The 2021 (and only 2021) Tampa Bay Rays - Page 44

Art Deco · 10-15-2022, 10:02 AM

Minnesota advances to take on San Antonio in the ALDS.

Art Deco · 10-15-2022, 10:06 AM

So it will be the Yankees once again in the ALDS for us while in the NL St. Louis advances to take on Atlanta while the Mets will tussle with San Diego in the NLDS.

Art Deco · 10-15-2022, 10:26 AM

The Rays opened defense of their World Series title with an emphatic 9-0 win over the Yankees in the opener at Tropicana Field. James Hays may have pitched himself out of a Cy Young with a rough September but he was in Cy Young form today. An early homer from Wander Franco, who had a pedestrian regular season by his standards, got them on their way and a 6-run rally in the 7th after two out and nobody on put the game away. Joe Marlette will look to make it 2-0 tomorrow.

Meanwhile the Alamos got off to a good start in their ALDS:

Art Deco · 10-15-2022, 10:46 AM

On the way...

The Rays have rode their pair of aces to a 2-0 ALDS lead over the Yankees as Joe Marlette pitched 7 brilliant innings leading them to a 3-1 win. Not shown in the box above was the drama in the 9th as the Yankees put men on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out against rookie closer Kevin DiCostanzo. DiCostanzo recovered to strike out Yankee sluggers Ramifer Salinas and Austin Riley and with lefty Corey Seager due Dax Fulton was summoned from the pen. The Yankees countered with righty pinch-hitter Devin Mann, and he hit a sinking liner to left off Fulton which would have tied the game had Dong-hwan Kim not made a spectacular diving catch to seal the game. Otherwise Joshua Baez, who always comes alive in the postseason, provided all the offense the Rays would need with a 3-run 4th-inning homer right after the Yankees took their first lead of the series. Johnny Kuykendall gets the ball at Yankee Stadium in two days with a chance to close it out.

Meanwhile in other DS action it looks like we might have a date with the Alamos in the ALCS while in the NL both the road teams got off to good starts:

Art Deco · 10-15-2022, 10:59 AM

The higher-seeded teams get back in their series:

Art Deco · 10-15-2022, 11:12 AM

Just realized in my haste to get on with the playoffs that I completely forgot to do the final standings/stats post for the regular season so here it is in the middle of playoff coverage.

Outside of a rough July this was a well-oiled machine firing on all cylinders with no apparent weaknesses other than team defense to an extent. We did exceed our Pythag record by a whopping 8 games but it's not like we were playing too much over our heads.

The offense was very good but not otherwordly this year. You can see why we extended JT Realmuto, and you could have made a lot of money betting Chris Gutierrez would be our third-highest batter by WAR as he hit some this year to go with his superlative defense. Baez and Kim, the corner guys, were a little down this year, Ed Howard had a nice bounce-back season although he faded down the stretch, and Cristian Hernandez was a disappointment after coming over from Atlanta where he was worth 3.8 WAR and hit 289/334/537 with 19 HR in 350 AB. Going forward I'll settle for something in between that and his Rays performance.

Remember Baumeister and Ortiz? Seems like 100 years ago those guys were in the rotation and struggling. An excellent all-around staff otherwise with the two aces and pretty good pitching from the rest of the rotation once it was sorted. And what a rookie year for closer Kevin DiCostanzo, who really kept the ball in the park.

Art Deco · 10-15-2022, 12:31 PM

Moving on...

It looked for all the world that we'd be playing another game tomorrow at Yankee Stadium after the Rays were dominated by Luis Severino and trailed 3-1 going into the 8th. But New York closer Brett De Geus didn't have it today and after a couple of singles to start the inning Andrew Greckel drilled in a one-out homer into the RCF stands and the Rays had a 4-3 win and an ALDS sweep. Johnny Kuykendall pitched well outside of his own bad 3-batter stretch in the 2nd when he gave up a 3-run homer, and Dax Fulton ended up with the save as he got Tylor Megill out of the 8th and then struck out the side in the 9th with a couple of tough lefties up for the Yankees.

So who will we play? Remains to be seen:

Art Deco · 10-15-2022, 12:33 PM

Bring on the Alamos, who advance to the ALCS for the first time in team history:

Art Deco · 10-15-2022, 12:38 PM

In a curiously-timed move the Yankees extended closer (and sometimes starter) Brett De Geus with a 3/50 deal, a day after blowing Game 3 of the ALDS and seeing New York eliminated.

Meanwhile the NLCS is now set:

Art Deco · 10-16-2022, 10:10 AM

Another incredibly dominant performance by James Hays was wasted in Game 1 of the ALCS by the Rays as they couldn't score either and the Alamos jumped on the Tampa Bay pen in the 10th to take a 4-1 win. Hays and Dylan Cease traded zeroes before Cease had to leave with a blister in the 7th. It didn't help the Rays as they were helpless against former Ray Matt Cronin and Tyler Zuber, and then Kevin DiCostanzo came back out for the 10th and gave up a leadoff single. With two lefties due Dax Fulton got the call and San Antonio countered with righty pinch-hitters who got the job done as Fulton couldn't get anyone out and it was 4-0 after the dust settled. The Rays mounted a rally in the bottom of the inning and actually brought the tying run to the plate in pinch-hitter JJ Cargill and while he hit the ball on a line, a diving catch in RF ended the game. So now Joe Marlette has the pressure on to keep the Rays from falling into a 2-0 hole but the real pressure should be on the bats that took Game 1 off.

Art Deco · 10-16-2022, 10:30 AM

Order restored...

The Rays didn't exactly hit the cover off the ball but they didn't have to thanks to another brilliant pitching performance as their top two pitchers have literally come up aces this postseason. Today was Joe Marlette's time to shine and he did, in trouble only in the 5th when the Alamos put men on 2nd and 3rd with 2 out before he whiffed Ramon Laureano. The kid combo of rookies Mike Moore and Kevin DiCostanzo closed it out while the offense did just enough. "Just enough" turned out to be Kelly Crumpton's solo homer in the 4th, the team's first hit of the game. They then salted it away in the 7th, scoring twice without hitting the ball out of the infield. A pair of walks to lead off the inning and then a pair of wild pitches brought home the first run, and Chris Gutierrez's infield single scored the second. Johnny Kuykendall will try to pitch the Rays into the series lead when we go to San Antonio in two days.

In the NLCS Atlanta gets a leg up:

Art Deco · 10-16-2022, 10:32 AM

The Mets even up the NLCS thanks to a couple of former Rays:

Art Deco · 10-16-2022, 12:59 PM

The Rays are in for a tough fight now after dropping Game 3 to San Antonio in 13 innings. Johnny Kuykendall pitched well and left with a 3-2 lead, but Tylor Megill blew that lead in the 8th and while Dong-hwan Kim dramatically tied it up leading off the 9th with a homer all that did was prolong the agony as the Alamos broke through against Dax Fulton to walk it off. The offense remained an issue with all four runs coming via the solo homer as they struggle to string hits together, and the bullpen was inconsistent again. Michael Prosecky will now have the unenviable task of trying to keep the Rays from falling behind 3-1 tomorrow.

Art Deco · 10-16-2022, 01:44 PM

Not good...

It was deja vu all over again at Alamo Park as the Rays tied it up late only to lose on a walk-off and they're now staring down the barrel of a 3-1 deficit in the ALCS. The Rays had the early lead again and Michael Prosecky couldn't hold it, and also had some big chances to score which they squandered. They had the bases loaded with nobody out in the 2nd and couldn't get anyone home, and then Joshua Baez led off the 9th with his second double of the game but couldn't even move up. So now we'll need James Hays to be at his ace-like best tomorrow as he's been in his previous two starts or we'll going back to St. Pete to clean out lockers instead of playing a Game 6.

Meanwhile the Mets continue to use their long list of former Rays to get wins in the playoffs as Adley Rutschman and Levi Stoudt got the job done today:

Art Deco · 10-16-2022, 02:33 PM

Not dead yet...

The champagne was on ice. They were all ready to party in San Antonio and celebrate their first-ever trip to the World Series. Then the 9th inning happened. In a game that was following the script of the previous two with the Rays going ahead early and losing the lead and the game, a 5-run 9th-inning gave Tampa Bay an 8-4 win and just like the horror movie villain left for dead who suddenly opens up his eyes, the Rays are still a threat. A key error by Alamos 1B Ryan Vilade loaded the bases and Joshua Baez, who has been clutch the last two postseasons, came through with a 2-run double to put them up 5-4 and then Cristian Hernandez, who has been anything but clutch since joining the Rays mid-season, added a 2-run double of his own to put it away. Now the series shifts back to Tropicana Field in two days and Joe Marlette will be tasked to force a Game 7 as the Rays' title defense remains alive, but just barely.

We're also assured of a Game 6 in the NLCS as Atlanta has evened things up:

Art Deco · 10-16-2022, 02:35 PM

Advantage Atlanta, thanks to a dominant Tyler Owens performance:

Art Deco · 10-17-2022, 01:32 PM

The Alamos let the Rays off the mat in the 9th inning of Game 5, and now they're going to have to play a pressure-packed Game 7 as Joe Marlette and Tampa Bay took a tidy 5-1 win in Game 6 to even up the series. Marlette was stingy once again, allowing only an unearned run in 7 innings and a 3-run rally in the 3rd highlighted by a 2-run Kelly Crumpton double was all the offense the Rays would need. Now midseason acquisition Johnny Kuykendall will get the ball tomorrow for one game to decide a spot in the World Series.

Art Deco · 10-17-2022, 01:49 PM

Was there ever any doubt? (OK, there was a little)...

The Alamos and their fans will always remember how they were 2 outs away from a World Series berth but that's all they'll get to remember as the Rays stormed back from a 3-1 series deficit and a 9th-inning Game 5 deficit to win the 2030 ALCS in 7 games and keep their title defense alive. Johnny Kuykendall proved to be an inspired deadline pickup, giving the Rays a third ace, all 3 of whom pitched them back into this series. The lefty was dominant for 7 1/3 and the offense made it easy on him by taking an early 3-0 lead and then tacking on a few more late. So who will we be playing in the Fall Classic?

That remains to be seen as the Mets pummeled Atlanta at Truist Park to send their series to a 7th game:

Every time we turn around it's still another ex-Ray getting it done for the Mets and today it was Alex Kirilloff who helped them stave off elimination.

Art Deco · 10-17-2022, 02:01 PM

So it's a date with Atlanta, a formidable squad and I can see another 7-game series in the offing. Game 1 of the Series will be at the Trop with James Hays on the mound for Tampa Bay.

Art Deco · 10-18-2022, 12:32 PM

Not the start the Rays wanted, especially with James Hays on the mound. They spotted him a 3-1 lead but he couldn't hold it in the 5th and then Atlanta won it off Tylor Megill in the 7th. Ed Howard and Wander Franco did their part, with the former doubling to lead off the 1st and the 3rd and the latter singling him home both times, but that was about all the offense could generate today. Joe Marlette will try tomorrow to keep the Rays from falling into an 0-2 hole headed to Atlanta.

10-15-2022, 10:02 AM	#861
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,096	October 3, 2030: AL Wild Card Game 2 & NL Wild Card Game 1 Minnesota advances to take on San Antonio in the ALDS.

10-15-2022, 10:06 AM	#862
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,096	October 4, 2030: AL Wild Card Game 3 & NL Wild Card Game 2 So it will be the Yankees once again in the ALDS for us while in the NL St. Louis advances to take on Atlanta while the Mets will tussle with San Diego in the NLDS.

10-15-2022, 10:26 AM	#863
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,096	October 5, 2030: ALDS Game 1 The Rays opened defense of their World Series title with an emphatic 9-0 win over the Yankees in the opener at Tropicana Field. James Hays may have pitched himself out of a Cy Young with a rough September but he was in Cy Young form today. An early homer from Wander Franco, who had a pedestrian regular season by his standards, got them on their way and a 6-run rally in the 7th after two out and nobody on put the game away. Joe Marlette will look to make it 2-0 tomorrow. Meanwhile the Alamos got off to a good start in their ALDS:

10-15-2022, 10:46 AM	#864
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,096	October 6, 2030: ALDS Game 2 & NLDS Game 1 On the way... The Rays have rode their pair of aces to a 2-0 ALDS lead over the Yankees as Joe Marlette pitched 7 brilliant innings leading them to a 3-1 win. Not shown in the box above was the drama in the 9th as the Yankees put men on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out against rookie closer Kevin DiCostanzo. DiCostanzo recovered to strike out Yankee sluggers Ramifer Salinas and Austin Riley and with lefty Corey Seager due Dax Fulton was summoned from the pen. The Yankees countered with righty pinch-hitter Devin Mann, and he hit a sinking liner to left off Fulton which would have tied the game had Dong-hwan Kim not made a spectacular diving catch to seal the game. Otherwise Joshua Baez, who always comes alive in the postseason, provided all the offense the Rays would need with a 3-run 4th-inning homer right after the Yankees took their first lead of the series. Johnny Kuykendall gets the ball at Yankee Stadium in two days with a chance to close it out. Meanwhile in other DS action it looks like we might have a date with the Alamos in the ALCS while in the NL both the road teams got off to good starts:

10-15-2022, 10:59 AM	#865
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,096	October 7, 2030: NLDS Game 2 The higher-seeded teams get back in their series:

10-15-2022, 11:12 AM	#866
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,096	Final 2030 Regular Season Standings and Rays Stats Just realized in my haste to get on with the playoffs that I completely forgot to do the final standings/stats post for the regular season so here it is in the middle of playoff coverage. Outside of a rough July this was a well-oiled machine firing on all cylinders with no apparent weaknesses other than team defense to an extent. We did exceed our Pythag record by a whopping 8 games but it's not like we were playing too much over our heads. The offense was very good but not otherwordly this year. You can see why we extended JT Realmuto, and you could have made a lot of money betting Chris Gutierrez would be our third-highest batter by WAR as he hit some this year to go with his superlative defense. Baez and Kim, the corner guys, were a little down this year, Ed Howard had a nice bounce-back season although he faded down the stretch, and Cristian Hernandez was a disappointment after coming over from Atlanta where he was worth 3.8 WAR and hit 289/334/537 with 19 HR in 350 AB. Going forward I'll settle for something in between that and his Rays performance. Remember Baumeister and Ortiz? Seems like 100 years ago those guys were in the rotation and struggling. An excellent all-around staff otherwise with the two aces and pretty good pitching from the rest of the rotation once it was sorted. And what a rookie year for closer Kevin DiCostanzo, who really kept the ball in the park.

10-15-2022, 12:31 PM	#867
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,096	October 8, 2030: ALDS Game 3 Moving on... It looked for all the world that we'd be playing another game tomorrow at Yankee Stadium after the Rays were dominated by Luis Severino and trailed 3-1 going into the 8th. But New York closer Brett De Geus didn't have it today and after a couple of singles to start the inning Andrew Greckel drilled in a one-out homer into the RCF stands and the Rays had a 4-3 win and an ALDS sweep. Johnny Kuykendall pitched well outside of his own bad 3-batter stretch in the 2nd when he gave up a 3-run homer, and Dax Fulton ended up with the save as he got Tylor Megill out of the 8th and then struck out the side in the 9th with a couple of tough lefties up for the Yankees. So who will we play? Remains to be seen:

10-15-2022, 12:33 PM	#868
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,096	October 9, 2030: ALDS Game 4 & NLDS Game 3 Bring on the Alamos, who advance to the ALCS for the first time in team history:

10-15-2022, 12:38 PM	#869
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,096	October 10, 2030: NLCS Game 4 In a curiously-timed move the Yankees extended closer (and sometimes starter) Brett De Geus with a 3/50 deal, a day after blowing Game 3 of the ALDS and seeing New York eliminated. Meanwhile the NLCS is now set:

10-16-2022, 10:10 AM	#870
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,096	October 11, 2030: ALCS Game 1 Another incredibly dominant performance by James Hays was wasted in Game 1 of the ALCS by the Rays as they couldn't score either and the Alamos jumped on the Tampa Bay pen in the 10th to take a 4-1 win. Hays and Dylan Cease traded zeroes before Cease had to leave with a blister in the 7th. It didn't help the Rays as they were helpless against former Ray Matt Cronin and Tyler Zuber, and then Kevin DiCostanzo came back out for the 10th and gave up a leadoff single. With two lefties due Dax Fulton got the call and San Antonio countered with righty pinch-hitters who got the job done as Fulton couldn't get anyone out and it was 4-0 after the dust settled. The Rays mounted a rally in the bottom of the inning and actually brought the tying run to the plate in pinch-hitter JJ Cargill and while he hit the ball on a line, a diving catch in RF ended the game. So now Joe Marlette has the pressure on to keep the Rays from falling into a 2-0 hole but the real pressure should be on the bats that took Game 1 off.

10-16-2022, 10:30 AM	#871
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,096	October 12, 2030: ALCS Game 2 & NLCS Game 1 Order restored... The Rays didn't exactly hit the cover off the ball but they didn't have to thanks to another brilliant pitching performance as their top two pitchers have literally come up aces this postseason. Today was Joe Marlette's time to shine and he did, in trouble only in the 5th when the Alamos put men on 2nd and 3rd with 2 out before he whiffed Ramon Laureano. The kid combo of rookies Mike Moore and Kevin DiCostanzo closed it out while the offense did just enough. "Just enough" turned out to be Kelly Crumpton's solo homer in the 4th, the team's first hit of the game. They then salted it away in the 7th, scoring twice without hitting the ball out of the infield. A pair of walks to lead off the inning and then a pair of wild pitches brought home the first run, and Chris Gutierrez's infield single scored the second. Johnny Kuykendall will try to pitch the Rays into the series lead when we go to San Antonio in two days. In the NLCS Atlanta gets a leg up:

10-16-2022, 10:32 AM	#872
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,096	October 13, 2030: NLCS Game 2 The Mets even up the NLCS thanks to a couple of former Rays:

10-16-2022, 12:59 PM	#873
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,096	October 14, 2030: ALCS Game 3 The Rays are in for a tough fight now after dropping Game 3 to San Antonio in 13 innings. Johnny Kuykendall pitched well and left with a 3-2 lead, but Tylor Megill blew that lead in the 8th and while Dong-hwan Kim dramatically tied it up leading off the 9th with a homer all that did was prolong the agony as the Alamos broke through against Dax Fulton to walk it off. The offense remained an issue with all four runs coming via the solo homer as they struggle to string hits together, and the bullpen was inconsistent again. Michael Prosecky will now have the unenviable task of trying to keep the Rays from falling behind 3-1 tomorrow.

10-16-2022, 01:44 PM	#874
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,096	October 15, 2030: ALCS Game 4 & NLCS Game 3 Not good... It was deja vu all over again at Alamo Park as the Rays tied it up late only to lose on a walk-off and they're now staring down the barrel of a 3-1 deficit in the ALCS. The Rays had the early lead again and Michael Prosecky couldn't hold it, and also had some big chances to score which they squandered. They had the bases loaded with nobody out in the 2nd and couldn't get anyone home, and then Joshua Baez led off the 9th with his second double of the game but couldn't even move up. So now we'll need James Hays to be at his ace-like best tomorrow as he's been in his previous two starts or we'll going back to St. Pete to clean out lockers instead of playing a Game 6. Meanwhile the Mets continue to use their long list of former Rays to get wins in the playoffs as Adley Rutschman and Levi Stoudt got the job done today:

10-16-2022, 02:33 PM	#875
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,096	October 16, 2030: ALCS Game 5 & NLCS Game 4 Not dead yet... The champagne was on ice. They were all ready to party in San Antonio and celebrate their first-ever trip to the World Series. Then the 9th inning happened. In a game that was following the script of the previous two with the Rays going ahead early and losing the lead and the game, a 5-run 9th-inning gave Tampa Bay an 8-4 win and just like the horror movie villain left for dead who suddenly opens up his eyes, the Rays are still a threat. A key error by Alamos 1B Ryan Vilade loaded the bases and Joshua Baez, who has been clutch the last two postseasons, came through with a 2-run double to put them up 5-4 and then Cristian Hernandez, who has been anything but clutch since joining the Rays mid-season, added a 2-run double of his own to put it away. Now the series shifts back to Tropicana Field in two days and Joe Marlette will be tasked to force a Game 7 as the Rays' title defense remains alive, but just barely. We're also assured of a Game 6 in the NLCS as Atlanta has evened things up:

10-16-2022, 02:35 PM	#876
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,096	October 17, 2030: NLCS Game 5 Advantage Atlanta, thanks to a dominant Tyler Owens performance:

10-17-2022, 01:32 PM	#877
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,096	October 18, 2030: ALCS Game 6 The Alamos let the Rays off the mat in the 9th inning of Game 5, and now they're going to have to play a pressure-packed Game 7 as Joe Marlette and Tampa Bay took a tidy 5-1 win in Game 6 to even up the series. Marlette was stingy once again, allowing only an unearned run in 7 innings and a 3-run rally in the 3rd highlighted by a 2-run Kelly Crumpton double was all the offense the Rays would need. Now midseason acquisition Johnny Kuykendall will get the ball tomorrow for one game to decide a spot in the World Series.

10-17-2022, 01:49 PM	#878
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,096	October 19, 2030: ALCS Game 7 & NLCS Game 6 Was there ever any doubt? (OK, there was a little)... The Alamos and their fans will always remember how they were 2 outs away from a World Series berth but that's all they'll get to remember as the Rays stormed back from a 3-1 series deficit and a 9th-inning Game 5 deficit to win the 2030 ALCS in 7 games and keep their title defense alive. Johnny Kuykendall proved to be an inspired deadline pickup, giving the Rays a third ace, all 3 of whom pitched them back into this series. The lefty was dominant for 7 1/3 and the offense made it easy on him by taking an early 3-0 lead and then tacking on a few more late. So who will we be playing in the Fall Classic? That remains to be seen as the Mets pummeled Atlanta at Truist Park to send their series to a 7th game: Every time we turn around it's still another ex-Ray getting it done for the Mets and today it was Alex Kirilloff who helped them stave off elimination.

10-17-2022, 02:01 PM	#879
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,096	October 20, 2030: NLCS Game 7 So it's a date with Atlanta, a formidable squad and I can see another 7-game series in the offing. Game 1 of the Series will be at the Trop with James Hays on the mound for Tampa Bay.

10-18-2022, 12:32 PM	#880
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,096	October 22, 2030: World Series Game 1 Not the start the Rays wanted, especially with James Hays on the mound. They spotted him a 3-1 lead but he couldn't hold it in the 5th and then Atlanta won it off Tylor Megill in the 7th. Ed Howard and Wander Franco did their part, with the former doubling to lead off the 1st and the 3rd and the latter singling him home both times, but that was about all the offense could generate today. Joe Marlette will try tomorrow to keep the Rays from falling into an 0-2 hole headed to Atlanta.