The 2020 (and beyond) Tampa Bay Rays - Page 13

Art Deco · 09-17-2020, 09:44 AM

Game 1: It's probably been four years since the Rays have played what seems to be a high-stakes regular season game after their hot starts to the last 3 seasons combined with mediocrity from the rest of the division put them way out in front of the AL East to stay during that time. But the Rays' sluggish April combined with Boston's hot start means we have a legitimate division race at the moment so with the Red Sox in town the excitement level was turned up a notch. And excitement was the watchword tonight as the Rays pulled out an inspiring, come-from-behind 5-4 walk-off win over the Sox in 10 innings after trailing most of the game to extend the win streak to 7. Boston jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the 7th after getting 3 off the decent-but-hittable Shane McClanahan (5.2 8 3 3 0 8) and one more off Mitchell Verburg. Meanwhile Justin Dunn was shutting down the Rays offense but that changed in the 7th when they sent 8 men to the plate and picked up 3 runs to get back in it. RBI singles from Spencer Torkelson and Brandon Marsh along with a sac fly from Vidal Brujan got them close, and in the 8th Austin Meadows singled and with two out LHB Nick Schnell was due but the Sox brought in a lefty. In yours truly's best managerial move of the year, I brought in Keston Hiura to pinch-hit and Hiura ripped a double into the gap to score Meadows and tie the game. Nick Anderson struck out the side in a perfect 8th and Aaron Ashby had a scoreless ninth. Sox closer Robinson Pina struck out all 3 Rays in the 9th, and Jasseel De La Cruz whiffed a pair in the 10th, bringing us to the bottom of the inning when Pina didn't quite have it for the next inning. Brujan led off with a single and Wander Franco doubled into the RCF gap, scoring Brujan with the winner and setting off a wild scene at the Trop. The win brings the teams tied in the standings although Boston is ahead on percentage points at 23-13 to the Rays' 25-15.

Game 2: The Rays continue to not hit very much but keep getting excellent pitching and that combo was enough for a 3-1 win over Boston - their 8th straight - to move into sole possession of first place. Unfortunately the win came at a high price as Nick Schnell tore his posterior cruciate ligament beating out an infield single in the 4th inning and is done for the year. But in something out of a storybook his replacement Hunter Bishop delivered the big blow of the game, a 2-run double in the 6th to break a 1-1 tie. Bishop should get the bulk of the time in left, with Spencer Torkelson playing some more outfield and Keston Hiura getting some more DH at-bats. Before that it was a duel between Mitchell White and Boston's Rick Porcello, who has given the Rays problems in the past. The Sox scored in the top of the 1st off White on a double and two groundouts, and the Rays equalized in the bottom of the inning when Wander Franco executed a hit-and-run with Vidal Brujan by doubling down the RF line and driving Brujan home. It stayed that way but Boston had a few big threats that the Rays had to extinguish. First White ran out of gas in the 6th, putting two on with one out (and leaving with a 5.1 2 1 1 4 7 line) and Mitch Keller got the final two outs to snuff out that rally, and thanks to Bishop's double, picked up his second win of the week. Then Keller got himself into some trouble in the 7th putting two of his own on and Jose Alvarado came in and got two whiffs with men on 2nd and 3rd after a double steal. He stayed in for the 8th and whiffed two more, only throwing 20 pitches in his 1 2/3 innings. Nick Anderson grabbed save #2 with a couple of strikeouts in the 9th. The Rays only totaled 6 hits but made them count, with a good sign that the top of the order (Brujan/Wander) each had a pair.

May 18: Placed OF Nick Schnell on the 60-day IL with a torn PCL, recalled OF Bramdon Perez from AAA Durham.

It was either Perez or Heston Kjerstad and I chose Perez's more powerful bat over Kjerstad's better glove, not that either were going to play very much as seen from how much Hunter Bishop had played prior to the Schnell injury. This also opens up a 40-man spot in case we want to add someone in trade, sign a free agent or promote someone not on the 40-man.

Game 3: The continued lack of scoring finally came back to bite them as the 8-game winning streak was snapped by Boston 3-2 today. Tyler Glasnow got the start and was great through 6 and with the Rays up 2-1 it looked like another of their low-scoring triumphs. But as he did when Boston was in town last month, their catching prospect Pierson Gibis came off the bench and delivered a big 2-run HR with today's coming in the 7th inning to put Boston on top for good. Glasnow ended 7 5 3 3 1 10 with one pitch he'd like to have back and Aaron Ashby finished the game with 2 perfect innings. The Rays' offense came in the 4th today when Austin Meadows and Alec Bohm led the inning off with doubles and Keibert Ruiz singled home Bohm. They had some chances here and there (10 hits on the day for a change) but couldn't get it done when it counted. The loss drops them back into a tie with Boston although they're 2nd on percentage points.

Team record: 26-16. Next up: An off-day followed by a 2-game set at home with the Miami Roughnecks.

Art Deco · 09-17-2020, 05:58 PM

Game 1: It was the typical Trop game for the Rays where they get just enough offense to back great pitching as they took care of the Roughnecks 5-1 behind Matt Manning. The righty continued to roll, going 6 5 1 1 3 6 to lower his AL-leading ERA to 1.81 and improve to 5-2, and while it was a 3-1 game Jose Alvarado (perfect inning, 2 Ks) and Nick Anderson (perfect inning, 1 K) did their thing. After the Rays added insurance in the eighth to make it 5-1, Asa Lacy finished out the game against his old team with a pair of Ks of his own in the 9th. The Rays scrounged for their first 3 runs, getting them on a groundout and a couple of sac flies with Alec Bohm getting one of each and Keibert Ruiz the other scoring fly ball. Spencer Torkelson's 2-out, 2-run double in the 8th was their only RBI hit of the night as they only had 6 hits for the game. The Red Sox won for the second straight night against Detroit, so they remain 1/2 game up on the Rays.

Game 2: The Rays dropped a tough one today 4-3 to Miami. Dustin May was rolling along through 5 innings with a 2-0 lead but Miami strung together a walk, several hits, and a key Wander Franco error to score all 4 of their runs in the 6th, with the big hit a 2-run single by onetime Rays farmhand Lucius Fox. May went 5.1 7 4 3 2 7 and the pen did a good job keeping them in it the rest of the way with Daniel Lynch in particular getting all 6 of his outs on whiffs. Keibert Ruiz was the offensive star, going 4-5 with an RBI but unfortunately the one out he made was the last one of the game. Alec Bohm had a sac fly for RBI #40 and Bramdon Perez, getting a start in his first Rays appearance, drove in the other run with a fielder's choice but went 0-4. Meanwhile the Red Sox keep winning so they're back up 1 1/2 games.

Team record: 27-17. Next up: another off-day followed by 3 weekend games in New York against the 11-33 Yankees.

Art Deco · 09-17-2020, 09:57 PM

With Nick Schnell going down for the year, it opened up a 40-man spot, and one weakness this team has had since Nelson Cruz in 2022 has been a big right-handed power bat. Obviously Spencer Torkelson fills that bill to some extent but Cruz was our last true lefty-masher. So there just happened to be one of those guys still sitting out there as a free agent, and it wasn't a 44-year-old Cruz. So welcome this guy to the team:

Now you can't believe everything you read. Nunez is not taking Alec Bohm's job at 1B. But he will DH against lefties, and maybe even some righties, and of course he can spell Bohm at 1B as we didn't have a true 2nd 1B on the roster (Torkelson can play the position if need be but he's a 35).

Bramdon Perez will go back to Durham to make room on the active roster.

Art Deco · 09-18-2020, 12:33 AM

Game 1: The Yankees are 12-33 on the season but now 3-2 vs the Rays as they recovered from blowing a 7-1 lead to take an 8-7 win. Shane McClanahan had his worst outing as a Ray and couldn't get an out in the 2nd, going 1 6 7 6 3 0 with 6 of the 7 runs coming in that 2nd and the Rays finding themselves behind 7-1. But up against Gerrit Cole the Rays fought their way back, initially with a pair of HRs from Keibert Ruiz driving in 3 to get them back within 7-5 in the 5th and chasing Cole, and then Keston Hiura came through with another big pinch-hit, a 2-run double with 2 out in the 7th to tie the game. Meanwhile, the bullpen pieced together the rest of the game to get there, first Asa Lacy (more on him in a minute) going 2 1/3 scoreless, then Mitchell Verburg with 2 2/3 more, and Nick Anderson got a 1-2-3 7th. But in the bottom of the 8th with lefties due up, Jose Alvarado couldn't get it done, walking the lefty Mike Tauchman and giving up an RBI single to lefty and former Ray Brandon Lowe. And despite the 6-run comeback, the Rays squandered an opportunity in the 4th with the bases loaded and nobody out, failing to score, and loaded the bases again in the 6th with 2 out but couldn't get anyone home. As for Asa Lacy, he had to leave the game with a sore shoulder and will be out 45 days, so a pitcher will have to summoned from Durham. It won't be Sandy Gaston right away at least, as he started the other night for the Bulls (and was impressive, going 6 4 1 1 2 8), so Nick Frasso is the most likely choice. At least Texas beat Boston so no ground was lost.

Game 2: The Rays took out their frustrations over last night's close loss by pummeling the Yankees 18-0. After Vidal Brujan scored on a Luis Severino wild pitch in the 1st, the Rays blew it open in the 3rd with 7 runs on the strength of Brandon Marsh, who led off the inning with a homer and capped the inning with another homer, a 3-run blast, becoming the first Ray to homer twice in the same inning since Julio Lugo did it in 2006 when they were called the Devil Rays and doubling his season total in the process. The Rays added 7 more in the 7th highlighted by Hunter Bishop's first homer of the year and a 3-run blast by Austin Meadows and tacked on two more in the 8th on a Keibert Ruiz single. Everyone in the starting lineup had at least one hit and one RBI except Wander Franco, who apparently didn't get the invitation to the party and went 0-5. Tyler Glasnow said thank you for the run support and went 6 5 0 0 0 9 to go 7-3, 3.19 and Daniel Lynch went the final 3 to pick up his 2nd save despite the score. Renato Nunez made his Rays debut in the 8th and of all things beat out a slow roller for an infield single in his first at-bat. Boston won to stay 1 game ahead.

Game 3: Brandon Marsh stayed hot with another homer as the Rays downed the Yankees 7-3 to finally take a lead in the season series against the AL's worst team. Marsh's 2-run HR, his 3rd in 2 days, made a 2-0 game a 4-0 game which proved to be important as the Yankees chipped away at Mitchell White to get within 4-3, including an inside-the-park HR from Skyler Messinger. The Rays broke out first as Vidal Brujan continued his road back to normal by singling, stealing second and scoring on an Austin Meadows force out and then Brujan walked in the 3rd and came around to score on a Renato Nunez sac fly as the new signing made his first start today spelling Alec Bohm. The Yankees though made things interesting and in the 6th with two out White threw a wild pitch putting runners on 2nd and 3rd and another Mitch, Keller, came in and got Messinger (who was 3-3 off White) to strike out to end the threat. And then the Rays added 3 in the 7th on a 2-out, 2-RBI single from Keston Hiura (who continues to be clutch) and an RBI single from Chris Betts, giving Keibert Ruiz a breather. Keller stayed on through the eighth going 2.1 1 0 0 0 3, and Nick Frasso pitched the 9th, getting all 3 outs on whiffs including Gleyber Torres to end the game. White still picked up the win despite a mediocre 5.2 7 3 3 2 7 line as he goes to 5-2, 2.98. Unfortunately the Rays received no help from Texas as Boston beat them again to stay 1 game ahead.

Team record: 29-18. Up next: 4 games in Cleveland as the road trip continues.

Art Deco · 09-18-2020, 02:50 PM

Game 1: Matt Manning continued to do Matt Manning things, and Brandon Marsh homered for the 4th time in 3 games to lead the Rays to an 8-0 thumping of Cleveland. Manning went 7 2 0 0 2 5 to lower his MLB-leading ERA to 1.61 and improve to 6-2. Mitchell Verburg completed the team shutout pitching the last 2 innings. Like yesterday, Marsh turned a 2-0 lead into a 5-0 lead with a 3-run shot (#6) off Triston McKenzie in the 4th, after Keibert Ruiz homered (#5) in the first and the Rays picked up a run on a Cleveland error in the 3rd. They added a run on a double play grounder in the 5th and Ruiz's 2-run double in the 9th completed the scoring. Boston was idle on this Memorial Day so the Rays creep to within 1/2 game of the division lead.

Game 2: Tonight wasn't the Rays' night as Cleveland jumped on Dustin May early and the Rays lost 6-2. In the first May walked the leadoff man, gave up a single, and then grooved one for Eric Herman who deposited the pitch into the RF stands to make it 3-0 and that would be all Cleveland would need. May was under constant duress, and ended 4.2 9 5 5 3 4 before being pulled for Daniel Lynch, who looked good again in long relief, going 3.1 3 1 1 0 3 and if May continues to struggle their roles could be reversed. Austin Meadows was the Rays offense with a 2-run HR (#6) in the 4th off Jimmy Nelson which gave them some hope as they pulled to within 4-2 but they could only manage 5 hits off Nelson, who's given them trouble in the past, in his 7.1 innings. Keibert Ruiz continued hot with 2 more hits, and Renato Nunez got another start, giving Spencer Torkelson a night off and he picked up 2 singles as well. Meanwhile Boston is playing the Yankees so don't look for any help there as tonight the Red Sox pasted them 9-0 to move to 1 1/2 ahead of the Rays.

Game 3: Buoyed by a strong defensive performance, the Buccaneers beat the Browns 14-0....wait, I'm being told that was the Tampa Bay-Cleveland baseball score. The Rays got their second rout in the first three games of this series as they bludgeoned Cleveland again. And who else but the red-hot Brandon Marsh was in the middle of it all? Once again he waited until the Rays were up 2-0 to strike, and he did in the 5th with a solo HR (his 5th in 5 games) as part of a 3-5, 4 RBI night. The Rays got on the board in the 3rd on an Alec Bohm RBI double and a Hunter Bishop sac fly. Unfortunately, Bohm sprained his MCL on that play and will be out 40 days, so good thing we signed Renato Nunez. Marsh's HR kick-started a 7-run 5th inning which featured the first of Austin Meadows' 2 HRs today, a 3-run blast, Keston Hiura had an RBI single, and while he didn't homer a second time in an inning like the other day, Marsh had a 2-run single to give him 3 RBI in the inning. Marsh's RBI double and a 3-run Wander blast (#12) added 4 more in the 7th and then Meadows kicked the extra point with his second HR in the 8th. Enjoying the view of all these Rays runners circling the bases was Shane McClanahan, who came in off a couple of not-so-great starts but rebounded with a 7 5 0 0 2 8 performance to get his ERA back down to 3.29 and pick up his 2nd win. Nick Frasso pitched the final 2 innings against his old organization without allowing a run to complete another team shutout. And yes, Boston beat the Yankees again so no help there.

May 29: Placed 1B Alec Bohm on the 10-day IL with a sprained MCL, recalled OF Bramdon Perez from AAA Durham.

As mentioned above, the signing of Renato Nunez looks very sagacious now, he will probably get the bulk of the time at 1B, although Triston Casas can play there too with Keston Hiura sliding in at 3B. Perez probably won't get too many ABs but could spell Bishop in LF from time-to-time.

Game 4: The Rays romped again in Cleveland, today by the score of 7-1. Keibert Ruiz, who is now 20 for his last 37 with 4 HR and 14 RBI in that span, raising his average from .268 to .329 in the process, went 4-5 today with a HR and 3 RBI to lead the way. Hunter Bishop was 3-4 with a 2-RBI double in the 1st as well, and both Vidal Brujan and Wander Franco had 3 hits today as well. Tyler Glasnow rolled with all those runs, going 6.1 6 1 1 2 9 to improve to 8-3, 3.04 and Aaron Ashby and Mitchell Verburg combined for a scoreless 2 2/3 innings. As predicted, Boston swept the Yankees so the Rays will just have to take care of their own business when they go to Boston tomorrow.

Team record: 32-19. Next up: 3 big games in Fenway.

Art Deco · 09-19-2020, 09:41 AM

Game 1: The first game of the series was rained out on Friday night, so we're playing a day/night doubleheader on Saturday. And in Game 1, the Rays fell to Boston 4-2 to drop 2 1/2 behind as Matt Manning proved to be human, even if Brandon Marsh may not be. Manning was touched for a two-out run in the 1st, gave up a Monte Harrison longball in the 2nd, and 2 more in the 5th as he went 5 6 4 4 2 4 to see his ERA rise to 2.00. Nick Frasso was great in relief, pitching 3 perfect innings with 3 Ks to keep the Rays within shouting distance, but they couldn't get enough offense against Bryan Mata and company. They manufactured a run in the 3rd on a Vidal Brujan single, steal and Austin Meadows sac fly, and Brandon Marsh homered again in the 7th, his 6th in a little over a week but that was it. Renato Nunez did not look good, going 0-4 with 3 whiffs. And although he had 2 hits, it was a rare 2-whiff day for Wander Franco with the second whiff ending the game.

Game 2: It was a miserable day for the Rays at Fenway, matching the weather as there was a 55-minute rain delay to prolong their being swept. Boston beat them 10-6 to pull 3 1/2 games in front in the AL East as another Rays starter couldn't get it done. This time it was Mitchell White, who gave up 4 in the first but wasn't helped by a Vidal Brujan error but Monte Harrison's 2-run HR (him again) was all on him. After falling behind 5-0 after 2, the Rays battled back to tie it in the 3rd with Wander Franco's grand slam (#13) off Matthew Boyd the equalizer. But Eric Cole hit the first of his 2 HRs today off White in the bottom of the 3rd, and White left with a 2.2 8 7 4 1 2 line. Daniel Lynch wasn't the shutdown long man he had been recently, either giving up 2 more in the 4th and Boston was up 9-5 and on the way to victory. Renato Nunez had his first Rays extra-base hit, a double off the Monster, and scored on a Spencer Torkelson RBI grounder (Tork hasn't homered in ages by the way) but Eric Cole hit HR #2 of the game off Mitchell Verburg to get that run back. Vidal Brujan was 3-4 to give him 5 hits for the day as his bat is back, but even that was offset by his key error.

While it's small consolation after yesterday's doubleheader loss, this was still nice to see:

Game 3: It was the Boston Massacre for the Rays as the Red Sox thumped them 7-0 to sweep the series and move 4 1/2 games ahead in the standings, the farthest behind the Rays have been since 2021. In the "I don't know what I was expecting" category, Dustin May and his 5.86 ERA started away from the friendly confines of the Trop and like the two starters yesterday put the Rays in an immediate hole by giving up a 3-run HR to Yasmani Grandal. Grandal hit a 2-run shot off May his next time up as well as the righty went 4.2 9 7 7 2 5 in another terrible outing on the road. His home/road split is a 2.88 ERA at the Trop in 25 innings with a 6/26 BB/K ratio; on the road he has a 9.49 ERA allowing 49 hits in 30.1 innings with 19 walks. His next scheduled start is at home, which keeps him in the rotation for another turn. For what it's worth Aaron Ashby had 3 Ks in 1 1/3 scoreless and Mitch Keller had 2 scoreless innings. Of course however bad May was it didn't matter as the "offense" couldn't get a run against Justin Dunn, although they did bang out 10 hits off him in his 8 innings but they were definitely scattered and Dunn didn't walk anybody.

Team record: 32-22. Next up: Back home thankfully, starting with 3 vs Atlanta.

Art Deco · 09-19-2020, 02:48 PM

Game 1: Renato Nunez had his first big hit as a Ray, hitting a 2-out grand slam in the 6th to break a 4-4 tie and leading the Rays to a high-scoring-for-the-Trop 10-6 win over Atlanta. They had built a 4-0 lead which included an RBI double on Bramdon Perez's first MLB hit and an RBI single from Triston Casas, and Shane McClanahan was dealing, perfect through 4 1/3. He then lost the perfect game with a walk, the no-hitter with a single, and the shutout with an RBI single on consecutive batters in the 5th but still led 4-1. But things unraveled for him in the 6th, allowing a run and leaving with men on 2nd and 3rd. Aaron Ashby came in and got Freddie Freeman but allowed a 2-run, 2-out single by Mookie Betts to tie the game. This set the stage for Nunez's heroics as he went deep off Pedro Avila with the bases loaded to send the Trop into a frenzy. Ashby picked up his first win of the year, and Nick Anderson saw his first action in 10 days with a perfect inning in the 8th. The Rays added 2 more on a Wander RBI double and an Austin Meadows RBI single and with a 6-run Mitchell Verburg came on for the 9th. He immediately got into trouble thanks to a Nunez error, a hit and a walk to load the bases and Jasseel De La Cruz came in for the first time in 16 days (!), walked a man in but got through it as a run scored on a double play and the Rays held on. Perez followed his first MLB hit with two more in a 3-4 day and Wander was 2-3 with 2 walks and the RBI. Boston lost in Anaheim so the division deficit is down to 3 1/2.

Game 2: In almost a carbon copy of last night's game the Rays won 10-5 after getting a big lead early, seeing Atlanta come back and make it close in the late innings, and then winning comfortably. Tonight's hero was Keston Hiura, who was 3-3 with a 3-run HR (#3) in the 2nd off Corbin Clouse to give the Rays a 4-0 lead, and was 3-3 for the night with 2 walks, 4 runs scored and a double to go with the longball. After Ronald Acuna Jr hit a 2-run HR off Tyler Glasnow in the 4th to make it 4-2, Spencer Torkelson hit his first HR (#9) since May 7 and only his second since April 25, a 2-run blast that restored the 4-run lead. But Atlanta wouldn't quit and Freddie Freeman made it 6-4 in the 6th with a 2-run blast off Glasnow, and in the 7th Ramon Urias took Tyler deep to make it 6-5. Glasnow ended with a weird 7 5 5 5 3 4 line but still notched win his MLB-leading 9th win. Chris Betts had an RBI double in the bottom of the inning to make it a little more comfortable at 7-5 but Nick Anderson ran into trouble giving up two hits with one out and Freeman coming to the plate. Enter Jose Alvarado (for the first time in 11 days, we haven't had late & close leads lately, either blowouts or losses) who struck out Freeman and got Jose Ramirez to pop out to end the threat. Then the Rays put 3 more on the board in the bottom of the 8th on Austin Meadows' 9th HR of the year, a Chris Betts bases-loaded walk and a Brandon Marsh RBI single. Nick Frasso had a scoreless 9th to close it out. Boston won in 10 at Anaheim to stay 3 1/2 up.

June 4: Optioned P Aaron Ashby to AAA Durham, recalled P Sandy Gaston from AAA Durham.

It's a paper move for Ashby as we call up Gaston to start as the rainout last Friday means there's no regular rotation member with sufficient rest. Gaston has been brilliant in his 2 starts in the Durham rotation since being sent down earlier, and will go back tomorrow.

Game 3: The Sandy Gaston spot start didn't work out as the Rays fell to Atlanta 5-4. The Rays grabbed a 2-1 lead after 2 on Keston Hiura's 4th HR of the season but Gaston gave up 2 in the 3rd and 2 more in the 5th on the way to a 4.1 6 5 5 3 2 line, and although a 2-run HR by Renato Nunez got the Rays back to within 5-4 in bottom of the 6th they couldn't push the tying across, most notably in the 9th with 2 men on when Vidal Brujan flew out to end the game. Nunez also drove in the Rays run in the 1st with a double and Mitch Keller had a nice 3 1 0 0 1 4 outing to keep them in the game. Fortunately the Red Sox lost so they didn't slip any further behind.

Team record: 34-23. Next up: 4 games at home vs Baltimore.

Art Deco · 09-19-2020, 10:50 PM

It's draft time again, and this year we had the 31st overall pick along with a supplemental first rounder (37th overall) for losing Rafael Devers to free agency.

Here are the players from the top 5 rounds:

1st round, 31st overall: 18-year-old switch-hitting RF Kevin Schell, West Valley City UT. Tools? He has tools. Potential 75 power, already has a 70 outfield arm, and a potential 60 eye. Contact as always with these types is an issue. And if he makes the team while we still have Nick Schnell it will be a lot of fun keeping those two straight.

1st round (supplemental), 37th overall: 22-year-old RHB SS Dane Ayres, Ohio State. Does a lot of things well, polished player. Already a 70 LF should he move there, sure-handed, 75 baserunner, potential 55 contact, potential 60 power. Could move quickly.

2nd round, 71st overall: 18-year-old Eddie Waun LHB CF from Winterset, IA. More tools. 70 outfield range, potential 70 HR & gap power, potential 60 eye, 70 basestealer & 70 baserunner, again he'll go as far as he can make contact.

3rd round, 99th overall: 18-year Joe Dameron, RHB CF from Gainesville, FL. 70 arm, 60 range in CF, potential 70 eye and 60 avoid Ks, 50 power and 60 baserunner.

4th round, 129th overall: 20-year-old Jon Whiteleather RHP from Monterey Peninsula JUCO. Projected as a closer, he throws 97-99 and has 4.5-star potential with potential 70 stuff. Could also move quickly if he harnesses it.

5th round, 160th overall: 18-year-old Yuuto Uehara, RHP from Benedictine High School via Japan. Has a legit fastball and a pretty good forkball, which you don't see often. He's 94-96 with decent-average stuff, but he has a wide repertoire of pitches. A real boom or bust pick.

Overall thoughts: Last couple of drafts I've loaded up on power-hitting HS OFers, and the hope here is that a couple of them turn out to be the real deal. A little lighter on pitching than I've hoped, but we have quite a few potential aces in the pipeline (Mack Anglin, Christian Little, Jack Leiter, Andy Aparicio and Billy Tacuri) so I'd like to also develop some bats.

Art Deco · 09-19-2020, 10:59 PM

Game 1: Boston won its afternoon game by thrashing the Angels 11-0, so the pressure was on the Rays to keep pace. And they did, just barely, in a 4-3 win over the Orioles which saw another outstanding effort from Matt Manning. He took a 1-hitter into the 7th with that only hit being a Jo Adell homer and had a 4-1 lead, but he gave up a couple of hits around a Vidal Brujan error and Baltimore got an unearned run to cut it to 4-2. And with his pitch count at a reasonable 95, he started the 8th and faced Adell again, with the same result as the first time with another solo homer. He then came out for Jose Alvarado who got through the rest of the inning with a walk, and Jasseel De La Cruz got save #12 despite allowing a 2-out double. Manning improves to 7-3 with his 7 4 3 2 0 7 outing and his ERA ticks up to 2.04. The offense took a while to arrive but they got a pair in the 5th on a Brandon Marsh RBI single and a Wander Franco RBI double, and then two more in the 6th on Hunter Bishop's 2nd HR of the year, with a man on.

Game 2: Wander Franco went 4-5 with 2 doubles and 4 RBI, Keston Hiura was 2-4 with a double and 3 RBI, and Mitchell White threw 6 strong innings to lead the Rays to an easy 8-1 win over Baltimore. Franco and Hiura each had 2-run doubles in a 4-run 2nd, and with White in control they never looked back. The righthander went 6 4 1 0 2 7 to improve to 6-3, 3.14 and Nick Frasso got his first major league save with 3 innings of shutout ball. In 13 2/3 innings so far, the rookie righty has an 0/13 BB/K ratio and 1.32 ERA and may have found himself up to stay. Vidal Brujan was 3-5 and now finds his average up to .254, and Hunter Bishop had another nice game with a pair of hits. Boston won in Oakland so the Rays remain 3 1/2 back; after 4 years, it looks like the Rays finally have a worthy AL East challenger.

Game 3: The Rays couldn't get the bats going today and lost 3-1 to Baltimore. Bryar Johnson was tough on them, not allowing a hit until Chris Betts singled with two out in the fifth and went 7 4 1 1 3 5. Hunter Bishop's RBI double in the 6th was the only Rays run, although they looked like they might mount a rally in the 8th when Vidal Brujan and Wander Franco led off with singles, but Austin Meadows grounded into a double play and Renato Nunez struck out. And in the 9th Keston Hiura and pinch-hitter Keibert Ruiz singled with 2 out, but Brandon Marsh grounded out to end the game. Shane McClanahan was decent today (6.1 7 3 3 2 6) but Greg Diechmann's 2-run HR in 4th was his undoing. Mitch Keller got McClanahan out of the 7th and after he put a couple on in the 8th, Aaron Ashby struck out the next 3 batters as the bullpen continues to pitch well. The A's beat Boston so at least no ground was lost.

Game 4: This really is started to look like a wild-card, rather than division-winning, caliber team as they can't get the bats going once again and lose 6-1 to Baltimore. Gave Dustin May one more chance to start, given how well he's pitched at the Trop but he wasn't that good today, going 4.1 5 3 3 3 4 and he and his 6.49 ERA are now out of the rotation. We have an off day coming up so need immediate need to replace him but Daniel Lynch will probably get first crack. Sandy Gaston could get another shot, and Jimmy Lewis and Emerson Hancock are pitching very well at Durham right now so there are options. The other choice today would have been to start Tyler Glasnow, but with the offense only mustering one run and six hits it was probably the right move to pass as unless he pitched a shutout it would have been a wasted start. Unlike yesterday, the bullpen didn't keep it close as Lynch, Mitchell Verburg and Aaron Ashby each allowed a run to let Baltimore win comfortably. A Wander sac fly accounted for our only run, while Triston Casas led off the 5th with a triple but was stranded in their other best chance to score. And Boston won today so their lead is now up to a season-high 4 1/2.

Team record: 36-25. Next up: An off-day followed by a pair of games at CitiField against the Mets.

Art Deco · 09-20-2020, 05:11 PM

Game 1: Tyler Glasnow was the star today with both his arm and his bat as the Rays romped today against the Mets to the tune of 9-1. With the bases loaded in the top of the 2nd, Glasnow delivered a 2-run single off New York starter Franklyn Kilome to put the Rays ahead 2-0 and give them all the runs they'd need. That was because Glasnow did it with his arm as well, going 7 5 1 1 3 9 to become MLB's first 10-game winner and lowering his ERA to 3.17. He also was the first in MLB to go over 100 strikeouts with 104. The rest of the offense made sure this wouldn't be a nail-biter, with Hunter Bishop getting his first MLB 4-hit game in 5 trips. Keston Hiura's RBI single in the 3rd made it 3-1, and Austin Meadows had a 2-run single in the 4th to open up the lead to 5-1. Vidal Brujan, Wander Franco, Keibert Ruiz and Brandon Marsh also had an RBI apiece as the Rays totaled 15 hits. Mitchell Verburg pitched the final 2 innings without incident. Unfortunately Boston refuses to lose, beating Atlanta in 14 innings, after scoring 7 in the 9th inning to tie the game. How can you compete with that?

Game 2: It's not every day you win a 2-1 game with the combination of an inside-the-park HR and a bases-loaded walk but that's what the Rays did today to sweep their 2-game series over the Mets at CitiField. In the 2nd, Keston Hiura hit one into the LCF gap that took a funny bounce and that was all he needed to speed his way around the bases for his 5th HR of the season, and he was the man at the plate when Reynaldo Lopez got wild in the 6th, walking Hunter Bishop to load the bases and then Hiura behind him. That was enough for Matt Manning as he went 7 4 1 1 2 5 to get win #8 and bring his ERA back below 2 at 1.99. Manning walked the leadoff man in the 8th, and Jose Alvarado came in and whiffed righty batters Ronnie Mauricio and Pete Alonso to end that mini-threat. Jasseel De La Cruz issued a two-out walk to Michael Conforto but struck out Will Toffey to end the game and grab save #13. The Rays only managed 6 hits today, and Manning had one of them as both Rays starters in this series picked one up. Atlanta shut out Boston today behind Robbie Ray (who has the only better ERA in MLB than Manning at 1.66) so the Rays for the first time in a while pick up a game on Boston and are now 3 1/2 back.

Team record: 38-25. Next up: Our first visit to Toronto this season for 4 games against an improved Jays side which is 32-29. In fact aside from the woeful Yankees the other 4 AL East teams all have winning records.

Art Deco · 09-20-2020, 09:14 PM

Game 1: In a game where they were looking safe for a win only for Toronto to make it close before getting some breathing room again, the Rays won the opener of this 4-game set at Rogers Centre 8-5 over the Blue Jays. Austin Meadows had the big hit, a 3-run HR (#10) in the 3rd inning that gave the Rays a 5-2 lead, and a Vidal Brujan sac fly made it 6-2 in the 6th. But entrusted in a medium-leverage situation, Nick Frasso served up a 3-run HR to Bo Bichette to allow Toronto to cut the lead to 6-5. Jose Alvarado got a key double play to get out of that inning, and then the Rays added 2 more in the 8th for some insurance on a Brandon Marsh sac fly and a Brujan RBI grounder. Nick Anderson got through the 8th, and Jasseel De La Cruz pitched a perfect 9th for save #14. The pitching was an issue today as Mitchell White had to leave in the 4th with a sprained elbow (he's DtD for a week so Dustin May could get a reprieve) and Mitch Keller picked up the middle-inning slack, going 2 2/3 with 1 run allowed to pick up his 4th win. Keston Hiura was on base all 4 times today with 2 hits, a walk and an HBP. Since getting regular playing time in late May, he's gone 20 for his last 43 with 6 walks, getting on base at over a .500 clip during this stretch and he's now hitting 352/428/563 for the season. Boston won so no ground gained.

Game 2: Coming in I knew this was a game where we'd have to score a lot of runs to win given the depleted state of the bullpen along with a bit of a lack of faith in Shane McClanahan against Toronto's righty-dominated lineup. And sure enough it was as despite taking a 10-0 lead, it got within 11-9 before the Rays ended up prevailing 13-9. Leading the charge again was Keston Hiura, whom the Jays cannot simply get out. And I mean that literally as after reaching base all 4 times yesterday he did likewise in all 5 of his trips today, and he kicked off the scoring with the first of his two HRs in the 2nd to make it 2-0. Vidal Brujan knocked in another run in the inning and then Wander Franco hit the first of his 2 HRs, a 2-run shot off Matt Wisler to make it 5-0. And then after Chris Betts had an RBI single in the 3rd, Wander launched a grand slam to make it 10-0. But McClanahan, in trouble all night, gave up 3 in the bottom of the inning but managed to make his way through 5 on 101 pitches, going 5 9 3 3 3 5 but picking up his 3rd win. Still things got dicey. Nick Frasso came in and gave up 2 more HRs to make it 10-5 after 6. Hiura hit his 2nd HR in the top of the 7th to make it 11-5 but Frasso and Mitchell Verburg combined to allow 4 more Jays runs in the bottom of the inning to cut the lead to 11-9. Brandon Marsh homered in the 8th to make it 12-9, and Verburg somehow managed to get through the 8th without being scored upon. Betts added another RBI single in the 9th so last man available Nick Anderson didn't have a save situation but even he managed to put a couple of men on before whiffing Ryan McKenna to mercifully end the game. Speaking of people that can't be retired, Vlad Jr. was 4-4 with a walk and 3 RBI for the Jays, who actually outhit the Rays 18-13 but were out-homered 5-2. Boston was bombarded by Oakland today 15-7 so we actually gained a game to get within 2 1/2.

June 14: Optioned P Nick Frasso to AAA Durham, recalled P Luke Little from AAA Durham.

Luke Little was our 2nd round pick all the way back in 2020, a 6'8" lefty who consistently throws 100 mph and has been a setup man/closer for Durham since mid-season last year. Obviously he can whiff people, the issue is his 40 control. With Frasso frazzled from giving up 3 HRs the last 2 nights, I needed an extra arm.

Game 3: You could say I've disrespected Daniel Lynch this year, relegating him to long relief. After all he was 15-6, 3.44 last season, has pitched some fine games in the playoffs, etc. Still, Dustin May was great last year in the first half before getting hurt and Shane McClanahan was great in the second half so Lynch and his less-than-shiny advanced stats ended up the odd man out of the rotation after Mitchell White was acquired to replace Walker Buehler. So with May blowing up this year it was time to make a change and Lynch got first crack and he did quite well with that shot today as the Rays beat the Jays for their 5th straight win (and 6th straight against Toronto) 6-3. Lynch isn't the hardest thrower in the rotation but he whiffed 5 in the first two innings on his way to a 6.2 6 3 3 0 9 performance. Most of the damage against him was two solo HRs by (who else?) Vlad Jr. (Speaking of people who couldn't be retired, Keston Hiura was today going 0-4). But Lynch hung in there and got just about everyone else out, and Aaron Ashby did a nice job getting him out of the 7th and getting a 1-2-3 8th. Jasseel De La Cruz made everyone nervous by allowing the first two he faced to single, but got the next three including a whiff of Justin Ellison to end the game for save #15. The Rays actually were behind 3-2 after 6 when Vlad hit his 2nd HR but Miguel Castro loaded the bases and Keibert Ruiz came through with a bases-clearing triple to make it 5-3 in the top of the 7th. Keibert also had an RBI single to provide a little insurance in the 9th, while Hunter Bishop's RBI double and Triston Casas' sac fly accounted for their first 2 runs in the 2nd. And the A's bombed Boston again 12-6 so we're within 1 1/2 (although 3 back in the loss column).

Game 4: It was the 2021 Cy Young winner vs the 2023 Cy Young winner, so a pitchers' duel was expected. That's not what we got though as Nate Pearson and Tyler Glasnow were both terrible, the former with his control and the latter allowing too many hits/HRs. Glasnow was rocked for 4 runs in the 2nd on a Byron Buxton 2-run double and a Bo Bichette 2-run HR, but the Rays rallied with 5 in the 4th when Pearson lost the plate, walking 4 in the inning and allowing runs on sac flies from Triston Casas and Wander Franco (his MLB-leading 62nd RBI) and singles from Keibert Ruiz and Austin Meadows. Given a new lease on the game, Glasnow could have buckled down but instead gave up another HR to Bichette, this one of the 3-run variety, and Toronto was back up 7-5 on the way to a 9-5 win. He gave up a couple of more hits after that and Dustin May came on in his first relief appearance of the season and got Glasnow out of it but gave up a couple of more runs over his 3 2/3 innings although he whiffed 5. Glasnow ended an ugly 3.1 10 7 7 2 4 in his worst outing of the season. Luke Little got to make his MLB debut in the 8th and although he gave up a hit to the leadoff man, he got the next 3 out albeit with no strikeouts. The offense was pretty much limited to that 4th inning as 4 Toronto relievers combined to give them only one hit and no walks over the final 5 1/3 innings. The win was Toronto's first in 7 games against the Rays this season. Fortunately no ground was lost as the A's completed a sweep of Boston in Fenway Park.

Team record: 41-26. Next up: 3 games at home vs the Yankees.

Art Deco · 09-21-2020, 03:16 PM

June 16: Optioned P Luke Little to AAA Durham, recalled P Jimmy Lewis from AAA Durham.

With Mitchell White not ready to go just yet, I still needed another starter so it's time to turn to Jimmy Lewis, who deserves the opportunity. He had a fine 2023 at Durham and started 2024 there before tearing a back muscle very early in the season and missing the rest of it. This year he's been lights out, going 6-2, 2.64 with 97 whiffs in 78 1/3 innings. He'll get the start tonight and we'll give Matt Manning an extra day's rest.

Game 1: Jimmy Lewis was very good in his MLB debut and should have picked up his first MLB win but Nick Anderson gave up an Aaron Judge HR in the 8th to tie the game. No matter, the Rays still won 6-3 and Lewis did not shy from the big stage. He struck out the first batter he faced, Hyo-jun Park, and ending up going 5.2 6 2 2 2 6. He gave up a 2-out double to Brandon Lowe in the 6th, and Aaron Ashby came in and was excellent himself, getting Aaron Hicks to fly out, pitching a perfect 7th and whiffing the leadoff man in the 8th. With 3 righties due up including Judge, it was Nick Anderson time, but instead it was Aaron Judge time as he deposited Anderson's 1-0 pitch into the LF stands and cost Lewis the win. He recovered, and ended up vulturing the win when Triston Casas led off the bottom of the inning with HR #6 off Trevor Bauer. That chased the Yankee starter and they added 2 more off reliever Tyler Zuber on RBI singles from Keibert Ruiz and Keston Hiura. Jasseel De La Cruz struck out the side for save #16. Earlier they had grabbed 3 runs off Bauer in the first when Bauer walked Vidal Brujan and Wander Franco, balked them to 2nd and 3rd, and then Ruiz and Austin Meadows brought them home on grounders before Hiura launched HR #8. And Toronto shocked Boston with 5 runs in the 9th to beat them 6-5, meaning we're only 1/2 game behind now.

Game 2: Matt Manning had a rare rough start* and the Rays fell to the Yankees 5-3. The Yankees are a terrible 20-48 but they're a more respectable 4-5 vs the Rays. Manning was hit for 2 runs in 1st, and one in the 2nd, 3rd and 5th with 4 of the Yankee runs scoring on sac flies. He ended 6 9 5 4 0 8 so he wasn't completely terrible, but the offense couldn't bail him out. Brujan tripled in the 3rd and scored on a Wander Franco single, and Hunter Bishop and Spencer Torkelson had 2-out RBI singles in the 5th, but like the Toronto game 2 days ago, they stopped hitting against the opponent's bullpen, with only one base hit over the last 3 2/3 innings. Mitch Keller whiffed 5 over the final 2 innings to keep it close. Thankfully Boston has gone into a deep funk, losing their 5th straight so the Rays remain 1/2 game behind.

*Chris Betts was catching today as Keibert Ruiz needed rest, and I remain convinced that he brings out the worst in Rays' pitchers. CERA is a crude stat, but Keibert's is 3.04 while Betts's is 4.97. When you see Matt Manning suddenly struggle, you have to wonder. And it would be one thing if he were hitting to offset this but tonight he was 0-4 and he's 200/290/291 for the season with 1 HR. Betts is out of minor league options so if I opt for someone else he's gone (he probably clears waivers). Noah Cardenas is the only other catcher on the 40-man but he's barely better defensively than Betts (50 to 45). If I stay in-house, I probably promote Patrick Bailey, who's a 60 catcher and is hitting 285/331/482 at Durham with good gap power (14 doubles in 132 AB).

June 18: Traded 28-year-old catcher Chris Betts and 26-year-old minor league second baseman Gregory Guerrero to the Oakland Athletics, getting 25-year-old minor league reliever Cole Patten in return. Purchased the contract of C Patrick Bailey from AAA Durham.

Alright, I talked myself into it. Betts seems like the stereotypical Oakland player, a low contact, high power, good eye type, and the return is Patten, who is ranked by BNN as the #81 prospect in baseball, and here are his details:

Intriguing, future trade bait at least. Guerrero was a minor league signing about 10 days ago, he was "make this work" ballast for the deal. And now Bailey gets his shot, as mentioned above he's a 60 defender, and is a better overall hitter than Betts but with more doubles than HR power. That's fine for a backup catcher, and if he doesn't pan out I'll end up dealing for a Mebrys Viloria-type.

Game 3: It was a grind, and the bullpen made it way too interesting in the final 2 innings, but the Rays held on for a 3-2 win over the Yankees. It was going to be tough as Vidal Brujan and Austin Meadows both needed a rest, so Greg Jones and Bramdon Perez got starts today facing Gerrit Cole. Mitchell White was on the bump for the Rays after missing a start due to elbow soreness, and he turned in a fine, if not clean, performance. Although it seemed he had at least one baserunner each of his 6 innings he didn't allow any of them to score, going 6 6 0 0 2 5 and improving to 7-3, 2.99. He left ahead 2-0 thanks to the big hit of the day, Perez's first MLB homer, a 2-run shot in the 4th off Cole. Jose Alvarado struck out the side in order in the 7th, but Nick Anderson is developing a bad habit of allowing HRs to the first man he faces and he did it again today to Gleyber Torres, who followed up his 4 hits from yesterday with 3 more today. Anderson then put men on first and third with one out, but got a groundball at a drawn-in infield and got out of it while not looking terribly good. In the bottom of the 8th Keston Hiura walked and the Yankees brought in a lefty so I pinch-hit for Perez with Spencer Torkelson, and Tork came through with a double down the line on an 0-2 pitch, scoring Hiura with what proved to be a critical insurance run. That was because Jasseel De La Cruz was less than convincing himself although Wander booted a ground ball that would have been the second out of the inning. Still he allowed 2 hits including one to Torres which made it 3-2, and again the Yanks had men on 1st and 3rd with 1 out. But De La Cruz whiffed Joe Allen and Aaron Judge to end the game and get save #17 as a collective "whew" was heard around the Trop. And hallelujah we're in first place again for the moment, as Boston's losing streak reached 6 games today (all at Fenway) falling again to Toronto.

Team record: 43-27. Next up: An off-day tomorrow followed by a 3-game weekend set against the Phillies. They boast a pretty fearsome power lineup these days with Francisco Lindor, Bryce Harper, Miguel Sano, old friend Nate Lowe and Gary Sanchez. They're 37-31 and in the thick of the NL East race with their Achilles heel being pitching especially now that $39.5M man Jacob deGrom is out for the year with a torn labrum.

Art Deco · 09-22-2020, 09:28 AM

Game 1: Shane McClanahan was great until he lost it, and the offense couldn't generate enough runs, which all added up to a 5-3 loss to the Phillies. With a 2-0 lead Mac was excellent through 4 shutout innings but Philly got to him in the 5th for a couple of runs to tie it which scored on a balk and a wild pitch, and then Francisco Lindor led off the 6th with a homer. McClanahan ended a respectable if disappointing 6 5 3 3 2 7. The normally reliable Mitch Keller took over in the 7th and was terrible, allowing two runs and Aaron Ashby had to get the last out of the inning. Ashby then had to leave the game with biceps tendinitis and will be out about 3 weeks so he's headed to the IL. Dustin May mopped up with two scoreless innings. The offense did end up with 12 hits and 2 walks but couldn't get hits when they needed them with 2 on and 1 out in both the 8th and 9th. Keibert Ruiz drove in the first two runs with an RBI groundout in the 1st and a single in the 3rd, and they got a run in the 9th on a Philly error but with the tying runs on base Austin Meadows flew out to end the game. Boston lost for the eighth straight game (including yesterday) so the Rays are now 1 game up on them and even in the loss column. The bad news is that they lost to Baltimore, which has won 8 straight and is 3 behind. Toronto's also hot, winning 5 in a row and are within 5 as the AL East is best it's been in years.

June 21: Placed P Aaron Ashby on the 15-day IL with biceps tendinitis, recalled P Luke Little from AAA Durham.

Little is back up as I needed another lefty in the pen, especially with Daniel Lynch now in the rotation. Ashby will definitely been missed as he's been very good this year.

Game 2: Daniel Lynch and the bullpen were brilliant in a 3-2 nail-biter win over the Phillies. All the runs for both teams were scored in the second inning but after Scott Kingery homered and former Ray Randy Arozarena doubled in a run, Lynch allowed nothing the rest of the way, going 7 3 2 2 0 7 for two wins in two starts since returning to the rotation. Nick Anderson got two whiffs to get through the 8th and with lefties Bryce Harper and Nate Lowe due in the 9th, Jose Alvarado got the call. He whiffed Harper, allowed a single to Miguel Sano, and then got Lowe to pop out. With the righty Kingery due, Jasseel De La Cruz came in and got him on a popup as well to nail down save #18. The Rays' runs came on an extended rally in the second when Austin Meadows led off with a single, Keston Hiura doubled him to 3rd, Meadows scored on a Spencer Torkelson sac fly and after Renato Nunez whiffed, Hunter Bishop singled in Hiura, and Brandon Marsh doubled in Bishop. They had the bases loaded with 1 out in the 6th, but Marsh hit into a force at the plate and Vidal Brujan struck out looking. Boston finally snapped its 8-game losing streak with a 3-0 win over Baltimore on a 2-hit shutout from rookie Robinson Pina, who earlier in the year was their closer.

Game 3: Excitement at the Trop as a moribund offense came to life at the last possible moment to extend the game and allow the Rays to win 5-4 in 11 and take 2 of 3 from the NL East-leading Phillies. After only managing a couple of hits after getting 3 runs in the first inning the Rays looked doomed to defeat in the bottom of the 9th, especially after Phillies closer Michael Feliz struck out Keston Hiura and Spencer Torkelson to start the inning. But down to their last at-bat, the Rays tied it on a dramatic Hunter Bishop homer, his third of the year. And after Jasseel De La Cruz threw 2 strong innings with 4 whiffs to keep Philly off the board, the Rays greeted an old friend rudely in the bottom of the 11th as Colin Poche, making his Phillies debut, gave up an infield single to Hiura and Torkelson followed with a double to the LCF gap to score Hiura and give the Rays a walk-off win. Things looked good for the Rays early when with the help of a Phillies error they scored 3 in the first off Dakota Hudson on a Hiura RBI single and Torkelson's 2-RBI double. Tyler Glasnow was dealing with 8 strikeouts through 4, allowing only one run but things went bad for him in the fifth. With one out he loaded the bases with a couple of walks and then had to leave with back spasms, which aren't serious but will cause him to miss his next start. Mitchell Verburg came in and whiffed Miguel Sano but gave up a 2-run double to another former Ray, Nate Lowe, to tie the game. He struck out Gary Sanchez to end the threat and got through the 6th, but Luke Little got a chance to pitch the 7th and gave up a lefty-on-lefty homer to Bryce Harper to make it 4-3 Phillies. Little hung in to get the first man out in the 8th and gave way to Nick Anderson, who went 1 2/3 to get us to the bottom of the 9th. Rays pitchers ended up tallying 18 strikeouts in the 11 innings, including 5 of Sano. Baltimore beat Boston so we now have a 2-game lead.

Team record: 45-28. Next up: an off-day followed by 3 games in Atlanta.

Art Deco · 09-22-2020, 04:35 PM

Game 1: This one was ugly from the get-go as Matt Manning couldn't find the plate tonight and got battered around for 4 runs in the first inning on the way to a 9-4 loss to the Braves. Freddie Freeman and Johan Camargo had 2-run singles off Manning, who walked 5 on the night. Atlanta added 3 more in the 5th against Manning when Freeman blasted a 3-run HR after a Keston Hiura error kept the inning alive and his final line was an unsightly 5 4 7 4 5 5. Hiura had an RBI double and Keibert Ruiz an RBI single before Austin Meadows hit #11, a 2-run shot in the 8th that got them within 7-4, but Dustin May yielded a 2-run shot to former Ray Willy Adames in the bottom of the inning. Despite the loss, the division lead has grown since we last checked in as Boston lost last night and again tonight (a painful loss in 16 innings) so we're up 2 1/2.

Game 2: Today was the mirror image of yesterday's game as the Rays blasted the Braves 10-2. Spencer Torkelson was the offensive star for the Rays, blasting a 3-run HR (#10) off Robbie Ray in the second inning to kick off the scoring, and tripling in another during a 6-run 4th which blew the game open. Mitchell White coasted with all this run support, going 7 5 2 2 2 5 to go to 8-3, 2.95 and Nick Frasso finished things off with a couple of scoreless innings. Wander Franco had a 2-run double in the 4th as well and homered (#16) to cap off the scoring in the 7th. Boston continues to circle the drain, losing their 12th in 13 tonight and with Baltimore winning, the Orioles move into 2nd meaning the lead is now 3 games.

Game 3: The offense struggled against Atlanta ace Mike Soroka while Shane McClanahan made a couple of bad pitches, and that was enough to doom the Rays to a 5-1 loss at Truist Park. Vidal Brujan was the entire offense tonight, going 3-4 with a solo HR (#5) off Soroka in the 3rd that tied the game at 1, but McClanahan gave up a Mookie Betts homer in the 4th to make it 2-1 Atlanta, and then in the 6th with two men on (one via error), Freddie Freeman killed them again with a 3-run homer. Freeman drove in 8 runs in the 3-game set. Mac had a weird 6 6 5 4 1 1 line, with his only whiff being Soroka. Mitchell Verburg struck out more (2) in his 2 innings finishing up. The Rays did have 8 hits and 2 walks off Soroka, but he spread them out well and got out of trouble when he didn't. Baltimore won so they pull within 2 games of the division lead as the Rays are now going toe-to-toe with a hot team instead of a cold one.

Team record: 46-30. Next up: A weekend in the nation's capital to face the Nationals.

Art Deco · 09-23-2020, 09:38 AM

Game 1: The Rays have never played well in DC, and tonight was no exception as they fell 3-0 to the Nationals. Daniel Lynch pitched pretty well (5 3 2 2 3 5) but made the mistake of walking a man ahead of Juan Soto, who drilled a 2-run HR to RF off him to give Washington all the runs it would need. That was because the offense could do nothing against Freddy Peralta, who came into the game with a 6.86 ERA but looked like an ace tonight going 7 4 0 0 2 7. Mitch Keller gave up a run in the 7th to make it 3-0 but in the top of the 8th they had a great chance to come back, loading the bases with nobody out. But as they so often do, they squandered this opportunity with Austin Meadows hitting into a 4-2-3 double play to effectively kill the rally. Patrick Bailey made his MLB debut and it was a mixed bag. He threw out the only baserunner (Trea Turner) who attempted to steal on him and the pitching wasn't bad like it was with Chris Betts, but he was 0-4 at the plate and grounded into a double play to end the game. Boston beat Baltimore with 2 in the bottom of the 9th so the lead remains 2 games, now over both of those teams.

June 28: Optioned P Nick Frasso to AAA Durham, recalled P Jimmy Lewis from AAA Durham.

Lewis is back up to start today as Tyler Glasnow still has a couple of days left with his back spasms, and even though it's listed as a "minimal" injury there's no need to risk it.

Game 2: The slumbering offense woke up to put 10 runs in the board in the 7th and 8th inning to pick up a rare win at Nationals Park today by the score of 12-6. For 6 innings it looked like another of one those days in Washington as they were down 4-2. Jimmy Lewis got the start and like Daniel Lynch yesterday, made a couple of bad pitches. One was a solo HR to Juan Soto in the 1st and the other was a 2-run shot by JT Realmuto in the 2nd. But Lewis settled down after that, going 6 5 4 4 1 5, and thanks to the offense to come picked up his first MLB win. They were semi-stymied by Andre Jackson, who went 6 8 2 2 3 7 so as you can tell they had more than a few LOB facing him. But reliever Patrick Murphy was another story as he loaded the bases and then threw a wild pitch to make it 4-3, and Keibert Ruiz drove the remaining 2 on base home with a double to put the Rays in front. Jose Alvarado gave up a leadoff double to Trea Turner but got through the 7th, and then the HR barrage started in the 8th for the Rays. Brandon Marsh singled and Hunter Bishop, who earlier had an RBI triple, hit HR #4 to make it 7-4, Triston Casas followed behind him with #7, and then after two more reached Wander blasted #17 to make it 11-4. But they still weren't done with the longball as Keibert followed Wander with #7 and it was 12-4. Can't remember if they ever hit back-to-back HRs in a single inning twice. With an 8-run lead, Luke Little came in and gave up a 2-run HR of his own to cut it to 12-6 but Mitchell Verburg calmed things down with a 1-2-3 9th. Somebody had to win between Boston and Baltimore, and the Orioles did so the lead over them is 2.

Game 3: It started out bad, got better, got a whole lot better, and then got shaky at the end but the Rays came away with an 8-5 win to take the series from Washington. Matt Manning got off to a rough start walking the leadoff man and watching Carter Kieboom go kaboom on him with a 2-run HR, then walking Juan Soto. But he got a double play to erase Soto and settled down from there, giving nothing else to Washington and going 6.2 5 2 2 4 10. Meanwhile the offense answered against Brandon Brennan with a 3-run HR from Brandon Marsh (#10) in the 2nd to put the Rays ahead and they added single runs in the 4th and 5th on sac flies from Marsh and Keston Hiura. They then broke it open in the 7th on an RBI single from Keibert Ruiz and a 2-run double from Hunter Bishop who had a nice weekend. Up 8-2, Manning left after he gave up a 2-out single and Nick Frasso got the final out but Frasso ran into trouble in the 8th, allowing a 2-run HR to Drew Mendoza so Mitch Keller came in and he gave up a HR to Trea Turner to cut it to 8-5. This meant Jasseel De La Cruz had to be used in the 9th, and he made it interesting putting 2 men out and bringing the tying run to the plate in the person of the dangerous Victor Robles, but he got Robles to hit into a fielder's choice to end the game and get save #19 while Manning improved to 9-5. And it worked out today that Boston beat Baltimore, so the Rays now lead both of those clubs by 3 games.

Team record: 48-31. Next up: 4 games at home vs Oakland.

Art Deco · 09-23-2020, 04:22 PM

We're 79 games in (and it'll be 83 after the Oakland series) so this is a good a time as any to do the midseason report card.

First, a look at the team numbers:

Although we're still first in the league in the important numbers (OPS, WAR, wOBA), the offense is down from last season, when we went 290/341/471 with a wOBA of 3.46 and we're scoring 5.33 runs/game as opposed to 5.57 last year, so the offense is down about 5% across the board. We're a little better at drawing walks, and still tough to strike out. Hiura/Casas replacing Devers is the main positional difference so that checks out. The pitching remains excellent but also a bit off last year's 3.33 team ERA. The defense is pretty bad again, as losing Devers has resulted in a downgrade at that position and Alec Bohm's 75 D at first has been out for a while. Hence the record isn't as good, but we're also having some bad luck vis-a-vis the Pythagorean record as the bullpen has been great. This team isn't as good as the 2023-2024 models, but should still be good enough to win the AL East and do some damage in the playoffs.

By position:

C: Keibert Ruiz is having an excellent season so no issues there. The Chris Betts saga was well-advertised and it's too early to tell if Patrick Bailey is the answer as backup since he's only played one game. (A-)

1B: Alec Bohm was crushing the ball with 15 HR and 42 RBI in 49 games before he got hurt, and he's been missed as the position has been turned over to Renato Nunez (161/253/264 with 2 HR in 87 AB) and Triston Casas (167/236/333). He'll be back in 1-2 weeks and it won't be soon enough. (B+ for Bohm, D- for his replacements)

2B: Vidal Brujan got off to a miserable start but has been great lately and is back up to 276/347/381 so there's even more positive regression to come. (B-)

SS: Wander Franco (301/347/530) continues to do his thing, and he could be even better in the 2nd half (A)

3B: This originally was the domain of Casas but Keston Hiura has taken the job with a red-hot bat and I can live with his 45 defense at the position if he keeps hitting 342/412/567 or a reasonable facsimile of that. And it's not like Casas was Brooks Robinson at the position. (A for Hiura)

LF: Nick Schnell unfortunately suffered a season-ending injury in May so he's been missed. Hunter Bishop, his primary replacement, started off slow but has been red-hot of late. (C+)

CF: Brandon Marsh should be due some positive batting average regression as he's sitting at .249 but otherwise he's been his excellent all-around self, drawing walks, hitting for decent power and playing solid defense. (B)

RF: Austin Meadows. Meadows is in his walk year, and I've tried to offer him 3-4 year deals, but he's insistent on at least 6 years at $28M and he'll be 31 next season so I expect him to be gone. He'll be missed of course but he is having a down year so far, at least power-wise. The 481 part of his 301/373/481 line and only 11 HR and 33 RBI needs to improve (in fairness to him RBI-wise, Wander's 69 and Ruiz's 55 have cleared most of the baserunners ahead of him). Hoping for closer to 20 HR than 10 in this second half. (B-)

DH: Been a rotating crew here, but most of the at-bats have gone to Spencer Torkelson, who's 261/330/456. Those numbers are a bit disappointing, especially the 10 HR in 241 AB, would expect at least 15 from him by now in that # of ABs. He started off hot but has only hit 3 over the last 2 months. He's at least hit for a decent average and drawn walks which is why he stays in the lineup but like with Meadows I'm expecting some positive power regression from him.

SP: Matt Manning is having another Cy Young-caliber season, but Tyler Glasnow has been "off" lately as his ERA approaches 4. I'm thinking it's just bad luck as his Ks remain high. Mitchell White's been great after a rough few early season starts, but Shane McClanahan has been kind of mediocre the past month after a good first 2. And obviously Dustin May was a disaster but Daniel Lynch seems like he'll solidify the #5 spot. (B)

RP: The business end of the pen (Alvarado/Anderson/De La Cruz) has been very good again, and Mitch Keller, Mitchell Verburg and Aaron Ashby (before he got hurt) have been mostly excellent in middle relief. Both Ashby and Asa Lacy should be back soon, so that will help as the rookies (Frasso, Little) have been up and down. (A-)

Art Deco · 09-23-2020, 05:27 PM

Game 1: It was the quintessential Rays game at the Trop, a 4-2 win over Oakland with good pitching and just enough offense. Tyler Glasnow got the start after missing a week with back spasms, and unfortunately nagging injuries got the better of him again as he had to leave in the 3rd with a torn fingernail which probably won't cause him to miss his first start but I'm starting to get a Charlie Morton/Garrett Richards whiff about him these days. He went 2.2 2 0 0 1 5 before he had to leave, and Dustin May took over. May was his usual 2025 mediocre self, squandering a 2-0 lead and going 3.1 4 2 2 1 3 with the second run particularly galling when he gave up a single, wild-pitched the guy to 2nd who went to 3rd on a groundout, and then wild-pitched again to allow him to score. Still he picked up his 4th win of the season when Keston Hiura hit HR #9 into the LF seats to make it 3-2 in the bottom of the 6th. Jose Alvarado had a rough 7th, loading the bases on two walks and a hit, but getting a whiff to get out of it. He had to throw 31 pitches after pitching an inning yesterday so he'll probably be out of commission for at least a couple of days. Austin Meadows, who doubled in a run earlier, had an RBI triple in the bottom of the 7th to make it 4-2, and Nick Anderson and Jasseel De La Cruz breezed through the 8th and 9th respectively with the latter getting save #20. The other Rays run came in the 2nd when Renato Nunez (0-4 again today) whiffed on a pitch that Sean Murphy let get by him to the backstop on a passed ball, allowing Hiura to score from 3rd. Baltimore won but Boston lost, so the lead remains 3 but only over the Orioles.

Game 2*: Spencer Torkelson must have read my midseason report card where I called for more HRs from him as he belted a 3-run shot to break a 6-6 tie in the 6th inning as the Rays outslugged the A's 10-7 after coming back from a 6-2 deficit. The Rays jumped out to an early lead when Hunter Bishop singled, stole second and went to 3rd on a throwing error, scoring on Patrick Bailey's sac fly, his first MLB RBI. Austin Meadows, from whom I also was looking for more power, hit #12 to make it 2-0 in the 3rd. But the wheels came off for Mitchell White as he was rocked for 6 runs in the 4th, including a 2-run HR and a 3-run HR. Mitch Keller got him out of it, and the Rays responded in the bottom of the inning to tie it up. Jesus Camargo loaded the bases with nobody out, and then walked Bailey to force in a run, wild pitched another one in, and Brandon Marsh followed with a 2-run double. That set the stage for Tork in the 6th, who launched his blast (#11) after Oakland's Tyler Nevin booted a grounder with 2 out. Oakland got within 9-7 off Luke Little (who picked up his first MLB win), but Nick Anderson got him out of the 8th. Wander added #18 in the 8th to make it 10-7, and Anderson finished for his 3rd save. Baltimore lost so the Rays lead in the division grows to a season-high 4 games.

*there was an earlier version of this game where Tork hit 2 HRs (and Bailey hit his first MLB HR) in a 10-2 win but the game crashed as I was trying to play the Durham game before I could save the day, so if you read about it, that's what happened to it.

July 2: Optioned P Luke Little to AAA Durham, recalled P Dean Christidis from AAA Durham.

As Nick Frasso and Mitchell Verburg are the only relievers 100% rested at the moment we needed a fresh arm. So Dean Christidis, come on down! (Or come on up, more accurately). Christidis had 3.06 ERA in 82 innings with 70 Ks, mostly as a stater, but he went back to the pen recently and has 75 stuff as a reliever. He's a lefty as well so he slots in nicely for Little.

Game 3: It looked like the Rays would win this one, up 7-3 after 6, but the Durham brigade crapped the bed in the 7th and Oakland scored 7 times to pull out a 10-8 win. Although Dean Christidis got Shane McClanahan out of a jam in the 6th, he couldn't get anyone out in the 7th as he allowed 4 runs and Nick Frasso gave up 3 more with the last one on an error. Spencer Torkelson drove in Wander Franco (who was 4-5) to cut it to 10-8 in the 8th, but Keston Hiura was gunned down at the plate on Hunter Bishop's single. Rather than try and recap the scoring I'll just note that Bishop was 3-4 with a HR (#5) and 3 RBI and Vidal Brujan (#6) and Renato Nunez (#3) had solo HRs, Nunez's first in ages. McClanahan continued his struggles despite only allowing 2 earned runs, going 5.2 9 3 2 2 3 and he's become a matter of concern. Baltimore won to cut the lead to 3.

Game 4: The Rays rode a 5-run first inning to an 8-4 win over Oakland to take 3 of 4 in the series. Vidal Brujan led off with a single and a steal and Wander Franco followed with a 2-run HR, his team-high 19th (he also retook the MLB RBI lead with 73), to instantly make it 2-0 and the hits kept coming. Spencer Torkelson drilled an RBI single to left and Triston Casas followed a 2-run double into the RCF gap and Daniel Lynch was well-supported. Lynch (4-1) was adequate today, not terrible but not dominant either, going 6.1 6 3 3 3 4 against the team he one-hit in his Rays debut a couple of years ago. Mitch Keller finished up the final 2 2/3, allowing a run. They added runs later in the game on RBI groundouts from Keibert Ruiz and Casas, along with another RBI single from Tork. Old friend Chris Betts started today for Oakland and was 2-4 with one of the hits on a misplayed popup, and threw out one of three baserunners on attempted steals 9 (Brandon Marsh going for 3rd). Baltimore was idle so the lead is 3 1/2.

Team record: 51-32. Next up: The homestand continues with 3 over the weekend against Texas.

Art Deco · 09-24-2020, 10:58 AM

Game 1: Plenty of early fireworks in this July 4th game as Texas scored 3 times in the top of the 1st only to see the Rays answer with 6 in the bottom of the frame as Tampa Bay topped Texas 10-5. For the second straight start Matt Manning had a rough 1st inning, walking a couple, hitting one with the bases loaded and then seeing two runs score on a Keston Hiura throwing error with 2 out. But the offense picked him up immediately as Vidal Brujan led off with a triple, Wander Franco singled him home and a couple of batters later Hiura atoned for his error with a 2-run single to tie it up. And then the red-hot Hunter Bishop stepped up (against a lefty, no less) and drilled an opposite-field homer (#6) to left with two on to make it 6-3. They tacked on 3 more in the 4th on a 2-run Austin Meadows double and another RBI single from Hiura as the offense has been on quite a roll this week. Manning ended up going 6 4 5 2 3 8 to improve to 10-5, 2.52. Dean Christidis got another chance after his awful MLB debut and wasn't much better, giving up 2 hits and only getting 2 outs, but Mitchell Verburg got him out of it, and tried to finish up but ran into some trouble in the 9th so Nick Anderson had to get the final 2 outs of the game. Baltimore won (they're hosting the Yankees this weekend so don't look for any help) so the lead stays at 3 1/2.

Game 2: The good news is that Tyler Glasnow made it through his outing without a minor injury, the first time in 3 starts he's accomplished that. The bad news is that he had to leave after 3 innings anyway because he was terrible, allowing 7 runs in an 8-3 loss to Texas. It didn't start off that way as he struck out the side in a perfect 1st, but things totally unraveled in the 2nd, giving up a run and loading the bases for Stephen Wrenn, who hit a grand slam and ended up having a career day after tripling in 2 more in the next inning off Glasnow and then capping his 7-RBI day with an infield single to score a run off Dustin May in the 4th. Glasnow was an ugly 3 7 7 7 3 5 as his ERA balloons to 4.26. Gonna need to get him straightened out. Wander Franco and Brandon Marsh were in need of rest today, so Greg Jones started at SS and his 2-run double was pretty much the offense in a 3-run 5th with the other run scoring on a Vidal Brujan groundout as the team only managed 6 hits on the day. Baltimore routed the Yankees 9-2 as expected, getting them to within 2 1/2 games (and 1 in the loss column).

Game 3: Mitchell White was dominant in bouncing back from his poor start last time out and the Rays rode his performance to a 5-1 win. White went 6.2 5 0 0 1 8 and gave us a strong indication of his performance when he allowed Jose Devers to lead off the game with a single, steal second, and go to third on a wild pitch but then striking out the next 3 batters to get out of it. Triston Casas had a nice day to pace the offense, first doubling in a run in the 2nd to make it 1-0, and later tripling in the 6th and scoring. Brandon Marsh made it 2-0 in the 5th leading off with a 486-ft shot (#11) to dead center, and Wander Franco had an RBI triple later in the inning and scored on Keibert Ruiz's grounder. The troika finished the game off with Jose Alvarado getting into a little trouble with a pair of walks but no damage, and then Jasseel De La Cruz (in a non-save situation) got into even more trouble allowing a run and a couple of baserunners although the man who scored did so after reaching on a wild pitch strikeout. And of course Baltimore won 7-0 over the Yankees so they remain 2 1/2 back.

Team record: 53-33. Next up: An off-day followed by a pair in Miami.

Art Deco · 09-24-2020, 08:27 PM

Game 1: Down 3-1 in the 8th and with 2 out, the Rays rallied for 3 runs to take the lead but then had to score again in the 9th to win 5-4 at Roughnecks Park. For most of the game the Rays were befuddled by Kodi Whitley, who came into the game having struck out only 35 in 55 innings but somehow managed to whiff 8 Rays in 6 innings, allowing only one run when Brandon Marsh walked and scored on a Vidal Brujan single in the 5th. Shane McClanahan got the start for the Rays and was pretty good, except when pitching to Miami's rookie slugger Cristhian Rodriguez who took him deep twice on solo shots, and on a triple he allowed to Nick Fortes who scored. Mac ended up 7 7 3 3 1 7 and went from looking like the loser to picking up a win to ending up with a no-decision. That's because with 2 out in the 8th against Mychal Givens, Wander walked, Keibert Ruiz was hit by a pitch and Austin Meadows walked, then Keston Hiura (who's been clutch all year) delivered a 2-run single to tie and it and Hunter Bishop doubled to give them the lead. But a funny thing happened in the bottom of the 8th when Jose Alvarado was touched for his first HR allowed of the season when Jarren Duran led off the inning with a blast. Then with one out in the top of the 9th, pinch-hitter Spencer Torkelson doubled and after moving to third on a Brujan groundout, the Roughnecks intentionally walked Wander to pitch to Keibert, and he made them pay with an RBI single. Jasseel De La Cruz made sure the Rays wouldn't blow a second lead by getting the 'Necks 1-2-3 in the 9th for save #21 while Alvarado vultured his 2nd win of the season. And after losing to Baltimore on our off-day yesterday, Washington did us a favor tonight and beat the Orioles so the lead is back up to 3 games.

Game 2: Another tight affair in Miami and another 1-run Rays win as they take both games at Roughnecks Park with a 3-2 victory today. Daniel Lynch and Spencer Torkelson were the stars today. Lynch, pitching against his old team in his old ballpark, was excellent going 7 6 1 1 1 7 to improve to 5-1, 2.87 and make me wonder why I ever had him out of the rotation. Tork meanwhile went 4-for-4 and figured in all 3 Rays runs. He doubled in Hunter Bishop in the 2nd, singled home Keston Hiura in the 4th and singled and scored a huge insurance run in the 9th when he was doubled in by pinch-hitter Renato Nunez with perhaps Nunez's biggest hit as a Ray. Nunez wasn't even the original pinch-hitter as Triston Casas was set to face a righty but the Roughnecks brought in a lefty so Nunez pinch-hit for Casas. The Rays had to file a claim against that insurance when Greyson Jenista greeted Jasseel De La Cruz with a leadoff homer in the 9th to cut it to 3-2 but De La Cruz got the next 3 batters for save #22. Jose Alvarado picked up a hold with a scoreless 8th, getting Jarren Duran this time on a shallow fly ball after yesterday's hiccup. It was good that the bottom of the order came through as the top (Brujan, Franco, Ruiz, Meadows) was a brutal 1-for-18. The Nats did us another favor knocking off Baltimore, so the lead grows to 4 games. We do have a series at home against the Orioles next week.

Team record: 55-33. Next up: 4 games in the Windy City against the White Sox.

Art Deco · 09-25-2020, 11:55 AM

Game 1: It was a game they had no business winning until they got 5 in the 7th to take a 7-5 lead, and then they blew it, losing 9-7. Matt Manning got the start and he was struggling throughout, giving up 5 runs through 6 (2 on bases-loaded walks!) with the Rays trailing 5-2 and their only runs coming on a Wander Franco 2-run shot (#20) in the 6th. But they rallied for 5 runs, first on Spencer Torkelson's 12th HR of the year to make it 5-4 and then on a 3-run blast from Keibert Ruiz (#8) to make it 7-5. Manning was at 94 pitches, plus Alvarado & De La Cruz were tired from the last 2 days in Miami so he was left in. He got two outs but ended up putting 2 on, so I turned to Mitch Keller and he was just terrible. He gave up a single to score one run to make it 7-6 and then wild-pitched the runners over to 2nd and 3rd whereupon he gave up another single to score them both. Thanks to a Keston Hiura error he also allowed a run in the 8th for the final 9-7 margin. Manning ended up 6.2 6 7 7 3 3 in maybe his worst outing of the year, and it might be time to upgrade the pen as outside of the troika I can't seem to count on anyone else in a high-leverage situation. Baltimore was idle to the lead drops to 3 1/2.

July 11: Traded 26-year-old minor league right fielder Zach DeLoach to the San Diego Padres, getting 36-year-old reliever Liam Hendriks, retaining 20% in return. Optioned P Nick Frasso to AAA Durham, designated SS Alejandro Pie for assignment and placed him on waivers.

Time to upgrade the pen. Hoping the vet has something left in the tank and it appears he does, with a 2/29 BB/K ratio in 23 innings this year with San Diego. DeLoach is now 26 and hasn't lived up to the potential he had as a first-round pick in 2020, stagnating at AA/AAA. To make room on the 40-man, I had to waive Pie even though I would rather not have. He's a SS with pop, and at one point I saw him as a possible Wander successor should it come to that. But he didn't hit at AAA and while there's some power that, the overall hit tool is lacking. Hoping he clears, though.

Game 2: A pathetic performance by the offense doomed them in a 2-1 loss to the White Sox today. They only managed 4 hits against Patrick Sandoval and a trio of relievers with the only one run coming when Hunter Bishop doubled, went to third on a Sandoval balk, and then scored when Michael Chavis mishandled Brandon Marsh's grounder at 1st. This actually gave them a 1-0 lead in the 5th but Tyler Glasnow gave it right back when Connor Wong homered in the bottom of the inning. For the third time in four starts, Glasnow had to leave with a nagging injury, this time more back spasms which will keep him out 5 days and means someone else will have to start against Baltimore next Wednesday. He did have his best outing in several starts going 6 3 1 1 2 5. Liam Hendriks made his Rays debut and looked good, pitching a perfect 7th with a strikeout, but Nick Anderson couldn't get the job done in the 8th giving up 3 hits as Chavis atoned for his error by hitting an RBI double with two out. The Rays went meekly in the 9th with a pair of whiffs against Sox closer Jacob Webb and they've lost two straight for first time in a while. The Jays helped us out by beating Baltimore, so no ground lost in the division.

July 12: Activated P Aaron Ashby from his rehab assignment at AAA Durham, optioned P Luke Little to AAA Durham.

Game 3: Order restored at Guaranteed Rate Field as the Rays took care of the White Sox 6-1. Or should I say Keibert Ruiz and Mitchell White took care of the White Sox. The Rays' All-Star catcher blasted a pair of homers, most importantly a 2-run shot in the 6th which broke a 1-1 tie, while White went 8 5 1 1 1 3 to improve to 10-3, 3.04. Until Ruiz's blast, it was looking a carbon copy of yesterday's game where the Rays took a 1-0 lead thanks to a Hunter Bishop double (he scored on a Vidal Brujan sac fly) and the Sox tied it right back up. But Keibert took care of business and then made sure there wouldn't be any Chicago comeback with a 3-run blast in the 8th giving him a 5-RBI day (and giving him 10 HR and 67 RBI for the season, the latter total among the AL leaders). Mitchell Verburg pitched a perfect 9th to finish off the game. Meanwhile it would be good for Austin Meadows to break out of his 5-39 slump, while Keston Hiura has cooled off and is in a 1-15 mini-slump. Baltimore beat the Jays so the lead remains 3 1/2.

Game 4: Shane McClanahan pitched his best game as a major leaguer, shutting out the White Sox 4-0. Mac was dominant, going 9 8 0 0 1 9 on 121 pitches. The Rays led 2-0 for most of the way and he probably would have been gone after 8 but the offense added a couple of runs in the 9th to give him a cushion. Those two early runs came courtesy of HRs from Wander Franco in the 1st (#21) and Hunter Bishop in the 2nd (#7), the latter off old friend Anthony Banda, who came in after Bobby Wahl opened. Keston Hiura and Bishop had RBI singles in the 9th to make it more comfortable for Mac and he improves to 4-5, 3.60. Baltimore lost so the lead grows to 4 1/2 games ahead of their series at the Trop. (*a very different version of this game was recapped a little while ago where the Rays won 9-8 but OOTP crashed on me before I could save, so good for McClanahan in this alternate version of alternate reality).

Team record: 57-35. Next up: 3 big ones against the Orioles at the Trop as Baltimore is 4 1/2 back but only 3 out in the loss column.

09-17-2020, 09:44 AM	#241
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	May 16-18, 2025: vs Boston (3) Game 1: It's probably been four years since the Rays have played what seems to be a high-stakes regular season game after their hot starts to the last 3 seasons combined with mediocrity from the rest of the division put them way out in front of the AL East to stay during that time. But the Rays' sluggish April combined with Boston's hot start means we have a legitimate division race at the moment so with the Red Sox in town the excitement level was turned up a notch. And excitement was the watchword tonight as the Rays pulled out an inspiring, come-from-behind 5-4 walk-off win over the Sox in 10 innings after trailing most of the game to extend the win streak to 7. Boston jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the 7th after getting 3 off the decent-but-hittable Shane McClanahan (5.2 8 3 3 0 8) and one more off Mitchell Verburg. Meanwhile Justin Dunn was shutting down the Rays offense but that changed in the 7th when they sent 8 men to the plate and picked up 3 runs to get back in it. RBI singles from Spencer Torkelson and Brandon Marsh along with a sac fly from Vidal Brujan got them close, and in the 8th Austin Meadows singled and with two out LHB Nick Schnell was due but the Sox brought in a lefty. In yours truly's best managerial move of the year, I brought in Keston Hiura to pinch-hit and Hiura ripped a double into the gap to score Meadows and tie the game. Nick Anderson struck out the side in a perfect 8th and Aaron Ashby had a scoreless ninth. Sox closer Robinson Pina struck out all 3 Rays in the 9th, and Jasseel De La Cruz whiffed a pair in the 10th, bringing us to the bottom of the inning when Pina didn't quite have it for the next inning. Brujan led off with a single and Wander Franco doubled into the RCF gap, scoring Brujan with the winner and setting off a wild scene at the Trop. The win brings the teams tied in the standings although Boston is ahead on percentage points at 23-13 to the Rays' 25-15. Game 2: The Rays continue to not hit very much but keep getting excellent pitching and that combo was enough for a 3-1 win over Boston - their 8th straight - to move into sole possession of first place. Unfortunately the win came at a high price as Nick Schnell tore his posterior cruciate ligament beating out an infield single in the 4th inning and is done for the year. But in something out of a storybook his replacement Hunter Bishop delivered the big blow of the game, a 2-run double in the 6th to break a 1-1 tie. Bishop should get the bulk of the time in left, with Spencer Torkelson playing some more outfield and Keston Hiura getting some more DH at-bats. Before that it was a duel between Mitchell White and Boston's Rick Porcello, who has given the Rays problems in the past. The Sox scored in the top of the 1st off White on a double and two groundouts, and the Rays equalized in the bottom of the inning when Wander Franco executed a hit-and-run with Vidal Brujan by doubling down the RF line and driving Brujan home. It stayed that way but Boston had a few big threats that the Rays had to extinguish. First White ran out of gas in the 6th, putting two on with one out (and leaving with a 5.1 2 1 1 4 7 line) and Mitch Keller got the final two outs to snuff out that rally, and thanks to Bishop's double, picked up his second win of the week. Then Keller got himself into some trouble in the 7th putting two of his own on and Jose Alvarado came in and got two whiffs with men on 2nd and 3rd after a double steal. He stayed in for the 8th and whiffed two more, only throwing 20 pitches in his 1 2/3 innings. Nick Anderson grabbed save #2 with a couple of strikeouts in the 9th. The Rays only totaled 6 hits but made them count, with a good sign that the top of the order (Brujan/Wander) each had a pair. May 18: Placed OF Nick Schnell on the 60-day IL with a torn PCL, recalled OF Bramdon Perez from AAA Durham. It was either Perez or Heston Kjerstad and I chose Perez's more powerful bat over Kjerstad's better glove, not that either were going to play very much as seen from how much Hunter Bishop had played prior to the Schnell injury. This also opens up a 40-man spot in case we want to add someone in trade, sign a free agent or promote someone not on the 40-man. Game 3: The continued lack of scoring finally came back to bite them as the 8-game winning streak was snapped by Boston 3-2 today. Tyler Glasnow got the start and was great through 6 and with the Rays up 2-1 it looked like another of their low-scoring triumphs. But as he did when Boston was in town last month, their catching prospect Pierson Gibis came off the bench and delivered a big 2-run HR with today's coming in the 7th inning to put Boston on top for good. Glasnow ended 7 5 3 3 1 10 with one pitch he'd like to have back and Aaron Ashby finished the game with 2 perfect innings. The Rays' offense came in the 4th today when Austin Meadows and Alec Bohm led the inning off with doubles and Keibert Ruiz singled home Bohm. They had some chances here and there (10 hits on the day for a change) but couldn't get it done when it counted. The loss drops them back into a tie with Boston although they're 2nd on percentage points. Team record: 26-16. Next up: An off-day followed by a 2-game set at home with the Miami Roughnecks. Last edited by Art Deco; 09-17-2020 at 04:58 PM.

09-17-2020, 05:58 PM	#242
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	May 20-21, 2025: vs Miami (2) Game 1: It was the typical Trop game for the Rays where they get just enough offense to back great pitching as they took care of the Roughnecks 5-1 behind Matt Manning. The righty continued to roll, going 6 5 1 1 3 6 to lower his AL-leading ERA to 1.81 and improve to 5-2, and while it was a 3-1 game Jose Alvarado (perfect inning, 2 Ks) and Nick Anderson (perfect inning, 1 K) did their thing. After the Rays added insurance in the eighth to make it 5-1, Asa Lacy finished out the game against his old team with a pair of Ks of his own in the 9th. The Rays scrounged for their first 3 runs, getting them on a groundout and a couple of sac flies with Alec Bohm getting one of each and Keibert Ruiz the other scoring fly ball. Spencer Torkelson's 2-out, 2-run double in the 8th was their only RBI hit of the night as they only had 6 hits for the game. The Red Sox won for the second straight night against Detroit, so they remain 1/2 game up on the Rays. Game 2: The Rays dropped a tough one today 4-3 to Miami. Dustin May was rolling along through 5 innings with a 2-0 lead but Miami strung together a walk, several hits, and a key Wander Franco error to score all 4 of their runs in the 6th, with the big hit a 2-run single by onetime Rays farmhand Lucius Fox. May went 5.1 7 4 3 2 7 and the pen did a good job keeping them in it the rest of the way with Daniel Lynch in particular getting all 6 of his outs on whiffs. Keibert Ruiz was the offensive star, going 4-5 with an RBI but unfortunately the one out he made was the last one of the game. Alec Bohm had a sac fly for RBI #40 and Bramdon Perez, getting a start in his first Rays appearance, drove in the other run with a fielder's choice but went 0-4. Meanwhile the Red Sox keep winning so they're back up 1 1/2 games. Team record: 27-17. Next up: another off-day followed by 3 weekend games in New York against the 11-33 Yankees. Last edited by Art Deco; 09-17-2020 at 07:40 PM.

09-17-2020, 09:57 PM	#243
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	May 22, 2025: Some big off-day news With Nick Schnell going down for the year, it opened up a 40-man spot, and one weakness this team has had since Nelson Cruz in 2022 has been a big right-handed power bat. Obviously Spencer Torkelson fills that bill to some extent but Cruz was our last true lefty-masher. So there just happened to be one of those guys still sitting out there as a free agent, and it wasn't a 44-year-old Cruz. So welcome this guy to the team: Now you can't believe everything you read. Nunez is not taking Alec Bohm's job at 1B. But he will DH against lefties, and maybe even some righties, and of course he can spell Bohm at 1B as we didn't have a true 2nd 1B on the roster (Torkelson can play the position if need be but he's a 35). Bramdon Perez will go back to Durham to make room on the active roster. Last edited by Art Deco; 09-17-2020 at 10:02 PM.

09-18-2020, 12:33 AM	#244
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	May 23-25, 2025: at NY Yankees (3) Game 1: The Yankees are 12-33 on the season but now 3-2 vs the Rays as they recovered from blowing a 7-1 lead to take an 8-7 win. Shane McClanahan had his worst outing as a Ray and couldn't get an out in the 2nd, going 1 6 7 6 3 0 with 6 of the 7 runs coming in that 2nd and the Rays finding themselves behind 7-1. But up against Gerrit Cole the Rays fought their way back, initially with a pair of HRs from Keibert Ruiz driving in 3 to get them back within 7-5 in the 5th and chasing Cole, and then Keston Hiura came through with another big pinch-hit, a 2-run double with 2 out in the 7th to tie the game. Meanwhile, the bullpen pieced together the rest of the game to get there, first Asa Lacy (more on him in a minute) going 2 1/3 scoreless, then Mitchell Verburg with 2 2/3 more, and Nick Anderson got a 1-2-3 7th. But in the bottom of the 8th with lefties due up, Jose Alvarado couldn't get it done, walking the lefty Mike Tauchman and giving up an RBI single to lefty and former Ray Brandon Lowe. And despite the 6-run comeback, the Rays squandered an opportunity in the 4th with the bases loaded and nobody out, failing to score, and loaded the bases again in the 6th with 2 out but couldn't get anyone home. As for Asa Lacy, he had to leave the game with a sore shoulder and will be out 45 days, so a pitcher will have to summoned from Durham. It won't be Sandy Gaston right away at least, as he started the other night for the Bulls (and was impressive, going 6 4 1 1 2 8), so Nick Frasso is the most likely choice. At least Texas beat Boston so no ground was lost. Game 2: The Rays took out their frustrations over last night's close loss by pummeling the Yankees 18-0. After Vidal Brujan scored on a Luis Severino wild pitch in the 1st, the Rays blew it open in the 3rd with 7 runs on the strength of Brandon Marsh, who led off the inning with a homer and capped the inning with another homer, a 3-run blast, becoming the first Ray to homer twice in the same inning since Julio Lugo did it in 2006 when they were called the Devil Rays and doubling his season total in the process. The Rays added 7 more in the 7th highlighted by Hunter Bishop's first homer of the year and a 3-run blast by Austin Meadows and tacked on two more in the 8th on a Keibert Ruiz single. Everyone in the starting lineup had at least one hit and one RBI except Wander Franco, who apparently didn't get the invitation to the party and went 0-5. Tyler Glasnow said thank you for the run support and went 6 5 0 0 0 9 to go 7-3, 3.19 and Daniel Lynch went the final 3 to pick up his 2nd save despite the score. Renato Nunez made his Rays debut in the 8th and of all things beat out a slow roller for an infield single in his first at-bat. Boston won to stay 1 game ahead. Game 3: Brandon Marsh stayed hot with another homer as the Rays downed the Yankees 7-3 to finally take a lead in the season series against the AL's worst team. Marsh's 2-run HR, his 3rd in 2 days, made a 2-0 game a 4-0 game which proved to be important as the Yankees chipped away at Mitchell White to get within 4-3, including an inside-the-park HR from Skyler Messinger. The Rays broke out first as Vidal Brujan continued his road back to normal by singling, stealing second and scoring on an Austin Meadows force out and then Brujan walked in the 3rd and came around to score on a Renato Nunez sac fly as the new signing made his first start today spelling Alec Bohm. The Yankees though made things interesting and in the 6th with two out White threw a wild pitch putting runners on 2nd and 3rd and another Mitch, Keller, came in and got Messinger (who was 3-3 off White) to strike out to end the threat. And then the Rays added 3 in the 7th on a 2-out, 2-RBI single from Keston Hiura (who continues to be clutch) and an RBI single from Chris Betts, giving Keibert Ruiz a breather. Keller stayed on through the eighth going 2.1 1 0 0 0 3, and Nick Frasso pitched the 9th, getting all 3 outs on whiffs including Gleyber Torres to end the game. White still picked up the win despite a mediocre 5.2 7 3 3 2 7 line as he goes to 5-2, 2.98. Unfortunately the Rays received no help from Texas as Boston beat them again to stay 1 game ahead. Team record: 29-18. Up next: 4 games in Cleveland as the road trip continues. Last edited by Art Deco; 09-18-2020 at 01:57 PM.

09-18-2020, 02:50 PM	#245
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	May 26-29, 2025: at Cleveland (4) Game 1: Matt Manning continued to do Matt Manning things, and Brandon Marsh homered for the 4th time in 3 games to lead the Rays to an 8-0 thumping of Cleveland. Manning went 7 2 0 0 2 5 to lower his MLB-leading ERA to 1.61 and improve to 6-2. Mitchell Verburg completed the team shutout pitching the last 2 innings. Like yesterday, Marsh turned a 2-0 lead into a 5-0 lead with a 3-run shot (#6) off Triston McKenzie in the 4th, after Keibert Ruiz homered (#5) in the first and the Rays picked up a run on a Cleveland error in the 3rd. They added a run on a double play grounder in the 5th and Ruiz's 2-run double in the 9th completed the scoring. Boston was idle on this Memorial Day so the Rays creep to within 1/2 game of the division lead. Game 2: Tonight wasn't the Rays' night as Cleveland jumped on Dustin May early and the Rays lost 6-2. In the first May walked the leadoff man, gave up a single, and then grooved one for Eric Herman who deposited the pitch into the RF stands to make it 3-0 and that would be all Cleveland would need. May was under constant duress, and ended 4.2 9 5 5 3 4 before being pulled for Daniel Lynch, who looked good again in long relief, going 3.1 3 1 1 0 3 and if May continues to struggle their roles could be reversed. Austin Meadows was the Rays offense with a 2-run HR (#6) in the 4th off Jimmy Nelson which gave them some hope as they pulled to within 4-2 but they could only manage 5 hits off Nelson, who's given them trouble in the past, in his 7.1 innings. Keibert Ruiz continued hot with 2 more hits, and Renato Nunez got another start, giving Spencer Torkelson a night off and he picked up 2 singles as well. Meanwhile Boston is playing the Yankees so don't look for any help there as tonight the Red Sox pasted them 9-0 to move to 1 1/2 ahead of the Rays. Game 3: Buoyed by a strong defensive performance, the Buccaneers beat the Browns 14-0....wait, I'm being told that was the Tampa Bay-Cleveland baseball score. The Rays got their second rout in the first three games of this series as they bludgeoned Cleveland again. And who else but the red-hot Brandon Marsh was in the middle of it all? Once again he waited until the Rays were up 2-0 to strike, and he did in the 5th with a solo HR (his 5th in 5 games) as part of a 3-5, 4 RBI night. The Rays got on the board in the 3rd on an Alec Bohm RBI double and a Hunter Bishop sac fly. Unfortunately, Bohm sprained his MCL on that play and will be out 40 days, so good thing we signed Renato Nunez. Marsh's HR kick-started a 7-run 5th inning which featured the first of Austin Meadows' 2 HRs today, a 3-run blast, Keston Hiura had an RBI single, and while he didn't homer a second time in an inning like the other day, Marsh had a 2-run single to give him 3 RBI in the inning. Marsh's RBI double and a 3-run Wander blast (#12) added 4 more in the 7th and then Meadows kicked the extra point with his second HR in the 8th. Enjoying the view of all these Rays runners circling the bases was Shane McClanahan, who came in off a couple of not-so-great starts but rebounded with a 7 5 0 0 2 8 performance to get his ERA back down to 3.29 and pick up his 2nd win. Nick Frasso pitched the final 2 innings against his old organization without allowing a run to complete another team shutout. And yes, Boston beat the Yankees again so no help there. May 29: Placed 1B Alec Bohm on the 10-day IL with a sprained MCL, recalled OF Bramdon Perez from AAA Durham. As mentioned above, the signing of Renato Nunez looks very sagacious now, he will probably get the bulk of the time at 1B, although Triston Casas can play there too with Keston Hiura sliding in at 3B. Perez probably won't get too many ABs but could spell Bishop in LF from time-to-time. Game 4: The Rays romped again in Cleveland, today by the score of 7-1. Keibert Ruiz, who is now 20 for his last 37 with 4 HR and 14 RBI in that span, raising his average from .268 to .329 in the process, went 4-5 today with a HR and 3 RBI to lead the way. Hunter Bishop was 3-4 with a 2-RBI double in the 1st as well, and both Vidal Brujan and Wander Franco had 3 hits today as well. Tyler Glasnow rolled with all those runs, going 6.1 6 1 1 2 9 to improve to 8-3, 3.04 and Aaron Ashby and Mitchell Verburg combined for a scoreless 2 2/3 innings. As predicted, Boston swept the Yankees so the Rays will just have to take care of their own business when they go to Boston tomorrow. Team record: 32-19. Next up: 3 big games in Fenway. Last edited by Art Deco; 09-18-2020 at 09:53 PM.

09-19-2020, 09:41 AM	#246
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	May 30-June 1, 2022: at Boston (3) Game 1: The first game of the series was rained out on Friday night, so we're playing a day/night doubleheader on Saturday. And in Game 1, the Rays fell to Boston 4-2 to drop 2 1/2 behind as Matt Manning proved to be human, even if Brandon Marsh may not be. Manning was touched for a two-out run in the 1st, gave up a Monte Harrison longball in the 2nd, and 2 more in the 5th as he went 5 6 4 4 2 4 to see his ERA rise to 2.00. Nick Frasso was great in relief, pitching 3 perfect innings with 3 Ks to keep the Rays within shouting distance, but they couldn't get enough offense against Bryan Mata and company. They manufactured a run in the 3rd on a Vidal Brujan single, steal and Austin Meadows sac fly, and Brandon Marsh homered again in the 7th, his 6th in a little over a week but that was it. Renato Nunez did not look good, going 0-4 with 3 whiffs. And although he had 2 hits, it was a rare 2-whiff day for Wander Franco with the second whiff ending the game. Game 2: It was a miserable day for the Rays at Fenway, matching the weather as there was a 55-minute rain delay to prolong their being swept. Boston beat them 10-6 to pull 3 1/2 games in front in the AL East as another Rays starter couldn't get it done. This time it was Mitchell White, who gave up 4 in the first but wasn't helped by a Vidal Brujan error but Monte Harrison's 2-run HR (him again) was all on him. After falling behind 5-0 after 2, the Rays battled back to tie it in the 3rd with Wander Franco's grand slam (#13) off Matthew Boyd the equalizer. But Eric Cole hit the first of his 2 HRs today off White in the bottom of the 3rd, and White left with a 2.2 8 7 4 1 2 line. Daniel Lynch wasn't the shutdown long man he had been recently, either giving up 2 more in the 4th and Boston was up 9-5 and on the way to victory. Renato Nunez had his first Rays extra-base hit, a double off the Monster, and scored on a Spencer Torkelson RBI grounder (Tork hasn't homered in ages by the way) but Eric Cole hit HR #2 of the game off Mitchell Verburg to get that run back. Vidal Brujan was 3-4 to give him 5 hits for the day as his bat is back, but even that was offset by his key error. While it's small consolation after yesterday's doubleheader loss, this was still nice to see: Game 3: It was the Boston Massacre for the Rays as the Red Sox thumped them 7-0 to sweep the series and move 4 1/2 games ahead in the standings, the farthest behind the Rays have been since 2021. In the "I don't know what I was expecting" category, Dustin May and his 5.86 ERA started away from the friendly confines of the Trop and like the two starters yesterday put the Rays in an immediate hole by giving up a 3-run HR to Yasmani Grandal. Grandal hit a 2-run shot off May his next time up as well as the righty went 4.2 9 7 7 2 5 in another terrible outing on the road. His home/road split is a 2.88 ERA at the Trop in 25 innings with a 6/26 BB/K ratio; on the road he has a 9.49 ERA allowing 49 hits in 30.1 innings with 19 walks. His next scheduled start is at home, which keeps him in the rotation for another turn. For what it's worth Aaron Ashby had 3 Ks in 1 1/3 scoreless and Mitch Keller had 2 scoreless innings. Of course however bad May was it didn't matter as the "offense" couldn't get a run against Justin Dunn, although they did bang out 10 hits off him in his 8 innings but they were definitely scattered and Dunn didn't walk anybody. Team record: 32-22. Next up: Back home thankfully, starting with 3 vs Atlanta. Last edited by Art Deco; 09-19-2020 at 12:56 PM.

09-19-2020, 02:48 PM	#247
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	June 2-4, 2025: vs Atlanta (3) Game 1: Renato Nunez had his first big hit as a Ray, hitting a 2-out grand slam in the 6th to break a 4-4 tie and leading the Rays to a high-scoring-for-the-Trop 10-6 win over Atlanta. They had built a 4-0 lead which included an RBI double on Bramdon Perez's first MLB hit and an RBI single from Triston Casas, and Shane McClanahan was dealing, perfect through 4 1/3. He then lost the perfect game with a walk, the no-hitter with a single, and the shutout with an RBI single on consecutive batters in the 5th but still led 4-1. But things unraveled for him in the 6th, allowing a run and leaving with men on 2nd and 3rd. Aaron Ashby came in and got Freddie Freeman but allowed a 2-run, 2-out single by Mookie Betts to tie the game. This set the stage for Nunez's heroics as he went deep off Pedro Avila with the bases loaded to send the Trop into a frenzy. Ashby picked up his first win of the year, and Nick Anderson saw his first action in 10 days with a perfect inning in the 8th. The Rays added 2 more on a Wander RBI double and an Austin Meadows RBI single and with a 6-run Mitchell Verburg came on for the 9th. He immediately got into trouble thanks to a Nunez error, a hit and a walk to load the bases and Jasseel De La Cruz came in for the first time in 16 days (!), walked a man in but got through it as a run scored on a double play and the Rays held on. Perez followed his first MLB hit with two more in a 3-4 day and Wander was 2-3 with 2 walks and the RBI. Boston lost in Anaheim so the division deficit is down to 3 1/2. Game 2: In almost a carbon copy of last night's game the Rays won 10-5 after getting a big lead early, seeing Atlanta come back and make it close in the late innings, and then winning comfortably. Tonight's hero was Keston Hiura, who was 3-3 with a 3-run HR (#3) in the 2nd off Corbin Clouse to give the Rays a 4-0 lead, and was 3-3 for the night with 2 walks, 4 runs scored and a double to go with the longball. After Ronald Acuna Jr hit a 2-run HR off Tyler Glasnow in the 4th to make it 4-2, Spencer Torkelson hit his first HR (#9) since May 7 and only his second since April 25, a 2-run blast that restored the 4-run lead. But Atlanta wouldn't quit and Freddie Freeman made it 6-4 in the 6th with a 2-run blast off Glasnow, and in the 7th Ramon Urias took Tyler deep to make it 6-5. Glasnow ended with a weird 7 5 5 5 3 4 line but still notched win his MLB-leading 9th win. Chris Betts had an RBI double in the bottom of the inning to make it a little more comfortable at 7-5 but Nick Anderson ran into trouble giving up two hits with one out and Freeman coming to the plate. Enter Jose Alvarado (for the first time in 11 days, we haven't had late & close leads lately, either blowouts or losses) who struck out Freeman and got Jose Ramirez to pop out to end the threat. Then the Rays put 3 more on the board in the bottom of the 8th on Austin Meadows' 9th HR of the year, a Chris Betts bases-loaded walk and a Brandon Marsh RBI single. Nick Frasso had a scoreless 9th to close it out. Boston won in 10 at Anaheim to stay 3 1/2 up. June 4: Optioned P Aaron Ashby to AAA Durham, recalled P Sandy Gaston from AAA Durham. It's a paper move for Ashby as we call up Gaston to start as the rainout last Friday means there's no regular rotation member with sufficient rest. Gaston has been brilliant in his 2 starts in the Durham rotation since being sent down earlier, and will go back tomorrow. Game 3: The Sandy Gaston spot start didn't work out as the Rays fell to Atlanta 5-4. The Rays grabbed a 2-1 lead after 2 on Keston Hiura's 4th HR of the season but Gaston gave up 2 in the 3rd and 2 more in the 5th on the way to a 4.1 6 5 5 3 2 line, and although a 2-run HR by Renato Nunez got the Rays back to within 5-4 in bottom of the 6th they couldn't push the tying across, most notably in the 9th with 2 men on when Vidal Brujan flew out to end the game. Nunez also drove in the Rays run in the 1st with a double and Mitch Keller had a nice 3 1 0 0 1 4 outing to keep them in the game. Fortunately the Red Sox lost so they didn't slip any further behind. Team record: 34-23. Next up: 4 games at home vs Baltimore. Last edited by Art Deco; 09-19-2020 at 06:36 PM.

09-19-2020, 10:50 PM	#248
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	The 2025 Amateur Draft It's draft time again, and this year we had the 31st overall pick along with a supplemental first rounder (37th overall) for losing Rafael Devers to free agency. Here are the players from the top 5 rounds: 1st round, 31st overall: 18-year-old switch-hitting RF Kevin Schell, West Valley City UT. Tools? He has tools. Potential 75 power, already has a 70 outfield arm, and a potential 60 eye. Contact as always with these types is an issue. And if he makes the team while we still have Nick Schnell it will be a lot of fun keeping those two straight. 1st round (supplemental), 37th overall: 22-year-old RHB SS Dane Ayres, Ohio State. Does a lot of things well, polished player. Already a 70 LF should he move there, sure-handed, 75 baserunner, potential 55 contact, potential 60 power. Could move quickly. 2nd round, 71st overall: 18-year-old Eddie Waun LHB CF from Winterset, IA. More tools. 70 outfield range, potential 70 HR & gap power, potential 60 eye, 70 basestealer & 70 baserunner, again he'll go as far as he can make contact. 3rd round, 99th overall: 18-year Joe Dameron, RHB CF from Gainesville, FL. 70 arm, 60 range in CF, potential 70 eye and 60 avoid Ks, 50 power and 60 baserunner. 4th round, 129th overall: 20-year-old Jon Whiteleather RHP from Monterey Peninsula JUCO. Projected as a closer, he throws 97-99 and has 4.5-star potential with potential 70 stuff. Could also move quickly if he harnesses it. 5th round, 160th overall: 18-year-old Yuuto Uehara, RHP from Benedictine High School via Japan. Has a legit fastball and a pretty good forkball, which you don't see often. He's 94-96 with decent-average stuff, but he has a wide repertoire of pitches. A real boom or bust pick. Overall thoughts: Last couple of drafts I've loaded up on power-hitting HS OFers, and the hope here is that a couple of them turn out to be the real deal. A little lighter on pitching than I've hoped, but we have quite a few potential aces in the pipeline (Mack Anglin, Christian Little, Jack Leiter, Andy Aparicio and Billy Tacuri) so I'd like to also develop some bats.

09-19-2020, 10:59 PM	#249
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	June 5-8, 2025: vs Baltimore (4) Game 1: Boston won its afternoon game by thrashing the Angels 11-0, so the pressure was on the Rays to keep pace. And they did, just barely, in a 4-3 win over the Orioles which saw another outstanding effort from Matt Manning. He took a 1-hitter into the 7th with that only hit being a Jo Adell homer and had a 4-1 lead, but he gave up a couple of hits around a Vidal Brujan error and Baltimore got an unearned run to cut it to 4-2. And with his pitch count at a reasonable 95, he started the 8th and faced Adell again, with the same result as the first time with another solo homer. He then came out for Jose Alvarado who got through the rest of the inning with a walk, and Jasseel De La Cruz got save #12 despite allowing a 2-out double. Manning improves to 7-3 with his 7 4 3 2 0 7 outing and his ERA ticks up to 2.04. The offense took a while to arrive but they got a pair in the 5th on a Brandon Marsh RBI single and a Wander Franco RBI double, and then two more in the 6th on Hunter Bishop's 2nd HR of the year, with a man on. Game 2: Wander Franco went 4-5 with 2 doubles and 4 RBI, Keston Hiura was 2-4 with a double and 3 RBI, and Mitchell White threw 6 strong innings to lead the Rays to an easy 8-1 win over Baltimore. Franco and Hiura each had 2-run doubles in a 4-run 2nd, and with White in control they never looked back. The righthander went 6 4 1 0 2 7 to improve to 6-3, 3.14 and Nick Frasso got his first major league save with 3 innings of shutout ball. In 13 2/3 innings so far, the rookie righty has an 0/13 BB/K ratio and 1.32 ERA and may have found himself up to stay. Vidal Brujan was 3-5 and now finds his average up to .254, and Hunter Bishop had another nice game with a pair of hits. Boston won in Oakland so the Rays remain 3 1/2 back; after 4 years, it looks like the Rays finally have a worthy AL East challenger. Game 3: The Rays couldn't get the bats going today and lost 3-1 to Baltimore. Bryar Johnson was tough on them, not allowing a hit until Chris Betts singled with two out in the fifth and went 7 4 1 1 3 5. Hunter Bishop's RBI double in the 6th was the only Rays run, although they looked like they might mount a rally in the 8th when Vidal Brujan and Wander Franco led off with singles, but Austin Meadows grounded into a double play and Renato Nunez struck out. And in the 9th Keston Hiura and pinch-hitter Keibert Ruiz singled with 2 out, but Brandon Marsh grounded out to end the game. Shane McClanahan was decent today (6.1 7 3 3 2 6) but Greg Diechmann's 2-run HR in 4th was his undoing. Mitch Keller got McClanahan out of the 7th and after he put a couple on in the 8th, Aaron Ashby struck out the next 3 batters as the bullpen continues to pitch well. The A's beat Boston so at least no ground was lost. Game 4: This really is started to look like a wild-card, rather than division-winning, caliber team as they can't get the bats going once again and lose 6-1 to Baltimore. Gave Dustin May one more chance to start, given how well he's pitched at the Trop but he wasn't that good today, going 4.1 5 3 3 3 4 and he and his 6.49 ERA are now out of the rotation. We have an off day coming up so need immediate need to replace him but Daniel Lynch will probably get first crack. Sandy Gaston could get another shot, and Jimmy Lewis and Emerson Hancock are pitching very well at Durham right now so there are options. The other choice today would have been to start Tyler Glasnow, but with the offense only mustering one run and six hits it was probably the right move to pass as unless he pitched a shutout it would have been a wasted start. Unlike yesterday, the bullpen didn't keep it close as Lynch, Mitchell Verburg and Aaron Ashby each allowed a run to let Baltimore win comfortably. A Wander sac fly accounted for our only run, while Triston Casas led off the 5th with a triple but was stranded in their other best chance to score. And Boston won today so their lead is now up to a season-high 4 1/2. Team record: 36-25. Next up: An off-day followed by a pair of games at CitiField against the Mets. Last edited by Art Deco; 09-20-2020 at 12:56 PM.

09-20-2020, 05:11 PM	#250
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	June 10-11, 2025: at NY Mets (2) Game 1: Tyler Glasnow was the star today with both his arm and his bat as the Rays romped today against the Mets to the tune of 9-1. With the bases loaded in the top of the 2nd, Glasnow delivered a 2-run single off New York starter Franklyn Kilome to put the Rays ahead 2-0 and give them all the runs they'd need. That was because Glasnow did it with his arm as well, going 7 5 1 1 3 9 to become MLB's first 10-game winner and lowering his ERA to 3.17. He also was the first in MLB to go over 100 strikeouts with 104. The rest of the offense made sure this wouldn't be a nail-biter, with Hunter Bishop getting his first MLB 4-hit game in 5 trips. Keston Hiura's RBI single in the 3rd made it 3-1, and Austin Meadows had a 2-run single in the 4th to open up the lead to 5-1. Vidal Brujan, Wander Franco, Keibert Ruiz and Brandon Marsh also had an RBI apiece as the Rays totaled 15 hits. Mitchell Verburg pitched the final 2 innings without incident. Unfortunately Boston refuses to lose, beating Atlanta in 14 innings, after scoring 7 in the 9th inning to tie the game. How can you compete with that? Game 2: It's not every day you win a 2-1 game with the combination of an inside-the-park HR and a bases-loaded walk but that's what the Rays did today to sweep their 2-game series over the Mets at CitiField. In the 2nd, Keston Hiura hit one into the LCF gap that took a funny bounce and that was all he needed to speed his way around the bases for his 5th HR of the season, and he was the man at the plate when Reynaldo Lopez got wild in the 6th, walking Hunter Bishop to load the bases and then Hiura behind him. That was enough for Matt Manning as he went 7 4 1 1 2 5 to get win #8 and bring his ERA back below 2 at 1.99. Manning walked the leadoff man in the 8th, and Jose Alvarado came in and whiffed righty batters Ronnie Mauricio and Pete Alonso to end that mini-threat. Jasseel De La Cruz issued a two-out walk to Michael Conforto but struck out Will Toffey to end the game and grab save #13. The Rays only managed 6 hits today, and Manning had one of them as both Rays starters in this series picked one up. Atlanta shut out Boston today behind Robbie Ray (who has the only better ERA in MLB than Manning at 1.66) so the Rays for the first time in a while pick up a game on Boston and are now 3 1/2 back. Team record: 38-25. Next up: Our first visit to Toronto this season for 4 games against an improved Jays side which is 32-29. In fact aside from the woeful Yankees the other 4 AL East teams all have winning records. Last edited by Art Deco; 09-20-2020 at 07:59 PM.

09-20-2020, 09:14 PM	#251
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	June 12-15, 2025: at Toronto (4) Game 1: In a game where they were looking safe for a win only for Toronto to make it close before getting some breathing room again, the Rays won the opener of this 4-game set at Rogers Centre 8-5 over the Blue Jays. Austin Meadows had the big hit, a 3-run HR (#10) in the 3rd inning that gave the Rays a 5-2 lead, and a Vidal Brujan sac fly made it 6-2 in the 6th. But entrusted in a medium-leverage situation, Nick Frasso served up a 3-run HR to Bo Bichette to allow Toronto to cut the lead to 6-5. Jose Alvarado got a key double play to get out of that inning, and then the Rays added 2 more in the 8th for some insurance on a Brandon Marsh sac fly and a Brujan RBI grounder. Nick Anderson got through the 8th, and Jasseel De La Cruz pitched a perfect 9th for save #14. The pitching was an issue today as Mitchell White had to leave in the 4th with a sprained elbow (he's DtD for a week so Dustin May could get a reprieve) and Mitch Keller picked up the middle-inning slack, going 2 2/3 with 1 run allowed to pick up his 4th win. Keston Hiura was on base all 4 times today with 2 hits, a walk and an HBP. Since getting regular playing time in late May, he's gone 20 for his last 43 with 6 walks, getting on base at over a .500 clip during this stretch and he's now hitting 352/428/563 for the season. Boston won so no ground gained. Game 2: Coming in I knew this was a game where we'd have to score a lot of runs to win given the depleted state of the bullpen along with a bit of a lack of faith in Shane McClanahan against Toronto's righty-dominated lineup. And sure enough it was as despite taking a 10-0 lead, it got within 11-9 before the Rays ended up prevailing 13-9. Leading the charge again was Keston Hiura, whom the Jays cannot simply get out. And I mean that literally as after reaching base all 4 times yesterday he did likewise in all 5 of his trips today, and he kicked off the scoring with the first of his two HRs in the 2nd to make it 2-0. Vidal Brujan knocked in another run in the inning and then Wander Franco hit the first of his 2 HRs, a 2-run shot off Matt Wisler to make it 5-0. And then after Chris Betts had an RBI single in the 3rd, Wander launched a grand slam to make it 10-0. But McClanahan, in trouble all night, gave up 3 in the bottom of the inning but managed to make his way through 5 on 101 pitches, going 5 9 3 3 3 5 but picking up his 3rd win. Still things got dicey. Nick Frasso came in and gave up 2 more HRs to make it 10-5 after 6. Hiura hit his 2nd HR in the top of the 7th to make it 11-5 but Frasso and Mitchell Verburg combined to allow 4 more Jays runs in the bottom of the inning to cut the lead to 11-9. Brandon Marsh homered in the 8th to make it 12-9, and Verburg somehow managed to get through the 8th without being scored upon. Betts added another RBI single in the 9th so last man available Nick Anderson didn't have a save situation but even he managed to put a couple of men on before whiffing Ryan McKenna to mercifully end the game. Speaking of people that can't be retired, Vlad Jr. was 4-4 with a walk and 3 RBI for the Jays, who actually outhit the Rays 18-13 but were out-homered 5-2. Boston was bombarded by Oakland today 15-7 so we actually gained a game to get within 2 1/2. June 14: Optioned P Nick Frasso to AAA Durham, recalled P Luke Little from AAA Durham. Luke Little was our 2nd round pick all the way back in 2020, a 6'8" lefty who consistently throws 100 mph and has been a setup man/closer for Durham since mid-season last year. Obviously he can whiff people, the issue is his 40 control. With Frasso frazzled from giving up 3 HRs the last 2 nights, I needed an extra arm. Game 3: You could say I've disrespected Daniel Lynch this year, relegating him to long relief. After all he was 15-6, 3.44 last season, has pitched some fine games in the playoffs, etc. Still, Dustin May was great last year in the first half before getting hurt and Shane McClanahan was great in the second half so Lynch and his less-than-shiny advanced stats ended up the odd man out of the rotation after Mitchell White was acquired to replace Walker Buehler. So with May blowing up this year it was time to make a change and Lynch got first crack and he did quite well with that shot today as the Rays beat the Jays for their 5th straight win (and 6th straight against Toronto) 6-3. Lynch isn't the hardest thrower in the rotation but he whiffed 5 in the first two innings on his way to a 6.2 6 3 3 0 9 performance. Most of the damage against him was two solo HRs by (who else?) Vlad Jr. (Speaking of people who couldn't be retired, Keston Hiura was today going 0-4). But Lynch hung in there and got just about everyone else out, and Aaron Ashby did a nice job getting him out of the 7th and getting a 1-2-3 8th. Jasseel De La Cruz made everyone nervous by allowing the first two he faced to single, but got the next three including a whiff of Justin Ellison to end the game for save #15. The Rays actually were behind 3-2 after 6 when Vlad hit his 2nd HR but Miguel Castro loaded the bases and Keibert Ruiz came through with a bases-clearing triple to make it 5-3 in the top of the 7th. Keibert also had an RBI single to provide a little insurance in the 9th, while Hunter Bishop's RBI double and Triston Casas' sac fly accounted for their first 2 runs in the 2nd. And the A's bombed Boston again 12-6 so we're within 1 1/2 (although 3 back in the loss column). Game 4: It was the 2021 Cy Young winner vs the 2023 Cy Young winner, so a pitchers' duel was expected. That's not what we got though as Nate Pearson and Tyler Glasnow were both terrible, the former with his control and the latter allowing too many hits/HRs. Glasnow was rocked for 4 runs in the 2nd on a Byron Buxton 2-run double and a Bo Bichette 2-run HR, but the Rays rallied with 5 in the 4th when Pearson lost the plate, walking 4 in the inning and allowing runs on sac flies from Triston Casas and Wander Franco (his MLB-leading 62nd RBI) and singles from Keibert Ruiz and Austin Meadows. Given a new lease on the game, Glasnow could have buckled down but instead gave up another HR to Bichette, this one of the 3-run variety, and Toronto was back up 7-5 on the way to a 9-5 win. He gave up a couple of more hits after that and Dustin May came on in his first relief appearance of the season and got Glasnow out of it but gave up a couple of more runs over his 3 2/3 innings although he whiffed 5. Glasnow ended an ugly 3.1 10 7 7 2 4 in his worst outing of the season. Luke Little got to make his MLB debut in the 8th and although he gave up a hit to the leadoff man, he got the next 3 out albeit with no strikeouts. The offense was pretty much limited to that 4th inning as 4 Toronto relievers combined to give them only one hit and no walks over the final 5 1/3 innings. The win was Toronto's first in 7 games against the Rays this season. Fortunately no ground was lost as the A's completed a sweep of Boston in Fenway Park. Team record: 41-26. Next up: 3 games at home vs the Yankees. Last edited by Art Deco; 09-21-2020 at 01:25 PM.

09-21-2020, 03:16 PM	#252
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	June 16-18, 2025: vs NY Yankees (3) June 16: Optioned P Luke Little to AAA Durham, recalled P Jimmy Lewis from AAA Durham. With Mitchell White not ready to go just yet, I still needed another starter so it's time to turn to Jimmy Lewis, who deserves the opportunity. He had a fine 2023 at Durham and started 2024 there before tearing a back muscle very early in the season and missing the rest of it. This year he's been lights out, going 6-2, 2.64 with 97 whiffs in 78 1/3 innings. He'll get the start tonight and we'll give Matt Manning an extra day's rest. Game 1: Jimmy Lewis was very good in his MLB debut and should have picked up his first MLB win but Nick Anderson gave up an Aaron Judge HR in the 8th to tie the game. No matter, the Rays still won 6-3 and Lewis did not shy from the big stage. He struck out the first batter he faced, Hyo-jun Park, and ending up going 5.2 6 2 2 2 6. He gave up a 2-out double to Brandon Lowe in the 6th, and Aaron Ashby came in and was excellent himself, getting Aaron Hicks to fly out, pitching a perfect 7th and whiffing the leadoff man in the 8th. With 3 righties due up including Judge, it was Nick Anderson time, but instead it was Aaron Judge time as he deposited Anderson's 1-0 pitch into the LF stands and cost Lewis the win. He recovered, and ended up vulturing the win when Triston Casas led off the bottom of the inning with HR #6 off Trevor Bauer. That chased the Yankee starter and they added 2 more off reliever Tyler Zuber on RBI singles from Keibert Ruiz and Keston Hiura. Jasseel De La Cruz struck out the side for save #16. Earlier they had grabbed 3 runs off Bauer in the first when Bauer walked Vidal Brujan and Wander Franco, balked them to 2nd and 3rd, and then Ruiz and Austin Meadows brought them home on grounders before Hiura launched HR #8. And Toronto shocked Boston with 5 runs in the 9th to beat them 6-5, meaning we're only 1/2 game behind now. Game 2: Matt Manning had a rare rough start* and the Rays fell to the Yankees 5-3. The Yankees are a terrible 20-48 but they're a more respectable 4-5 vs the Rays. Manning was hit for 2 runs in 1st, and one in the 2nd, 3rd and 5th with 4 of the Yankee runs scoring on sac flies. He ended 6 9 5 4 0 8 so he wasn't completely terrible, but the offense couldn't bail him out. Brujan tripled in the 3rd and scored on a Wander Franco single, and Hunter Bishop and Spencer Torkelson had 2-out RBI singles in the 5th, but like the Toronto game 2 days ago, they stopped hitting against the opponent's bullpen, with only one base hit over the last 3 2/3 innings. Mitch Keller whiffed 5 over the final 2 innings to keep it close. Thankfully Boston has gone into a deep funk, losing their 5th straight so the Rays remain 1/2 game behind. Chris Betts was catching today as Keibert Ruiz needed rest, and I remain convinced that he brings out the worst in Rays' pitchers. CERA is a crude stat, but Keibert's is 3.04 while Betts's is 4.97. When you see Matt Manning suddenly struggle, you have to wonder. And it would be one thing if he were hitting to offset this but tonight he was 0-4 and he's 200/290/291 for the season with 1 HR. Betts is out of minor league options so if I opt for someone else he's gone (he probably clears waivers). Noah Cardenas is the only other catcher on the 40-man but he's barely better defensively than Betts (50 to 45). If I stay in-house, I probably promote Patrick Bailey, who's a 60 catcher and is hitting 285/331/482 at Durham with good gap power (14 doubles in 132 AB). June 18: Traded 28-year-old catcher Chris Betts and 26-year-old minor league second baseman Gregory Guerrero to the Oakland Athletics, getting 25-year-old minor league reliever Cole Patten in return. Purchased the contract of C Patrick Bailey from AAA Durham. Alright, I talked myself into it. Betts seems like the stereotypical Oakland player, a low contact, high power, good eye type, and the return is Patten, who is ranked by BNN as the #81 prospect in baseball, and here are his details: Intriguing, future trade bait at least. Guerrero was a minor league signing about 10 days ago, he was "make this work" ballast for the deal. And now Bailey gets his shot, as mentioned above he's a 60 defender, and is a better overall hitter than Betts but with more doubles than HR power. That's fine for a backup catcher, and if he doesn't pan out I'll end up dealing for a Mebrys Viloria-type. Game 3: It was a grind, and the bullpen made it way too interesting in the final 2 innings, but the Rays held on for a 3-2 win over the Yankees. It was going to be tough as Vidal Brujan and Austin Meadows both needed a rest, so Greg Jones and Bramdon Perez got starts today facing Gerrit Cole. Mitchell White was on the bump for the Rays after missing a start due to elbow soreness, and he turned in a fine, if not clean, performance. Although it seemed he had at least one baserunner each of his 6 innings he didn't allow any of them to score, going 6 6 0 0 2 5 and improving to 7-3, 2.99. He left ahead 2-0 thanks to the big hit of the day, Perez's first MLB homer, a 2-run shot in the 4th off Cole. Jose Alvarado struck out the side in order in the 7th, but Nick Anderson is developing a bad habit of allowing HRs to the first man he faces and he did it again today to Gleyber Torres, who followed up his 4 hits from yesterday with 3 more today. Anderson then put men on first and third with one out, but got a groundball at a drawn-in infield and got out of it while not looking terribly good. In the bottom of the 8th Keston Hiura walked and the Yankees brought in a lefty so I pinch-hit for Perez with Spencer Torkelson, and Tork came through with a double down the line on an 0-2 pitch, scoring Hiura with what proved to be a critical insurance run. That was because Jasseel De La Cruz was less than convincing himself although Wander booted a ground ball that would have been the second out of the inning. Still he allowed 2 hits including one to Torres which made it 3-2, and again the Yanks had men on 1st and 3rd with 1 out. But De La Cruz whiffed Joe Allen and Aaron Judge to end the game and get save #17 as a collective "whew" was heard around the Trop. And hallelujah we're in first place again for the moment, as Boston's losing streak reached 6 games today (all at Fenway) falling again to Toronto. Team record: 43-27. Next up: An off-day tomorrow followed by a 3-game weekend set against the Phillies. They boast a pretty fearsome power lineup these days with Francisco Lindor, Bryce Harper, Miguel Sano, old friend Nate Lowe and Gary Sanchez. They're 37-31 and in the thick of the NL East race with their Achilles heel being pitching especially now that $39.5M man Jacob deGrom is out for the year with a torn labrum. Last edited by Art Deco; 09-21-2020 at 07:47 PM.*

09-22-2020, 09:28 AM	#253
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	June 20-22, 2025: vs Philadelphia (3) Game 1: Shane McClanahan was great until he lost it, and the offense couldn't generate enough runs, which all added up to a 5-3 loss to the Phillies. With a 2-0 lead Mac was excellent through 4 shutout innings but Philly got to him in the 5th for a couple of runs to tie it which scored on a balk and a wild pitch, and then Francisco Lindor led off the 6th with a homer. McClanahan ended a respectable if disappointing 6 5 3 3 2 7. The normally reliable Mitch Keller took over in the 7th and was terrible, allowing two runs and Aaron Ashby had to get the last out of the inning. Ashby then had to leave the game with biceps tendinitis and will be out about 3 weeks so he's headed to the IL. Dustin May mopped up with two scoreless innings. The offense did end up with 12 hits and 2 walks but couldn't get hits when they needed them with 2 on and 1 out in both the 8th and 9th. Keibert Ruiz drove in the first two runs with an RBI groundout in the 1st and a single in the 3rd, and they got a run in the 9th on a Philly error but with the tying runs on base Austin Meadows flew out to end the game. Boston lost for the eighth straight game (including yesterday) so the Rays are now 1 game up on them and even in the loss column. The bad news is that they lost to Baltimore, which has won 8 straight and is 3 behind. Toronto's also hot, winning 5 in a row and are within 5 as the AL East is best it's been in years. June 21: Placed P Aaron Ashby on the 15-day IL with biceps tendinitis, recalled P Luke Little from AAA Durham. Little is back up as I needed another lefty in the pen, especially with Daniel Lynch now in the rotation. Ashby will definitely been missed as he's been very good this year. Game 2: Daniel Lynch and the bullpen were brilliant in a 3-2 nail-biter win over the Phillies. All the runs for both teams were scored in the second inning but after Scott Kingery homered and former Ray Randy Arozarena doubled in a run, Lynch allowed nothing the rest of the way, going 7 3 2 2 0 7 for two wins in two starts since returning to the rotation. Nick Anderson got two whiffs to get through the 8th and with lefties Bryce Harper and Nate Lowe due in the 9th, Jose Alvarado got the call. He whiffed Harper, allowed a single to Miguel Sano, and then got Lowe to pop out. With the righty Kingery due, Jasseel De La Cruz came in and got him on a popup as well to nail down save #18. The Rays' runs came on an extended rally in the second when Austin Meadows led off with a single, Keston Hiura doubled him to 3rd, Meadows scored on a Spencer Torkelson sac fly and after Renato Nunez whiffed, Hunter Bishop singled in Hiura, and Brandon Marsh doubled in Bishop. They had the bases loaded with 1 out in the 6th, but Marsh hit into a force at the plate and Vidal Brujan struck out looking. Boston finally snapped its 8-game losing streak with a 3-0 win over Baltimore on a 2-hit shutout from rookie Robinson Pina, who earlier in the year was their closer. Game 3: Excitement at the Trop as a moribund offense came to life at the last possible moment to extend the game and allow the Rays to win 5-4 in 11 and take 2 of 3 from the NL East-leading Phillies. After only managing a couple of hits after getting 3 runs in the first inning the Rays looked doomed to defeat in the bottom of the 9th, especially after Phillies closer Michael Feliz struck out Keston Hiura and Spencer Torkelson to start the inning. But down to their last at-bat, the Rays tied it on a dramatic Hunter Bishop homer, his third of the year. And after Jasseel De La Cruz threw 2 strong innings with 4 whiffs to keep Philly off the board, the Rays greeted an old friend rudely in the bottom of the 11th as Colin Poche, making his Phillies debut, gave up an infield single to Hiura and Torkelson followed with a double to the LCF gap to score Hiura and give the Rays a walk-off win. Things looked good for the Rays early when with the help of a Phillies error they scored 3 in the first off Dakota Hudson on a Hiura RBI single and Torkelson's 2-RBI double. Tyler Glasnow was dealing with 8 strikeouts through 4, allowing only one run but things went bad for him in the fifth. With one out he loaded the bases with a couple of walks and then had to leave with back spasms, which aren't serious but will cause him to miss his next start. Mitchell Verburg came in and whiffed Miguel Sano but gave up a 2-run double to another former Ray, Nate Lowe, to tie the game. He struck out Gary Sanchez to end the threat and got through the 6th, but Luke Little got a chance to pitch the 7th and gave up a lefty-on-lefty homer to Bryce Harper to make it 4-3 Phillies. Little hung in to get the first man out in the 8th and gave way to Nick Anderson, who went 1 2/3 to get us to the bottom of the 9th. Rays pitchers ended up tallying 18 strikeouts in the 11 innings, including 5 of Sano. Baltimore beat Boston so we now have a 2-game lead. Team record: 45-28. Next up: an off-day followed by 3 games in Atlanta. Last edited by Art Deco; 09-22-2020 at 01:41 PM.

09-22-2020, 04:35 PM	#254
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	June 24-26, 2025: at Atlanta (3) Game 1: This one was ugly from the get-go as Matt Manning couldn't find the plate tonight and got battered around for 4 runs in the first inning on the way to a 9-4 loss to the Braves. Freddie Freeman and Johan Camargo had 2-run singles off Manning, who walked 5 on the night. Atlanta added 3 more in the 5th against Manning when Freeman blasted a 3-run HR after a Keston Hiura error kept the inning alive and his final line was an unsightly 5 4 7 4 5 5. Hiura had an RBI double and Keibert Ruiz an RBI single before Austin Meadows hit #11, a 2-run shot in the 8th that got them within 7-4, but Dustin May yielded a 2-run shot to former Ray Willy Adames in the bottom of the inning. Despite the loss, the division lead has grown since we last checked in as Boston lost last night and again tonight (a painful loss in 16 innings) so we're up 2 1/2. Game 2: Today was the mirror image of yesterday's game as the Rays blasted the Braves 10-2. Spencer Torkelson was the offensive star for the Rays, blasting a 3-run HR (#10) off Robbie Ray in the second inning to kick off the scoring, and tripling in another during a 6-run 4th which blew the game open. Mitchell White coasted with all this run support, going 7 5 2 2 2 5 to go to 8-3, 2.95 and Nick Frasso finished things off with a couple of scoreless innings. Wander Franco had a 2-run double in the 4th as well and homered (#16) to cap off the scoring in the 7th. Boston continues to circle the drain, losing their 12th in 13 tonight and with Baltimore winning, the Orioles move into 2nd meaning the lead is now 3 games. Game 3: The offense struggled against Atlanta ace Mike Soroka while Shane McClanahan made a couple of bad pitches, and that was enough to doom the Rays to a 5-1 loss at Truist Park. Vidal Brujan was the entire offense tonight, going 3-4 with a solo HR (#5) off Soroka in the 3rd that tied the game at 1, but McClanahan gave up a Mookie Betts homer in the 4th to make it 2-1 Atlanta, and then in the 6th with two men on (one via error), Freddie Freeman killed them again with a 3-run homer. Freeman drove in 8 runs in the 3-game set. Mac had a weird 6 6 5 4 1 1 line, with his only whiff being Soroka. Mitchell Verburg struck out more (2) in his 2 innings finishing up. The Rays did have 8 hits and 2 walks off Soroka, but he spread them out well and got out of trouble when he didn't. Baltimore won so they pull within 2 games of the division lead as the Rays are now going toe-to-toe with a hot team instead of a cold one. Team record: 46-30. Next up: A weekend in the nation's capital to face the Nationals. Last edited by Art Deco; 09-22-2020 at 08:44 PM.

09-23-2020, 09:38 AM	#255
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	June 27-29, 2025: at Washington (3) Game 1: The Rays have never played well in DC, and tonight was no exception as they fell 3-0 to the Nationals. Daniel Lynch pitched pretty well (5 3 2 2 3 5) but made the mistake of walking a man ahead of Juan Soto, who drilled a 2-run HR to RF off him to give Washington all the runs it would need. That was because the offense could do nothing against Freddy Peralta, who came into the game with a 6.86 ERA but looked like an ace tonight going 7 4 0 0 2 7. Mitch Keller gave up a run in the 7th to make it 3-0 but in the top of the 8th they had a great chance to come back, loading the bases with nobody out. But as they so often do, they squandered this opportunity with Austin Meadows hitting into a 4-2-3 double play to effectively kill the rally. Patrick Bailey made his MLB debut and it was a mixed bag. He threw out the only baserunner (Trea Turner) who attempted to steal on him and the pitching wasn't bad like it was with Chris Betts, but he was 0-4 at the plate and grounded into a double play to end the game. Boston beat Baltimore with 2 in the bottom of the 9th so the lead remains 2 games, now over both of those teams. June 28: Optioned P Nick Frasso to AAA Durham, recalled P Jimmy Lewis from AAA Durham. Lewis is back up to start today as Tyler Glasnow still has a couple of days left with his back spasms, and even though it's listed as a "minimal" injury there's no need to risk it. Game 2: The slumbering offense woke up to put 10 runs in the board in the 7th and 8th inning to pick up a rare win at Nationals Park today by the score of 12-6. For 6 innings it looked like another of one those days in Washington as they were down 4-2. Jimmy Lewis got the start and like Daniel Lynch yesterday, made a couple of bad pitches. One was a solo HR to Juan Soto in the 1st and the other was a 2-run shot by JT Realmuto in the 2nd. But Lewis settled down after that, going 6 5 4 4 1 5, and thanks to the offense to come picked up his first MLB win. They were semi-stymied by Andre Jackson, who went 6 8 2 2 3 7 so as you can tell they had more than a few LOB facing him. But reliever Patrick Murphy was another story as he loaded the bases and then threw a wild pitch to make it 4-3, and Keibert Ruiz drove the remaining 2 on base home with a double to put the Rays in front. Jose Alvarado gave up a leadoff double to Trea Turner but got through the 7th, and then the HR barrage started in the 8th for the Rays. Brandon Marsh singled and Hunter Bishop, who earlier had an RBI triple, hit HR #4 to make it 7-4, Triston Casas followed behind him with #7, and then after two more reached Wander blasted #17 to make it 11-4. But they still weren't done with the longball as Keibert followed Wander with #7 and it was 12-4. Can't remember if they ever hit back-to-back HRs in a single inning twice. With an 8-run lead, Luke Little came in and gave up a 2-run HR of his own to cut it to 12-6 but Mitchell Verburg calmed things down with a 1-2-3 9th. Somebody had to win between Boston and Baltimore, and the Orioles did so the lead over them is 2. Game 3: It started out bad, got better, got a whole lot better, and then got shaky at the end but the Rays came away with an 8-5 win to take the series from Washington. Matt Manning got off to a rough start walking the leadoff man and watching Carter Kieboom go kaboom on him with a 2-run HR, then walking Juan Soto. But he got a double play to erase Soto and settled down from there, giving nothing else to Washington and going 6.2 5 2 2 4 10. Meanwhile the offense answered against Brandon Brennan with a 3-run HR from Brandon Marsh (#10) in the 2nd to put the Rays ahead and they added single runs in the 4th and 5th on sac flies from Marsh and Keston Hiura. They then broke it open in the 7th on an RBI single from Keibert Ruiz and a 2-run double from Hunter Bishop who had a nice weekend. Up 8-2, Manning left after he gave up a 2-out single and Nick Frasso got the final out but Frasso ran into trouble in the 8th, allowing a 2-run HR to Drew Mendoza so Mitch Keller came in and he gave up a HR to Trea Turner to cut it to 8-5. This meant Jasseel De La Cruz had to be used in the 9th, and he made it interesting putting 2 men out and bringing the tying run to the plate in the person of the dangerous Victor Robles, but he got Robles to hit into a fielder's choice to end the game and get save #19 while Manning improved to 9-5. And it worked out today that Boston beat Baltimore, so the Rays now lead both of those clubs by 3 games. Team record: 48-31. Next up: 4 games at home vs Oakland. Last edited by Art Deco; 09-23-2020 at 02:32 PM.

09-23-2020, 04:22 PM	#256
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	2025 Midseason Report Card We're 79 games in (and it'll be 83 after the Oakland series) so this is a good a time as any to do the midseason report card. First, a look at the team numbers: Although we're still first in the league in the important numbers (OPS, WAR, wOBA), the offense is down from last season, when we went 290/341/471 with a wOBA of 3.46 and we're scoring 5.33 runs/game as opposed to 5.57 last year, so the offense is down about 5% across the board. We're a little better at drawing walks, and still tough to strike out. Hiura/Casas replacing Devers is the main positional difference so that checks out. The pitching remains excellent but also a bit off last year's 3.33 team ERA. The defense is pretty bad again, as losing Devers has resulted in a downgrade at that position and Alec Bohm's 75 D at first has been out for a while. Hence the record isn't as good, but we're also having some bad luck vis-a-vis the Pythagorean record as the bullpen has been great. This team isn't as good as the 2023-2024 models, but should still be good enough to win the AL East and do some damage in the playoffs. By position: C: Keibert Ruiz is having an excellent season so no issues there. The Chris Betts saga was well-advertised and it's too early to tell if Patrick Bailey is the answer as backup since he's only played one game. (A-) 1B: Alec Bohm was crushing the ball with 15 HR and 42 RBI in 49 games before he got hurt, and he's been missed as the position has been turned over to Renato Nunez (161/253/264 with 2 HR in 87 AB) and Triston Casas (167/236/333). He'll be back in 1-2 weeks and it won't be soon enough. (B+ for Bohm, D- for his replacements) 2B: Vidal Brujan got off to a miserable start but has been great lately and is back up to 276/347/381 so there's even more positive regression to come. (B-) SS: Wander Franco (301/347/530) continues to do his thing, and he could be even better in the 2nd half (A) 3B: This originally was the domain of Casas but Keston Hiura has taken the job with a red-hot bat and I can live with his 45 defense at the position if he keeps hitting 342/412/567 or a reasonable facsimile of that. And it's not like Casas was Brooks Robinson at the position. (A for Hiura) LF: Nick Schnell unfortunately suffered a season-ending injury in May so he's been missed. Hunter Bishop, his primary replacement, started off slow but has been red-hot of late. (C+) CF: Brandon Marsh should be due some positive batting average regression as he's sitting at .249 but otherwise he's been his excellent all-around self, drawing walks, hitting for decent power and playing solid defense. (B) RF: Austin Meadows. Meadows is in his walk year, and I've tried to offer him 3-4 year deals, but he's insistent on at least 6 years at $28M and he'll be 31 next season so I expect him to be gone. He'll be missed of course but he is having a down year so far, at least power-wise. The 481 part of his 301/373/481 line and only 11 HR and 33 RBI needs to improve (in fairness to him RBI-wise, Wander's 69 and Ruiz's 55 have cleared most of the baserunners ahead of him). Hoping for closer to 20 HR than 10 in this second half. (B-) DH: Been a rotating crew here, but most of the at-bats have gone to Spencer Torkelson, who's 261/330/456. Those numbers are a bit disappointing, especially the 10 HR in 241 AB, would expect at least 15 from him by now in that # of ABs. He started off hot but has only hit 3 over the last 2 months. He's at least hit for a decent average and drawn walks which is why he stays in the lineup but like with Meadows I'm expecting some positive power regression from him. SP: Matt Manning is having another Cy Young-caliber season, but Tyler Glasnow has been "off" lately as his ERA approaches 4. I'm thinking it's just bad luck as his Ks remain high. Mitchell White's been great after a rough few early season starts, but Shane McClanahan has been kind of mediocre the past month after a good first 2. And obviously Dustin May was a disaster but Daniel Lynch seems like he'll solidify the #5 spot. (B) RP: The business end of the pen (Alvarado/Anderson/De La Cruz) has been very good again, and Mitch Keller, Mitchell Verburg and Aaron Ashby (before he got hurt) have been mostly excellent in middle relief. Both Ashby and Asa Lacy should be back soon, so that will help as the rookies (Frasso, Little) have been up and down. (A-) Last edited by Art Deco; 09-23-2020 at 04:26 PM.

09-23-2020, 05:27 PM	#257
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	June 30-July 3, 2025: vs Oakland (4) Game 1: It was the quintessential Rays game at the Trop, a 4-2 win over Oakland with good pitching and just enough offense. Tyler Glasnow got the start after missing a week with back spasms, and unfortunately nagging injuries got the better of him again as he had to leave in the 3rd with a torn fingernail which probably won't cause him to miss his first start but I'm starting to get a Charlie Morton/Garrett Richards whiff about him these days. He went 2.2 2 0 0 1 5 before he had to leave, and Dustin May took over. May was his usual 2025 mediocre self, squandering a 2-0 lead and going 3.1 4 2 2 1 3 with the second run particularly galling when he gave up a single, wild-pitched the guy to 2nd who went to 3rd on a groundout, and then wild-pitched again to allow him to score. Still he picked up his 4th win of the season when Keston Hiura hit HR #9 into the LF seats to make it 3-2 in the bottom of the 6th. Jose Alvarado had a rough 7th, loading the bases on two walks and a hit, but getting a whiff to get out of it. He had to throw 31 pitches after pitching an inning yesterday so he'll probably be out of commission for at least a couple of days. Austin Meadows, who doubled in a run earlier, had an RBI triple in the bottom of the 7th to make it 4-2, and Nick Anderson and Jasseel De La Cruz breezed through the 8th and 9th respectively with the latter getting save #20. The other Rays run came in the 2nd when Renato Nunez (0-4 again today) whiffed on a pitch that Sean Murphy let get by him to the backstop on a passed ball, allowing Hiura to score from 3rd. Baltimore won but Boston lost, so the lead remains 3 but only over the Orioles. Game 2: Spencer Torkelson must have read my midseason report card where I called for more HRs from him as he belted a 3-run shot to break a 6-6 tie in the 6th inning as the Rays outslugged the A's 10-7 after coming back from a 6-2 deficit. The Rays jumped out to an early lead when Hunter Bishop singled, stole second and went to 3rd on a throwing error, scoring on Patrick Bailey's sac fly, his first MLB RBI. Austin Meadows, from whom I also was looking for more power, hit #12 to make it 2-0 in the 3rd. But the wheels came off for Mitchell White as he was rocked for 6 runs in the 4th, including a 2-run HR and a 3-run HR. Mitch Keller got him out of it, and the Rays responded in the bottom of the inning to tie it up. Jesus Camargo loaded the bases with nobody out, and then walked Bailey to force in a run, wild pitched another one in, and Brandon Marsh followed with a 2-run double. That set the stage for Tork in the 6th, who launched his blast (#11) after Oakland's Tyler Nevin booted a grounder with 2 out. Oakland got within 9-7 off Luke Little (who picked up his first MLB win), but Nick Anderson got him out of the 8th. Wander added #18 in the 8th to make it 10-7, and Anderson finished for his 3rd save. Baltimore lost so the Rays lead in the division grows to a season-high 4 games. there was an earlier version of this game where Tork hit 2 HRs (and Bailey hit his first MLB HR) in a 10-2 win but the game crashed as I was trying to play the Durham game before I could save the day, so if you read about it, that's what happened to it. July 2: Optioned P Luke Little to AAA Durham, recalled P Dean Christidis from AAA Durham. As Nick Frasso and Mitchell Verburg are the only relievers 100% rested at the moment we needed a fresh arm. So Dean Christidis, come on down! (Or come on up, more accurately). Christidis had 3.06 ERA in 82 innings with 70 Ks, mostly as a stater, but he went back to the pen recently and has 75 stuff as a reliever. He's a lefty as well so he slots in nicely for Little. Game 3: It looked like the Rays would win this one, up 7-3 after 6, but the Durham brigade crapped the bed in the 7th and Oakland scored 7 times to pull out a 10-8 win. Although Dean Christidis got Shane McClanahan out of a jam in the 6th, he couldn't get anyone out in the 7th as he allowed 4 runs and Nick Frasso gave up 3 more with the last one on an error. Spencer Torkelson drove in Wander Franco (who was 4-5) to cut it to 10-8 in the 8th, but Keston Hiura was gunned down at the plate on Hunter Bishop's single. Rather than try and recap the scoring I'll just note that Bishop was 3-4 with a HR (#5) and 3 RBI and Vidal Brujan (#6) and Renato Nunez (#3) had solo HRs, Nunez's first in ages. McClanahan continued his struggles despite only allowing 2 earned runs, going 5.2 9 3 2 2 3 and he's become a matter of concern. Baltimore won to cut the lead to 3. Game 4: The Rays rode a 5-run first inning to an 8-4 win over Oakland to take 3 of 4 in the series. Vidal Brujan led off with a single and a steal and Wander Franco followed with a 2-run HR, his team-high 19th (he also retook the MLB RBI lead with 73), to instantly make it 2-0 and the hits kept coming. Spencer Torkelson drilled an RBI single to left and Triston Casas followed a 2-run double into the RCF gap and Daniel Lynch was well-supported. Lynch (4-1) was adequate today, not terrible but not dominant either, going 6.1 6 3 3 3 4 against the team he one-hit in his Rays debut a couple of years ago. Mitch Keller finished up the final 2 2/3, allowing a run. They added runs later in the game on RBI groundouts from Keibert Ruiz and Casas, along with another RBI single from Tork. Old friend Chris Betts started today for Oakland and was 2-4 with one of the hits on a misplayed popup, and threw out one of three baserunners on attempted steals 9 (Brandon Marsh going for 3rd). Baltimore was idle so the lead is 3 1/2. Team record: 51-32. Next up: The homestand continues with 3 over the weekend against Texas. Last edited by Art Deco; 09-24-2020 at 09:45 AM.

09-24-2020, 10:58 AM	#258
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	July 4-6, 2025: vs Texas (3) Game 1: Plenty of early fireworks in this July 4th game as Texas scored 3 times in the top of the 1st only to see the Rays answer with 6 in the bottom of the frame as Tampa Bay topped Texas 10-5. For the second straight start Matt Manning had a rough 1st inning, walking a couple, hitting one with the bases loaded and then seeing two runs score on a Keston Hiura throwing error with 2 out. But the offense picked him up immediately as Vidal Brujan led off with a triple, Wander Franco singled him home and a couple of batters later Hiura atoned for his error with a 2-run single to tie it up. And then the red-hot Hunter Bishop stepped up (against a lefty, no less) and drilled an opposite-field homer (#6) to left with two on to make it 6-3. They tacked on 3 more in the 4th on a 2-run Austin Meadows double and another RBI single from Hiura as the offense has been on quite a roll this week. Manning ended up going 6 4 5 2 3 8 to improve to 10-5, 2.52. Dean Christidis got another chance after his awful MLB debut and wasn't much better, giving up 2 hits and only getting 2 outs, but Mitchell Verburg got him out of it, and tried to finish up but ran into some trouble in the 9th so Nick Anderson had to get the final 2 outs of the game. Baltimore won (they're hosting the Yankees this weekend so don't look for any help) so the lead stays at 3 1/2. Game 2: The good news is that Tyler Glasnow made it through his outing without a minor injury, the first time in 3 starts he's accomplished that. The bad news is that he had to leave after 3 innings anyway because he was terrible, allowing 7 runs in an 8-3 loss to Texas. It didn't start off that way as he struck out the side in a perfect 1st, but things totally unraveled in the 2nd, giving up a run and loading the bases for Stephen Wrenn, who hit a grand slam and ended up having a career day after tripling in 2 more in the next inning off Glasnow and then capping his 7-RBI day with an infield single to score a run off Dustin May in the 4th. Glasnow was an ugly 3 7 7 7 3 5 as his ERA balloons to 4.26. Gonna need to get him straightened out. Wander Franco and Brandon Marsh were in need of rest today, so Greg Jones started at SS and his 2-run double was pretty much the offense in a 3-run 5th with the other run scoring on a Vidal Brujan groundout as the team only managed 6 hits on the day. Baltimore routed the Yankees 9-2 as expected, getting them to within 2 1/2 games (and 1 in the loss column). Game 3: Mitchell White was dominant in bouncing back from his poor start last time out and the Rays rode his performance to a 5-1 win. White went 6.2 5 0 0 1 8 and gave us a strong indication of his performance when he allowed Jose Devers to lead off the game with a single, steal second, and go to third on a wild pitch but then striking out the next 3 batters to get out of it. Triston Casas had a nice day to pace the offense, first doubling in a run in the 2nd to make it 1-0, and later tripling in the 6th and scoring. Brandon Marsh made it 2-0 in the 5th leading off with a 486-ft shot (#11) to dead center, and Wander Franco had an RBI triple later in the inning and scored on Keibert Ruiz's grounder. The troika finished the game off with Jose Alvarado getting into a little trouble with a pair of walks but no damage, and then Jasseel De La Cruz (in a non-save situation) got into even more trouble allowing a run and a couple of baserunners although the man who scored did so after reaching on a wild pitch strikeout. And of course Baltimore won 7-0 over the Yankees so they remain 2 1/2 back. Team record: 53-33. Next up: An off-day followed by a pair in Miami. Last edited by Art Deco; 09-24-2020 at 02:59 PM.

09-24-2020, 08:27 PM	#259
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	July 8-9, 2025: at Miami (2) Game 1: Down 3-1 in the 8th and with 2 out, the Rays rallied for 3 runs to take the lead but then had to score again in the 9th to win 5-4 at Roughnecks Park. For most of the game the Rays were befuddled by Kodi Whitley, who came into the game having struck out only 35 in 55 innings but somehow managed to whiff 8 Rays in 6 innings, allowing only one run when Brandon Marsh walked and scored on a Vidal Brujan single in the 5th. Shane McClanahan got the start for the Rays and was pretty good, except when pitching to Miami's rookie slugger Cristhian Rodriguez who took him deep twice on solo shots, and on a triple he allowed to Nick Fortes who scored. Mac ended up 7 7 3 3 1 7 and went from looking like the loser to picking up a win to ending up with a no-decision. That's because with 2 out in the 8th against Mychal Givens, Wander walked, Keibert Ruiz was hit by a pitch and Austin Meadows walked, then Keston Hiura (who's been clutch all year) delivered a 2-run single to tie and it and Hunter Bishop doubled to give them the lead. But a funny thing happened in the bottom of the 8th when Jose Alvarado was touched for his first HR allowed of the season when Jarren Duran led off the inning with a blast. Then with one out in the top of the 9th, pinch-hitter Spencer Torkelson doubled and after moving to third on a Brujan groundout, the Roughnecks intentionally walked Wander to pitch to Keibert, and he made them pay with an RBI single. Jasseel De La Cruz made sure the Rays wouldn't blow a second lead by getting the 'Necks 1-2-3 in the 9th for save #21 while Alvarado vultured his 2nd win of the season. And after losing to Baltimore on our off-day yesterday, Washington did us a favor tonight and beat the Orioles so the lead is back up to 3 games. Game 2: Another tight affair in Miami and another 1-run Rays win as they take both games at Roughnecks Park with a 3-2 victory today. Daniel Lynch and Spencer Torkelson were the stars today. Lynch, pitching against his old team in his old ballpark, was excellent going 7 6 1 1 1 7 to improve to 5-1, 2.87 and make me wonder why I ever had him out of the rotation. Tork meanwhile went 4-for-4 and figured in all 3 Rays runs. He doubled in Hunter Bishop in the 2nd, singled home Keston Hiura in the 4th and singled and scored a huge insurance run in the 9th when he was doubled in by pinch-hitter Renato Nunez with perhaps Nunez's biggest hit as a Ray. Nunez wasn't even the original pinch-hitter as Triston Casas was set to face a righty but the Roughnecks brought in a lefty so Nunez pinch-hit for Casas. The Rays had to file a claim against that insurance when Greyson Jenista greeted Jasseel De La Cruz with a leadoff homer in the 9th to cut it to 3-2 but De La Cruz got the next 3 batters for save #22. Jose Alvarado picked up a hold with a scoreless 8th, getting Jarren Duran this time on a shallow fly ball after yesterday's hiccup. It was good that the bottom of the order came through as the top (Brujan, Franco, Ruiz, Meadows) was a brutal 1-for-18. The Nats did us another favor knocking off Baltimore, so the lead grows to 4 games. We do have a series at home against the Orioles next week. Team record: 55-33. Next up: 4 games in the Windy City against the White Sox. Last edited by Art Deco; 09-24-2020 at 11:48 PM.

09-25-2020, 11:55 AM	#260
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	July 10-13, 2025: at Chicago White Sox (4) Game 1: It was a game they had no business winning until they got 5 in the 7th to take a 7-5 lead, and then they blew it, losing 9-7. Matt Manning got the start and he was struggling throughout, giving up 5 runs through 6 (2 on bases-loaded walks!) with the Rays trailing 5-2 and their only runs coming on a Wander Franco 2-run shot (#20) in the 6th. But they rallied for 5 runs, first on Spencer Torkelson's 12th HR of the year to make it 5-4 and then on a 3-run blast from Keibert Ruiz (#8) to make it 7-5. Manning was at 94 pitches, plus Alvarado & De La Cruz were tired from the last 2 days in Miami so he was left in. He got two outs but ended up putting 2 on, so I turned to Mitch Keller and he was just terrible. He gave up a single to score one run to make it 7-6 and then wild-pitched the runners over to 2nd and 3rd whereupon he gave up another single to score them both. Thanks to a Keston Hiura error he also allowed a run in the 8th for the final 9-7 margin. Manning ended up 6.2 6 7 7 3 3 in maybe his worst outing of the year, and it might be time to upgrade the pen as outside of the troika I can't seem to count on anyone else in a high-leverage situation. Baltimore was idle to the lead drops to 3 1/2. July 11: Traded 26-year-old minor league right fielder Zach DeLoach to the San Diego Padres, getting 36-year-old reliever Liam Hendriks, retaining 20% in return. Optioned P Nick Frasso to AAA Durham, designated SS Alejandro Pie for assignment and placed him on waivers. Time to upgrade the pen. Hoping the vet has something left in the tank and it appears he does, with a 2/29 BB/K ratio in 23 innings this year with San Diego. DeLoach is now 26 and hasn't lived up to the potential he had as a first-round pick in 2020, stagnating at AA/AAA. To make room on the 40-man, I had to waive Pie even though I would rather not have. He's a SS with pop, and at one point I saw him as a possible Wander successor should it come to that. But he didn't hit at AAA and while there's some power that, the overall hit tool is lacking. Hoping he clears, though. Game 2: A pathetic performance by the offense doomed them in a 2-1 loss to the White Sox today. They only managed 4 hits against Patrick Sandoval and a trio of relievers with the only one run coming when Hunter Bishop doubled, went to third on a Sandoval balk, and then scored when Michael Chavis mishandled Brandon Marsh's grounder at 1st. This actually gave them a 1-0 lead in the 5th but Tyler Glasnow gave it right back when Connor Wong homered in the bottom of the inning. For the third time in four starts, Glasnow had to leave with a nagging injury, this time more back spasms which will keep him out 5 days and means someone else will have to start against Baltimore next Wednesday. He did have his best outing in several starts going 6 3 1 1 2 5. Liam Hendriks made his Rays debut and looked good, pitching a perfect 7th with a strikeout, but Nick Anderson couldn't get the job done in the 8th giving up 3 hits as Chavis atoned for his error by hitting an RBI double with two out. The Rays went meekly in the 9th with a pair of whiffs against Sox closer Jacob Webb and they've lost two straight for first time in a while. The Jays helped us out by beating Baltimore, so no ground lost in the division. July 12: Activated P Aaron Ashby from his rehab assignment at AAA Durham, optioned P Luke Little to AAA Durham. Game 3: Order restored at Guaranteed Rate Field as the Rays took care of the White Sox 6-1. Or should I say Keibert Ruiz and Mitchell White took care of the White Sox. The Rays' All-Star catcher blasted a pair of homers, most importantly a 2-run shot in the 6th which broke a 1-1 tie, while White went 8 5 1 1 1 3 to improve to 10-3, 3.04. Until Ruiz's blast, it was looking a carbon copy of yesterday's game where the Rays took a 1-0 lead thanks to a Hunter Bishop double (he scored on a Vidal Brujan sac fly) and the Sox tied it right back up. But Keibert took care of business and then made sure there wouldn't be any Chicago comeback with a 3-run blast in the 8th giving him a 5-RBI day (and giving him 10 HR and 67 RBI for the season, the latter total among the AL leaders). Mitchell Verburg pitched a perfect 9th to finish off the game. Meanwhile it would be good for Austin Meadows to break out of his 5-39 slump, while Keston Hiura has cooled off and is in a 1-15 mini-slump. Baltimore beat the Jays so the lead remains 3 1/2. Game 4: Shane McClanahan pitched his best game as a major leaguer, shutting out the White Sox 4-0. Mac was dominant, going 9 8 0 0 1 9 on 121 pitches. The Rays led 2-0 for most of the way and he probably would have been gone after 8 but the offense added a couple of runs in the 9th to give him a cushion. Those two early runs came courtesy of HRs from Wander Franco in the 1st (#21) and Hunter Bishop in the 2nd (#7), the latter off old friend Anthony Banda, who came in after Bobby Wahl opened. Keston Hiura and Bishop had RBI singles in the 9th to make it more comfortable for Mac and he improves to 4-5, 3.60. Baltimore lost so the lead grows to 4 1/2 games ahead of their series at the Trop. (a very different version of this game was recapped a little while ago where the Rays won 9-8 but OOTP crashed on me before I could save, so good for McClanahan in this alternate version of alternate reality). Team record: 57-35. Next up: 3 big ones against the Orioles at the Trop as Baltimore is 4 1/2 back but only 3 out in the loss column. Last edited by Art Deco; 09-25-2020 at 04:27 PM.*