to score tonight, but after Brandon Marsh and Vidal Brujan made outs and Wander walked to load the bases, Yordan Alvarez grounded out to short to end that rally. Judson Fabian did draw a leadoff walk in the 9th against Kyle Crick, but the next 3 batters could do nothing. Mack Anglin got the start and after whiffing two Boston hitters in the 1st, had to leave the game with strained triceps and will miss 3 weeks. It'll end up more like a month since he'll need at least one rehab start after that. More on his potential replacement(s) in a moment. With length needed from the pen, Blake Money came in and looked great, going 5 5 1 1 2 8 and looking downright Glasnow-esque at times. Unfortunately he did allow the one run in the 5th which turned out to be the game-winner, but he was impressive nonetheless in a role he may be ticketed for before long. Evan Godwin got a quick 7th, and Liam Hendriks pitched so efficiently in the 8th he got to pitch the 9th, getting through both perfect innings on a grand total of 18 pitches. The Yankees won so the lead is back down to 7 1/2. As far as replacing Anglin in the rotation, Money will take his spot in 5 days' time and will stay in the rotation for at least a couple of more turns after that, however we will need a starter on Saturday. I'm considering giving Hayden Johns a start and seeing how that goes. The medium-term plan is to bring Jack Leiter up in two weeks (the 22nd or a couple of days after) which should give us Super 2 safety. Ultimately, Leiter should be in the rotation and when Anglin is back, Money will be used as a multi-inning guy/long reliever. In the short term, Cole Patten probably comes back up to give us an extra reliever. June 9: Signed OF Spencer Torkelson to a 4-year, $53.5M contract extension. Tork may be out until almost the end of the season, but he'll be a Ray through 2031. Guys who hit .290 or so with 40+ HRs and walk at a decent clip don't grow on trees, so I got him for what he'd get in arbitration the next two years plus 2 free agency years. Here are the details: Game 2: The Rays got off to a rough start when Pierson Gibis took Christian Little deep for a 3-run HR in the 1st inning but it was all Rays from there as they beat Boston 8-3. They responded quickly with a 5-run 2nd inning which started with Judson Fabian leading off with his 4th HR of the season and then they went single, double, 2-run double from Keibert Ruiz, Brandon Marsh RBI fielder's choice and a Vidal Brujan RBI double. They later added 2 runs in the 5th on a wild pitch and a Hunter Bishop RBI double and Brandon Marsh hit HR #3 in the 6th. And Little gave Boston nothing after the first inning, ending up 7 5 3 3 2 9 to improve to 7-4, 3.00. Mike Bayley pitched the final 2 innings, giving up only 1 hit and whiffing 4. The Yankees fell to Kansas City so the lead is back up to 8 1/2. Game 3: For two-thirds of its length, this was a tense, back-and-forth game between the Rays and Red Sox. But after the Red Sox broke through in the 7th to take a 4-2 lead with 2 outs, the Rays responded with a 5-run bottom of the frame to take an 8-4 win and 2 out of 3 in the series. Lefties Shane McClanahan and Justus Sheffield were in a tight battle through 6, with Mac getting dinged for a 1st inning run and then watching as two Rays errors behind him gifted Boston a 5th inning run, offsetting RBI singles from Brandon Marsh and Hunter Bishop. And in the top of the 7th McClanahan put runners on 1st and 3rd with 1 out, got a grounder with the infield in to put men on 2nd and 3rd, and departed for Liam Hendriks. Unfortunately Hendriks served up a 2-run single to Yoan Moncada and the Sox broke the stalemate. But the Rays answered right back in the bottom of the frame. After Sheffield got Keibert Ruiz to ground out to start the inning, Boston brought in Sam Tuivailala and the Rays took advantage. He walked Nick Gonzales, gave up an RBI double to Marsh, a single to Vidal Brujan, and then a single to Wander Franco to tie it up. After Yordan Alvarez reached on an error to load the bases, Tuivailala walked Judson Fabian to force in the go-ahead run, and Bishop ripped a 2-run double to make it 7-4. They added another run in the 8th when Alvarez singled in Gonzales, who had doubled (and had a great night, tripling earlier and ending up 2-3 with a walk and 3 runs scored). Jose Alvarado pitched a perfect 2K 8th, and after the Rays made it 8-4 JDLC sat back down and Steven Casey finished with a 1-2-3 9th. The Yankees and Baltimore both lost, so they're starting to run away with the division now at 9 1/2 games up. Team record: 46-24. Next up: 3 at home vs Baltimore. Two disgruntled Rays from 2025 traded for each other: Last edited by Art Deco; 11-18-2020 at 08:41 AM.

11-18-2020, 08:48 AM	#398
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,986	June 11-13, 2027: vs Baltimore (3) Game 1: Andrew Knizner was the offense tonight, belting 2 HRs in a 3-2 win over Baltimore. The night started off rough for Knizner, as Baltimore got the 2nd run of their 2-run 3rd inning when he threw the ball into outfield as a runner attempted to steal third (the first runs off Matt Manning in 18 1/3 innings) but he quickly made up for it with a solo shot in the bottom of the inning. And then down 2-1 in the bottom of the 7th, Nick Gonzales doubled off Orioles starter Zac Lowther and Knizner went deep again to give the Rays their winning margin. Knizner's always been regarded as a good-hitting catcher, hitting over .300 in 2 of his previous 3 seasons, and he's 302/348/628 with 3 HR in 43 AB since signing in late April. Manning of course recovered from that rough 3rd to go 6 4 2 2 3 4. Steven Casey took over in the 7th and put 2 on with 2 out, and Evan Godwin got him out of that and pitched the 8th, picking up his 2nd win. And Jasseel De La Cruz was impressive in getting save #6, striking out the side in a 1-2-3 inning. Note from the farm: 1st round draft pick Mike Champagne made his professional debut with Class-A Bowling Green and was an impressive 7 3 0 0 3 6 on 84 pitches. Game 2: A pitiful performance from the offense - especially with runners on base - and some lousy bullpen work combined to waste an impressive spot start from Hayden Johns as the Rays fell 4-0 to Baltimore. Johns started off shaky, walking the bases loaded in the 1st, but he got out of it and only a Xavier Bussey triple followed by a Druw Jones double in the 3rd kept him from throwing 6 shutout innings as he went an impressive 6 3 1 1 3 9 on 106 pitches (30 of them in the 1st). But that one run would be all the Orioles would need as the offense got nothing going early, and once they started putting runners on base they couldn't do anything with them. The primary culprit was Judson Fabian, who came up in both the 6th and the 8th with either a man on 3rd and one out or the bases loaded with one out and whiffed in the 6th and hit a shallow fly ball in the 8th. And both times Hunter Bishop followed him and made the 3rd out. At that point it was only 2-0, but Jose Alvarado was not at his best today, allowing Jack Filby's inherited baserunner to score in the 8th and then putting two on in the 9th, one of which Cole Patten allowed to score and other by Liam Hendriks who had to come in for Patten when Patten tweaked his hamstring. Boston beat the Yankees to keep the lead at 9 1/2. Game 3: The offense once again could barely hit its way out of a wet paper bag, and the pitching ran out of gas in a 5-2 loss. Blake Money started, and was very good for 5 innings but I left him in a bit too long in the 6th and although he got two outs he then gave up a pair of hits that plated 3 runs and that was a death knell considering how the offense has gone lately. Mike Bayley gave up 2 more in the 7th, including a HR to Adley Rutschman and that was that. The Rays were up against a tough customer in Bryar Johnson, of the AL's best, but they did get through for 2 runs with 2 out in the 3rd. Brandon Marsh singled, went to second on a wild pitch, and scored on Nick Gonzales's RBI single, and then Gonzales stole second and scored on Wander Franco's single. Johnson left with 2 out in the 6th, and the Rays couldn't manage another baserunner in the final 3 1/3 off Baltimore's bullpen as they scored a whopping 5 runs in the 3-game series. Yordan Alvarez had showed some signs of life before going on the IL and shortly after coming off it, but has gone cold again and is hitting 239/307/378 while Bramdon Perez, sent to Houston in the deal that brought Alvarez here, is hitting 337/404/564. I mean we're still tied for 1st in runs scored and sit 8 1/2 games up, but the recent quiet bats have been frustrating, even for a lower-scoring environment this year. The mediocrity at the Trop this year continues as they drop to a 22-17 home record. Team record: 47-26. Next up: An off-day, followed by 3 games in Toronto, which has been known in the past to perk up the bats. Last edited by Art Deco; 11-18-2020 at 01:57 PM.

11-18-2020, 04:47 PM	#399
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,986	June 15-17, 2027: at Toronto (3) Game 1: This was perhaps the most frustrating game of the season as the Rays blew leads of 2-1, 3-2, 4-3, and ultimately 5-4 as they lost 6-5 in 11 innings. The offense started slow before finally getting going, and Christian Little was dominating again over 6 innings, but the bullpen was atrocious as 3 different Rays relievers blew leads. First, Liam Hendriks gave up a Yusniel Diaz homer in the 7th after the Rays went back ahead 3-2 in the top of the inning, then after the Rays went up 4-3 in the top of the 9th JDLC gave up a walk and an RBI double, and finally after scoring in the top of the 11th, Jose Alvarado couldn't get anyone out, giving up the tying and winning runs on 3 hits and a walk. Only Evan Godwin among the relievers, who retired all 4 batters he faced, could hold his head up with pride tonight. Little went 6 5 2 2 0 12, giving up a Vlad Jr HR in the 1st and a run in the 6th (scoring when he got Vlad Jr to hit into a double play). The bats got going somewhat tonight with Triston Casas hitting #10 in the 2nd inning and Hunter Bishop single-handedly doing his best to win the game, homering (#11) in the 7th to make it 3-2, hitting an RBI single in the 9th to make it 4-3, and delivering an RBI double in the 11th to make it 5-4. And Bishop had to end up playing CF because Brandon Marsh sprained an ankle legging out a double and will be out almost a month. His natural and projected replacement at Durham, Julio Cedillo, is himself injured so we'll have to play with a 45 CF in Bishop for a while. This could mean we finally see Nate Clark, I'm going to have to look at things. Jhon Diaz was playing his way out of a job (0-3 tonight with his 4th CS, he's 241/299/310 and a major disappointment playing almost every day), but he may get a reprieve. The Yankees fortunately lost but Baltimore won, so both of those teams are 8 1/2 back. June 16: Placed OF Brandon Marsh on the 10-day IL with a sprained ankle, purchased the contract of OF Nate Clark from AAA Durham. Let the Nate Clark era begin! The #10 prospect in baseball, who was merely hitting 370/456/621 at AAA Durham with 13 HR, 46 RBI and 20 SB (the dude has wheels) and a 32/26 BB/K ratio is ready to make his MLB debut. The editor sees him as a 307/382/575 guy. It's June 16, so he's probably safe from a Super 2 perspective. The plan is to play him at DH, with Fabian shifting to LF, Bishop to CF and Jhon Diaz playing RF against righties, and then put him into LF with Fabian shifting to RF against lefties. Perhaps he'll jump-start the offense, which is need of one. We had an open 40-man spot after the Asa Lacy trade, so right now nobody needs to go on waivers, but Aaron Ashby is due back soon from the 60-day IL (he struck out the side on rehab at Durham last night) so someone will have to be waived soon. If Clark hits, he'll stay in the lineup when Marsh comes back with Diaz the odd man out (unless he really gets going too, a dilemma I'd be happy to deal with). Diaz is out of options, though, so he can't go back to Durham. I've already been exploring the trade market for Diaz and it's still pretty good and might be at its peak now especially if he doesn't start hitting soon. Game 2: The Nate Clark effect? Making his MLB debut today, the rookie went 2-5 with a steal and it seemed to jump-start the offense as they pounded out 15 hits and 11 runs, including a pair of longballs from the suddenly job-threatened Jhon Diaz in an 11-4 win. Despite the final score, it wasn't all fun and games as Yusniel Diaz continued to torment his former team with a 3-run first-inning homer off Shane McClanahan and the Rays were in an early 3-0 hole. But they answered back in the 3rd with a Judson Fabian RBI double and a 3-run HR from Triston Casas (#11) to make it 4-3. Then Jhon Diaz went to work in the 6th, homering with Clark aboard to make it 6-3, and Yordan Alvarez followed with an RBI double and it was 7-3. Those two did it again in the 8th with Diaz homering to lead off the inning (#3) and Alvarez following with a 3-run HR (#10) to make it 11-3 and complete a 4-5, 4-RBI night. McClanahan meanwhile was lights out after that first inning, not allowing a hit over the next 7 and ending with an 8 2 3 3 2 7 line to improve to 11-2, 2.42. Cole Patten allowed a run in the 9th mopping up. The Yankees and Orioles both won so the lead remains 8 1/2. Game 3: Nate Clark continues to be the story as his first MLB HR, a 3-run shot in the 2nd, propelled the Rays to an 11-3 rout of the Jays as they take 2 of 3 in Toronto. His 429-foot shot with an exit velocity of 108.1 MPH gave the Rays a 3-0 lead which they never relinquished, although Toronto did get close before the Rays blew it open. Matt Manning started slowly, giving up 3 runs in the first 3 innings after the Rays went up 4-1 on Yordan Alvarez's sac fly, but like Shane McClanahan last night he got it together in the middle innings and ended up 7 6 3 3 1 5, finishing with a flourish by striking out the side in his final inning. Mike Bayley capped it off with 2 scoreless innings. In between the big inning for the Rays was the 5th as they put 6 on the board with a parade of hits. The scoring kicked off with Alvarez's 11th HR of the year and his second in as many games with Wander Franco aboard to make it 6-3, then Hunter Bishop and Triston Casas each doubled for another run, Keibert Ruiz singled home Casas, Clark singled (he ended up 3-5 and should have had 4 hits but was robbed by a diving catch of his liner to RF), Jhon Diaz singled in Ruiz and Vidal Brujan singled in Clark. Hunter Bishop added HR #12 in the 8th and the next batter up Casas was hit by a Simeon Woods Richardson pitch and charged the mound, setting off a bench-clearing brawl. Casas was suspended 4 games for his part in the fracas and will miss the Baltimore series as well as the first game against Oakland next week so Keston Hiura will be getting some extra ABs. The Yankees and Baltimore each won so the lead is still 8 1/2. Team record: 49-27. Next up: 3 games in Camden Yards. Here's hoping the bats continue to bop as they're out of Tropicana Field, where offense goes to die. Minor league note: 1st-round Mike Champagne continues to bubble up, going 7.2 7 1 1 3 5 in his 2nd pro start for Bowling Green. Last edited by Art Deco; 11-18-2020 at 10:09 PM.

11-19-2020, 08:31 AM	#400
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,986	June 18-20, 2027: at Baltimore (3) Game 1: Welcome back to the land of the hitting, Judson Fabian. The Rays OF, who had 4 HRs through nearly half of the season after hitting 36 last year, clubbed a pair tonight to lead the Rays to a 7-5 win over the Orioles. The Rays were up against the tough Bryar Johnson for the second time in less than a week, and this time around they had their way with him. RBI singles from Yordan Alvarez and Hunter Bishop made it 2-0 in the first, and after the Orioles tied it at 2, Fabian stepped up and hit the first of his two homers in the 3rd to put the Rays back in front. That score held until the 6th when Nate Clark slammed an RBI double off Johnson to make it 4-2, and in the 7th after they chased Johnson with a couple of baserunners, Fabian went deep again off Baltimore reliever Ruben Galindo with a 3-run blast to make it 7-2. Hayden Johns did about as well as could be expected in Camden Yards on another fill-in start, going 6 7 2 2 1 4 and getting the win. But as always, it's never easy to hold Baltimore down in this park and the pen ran into some trouble. Steven Casey gave up a HR in the 7th to make it 7-3, and after Evan Godwin whiffed the final batter of the inning and the first two of the 8th he put two men on whom Jack Filby allowed to score on a triple to cut it to 7-5. Jasseel De La Cruz got the first 2 outs of the 9th, but gave up a hit and then a long and loud fly ball to deep left which fortunately nestled in the glove of Fabian to end the game. Fabian also doubled to give him 10 total bases, while in his third game Clark was held to just the one hit, although it was a big one. The Yankees won so they re-took sole possession of second, 8 1/2 back. Game 2: Keston Hiura hit for the cycle and Hunter Bishop had 5 hits, so that will give you some kind of idea of the day the Rays had today, routing Baltimore 12-2. Bishop's day was nice but he had 4 singles and a double and didn't drive in anyone. Hiura, on the other hand, not only got all the types of hits, he drove in 4 runs including an RBI triple to get them started in the 2nd, and Jhon Diaz singled him home to make it 2-0. The Orioles made it 2-1 in the bottom of the inning but that was as close as they'd get. Nate Clark's RBI groundout (he was held hitless today, 0-5, but didn't whiff) made it 3-1 in the 3rd and a 5-run 5th broke it open including a 2-run single from Keibert Ruiz, an RBI double from Hiura and a 2-run single from Diaz. Hiura added a 2-run homer in the 7th (#3), completed his cycle with a single in the 8th, and Yordan Alvarez clubbed a 2-run HR (#12) in the 9th. While all this was going on Blake Money had his best game as a Ray, going 7 5 1 1 3 8 and getting his 2nd Rays win (against 6 losses but several have been tough-luck as his ERA with the team is 3.88). Mike Bayley had one of his 2-walk, 3K innings in the 8th and then got into a bit of trouble in the 9th allowing a run which scored on a passed ball strikeout, so Cole Patten got the final 3 outs. The Yankees have gotten hot again, winning in Minnesota for the 2nd straight day, so no ground gained but one more day off the calendar. Game 3: Another day, another rout of the Orioles at Camden Yards with a 15-4 win today. This has been a tough place for the Rays over the years but not this weekend as the offense continues its roll on this road trip and since the Nate Clark recall. Now it could be coincidence that they've scored 56 runs in the 5 games since Clark joined the team - historically, they've hit well in Rogers Centre and Oriole Park - but to see the guy whose job is most threatened by Clark's arrival go nuts over that span including 2 HR and 6 RBI today, and well you can connect the dots. Yes I'm speaking of Jhon Diaz, who belted a 2-run HR to cap a 4-run 2nd which put the Rays up briefly before Baltimore tied it at 4, and who followed that up with a grand slam in a 7-run 5th which turned a 4-4 game into an 11-4 one. In the 5 games since Clark's arrival, Diaz is 10-23 with 4 HR and 13 RBI and if it's not motivation it's a hell of a coincidence. As for the man himself, Clark jump-started that 4-run 2nd inning by singling with two out, stealing second, and scoring on Keston Hiura's double (yesterday's cycler was 2-3 with 2 walks and 2 runs scored to go with that RBI). He also beat out an infield single with his speed and then showed off his power for the second time, hitting a 440-ft shot to dead center in the 8th win a man on to make the rubble bounce as part of a 3-5 day. Wander Franco (#11) and Yordan Alvarez (#13 as part of his own 3-hit day) also homered as the team swatted five. Oh and I almost forgot Keibert Ruiz had 4 hits and an RBI today. Christian Little started and didn't have his best stuff, allowing 4 runs in the first 3 innings and only striking out 1. But once the lead grew he rediscovered his stuff and settled down to go 7 6 4 4 1 6 to up his record to 8-4. Cole Patten pitched the final two innings without incident. The Yankees completed an impressive sweep of the Twins in Minnesota to stay 8 1/2 back. Team record: 52-27. Next up: An off-day, then we get to see if the irresistible force that the offense has been this week can overcome the immovable object known as Tropicana Field when Oakland comes to town for 3. Last edited by Art Deco; 11-19-2020 at 01:05 PM.