The 2021 (and only 2021) Tampa Bay Rays

[Art Deco]

For the fourth straight series the Rays won 2 out of 3 and I for one have no problem with them Meat Loaf-ing their opponents the rest of the way. Baltimore did likewise so the division lead remains at 3 games.

Good pitching and some timely scoring led the Rays to a 3-2 win over Minnesota at the friendly confines of Tropicana Field. Shane Panzini gave up a couple of solo homers as is his wont but nothing else to improve to 3-1 after a fine 7 3 2 2 1 5 outing. Mike Moore loaded the bases in the 9th with 2 out and with a lefty due Dax Fulton got the call and got the strikeout for his first save of 2031. The offense came via a 2-run homer from Dong-hwan Kim in the 1st (#5) and a manufactured winner in the 7th when Chris Gutierrez singled, stole 2nd and came around to score on a wild pitch.

The Rays lost the middle game 5-1 when things fell apart in the 6th and the Twins scored 4 times to break a 1-1 tie. John Swanda (3-2) was looking good against his former team but put the first two men on in the 6th, and then Slade Cecconi let them both score along with two runners of his own. Swanda finished 5 3 3 3 3 6 and received scant support with the bats managing only five hits on the night.

James Hays was in his vintage Cy Young form as he twirled a 3-hit shutout in a 4-0 Rays win over the Twins. Hays walked 1 and struck out 11 in the gem, which he completed on a tidy 102 pitches as he improved to 5-1, 1.71. His primary means of support was Wander Franco, who blasted a 2-run homer (#5) in the 4th and an RBI double in the 5th. Joshua Baez added his 10th homer in the 8th for some insurance and gave a Hays a longer leash to complete the shutout.

Team record: 22-14. Next up: An off-day then back on the road again for 3 against a tough opponent in Kansas City. The Royals are a blazing 25-10 and their hottest hitter this year is former Ray Dominic Scavone, hitting 312/421/664 with 13 homers.

Rays News: As we're a bit short on lefty relief, we brought back a blast from the past in Alex Vesia, signed to a minor league deal with Durham. Vesia pitched in 215 games for us between 2022 and 2026, striking out 311 in 243 IP. He's now 35 and not quite as overpowering but still has a 55/70/50 profile as a reliever and could still prove useful.

MLB News: San Diego's Henry Williams no-hit the Mets on Tuesday, walking 2, fanning 7 and completing the gem on only 99 pitches to give him a Maddux as well.

[Art Deco]

A tough series in the Midwest as we dropped to 2 of 3 to the high-flying Royals. Baltimore also lost 2 of 3 but then won on our Monday off-day to pull within 2 1/2 of the division lead.

Joe Marlette gave up a couple of homers and it cost him and the Rays in a 3-2 loss at Kansas City in the opener. Marlette (3-2) was a decent 6 4 3 3 2 5 but the homers were the difference and former Ray Dominic Scavone's solo shot in the 6th proved to be the difference. Tampa Bay bats were held to only 4 hits on the day.

The Rays left it late but scored 3 times in the 7th and twice in the 8th to even up their series against the Royals with a 5-3 win. Cristian Hernandez's 2-run triple in the 7th tied the game and Chris Gutierrez tripled him home to put Tampa Bay ahead. After KC tied it in the bottom of the 7th Diego Cartaya's RBI single put the Rays ahead to stay. Michael Prosecky turned in a decent start at 6 6 3 3 2 3, Mike Moore (1-2) got the win in relief and Kevin DiCostanzo retired the Royals 1-2-3 in the 9th on only 4 pitches for his 8th save. Meanwhile the reason why Cartaya had the game-winning hit was because he had to replace JT Realmuto, who left with a mild hamstring strain. Although the injury is "minimal", it's projected to last 2-3 weeks so we're going to IL the 40-year-old to be on the safe side. He had also been in a 1-for-25 slump before the injury.

Transaction: Realmuto goes on the IL and we purchased the contract of David Garcia. It was fortuitous timing we signed Garcia last week and he'll job-share with Cartaya while Realmuto recovers.

Shane Panzini couldn't stand prosperity and the Rays' shaky 2031 bullpen failed them in an 8-4 loss in the rubber game of the series. The Rays took a 4-2 lead on a pair of RBI hits from both Kelly Crumpton and Wander Franco and Panzini was doing OK through 5. But he gave up back-to-back homers to let the Royals tie leading off the 6th (finishing 5 9 4 4 0 4) and John Swanda (3-3) didn't adjust well to a relief role following him, giving up 2 more runs in the 6th and 2 more after that in the 7th. Swanda was in the pen as we're in a stretch where we have several off-days and don't need a 5th starter.

Team record: 23-16. Next up: Another off-day then we're back home for some interleague action with 3 against Atlanta.

[Art Deco]

While a team 2 1/2 games up in first place in mid-May hardly seems to be crying out for a shakeup, I've not been happy with what I see out of this team especially considering we've gone 13-15 after a 10-1 start. It turns out that there are some players we lost from last year whom we're clearly missing: Andrew Greckel, Wennington Romero and Tylor Megill. Greckel's big power bat being absent is a big reason why we're only 9th in runs scored in the AL and Romero (as a lefty) and Megill have been missed as the bullpen sports a 4.35 ERA, 13th out of 15 teams in the league.

As a result, I've cooked up a pair of big trades to address those problems, although these will help a lot more with the offense than the pen, where further deals could be forthcoming. First of all we decided to address the lack of production by acquiring one of the top run-producers of the last several years:



Before I get into the merits of the deal, I want to take a brief moment to explain why I forced this trade. I originally made the offer without Jesus Sanchez, got a "let me think about it" response, and submitted the trade. The next day I received this message:



So I added Sanchez per the counter-offer, went to accept it, and still got the "let me think about it". This is a recurring problem in OOTP and I'm not sure they're going to do anything about it, but thanks to the "force trade" option I was able to get the Yanks to accept their own counter-offer.

Anyway for the trade itself, one of the problems we had is that the guy getting Greckel's at-bats was Kelley and he was only hitting 237/327/414 with 4 HR. Kelley was acquired prior to the 2029 season after winning the NL RotY and was put into the lineup, but didn't hit before losing his job to Joshua Baez, who did. Last year Kelley seemed to live up to his promise, having a fine season in a 4th OF role and I figured he'd be ready to step in. But he instead reverted to his mediocre 2029 form and since the Yanks were willing to take him for Salinas, I couldn't pass it up. Meanwhile, here are Salinas' career numbers as he's rated for 70 contact and 70 power:



While he can rake he offers little defensive value (hence the muted WARs) but that's not a problem as he'll become our full-time DH with Baez putting his 60-rated glove back on and taking over RF from Kelley. Salinas, whom NY had on the trading block, is under contract for another year and the Yanks are eating 40% of his salary so we'll pay him $10M next season to DH as well.

We then made a second deal, this one with the Dodgers:



While my AGM Sam Fuld did not like this deal, I obviously did and that's why I get paid the big bucks. This is a deal of two exciting young players who are probably in the majors a bit prematurely. Brooks of course was our Rule 5 pickup from the Yankees who profiles as a future top-half-of-the-rotation starter but has struggled at times out of our bullpen this year. Still he had tremendous trade value when I shopped him and Tosado caught my eye. The 6th overall pick in the 2029 draft, he had a meteoric rise to the majors and has all the tools:



Those ratings (the current ones, not the potential) imply he should have a 900+ OPS but he's struggled this year with the Dodgers (222/295/294). He only has 2 homers but already 8 SB to his credit. Still he looks like a true star in the making and perhaps more likely to reach his potential than Brooks. We also picked up Feole in the deal, a veteran lefty reliever (rated 60/60/50) to give us a third one for the pen behind Gavin Bruni and Dax Fulton, whom have both had their struggles this year after two good seasons.

The question becomes what to do with Tosado this year, since Salinas will DH, Crumpton is entrenched at 1B and we have a Kim/Gutierrez/Baez OF which has served us well. For now we'll keep him up and demote JJ Cargill to Durham, given Tosado's better overall profile and versatility compared to Cargill's. Tosado also gives us someone who can back up Gutierrez in CF, which was Kelley's role before we dealt him.

So there you have it - two blockbuster deals which I'm hoping will help us this year and set us up for the future as well even if we did trade away a possible replacement down the line for James Hays.

[Art Deco]

The Rays threw their three best pitchers at Atlanta (Hays, Marlette and Prosecky) and gave up 18 runs in the 3 games. But thanks to some offensive heroics they still took two out of three. Unfortunately they still lost ground as Baltimore completed its sweep of Miami and cut the lead to 2 games, but given the opponent and the circumstances it was still a good three days.

As GM of the team I'm not sure I could have scripted the opener any better, although I would have left the part out where James Hays gets hit to the tune of 3.2 8 6 5 0 8 (an odd line) and the Rays fall behind 6-0. But newly-acquired Orlando Tosado came off the bench in the bottom of the 8th to hit a pinch 3-run homer in his first Tampa Bay at-bat to tie the game, and then the also newly-acquired Raimfer Salinas hit a 2-run walk-off blast in the bottom of the 9th to give the Rays an improbable 8-6 comeback win. Salinas finished 3-5 in his debut after singling in his first two Rays at-bats and Wander Franco also went deep with 6th of the year. Dax Fulton (1-1) picked up the win in relief.

The second game wasn't very pretty as the Rays and Joe Marlette were hit hard in a 7-3 loss. Like Hays yesterday Marlette got his strikeouts but everything else seemed to find holes and gaps as he went 4.1 9 3 3 0 7. He didn't take the loss though as the Rays came back to tie at 3 before Slade Cecconi (0-1) was ineffective again, giving up a pair in a 4-run Atlanta 6th that also saw Mike Moore do likewise. Cristian Hernandez had a great game against his old team in a losing cause, going 3-3 with 2 doubles, a walk, and a solo homer (#8).

The Rays rode a 5-run first inning in the finale to take an 11-5 win over Atlanta and win the series, although it wasn't without some nervous moments. Raimfer Salinas had an RBI single and Cristian Hernandez a 2-run single in that opening frame, but Michael Prosecky couldn't stand prosperity, giving Atlanta 3 back in the 2nd and failing to make it out of the 5th after giving a leadoff homer in the inning to finish 4 6 5 5 4 4 and let Atlanta back within 7-5. The "other" guy acquired on Monday, Mason Feole, made his Rays debut in relief of Prosecky and calmed things down nicely with a couple of perfect innings for the win. With the score 8-5 in the 7th, Nathan Dettmer made things dicey by putting the first two on, but he struck out the side after that. Hernandez couldn't be retired again, going 4-4 with 2 RBI and 8-11 for the series, Kelly Crumpton added HR #9 and drove in a pair, as did Orlando Tosado in his first start, equaling in one series the number of homers he hit with LA this year while Chris Gutierrez was 3-5 with a double and 2 RBI.

Team record: 25-17. Next up: More interleague action as the Mets come to town for the weekend. Included should be a start for former Ray Wennington Romero, in the New York rotation but struggling at 0-1, 5.86 in 8 starts (with 7 no-decisions!).

[Art Deco]

Not the best of series for the Rays as they dropped 2 of 3 to the Mets at Tropicana Field. Combined with Baltimore taking 2 of 3 from Atlanta and the division lead is but a single game.

Transaction: Kendall Williams was recalled after completing his rehab assignment at AAA Durham and Cody Adcock was sent there.

Shane Panzini didn't have it in the opener and neither did the bats as the Rays fell 5-1 to the Mets. Panzini (3-2) departed early after going 2.1 6 4 4 3 1 and although the pen kept them in it, the bats never responded with the only run coming on a solo Kelly Crumpton shot (#10).

The Rays needed some late dramatics to take the second game when newcomer David Garcia's RBI double in the bottom of the 9th walked it off for a 3-2 win. The veteran catcher knocked in Dong-hwan Kim, who had a 1-out single against former Rays closer Yasunari Uehara and made a winner of Kevin DiCostanzo (3-1). John Swanda had a decent start for a change (5.2 2 2 2 3 4) and Raimfer Salinas hit his 2nd Rays homer, a solo shot in the 3rd and his 13th overall as one of his three hits.

The finale was a tough one as the Rays rallied to come back to tie after falling behind 4-0 only to give up some late runs as the Mets took the series with an 8-4 win. James Hays was scorched for 4 runs in the 2nd including a 3-run Trevor Story homer with two out, but settled in to go 6 5 4 4 1 9. Kelly Crumpton (#11) and Raimfer Salinas (#3/14) went back-to-back to cut the Met lead in half in the 5th and Willi Castro launched a 2-run jack (#2) in the 6th to tie it. But Mike Moore (1-3) put a man on with two out and Dax Fulton immediately gave up a 2-run homer to the lefty he was brought in to face, former Ray Hunter Bishop. The Mets tacked on two more in the 9th and that was all she wrote.

Team record: 26-19. Next up: Oakland visits for 3 games.

[Art Deco]

Rays took two of three from Oakland and should have had a sweep but squandered numerous chances to win in the finale. Baltimore also won 2 of 3 but lost on our off day Thursday so the lead is 1 1/2 games.

Tampa Bay turned a 3-1 deficit into an 8-3 win over the A's in the opener thanks to a big 5-run 6th inning. Joe Marlette struggled a bit at 5 5 3 3 2 6 and the bats were slow to wake but Cristian Hernandez slugged a 3-run homer (#9) to put them up 4-3 before Diego Cartaya and Willi Castro (#3) added solo shots off former Ray Taj Bradley to cap the inning. Cartaya went deep again for his first two homers of the year and first two-homer game of his MLB career, driving in 3. Slade Cecconi (1-1) earned the win with a scoreless 6th and Mason Feole pitched two perfect innings to give him 5 since joining the Rays.

The Rays had to come from behind again as a 3-run 8th gave them a 7-5 win over Oakland. Wander Franco tripled in the tying run in the inning, Joshua Baez singled Wander home, and Cristian Hernandez doubled in Baez for the winning rally. Nathan Dettmer (3-0) picked up the win and Kevin DiCostanzo recorded save #9. Michael Prosecky went 5.1 5 4 3 0 6 and the last two runs off him scored courtesy of a homer allowed by Kendall Williams. That homer marked the complete squandering on an early 4-0 lead after Kelly Crumpton (a 3-run shot, #12) and Baez (#11, solo) homered in the opening frame.

The finale was an exercise in frustration as the Rays wound up falling 2-1 to Oakland in 13 innings. The Rays had glorious to chances to win it in the 8th after Chris Gutierrez was on 3rd with nobody out and they had a man on 3rd with one out in the 9th but strikeouts and shallow fly balls did them in both times. Eventually Oakland got to Seth Elledge (1-1) in the 13th for the winner as the bats wasted some outstanding pitching. Shane Panzini turned in a good start at 5 5 1 1 1 8 and with an off-day following, Kevin DiCostanzo went 3 scoreless allowing only a hit for naught.

Team record: 28-20. Next up: An off-day then 3 games at Fenway.

[Art Deco]

Make that "at Boston (2)" as Sunday's game was rained out and won't be made up until July 28. The Rays split the games, one of which featured another bullpen meltdown and the other a vintage James Hays performance. With the rainout and an off-day on Monday, Baltimore played a bunch more games, winning 3 of 4 and moving to 1/2 game behind but 2 in the loss column.

Things looked like they were going the Rays' way in the opener as they held a 5-2 lead after a good start from John Swanda. But Mike Moore and Dax Fulton literally threw away that lead in the 7th, sending us to an interminable extra-innings slog that was finally terminated when Kendall Williams (0-1), the human homer machine, served up a 2-run walk-off blast to Boston to let them walk it off in the 15th inning. Before it went bad they got homers from Willi Castro (#4, leading off the game) and Joshua Baez (#12) and Swanda was an effective 6.1 4 3 3 2 6 but probably shouldn't have come out for the 7th when he gave up a hit with a man on. That led to Moore being ineffective and then with a chance to get out of it after being brought in to face a lefty, Fulton's poor season continued when he walked two men and gave up a single to the third man he had to face, righty Christian Arroyo. The bullpen was great from there including 3 1/3 scoreless from Slade Cecconi, but we finally had to turn to Williams who lasted three batters before giving up the walkoff jack, the third straight appearance in which he let the opponent go deep.

Well I finally had enough of Williams, so he was shipped to Houston in this deal:



Aside from getting Williams out of my sight the deal brings us the veteran reliever Heuer, who still is rated highly at 60/60/60 and had 26 whiffs in 21 IP for Houston. He's a rental but it wasn't like Williams was in our future plans either. The price to get some salary retained was Troutman, a marginal catching prospect.

Meanwhile in the second game it was another vintage outing from James Hays, who took a no-hitter into the 8th inning in a 4-2 win. Hays (6-1) gave up an infield single to lose the no-no and finished 8.1 1 0 0 2 6 before leaving with a dead arm which will set him back a week. We won't IL him, instead his next start will be pushed back which'll be no problem with the rainout and the off-day. Of course the bullpen had to make it an adventure - Gavin Bruni came in and made a mess putting two on with one out and then Kevin DiCostanzo gave up a 2-run triple before getting the final out for save #10. Making Hays' start all the more impressive is that he had to battle with a slender 1-0 lead most of the way until the Rays got 3 in the 8th on back-to-back jacks from Kelly Crumpton (#13) with a man on and Orlando Tosado (#3/#5).

Team record: 29-21. After an off-day we're back home again for 3 vs the Yankees and a reunion with Andy Kelley (and Raimfer for the Yanks).

[Art Deco]

A frustrating series for the Rays who dropped a pair of tough games after winning the opener. Baltimore won 2 of 3 to pull into a tie atop the division, although the Rays are actually in first on percentage points.

Joe Marlette was in good form and the bats turned the game from a nail-biter into a blowout with 8 runs over the final 3 innings including 4 in the 6th to end up romping over the Yankees 9-2. They trailed 2-1 going into the sixth before Kelly Crumpton's grand slam (#14) turned things around. Crumpton's having a great season and tonight he had a pair of doubles to go with his slam and is hitting .301-14-44. Wander Franco homered earlier (#7), had 3 hits and knocked in a pair while Chris Gutierrez added a 2-run double. Marlette (4-2) went 6 6 2 2 1 7 and turned from hard-luck loser to comfortable winner. Codi Heuer made his Rays debut with a scoreless 8th.

The second game was a pitchers' duel between Michael Prosecky and New York's Sam Weatherly with both leaving after 7 innings at 0-0. Prosecky went 7 3 0 0 1 7 and although he wasn't in line for the win it looked like the Rays would get one when Dong-hwan Kim hit a 2-run Donger (#7) in the bottom of the 8th. They then loaded the bases with one out but couldn't bring home another run, and that turned out to be costly when Kevin DiCostanzo (3-2) melted down in the 9th, allowing 3 runs on 2 hits and 2 walks and the Yankees won 3-2. DiCostanzo has only allowed runs in 4 of his 19 appearances this year but all four times it's resulted in a blown save.

The finale was another tough one to swallow as the Yankees blitzed Shane Panzini for 7 early runs and took a 7-0 lead thanks to 2-run and 3-run homers off the bat of Austin Riley by the 4th inning. Incredibly though the Rays came all the way to tie it with the equalizer coming in the bottom of the 9th, but all that did was prolong the agony as Jesus Sanchez, throw in to the Andy Kelley-Raimfer Salinas trade a couple of weeks ago, hit a lefty-on-lefty homer off the star-crossed Dax Fulton (1-2) in the 12th to give New York an 8-7 win. Panzini was awful of course at 3 5 7 7 4 3 and saw his ERA rise to 5.40, but Slade Cecconi came through with 3 scoreless to help buy time for the comeback which started with a 2-run Kelly Crumpton blast (#15). Dong-hwan Kim doubled twice among his 3 hits and drove in 3 to lead the charge afterwards but sadly it wasn't enough. Salinas was 0-6 in the loss.

Team record: 30-23. Next up: They'll try to get right at Tropicana Field with 3 against the Angels, who are their opposite at 23-30.

[Art Deco]

While the Rays took 2 of 3 from Angels it was still a series of aggravation as bullpen meltdowns and a serious injury kept us from enjoying the wins.

The real bullpen meltdown came in the opener as the Rays lost a 2-1 lead in the 8th allowing two runs, tied it back up in the bottom of the inning and then gave up 6(!) runs in the 9th to lose 9-3 to the Angels. John Swanda pitched his best game as a Ray (6 3 1 1 0 6) and Cristian Hernandez had a solo homer (#10) to put them in position to win, but Mike Moore started the follies by allowing 2 runs in the 8th to put them behind. A Wander Franco RBI single tied it back up but then the once-reliable Kevin DiCostanzo (3-3) gave up 5 hits and 5 runs in the 9th to make it an ugly loss.

The Rays got a James Hays start and won 3-0. The recap pretty much writes itself, right? Nope. In his first game back from missing a week with a dead arm Hays lasted one batter before leaving with bone chips in his elbow and will be out 6 weeks. Only one reaction to that:



Fortunately the much-maligned bullpen came through with 8 2/3 innings of shutout relief, begun by Seth Elledge (2-1) who got the win after going 1 2/3. Mason Feole capped things by going the final 2 1/3 for his 1st Rays save and he's been great since being acquired with 12 scoreless innings over 7 appeareances. Raimfer Salinas' 4th Rays homer and 15th overall in the 2nd inning proved to be all the offense they'd need.

Transactions: So there's some stuff to unpack now with the Hays injury. He goes on the IL of course and we recalled Cody Adcock from Durham who will hopefully pitch better this time around. In a shock move to shake up the pen and the rotation Kevin DiCostanzo is going to be a starter now. He has the goods to do it - 65/65/60 ratings as a starter with 60 stamina. Nathan Dettmer will now be the closer with Codi Heuer moving into Dettmer's righty setup role.

The Rays took the finale but not without more bullpen shenanigans as they downed the Angels 7-4. A big 5-run 4th featuring a 2-run Cristian Hernandez double and a 3-run Chris Gutierrez homer (#4), both with two out, was the key to victory as well as a truly dominant performance from Joe Marlette. The lefty improved to 5-2, 2.35 after a 6 2 1 0 1 10 outing. But the pen was up to its old tricks again as Cody Adcock looked just as bad as he did before his demotion and Dax Fulton looked just as bad as he pretty much has all season with the pair combining to allow 3 runs to let LA back within 5-4. Fortunately Codi Heuer had a 1-2-3 8th on 8 pitches and Dong-hwan Kim homered (#7) for insurance before Nathan Dettmer closed with a 1-2-3 9th for save #3. Enough drama already.

Team record: 32-24. Baltimore dropped 2 of 3 so we're up a game in the division. Next up: The homestand continues with 4 games against Toronto.

[Art Deco]

A pretty good series for the Rays as they took 3 of 4 from the Jays but it wasn't without the club's biggest problem causing more trouble: the bullpen.

And nowhere was it more apparent than in the opener when Codi Heuer truly became a 2031 Rays reliever by giving up a 3-run homer to Rowdy Tellez, losing a 5-2 lead in the 8th. Fortunately though Toronto gave it back to them when a throwing error by catcher Patrick Bailey on a Wander Franco nubber in front of the plate brought home the winning run in the 10th in a 6-5 triumph. Before all of those shenanigans Michael Prosecky had pitched pretty well, although his 7.2 6 4 4 1 2 line reflects the two runners he put on before Heuer gave up the homer. Slade Cecconi (2-1) ended up with the win after a scoreless 10th. They built their early lead on a big game from JT Realmuto, who homered (#10, his first since returning from the IL) and had an RBI single among his 3 hits and on a Willi Castro solo shot (#5).

The bats made the second game bullpen-proof by putting double digits on the board in a 10-2 rout of Toronto. Kelly Crumpton accounted for 40% of those runs with an RBI and a 3-run homer (#16) in the 7th which broke open a 4-1 game, Wander Franco was 2-4 with HR #8, Willi Castro was 3-5 with an RBI and Raimfer Salinas drove in a pair. They all backed Shane Panzini who went to 4-2 with an excellent 6 3 1 1 2 7 outing.

Kevin DiCostanzo made his debut in the rotation after being moved out of the closer's role and pitched pretty well, but the bats gave him no support and the bullpen faltered again in a 4-1 loss. DiCostanzo went 5.1 4 1 1 3 3 but an Orlando Tosado solo homer (#4/6) was all the offense could muster and although they put men on base they rapped into 3 double plays, including one to end the game. And the game was lost in the 8th when Mason Feole (1-1) decided to give him up his first runs as a Ray, getting hit for 3 although 2 of them scored with 2 out when Slade Cecconi gave up a double.

John Swanda turned in his second straight outstanding start and the Rays survived the bullpen making it closer in a 3-2 win to take the series. Swanda (4-3) went 6 3 1 1 2 7, a virtual carbon copy of his line against the Angels last time out, for the win and although Mike Moore gave up a solo homer to let the Jays within one, Codi Heuer and Nathan Dettmer held on with the latter picking up save #4. JT Realmuto delivered the game's big blow, a 2-run homer in the 6th (#11) which broke a 1-1 tie.

Team record: 35-25. The division lead is 2 games, but now over the Yankees instead of Baltimore. Next up: We'll play those Yankees 3 times at the Stadium.

[Art Deco]

A disastrous series for the Rays as they were swept out of first place by the Yankees. In fact they were swept out of a playoff spot as they're now 1 back of the third wild card in the AL. The primary culprit was the offense instead of the bullpen for a change, but you can't blow leads if you're not taking them.

And in the opener there was never a hint of a lead to blow as they were routed by the Yankees 7-0 and held to 3 hits. Joe Marlette (5-3) was flat-out terrible for once, going 4 8 7 7 3 2 in perhaps his worst outing as a Ray.

The bats were anemic again in the second game with Wander Franco's 2-run homer in the 6th (#9) their only scoring in a 3-2 loss. Michael Prosecky no-hit the Yankees through 4 before they broke through for all 3 of their runs in the 5th with a Cristian Hernandez error proving critical and leading to two unearned runs. Prosecky (2-2) finished 5 2 3 1 2 5 and deserved better.

The Andy Kelley-for-Ramifer Salinas trade was supposed to boost the Rays offense but despite Salinas' RBI single today he's only hitting 248/296/366 with Tampa Bay and to make matters worse Kelley delivered a 2-run walk-off homer in the bottom of the 9th off Nathan Dettmer (3-1) to give the Yankees a 5-3 win and series sweep. The Rays and Yankees traded runs over the first four innings to make it 3-3 but the offense went ice-cold after that, managing only one hit over the final 5 innings. Shane Panzini had some struggles but kept them in it at 5 6 3 3 2 3 and three relievers turned in a scoreless inning before Dettmer gave up only his 3rd earned run of the year as the man on ahead of Kelley reached on a error.

Team record: 35-28. Next up: The Rays will try to get right farther south down I-95 when they play 3 in Washington, a daunting task since the Nats are tied for MLB's best record at 43-20.

MLB News: The Dodgers' exciting sophomore 2B Arturo Gutierrez tied an MLB record held by many by homering five times in two consecutive games over the weekend, hitting two against the Cubs on Saturday and three more on Sunday. Also Twins star Byron Buxton hit his 300th career homer.

Rays News: We signed veteran starter Alex Manoah to a minor league deal and he'll be pitching at Durham.

[Art Deco]

Different city, same struggles for the Rays as they dropped 2 of 3 and somehow managed to lose a game in which one of their hitters blasted three homers. The Yankees took 2 of 3 from Miami so they dropped 2 behind in the division but Cleveland was swept so they actually moved into a tie for the third wild card.

The Rays did win the opener but not without more bullpen woes as they took an 8-4 decision in 11 innings over the Nationals thanks to a grand slam from Willi Castro (#6). It was a 1-1 game into the 8th and it looked like the Rays would lose when Dax Fulton surrendered yet another homer and they trailed 2-1. However Cristian Hernandez drove in the tying run and Dong-hwan Kim launched a 2-run homer (#8) to make it 4-2 in the 9th and a regulation win seemed to be in hand. But Nathan Dettmer gave up a key homer for the second straight outing, letting Washington tie it in the 9th. Gavin Bruni (2-2) ended up with the win but not without giving us a scare by loading the bases and bringing the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the 11th. Kevin DiCostanzo did give them a good start at 5 7 1 1 1 5.

Transaction: Having lost all confidence in Cody Adcock, I sent him back to Durham and recalled Brad Garrard, who wasn't great when up earlier this year but had pitched well as Durham's closer since.

Another late lead was blown as the Rays fell 6-5 in 10 innings to Washington in the second game. Orlando Tosado capped a 4-hit day with a 3-run homer in the 7th (#5/7) to give them a 4-3 lead, but Codi Heuer joined the parade of struggling Rays relievers by allowing a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning to make it 5-4 Washington. Joshua Baez responded with HR #13 in the top of the 8th to tie the game back up, but the Nats got a walk-off shot off Seth Elledge in the 10th to win it. John Swanda did not have a good start at 4 10 3 3 1 4.

Joshua Baez had a career game in the finale, hitting 3 homers and driving in 5 to keep the Rays in the game but the staff's inability to keep the ball in the park (6 homers allowed!) led to an 8-6 loss to the Nationals. After Joe Marlette gave up a pair of homers and 3 runs in the 1st, Baez hit a solo shot in the 2nd, had a 2-run homer in the 4th to tie it at 3, and then hit his 3rd of the day in the 6th with a man on to tie it once again at 5 and give him 16 on the year. But old friend Ed Howard homered off Slade Cecconi (2-2) to lead off the 7th, the next National homered as well, and then Dax Fulton gave up the team's sixth homer of the game after that. Orlando Tosado added his 6th as a Ray and 8th overall in the 8th but it wasn't nearly enough. Marlette turned in his second straight brutal start at 4.2 8 5 5 1 5 with 3 homers allowed.

Team record: 36-30. Next up: A day off then we head back up I-95 this time for 3 in Philadelphia.

MLB News: San Francisco's Jose Alberto Rivera pitched a no-hitter against Detroit, walking 1 and whiffing 8 on an ultra-efficient 86 pitches.

[Art Deco]

The Rays closed out their I-95 road trip by taking 2 of 3 in Philadelphia with the bats finally coming to life but still ended it a rough 3-6 overall. Status quo in the standings, still 2 behind the Yankees and tied with Cleveland for the third wild card.

Chris Gutierrez had his first 2-homer game as a Ray (and probably in his career) as Tampa Bay went deep five times in all and routed the Phillies 11-3 in the opener. The CF, better known for his great defense, had a solo homer in a 4-run 4th which broke the game open and a 2-run shot in the 6th to give him 5 for the season. Kelly Crumpton launched #17 in the 2nd to start the scoring while JT Realmuto had a 3-run shot (#12) in that 4th and Raimfer Salinas added the cherry on top with a solo shot in the 9th (#5/16). All this scoring made a winner of Michael Prosecky (3-2) who went 6 7 1 1 0 9 and despite allowing a 2-run homer Brad Garrard recorded his first save by going the final 3.

Shane Panzini pitched the game of his life and the bats went wild again in another rout of the Phillies 10-0. The righty pitched a complete game 1-hitter, walked none and fanned 8 on 102 pitches to improve to 5-2. His teammates made it easy for him by scoring in double digits once more led by battery mate JT Realmuto, who tormented his old club for the second straight night with a pair of homers (#s 13 & 14) and drove in 3 while Joshua Baez continued his big week with a grand slam (#18), his fifth homer in four games. Chris Gutierrez also got in on the homer-happy run by going deep for the third time in two nights, his 6th.

Unfortunately the Rays were unable to complete the sweep in the finale when Nathan Dettmer uncorked a wild pitch in the bottom of the 9th to allow the winning run to score for his former team and the Rays fell 4-3. Kevin DiCostanzo made his second start and was decent at 6 4 3 3 2 7 while Wander Franco extended his hit streak to 11 with an RBI double, but in the 9th Dettmer (3-2) put men on first and third with two out and then threw one that got by JT Realmuto to let Philly walk it off.

Team record: 38-31. Next up: The good news? We're back home. The bad news? It's three against the 46-23 Royals who hold the best record in the AL and second-best record in MLB.

[Art Deco]

The Rays took on a Kansas City team that's been dominating the AL this season and swept them thanks to a couple of clutch Cristian Hernandez homers and the return of the offense. They still had to overcome yet more bullpen shakiness, but did manage to sweep an opponent for the first time in over two months. Best off all the Yankees dropped 2 of 3 in San Antonio so the Rays are tied at the top of the AL East.

A trio of solo homers gave the Rays a 4-2 lead in the 6th inning but the bullpen blew it, allowing runs in the 8th, 9th and 10th before Cristian Hernandez saved their bacon with a two-out, 3-run homer (#11) in the bottom of the 9th to walk off a 7-5 Tampa Bay win over the Royals. Solo shots from Dong-hwan Kim (#9), Raimfer Salinas (#6/17) and Joshua Baez (#18) with the latter two going back-to-back appeared to put the game in the Rays' hands but after Codi Heuer gave up a run in the 8th, Nathan Dettmer blew another save by allowing the equalizer in the 9th and then let the leadoff man homer in the 10th to put KC ahead. Dax Fulton (2-2) finished up the 10th and got the win, while John Swanda went 4 3 2 1 4 6 and endured an interminable 4th inning when Wander Franco made consecutive errors with two out, forcing Swanda to 87 pitches.

The Rays romped in the second game, putting up double digits for the third time in five games (with 41 runs scored total in that span) as they routed the Royals 10-4. Wander Franco and JT Realmuto had RBI doubles in a 3-run first, and then Franco added a 2-run shot (#10) in the 4th. Chris Gutierrez, on a rare power binge of late, contributed a 2-run homer (#7) in the 5th and Kelly Crumpton went solo (#18) in the 6th. Joe Marlette (6-3) labored a bit, but won after throwing 101 pitches in a 5 6 2 2 2 6 outing, and Slade Cecconi finished up with 3 1/3 innings of 1-hit, 5-whiff ball for his first save.

It looked like the pen let them down again in the finale after Mason Feole was charged with a run in the 7th to put the Royals up 3-2 but Cristian Hernandez came through in the clutch again with a 2-run shot in the bottom of the 8th (#12) to give the Rays a 4-3 win and a series sweep. It was a pitching battle before that with Michael Prosecky going 6 5 2 2 3 4, Dax Fulton (3-2) got another win by retiring the final man in the 8th, and Nathan Dettmer didn't blow the save this time, earning his 5th.

Team record: 41-31. Next up: an off-day to fly out west where we'll play 3 against the Angels in Anaheim.

[Art Deco]

The Raynaissance continues as Tampa Bay took 2 of 3 in LA to make it 7 wins in 9 and remained in a first-place tie with the Yankees, who also won 2 of 3 against now-slumping Kansas City.

It was home run derby in the opener for the Rays as they belted 5 longballs in a 9-4 win over the Angels which wasn't even that close. Dong-hwan Kim belted a pair of solo Dongers to give him 11, Joshua Baez cranked out a grand slam in the 1st (#19), Willi Castro hit #7 and Kelly Crumpton launched #19. Shane Panzini (6-2) turned in another excellent start at 6 5 1 0 2 5 although the bullpen gave up 3 late runs, as it does.

The Rays raced out to a 5-0 lead and held on to beat LA 5-4 in the second game. Joshua Baez had a 2-run single to cap a 4-run 4th, and Willi Castro homered (#8) for the second straight night to lead the offense, backing Kevin DiCostanzo (4-3), who picked up his first win as a starter after going 6 6 2 2 1 5. The pen of course made it dicey as Codi Heuer allowed a couple of runs in the 7th and Nathan Dettmer had to get the final out in the 8th to rescue Dax Fulton from a jam before sticking around for a four-out save (#6).

The finale was frustrating for the Rays as they banged out 11 hits but couldn't score a run in a 5-0 loss. They had one caught stealing, one runner thrown out at home, and one erased on a double play but otherwise just couldn't get a key hit when they needed it. To make matters worse they lost John Swanda (4-4) to injury as the righty left after two innings with a sore shoulder after allowing a run. He's going to miss almost a month. Brad Garrard and Slade Cecconi had trouble with the plate in relief, with both walking 3 and allowing a pair of runs.

Team record: 43-32. Next up: Back to the east coast to play 2 at Baltimore.

[Art Deco]

Welp we dropped both games in Baltimore, one via the depressingly-familiar culprit, the bullpen, and the other in a blowout. The Yankees split their two games with Boston so we're one back in the division now.

The Rays trailed 3-0 in the opener but fought back to go ahead 4-3 in the 8th, only to see Nathan Dettmer blow another save in the 9th and Codi Heuer lose it in the 10th as they fell 5-4 to the Orioles. Joe Marlette had some struggles and continued to be inefficient, going 4.1 7 2 2 3 7 on 97 pitches, but Orlando Tosado came through with a pinch-RBI double in the 7th and then our other recent acquisition Raimfer Salinas delivered a 3-run homer in the 8th (#7/18). Dax Fulton actually got through the 8th but Dettmer put 2 on with 2 out and gave up a game-tying RBI single to Gunnar Henderson, and then Heuer (0-1) gave up a leadoff double who came around to score on a single and the bullpen blew it again.

Michael Prosecky had his lunch handed to him in the second game, pounded for 7 runs in under 2 innings and although the Rays got some runs back after it was 9-1 they still lost 11-6. Prosecky (3-3) was a horrendous 1.1 7 7 7 2 1 and the game was over barely after it started. They did pad their offensive stats with homers from Raimfer Salinas (#8/19), Orlando Tosado (#7/9), Cristian Hernandez (#13) and Kelly Crumpton (#20). After allowing four more runs today the bullpen has a collective ERA of 4.16, 12th in the American League.

Team record: 43-34. Next up: 2 games at Yankee Stadium against first-place New York where we could retake the lead, fall 3 back, or maintain the status quo.

Disgusted with the bullpen, I made my third trade to try and upgrade it:



Rosa was El Paso's (the one-time Pittsburgh Pirates) closer the last several years and had 86 saves over the past 2 1/2 seasons for the Wreckers. He's rated 60/65/70 and had a 3.27 ERA this year. Mendoza is a marginal prospect as El Paso is desperate to shed salary - somehow they're $56M in the hole on their budget. Cody Adcock will once again ride the St. Pete to Durham shuttle.

[Art Deco]

We came into Yankee Stadium one behind New York and that's where we left it after splitting the two games.

The Rays exploded for 7 runs in the 4th in the opener and rode them to a 7-4 win over the Yankees. Chris Gutierrez started things with a 2-run double, Willi Castro followed with a 2-run single, and then Raimfer Salinas capped things by blasting a 3-run homer against his recent former teammates (#9/20). Shane Panzini (7-2) was rolling along, 1-hitting the Yankees through 5, but couldn't get anyone out in the 6th as the first three batters reached and the third was Gleyber Torres who homered to cut it to 7-4 and Panzini was gone, finishing 5 4 4 4 2 3. Fortunately the bullpen came through for a change today with 2 scoreless from Mike Moore, a 1-2-3 inning from Raymells Rosa in his Rays debut, and a clean 9th from Nathan Dettmer for save #7.

The offense couldn't get it done in the second game as the Yankees retook sole possession of first in a 3-1 loss. Brad Garrard (0-1) made his first start in John Swanda's stead and had a rough 2nd in which he allowed all 3 runs but held it there and finished 5 7 3 3 2 2. It didn't matter though as the bats couldn't get anything going outside of an aborted rally in the 6th which saw Kelly Crumpton double in a run and put men on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out but they failed to bring anyone else home and didn't really threaten after that.

Team record: 44-35. Next up: We return home for 3 against Toronto.

[Art Deco]

The Rays' woes continued as they dropped 2 of 3 at home to Toronto while the Yankees swept Baltimore and then won on our day off, putting us 3 1/2 behind New York. That's the same margin by which we're ahead of Cleveland for the 3rd wild card but our sights are higher.

Toronto scored 4 times in the 2nd off Kevin DiCostanzo and that would be all they'd need as the Rays dropped the opener 4-2 on July 4. DiCostanzo (4-4) pitched well outside of that unfortunate stretch, finishing 5 5 4 4 0 9 but the damage was done.

Tampa Bay came back late to take the second game 6-3 with all six runs coming in the 6th and 7th after Toronto went up 3-0 in the top of the 6th. Joe Marlette was hooked up in a scoreless duel until the Jays broke through against him in that frame and he finished 5.2 6 3 3 3 7. Dong-hwan Kim had his fingerprints on both big innings, singling a run in the 6th and driving in two more in the 7th. Kelly Crumpton's RBI double in the 7th was the decider, making a winner of Mike Moore (2-3) with Nathan Dettmer notching save #8.

The Jays took the rubber match 7-4, scoring four times in the first off Michael Prosecky who had his second straight brutal start. After giving up 7 runs in 1 1/3 last time out Prosecky (3-4) wasn't much better today, going 3 9 5 5 1 2 and his seen his ERA jump from 3.24 to 4.42 in that time. JT Realmuto tried his best to keep the Rays in it, going 3-3 with a walk, double, homer (#15) and 2 RBI.

Team record: 45-37. Next up: An off-day then we'll try to get right against Seattle, which visits for 3 games.

[Art Deco]

Now is the summer of our discontent as the Rays are only 8 games over .500 at the approximate midway point of the season and languishing in the second place, a perch we're not accustomed to. This team looks good on paper but just can't seem to get out of its own way, and I do have some culprits in mind.



The Nationals, whom we vanquished in the 2029 World Series, are running roughshod on MLB.



Despite how much I've bemoaned the bullpen (and with good reason although they've pitched better lately, shaving about 1/3 run off their ERA) the biggest problem with this team is run-scoring as we're 3rd in the league in runs allowed. Which is kind of baffling considering this is largely the lineup that went to the World Series the last few years but the big move to shake it up earlier this season, the acquisition of Ramifer Salinas, has been a bust. Salinas, who terrified the AL and us for year after year with the Yankees, has been just as bad as Andy Kelley was for us before we traded him for Salinas and nowhere near the Andrew Greckel replacement we envisioned him as. And he always seems to be coming up in key situations and not getting the job done. He's "hitting" 218/258/370 since joining us but how do you bench or otherwise give up on a guy rated 70 contact and 70 power?



And the thing is the other 8 spots in the lineup are all on pace for 3 WAR or better, so it's not like there's some kind of massive problem on offense. But we are kind of a lousy OBP team (9th in the league) while being first in slugging, so that's an issue but it's too late to remake the offense. We're just going to have to muddle through and hope some of these guys take a bigger step in the 2nd half, especially Salinas.



The pitching remains a bit of an enigma as well. Obviously having missed James Hays for 5 starts (thankfully he'll be ready to make a rehab start in about 4-5 days) hasn't helped, and the big move to put Kevin DiCostanzo in the rotation has yielded mixed results although he's shown promise.

Meanwhile we haven't looked at our prospects in a long time:



The top 3, including Penagos whom we just signed as our July 2 guy, are a ways away, but #4 Nate Strickland is more than ready to rake in MLB and has been on quite a homer tear at Durham recently. I've been considering bringing him up but he's a terrible 2B and he's not going to supplant Castro. 1B is his better position but obviously Crumpton's a fixture there so that leaves DH, where if Salinas doesn't start hitting I've half a mind to install Strickland there against righties as Nate's a lefty with a pronounced platoon difference. #10 Jonathan Guiterrez is probably also ready for the majors, but the same caveats apply - he's a lefty-swinging 1B.

[Art Deco]

What a difference three days makes! The Rays scored 25 times in a sweep of Seattle and the Yankees were swept by Boston, meaning Tampa Bay has pulled to within 1/2 game behind New York.

They had to outscore Seattle in the first game, taking a 6-3 lead after 2 innings and hanging on to prevail 9-7. It was home run derby for the Rays, who hit 5 longballs in total. Kelly Crumpton had a 3-run jack in the first (#21), Orlando Tosado lost a pair of solo shots in the seats, giving him 9 with the Rays and 11 overall, Willi Castro had a 2-run blast (#9) and Dong-hwan Kim went deep for #12. Shane Panzini started and wasn't very good (3 7 4 4 0 2 with 2 homers allowed), Gavin Bruni (3-2) went 2 scoreless for the win, and Nathan Dettmer picked up save #9 despite allowing a run in the 9th.

It was the longball to the rescue again as Kelly Crumpton's 2-out, 3-run homer (#22) in the bottom of the 9th gave the Rays a thrilling 8-6 walk-off win over Seattle in the second game. They took a 3-0 lead in the first but watched as the Mariners came back against Brad Garrard and the bullpen to go up 6-3. Dong-hwan Kim homered again (#13) to cut it to 6-4 and Wander Franco's RBI double got them within 6-5 as they headed to the 9th where Crumpton was the hero. Garrard was unconvincing in his second start at 4 7 3 3 1 3 and Mason Feole was hit for 3 more runs with Dax Fulton (4-2) earning the win with a scoreless 9th.

The Rays completed the sweep with a more comfortable win in the finale, downing the Mariners 8-3. Raimfer Salinas, who has struggled since coming over from the Yankees and found himself on the bench against righties the last two days, got the start against a lefty and took advantage with a pair of homers and 5 RBI. Salinas had a 2-run homer in the 4th to make it 4-0 and after Seattle closed within 4-3 in the top of the 5th he blasted a 3-run clout in the bottom of the inning to break it open, giving him 11 homers with the Rays and 22 overall. Kevin DiCostanzo (5-4) had his best start since joining the rotation at 6 4 3 2 0 5.

Team record: 48-37. Next up: Boston comes to town for 3 games before we hit the All-Star break. The amateur draft is also tomorrow so there'll be a post on that up next.

MLB News: Toronto superstar Vlad Guerrero Jr. hit his 300th homer as part of a 5-hit night against Detroit.