The 2021 (and only 2021) Tampa Bay Rays

[Art Deco]

The Rays fared well in the big showdown series with the Yankees, taking 2 of 3 and missing out on a sweep thanks to a bullpen meltdown. With New York losing on the Monday off-day following, the Rays now stand a full game ahead in the AL East with the teams now having played an equal number of games.

Tampa Bay made an early statement of intent by scoring 6 times in the first inning of the opener and going on to a 9-4 win over New York. It helped that Yankee starter Luis Severino had to leave the game after fanning the leadoff man and they then went to town against the bullpen with Nate Strickland's 2-run, 425-ft homer to dead center (#7) the key blow in the inning. Wander Franco had a big game, going 3-5 with HR #8 and 2 RBI while Dong-hwan Kim and Cristian Hernandez each plated a pair. Francisco Morales made it 2-for-2 in wins since joining the Rays, going 6 6 3 3 2 6 with the generous support.

The ingredients were all there for another Rays win as Kevin DiCostanzo was outstanding, no-hitting New York through 5 innings with a 3-0 lead. DiCostanzo did run up a pitch count and had to leave in the 6th after going 5.2 2 1 1 2 5 but the Rays got the run he allowed back and went up 4-1 in the 7th. And that's where things went sour as the injury-hit bullpen had its issues. Christian Little got DiCostanzo out of the 6th but ran into trouble in the 7th, loading the bases for Cody Adcock, who got a high-leverage opportunity after pitching well this year. He didn't today, hitting a man to force in a run and giving up a 2-run double to let New York tie with all the runs charged to Little. And then in the 9th Mike Moore (2-3), our nominal closer with Josh Scanlon out, put two men on and although he got the 2nd out he gave up a 3-run walk-off homer to let the Yankees pull out a 7-4 win. Nate Strickland was 3-5 with an RBI and William Contreras hit his first homer (#3) since April 16, a 2-run shot that gave them the 3-0 lead in the 6th.

Things did not look good at all in the finale when Wes Mendes was hit for 5 runs in the first inning on 49 pitches but a massive power display enabled the Rays to wipe out that deficit and eventually score an 11-7 win over the Yankees to take the series. Joshua Baez was a one-man comeback machine as he blasted a 3-run homer in the 2nd to make it 5-3 and then a 2-run shot (#8) in the 4th to tie the game up. In the 5th the Yankees brought in a lefty so Jonathan Gutierrez pinch-hit for Nate Strickland and delivered a 2-run homer off the bench (#9) to put the Rays ahead to stay, and in the 6th Diego Cartaya added a solo shot (#3) and Dong-hwan Kim a 3-run homer (#12) to put it away. Mendes settled down but couldn't get the third out in the 5th to get the win, finishing 4.2 4 5 4 6 6 on 110 pitches so it went instead to John Swanda (3-2). We did have to survive some bullpen escapades as Slade Cecconi brought the tying run on-deck in the 9th with 2 out so Ruben Abeyta had to get the final out for his first save. Swanda unfortunately had to leave with biceps tendinitis and will be out the better part of three months.

Team record: 43-21. Next up: An off-day then we head south on I-95 to play 3 in Washington.

And good for Kim:

[Art Deco]

A tough series for Tampa Bay as they dropped 2 of 3 including an epic bullpen implosion. The Yankees split their remaining two games with Philly so they sit 1/2 game behind the Rays in the division.

Transaction: John Swanda went to the IL with biceps tendinitis and Brad Garrard was called up from Durham. The swingman has been up before with iffy results.

A 6-run 5th inning propelled the Rays to an 8-4 win in the opener. 2-run doubles from Chris Gutierrez (which broke a 1-1 tie) and William Contreras were the big hits in the inning while Kelly Crumpton homered (#22) and drove in a pair. Joe Marlette (9-2) meanwhile was in fine form at 6 4 1 1 2 8 and some bullpen shenanigans in the 9th brought the tying run to the plate resulting in Tommy Burpee picking up his first Rays save.

The second change was shaping up to be a repeat of the opener as the Rays had another big 5th inning, this time scoring 7 times to take an 8-2 lead. But almost immediately Michael Prosecky and the bullpen couldn't hold it with Washington scoring six times in the next two innings and single runs in the 7th and 8th putting the Nats up 10-9. Cristian Hernandez's clutch 2-out RBI single enabled the Rays to tie at 10 in the 9th but Tommy Burpee (0-1) walked three straight men (the first intentional) in the bottom of the 11th to force in the winner and the Rays lost 11-10. Hernandez had a big game with 3 hits and 4 RBI, Chris Gutierrez was 2-4 with a 2-run double, and Kelly Crumpton homered again (#23) and drove in a pair. Prosecky's rough run shows no sign of ending after he went 4 6 5 5 2 4, unable to retire anyone in the 5th after being staked that 8-2 lead and all five relievers who pitched allowed at least one run.

Transaction: In our never-ending quest for pitching help with all our injuries, we claimed starter Eddie Yean on waivers and optioned Jon Post to Durham. Yean is rated 60/70/45 as a starter and is another candidate to take Prosecky's place although for now he'll pitch in relief.

Big innings were the coin of the realm in this series and Washington got one in the 3rd inning (7 runs) to take an 8-5 win over the Rays in the rubber game. Francisco Morales (2-1) had his first bad start in Rays colors, the victim of that inning which included a Wander Franco error that made it worse, finishing 3 8 7 4 3 3. The bats gamely tried to come back thanks to a couple of guys who had a big series with Chris Gutierrez hitting a 2-run homer (#3) and Kelly Crumpton homering for the third straight game (#24) and adding an RBI single but they were ultimately unable to do what Washington did to us the day before.

Team record: 44-23. Next up: We head back north on I-95 for 3 games at CitiField against the Mets.

[Art Deco]

A great series for the Rays as they swept the Mets in New York while the Yankees dropped 2 of 3 in Miami so the division lead has grown to a season-best 2 1/2 games. The good news was offset though by some bad injury news, which we'll get to shortly.

Dong-hwan Kim and Nate Strickland were a two-man wrecking crew as the Rays routed the Mets 11-4 in the opener. Kim had an RBI single in the 3rd and then hit a pair of 2-run homers, including one off former Ray Jackson Baumeister, to cap a 5-RBI day and give him 14 longballs on the year. Not to be outdone the rookie Strickland blasted a pair of 3-run shots including one to kick off proceedings in the 1st and now has 9 homers after his 6-RBI day. Kevin DiCostanzo (7-2) didn't need all this support after going 7 6 2 2 1 6 but was undoubtedly happy for it.

The Rays scored 5 times in the 2nd and then held on to take a 6-5 win in the second game at Citi Field. Arturo Gutierrez had a 2-run single and Kelly Crumpton a solo homer (#25) to highlight the inning but Wes Mendes (7-2) let the Mets get within 5-4 and finished 5 2 4 4 2 4. Jonathan Gutierrez came through with a pinch-hit infield RBI single in the 6th to make it 6-4 and that run proved decisive when the Mets got one back in the 7th. Tommy Burpee pitched the 9th for his 3rd save.

Joe Marlette did his usual thing and the Rays completed the sweep of the Mets with a 5-2 win in the finale. Marlette (10-2), who leads the AL in pitcher WAR at 2.7, was a fine 6 3 2 2 4 7 and three relievers contributed a scoreless inning apiece with Mike Moore the last of them in picking up save #2. Four of the five Rays runs came via the home run as Arturo Gutierrez got them on the board with (#16) off another former Ray (the Mets are chock full of them) Levi Stoudt and Dong-hwan Kim followed two batters later with a 2-run shot (#15) to make it 3-0. Cristian Hernandez added #12 with the bases empty in the 4th.

Team record: 47-23. Next up: We return home after the 9-game road trip to host Houston for 3 games.

As promised however, we did receive some very bad injury news:



Originally we had hoped to have him back in a couple or three weeks but instead he's done for 2032 which is a crippling blow to the bullpen considering how much he stabilized it this year after last season's nightmare. For now Mike Moore (righty) and Tommy Burpee (lefty) will handle the 9th depending on the opposition and we'll be on the prowl for a high-quality late-inning arm.

Also getting bad news were the Texas Rangers, who lost their ace and former Rays farmhand Mike Mank for 11-12 months with a torn UCL. Mank of course was the headliner going Texas's way when we acquired James Hays from them. Speaking of Hays it seems we may have traded him at the right time as he's found the going rough with the Dodgers. He has his usual fine BB/K ratio at 19/139 but since going to LA he's become a homer-yielding sieve, already with 23 allowed in 112 IP to go with the 9 in 57 he allowed after the deal last season. This is roughly twice the rate he allowed the longball with us. As a result he sports a 4.87 ERA, in line with 4.81 he put up last year after going over.

[Art Deco]

The Rays pulled off another series sweep as the bats are blazing these days while the Yankees took 2 of 3 in Texas and fell 3 1/2 back of Tampa Bay in the division.

The Rays rode a couple of big innings to take a 7-3 win over Houston in the opener at Tropicana Field. A 3-run first highlighted by a 2-run Nate Strickland single and a 4-run 4th featuring Orlando Tosado's second RBI single of the night provided all the offense, and Michael Prosecky (4-5) picked up his first win since April 24 despite not being terribly convincing at 5 8 2 2 1 1.

The offense was quiet for the first five innings, managing only two hits, before exploding for 9 runs in the 6th and 7th to lead the way to a 9-4 win over the Astros in the second game. Nate Strickland had a big 2-run single for the second straight day, tying things up in the 6th before he and his mates erupted for 7 runs in the 7th. Diego Cartaya's RBI single broke the tie, Dong-hwan Kim's 2-run single made it 5-2, and Strickland came through again with a 2-RBI double to really break it open. Franklin Morales was excellent at 6 4 2 2 1 7 but missed out on the win which went to Mason Feole (3-0) after a scoreless 7th.

The Rays completed the sweep and made it 24 runs in the series with an 8-3 win in the finale. After scoring 16 runs in the first two games without homering they broke out the long ball tonight with Orlando Tosado's 2-run homer (#13) in the first making it 3-0 before Cristian Hernandez (#13) and Arturo Gutierrez (#17) also went deep. Arturo had 3 hits and Tosado added an RBI double. That was more than enough for Kevin DiCostanzo (8-2) who wasn't his best but good enough at 6 8 3 3 1 5.

Team record: 50-23. Next up: An off-day then it's off to Detroit for 3 games. The Tigers are off to a mediocre 33-39 start.

[Art Deco]

The offense continued its torrid run, scoring 24 more runs in the three games in Detroit although it was only enough to win two of them. That matched the Yankees so the lead remains 3 1/2 games. In their last 19 games the Rays have scored 145 runs or 7.63/game, just an absurd stretch.

The Rays scored 7 times in the 2nd inning the opener, built a 9-1 lead, and then had to hold on to win 10-7 over the Tigers thanks to some bullpen follies. Cristian Hernandez was man of the match, going 4-5 with a 3-run homer (#14) in that 2nd inning while Nate Strickland continued to rake with an RBI single in the 2nd and a 2-run double later. Wes Mendes (8-2) was decent at 5 6 2 2 3 3 but Cody Adcock and Mason Feole conspired to allow five runs in the 6th and 7th, necessitating Tommy Burpee to pitch the 9th for save #4.

A rare bad start from Joe Marlette doomed the Rays to an 8-7 loss to Detroit with their valiant comeback falling short. Marlette (10-3) had his strikeout pitch going but not much else, giving up 2 homers in a 3.1 7 7 7 1 5 outing. They were behind 8-1 before Dong-hwan Kim homered twice (#16 & 17) and Joshua Baez went deep (#9), getting back within a run through 7 but they couldn't get anything going in the final two innings and saw their 7-game win streak snapped.

Transaction: In the opener Orlando Tosado tweaked an abdominal muscle and it turned out to be a "moderate" injury I didn't want to him to try and play through. So despite it only being a 4-5 game injury we didn't want to play an OF short so J.J. Cargill was recalled from Durham where he was hitting .348.

The Rays took the rubber game in emphatic fashion 7-1 behind the best Michael Prosecky start since early April. Prosecky (5-5) avoided disaster last time out and picked up a win and today he was actually excellent at 6 5 1 1 0 5. He received plenty of support, most of it from Arturo Gutierrez, who was everywhere today going 3-5 with a steal, solo homer, RBI single and a 3-run homer (#19) to break the game open in the 4th. Chris Gutierrez was 2-4 with an RBI as well.

Team record: 52-24. Next up: Back home for a quick 2-game set against Boston, which is a dreadful 29-47.

[Art Deco]

The Rays split their two games with Boston while the Yankees only played once and lost, so the division lead is up to 4 games (3 in the loss column).

The opener was a bit of a tough one to stomach as the Rays rallied from 8-3 down to tie it with 5 runs in the 8th only to see Tommy Burpee (0-2) give up a pinch-hit solo homer by former Rays star Randy Arozarena in the 9th to lose it 9-8. Franklin Morales was dealing through 5 (0 runs on 2 hits with 8 whiffs) until it fell apart on him in the 6th, allowing 5 runs (4 earned) to finish 6 7 5 4 0 9. And then Brad Garrard poured gasoline on the fire, giving up 3 more runs. But that didn't deter the offense, which has scored nearly 8 runs/game this month and hit that mark again in a big 8th which featured a 2-run Diego Cartaya single and Kelly Crumpton's 2nd RBI knock of the night. Unfortunately Burpee burped up his 4th homer of the year against and they've all seemed to be critical ones which cost the Rays a game.

The Rays put up a snowman on the scoreboard again but this time they won easily thanks in large part to Kevin DiCostanzo and earned a split with an 8-1 win over the Red Sox. It was a low-scoring game early as a pair of Nate Strickland solo homers (#s 10 & 11) had Tampa Bay up 2-1 after four but a 3-run 5th and two more in the 6th on William Contreras' 4th homer of the year broke it wide open. DiCostanzo (9-2) was brilliant at 6 4 1 1 2 8 and he lowered his MLB-best ERA to 2.47.

Team record: 53-25. Next up: Another quick 2-game series in Toronto.

[Art Deco]

Thanks to another bullpen letdown we ended up splitting the two games in Toronto and the Yankees did likewise in Minnesota so the lead remains 4 games.

A pair of solo homers from Cristian Hernandez (#s 15 & 16) and a 3-run shot from Kelly Crumpton (#26) gave the Rays a 5-1 lead, but the pen couldn't hold it and the Jays came back to take a walk-off 6-5 win in the bottom of the 9th. Wes Mendes turned in a solid start (5 4 2 2 2 6) but Tommy Burpee started the collapse in the 8th by giving up still another homer, a 2-run shot to Vlad Jr., Mike Moore gave up a solo shot later in the inning to let Toronto tie, and Cody Adcock (1-1) couldn't survive a 2-base Chris Gutierrez error in the 9th.

The Rays continued to bash the ball in the second game and four more homers brought them a 9-2 win over the Jays. Kelly Crumpton picked up where he left off yesterday by blasting a 2-run homer in the 1st and then added a solo shot to give him 28, Arturo Gutierrez blasted #20, and Wander Franco put the game away with a 3-run jack (#9) to cap a 4-run 9th. This was all plenty for Joe Marlette (11-3), who went 6 4 2 0 0 0 9 in the win. The lefty now leads the AL in strikeouts with 133 in only 97 IP.

Team record: 54-26. Next up: 3 games in Baltimore.

[Art Deco]

Meant to include these in the previous post, but we had a clean sweep of the monthly AL awards:

[Art Deco]

It was a lousy series for the Rays as they dropped 2 of 3 in Charm City but fortunately the Yankees had an even lousier series as they were swept by arch-rival Boston, so the division lead has grown to 5 games.

Transaction: Jamie Reiner is suffering from recurring back spasms which will sideline him six weeks so we purchased the contract of Carlos Colmenarez from AA Montgomery. Colmenarez had been up briefly in 2029 and 2030.

The bullpen lost a 4-3 lead in the 8th but Joshua Baez rode to the rescue as his 3-run homer in the 10th (#10) salvaged the opener 7-5 for the Rays over Baltimore. Arturo Gutierrez stayed red-hot with a pair of homers, including another one to lead off a game, giving him 22, and Dong-hwan Kim had a rare dinger against a lefty (#18). Michael Prosecky was middling in his start and not helped by our lousy defense, going 4.1 4 3 1 1 3, and Tommy Burpee blew his 5th save of the year by giving up - you guessed it - a homer in the 8th, the third straight appearance he's allowed a gopher ball. Mike Moore (3-3) ended up with the win but needed Mason Feole to get him out of the 10th as Feole notched his first save.

The second game was an exercise in frustration for the Rays as they left 12 men on base in a 4-3 loss to the Orioles. Chris Gutierrez was the worst offender, going 0-4 with 7 LOB and the bullpen was no help either as twice the Rays tied in the top an inning and they let a run score in the bottom including the winner in the 7th. Arturo Gutierrez didn't lead the game off with a homer but he did the next best thing, tripling and scoring in the 1st among his 3 hits. William Contreras also had 3 hits including a pair of doubles and an RBI. Francisco Morales wasn't efficient tonight, needing 103 pitches to go 5 4 2 2 3 2 before Ruben Abeyta (2-1) was touched for the losing run in the 7th.

Transaction: JJ Cargill was optioned to Durham and we recalled OF Caleb Hampton. Hampton was our supplemental 1st-round pick all the way back in 2023 and he finally gets the call to The Show 9 years later at the age of 27. Obviously he's not a prospect but he can play CF which Cargill can't. He'll only be up a couple of days until Orlando Tosado comes back.

Although the Rays took an early lead with Kevin DiCostanzo on the mound, things got ugly in the middle innings and Baltimore ending up winning handily 9-3. Nate Strickland's 2-run single in the 1st gave them a quick 2-0 lead and Arturo Gutierrez went deep yet again (#23) in the 4th to make it 3-1. But DiCostanzo (9-3) couldn't hold the lead and despite piling up the whiffs he finished 5.2 9 5 5 1 8 and Eddie Yean and Cody Adcock combined to allow 4 more. Caleb Hampton was 1-3 with a walk in his MLB debut.

Team record: 55-28. Next up: We head out west for 3 in Anaheim against the Angels.

After sweeping the monthly awards, we took a weekly one and if you read this far it should be obvious who won it:

[Art Deco]

In our seemingly never-ending quest to improve the bullpen, this deal was made:



Really not sure why Fuld was against this deal because the two guys we sent Houston were 26 and 30-year-old minor leaguers and they picked up 50% of Crochet's salary. He must not like Crochet. Anyway I like Crochet so we made the trade and the veteran lefty was only 2-0, 0.74 with 3 saves and a 12/49 BB/K ratio in 36 IP, good for 1.2 WAR already. And his ratings back that up at 70/50/50. With Tommy Burpee unable to stop giving up homers, Crochet should move up to the 8th/9th-inning lefty role with Burpee more of a 6th/7th-inning guy.

Also it's July 2 so it's time to sign an international teenager:



Gotta love these 15-year-olds with full mustaches. Anyway Barba is a "catcher" (those are some ugly defensive ratings) but even if he doesn't make it behind the plat that bat will play somewhere. He wasn't our first choice among those who liked our organization (that was a 16-year-old with legit 3B skills who had just as good a bat and is now ranked the #8 prospect after signing with Texas), but as the #34-ranked prospect I'm not complaining.

[Art Deco]

So far so good. We've cooled off some of late but the Yankees have been even colder.



Unlike last season when we vastly underachieved relative to our Pythagorean record, we're slightly exceeding it this year. The offense is a juggernaut as has been well-chronicled of late and the bullpen has been fraying of late, letting down our fine starters. Thought we had it solved with Josh Scanlon, but his injury kind of set us back to square one. The defense, as always with my saves, is atrocious.



Plenty to like here of course, so I'll point out a couple of disappointments. William Contreras' lack of production (4 HR, 23 RBI) is jarring although he gets on base (.361 OBP) so it's tolerable. Chris Gutierrez though is the biggest underachiever. He's been worth 3.8 and 4.1 WAR the last two seasons with Gold Glove-caliber D in CF and just enough hitting (.250-.260 with 35 2B/10 HR). This year he's giving us neither: the bat is a wet noodle and most disturbingly he's playing mediocre D with a -2.7 ZR after putting up ZRs of 11.2, 17.3 and 11.6 the last three seasons. If he's not going to give us good glovework there's no reason to keep him in the lineup and once Orlando Tosado comes off the DL I'm going to stick him in center so Joshua Baez can stay in the lineup as he'd been the odd OF out much of the year against righties.



DiCostanzo and Marlette are one of the best 1-2 combos in baseball and Morales has been decent as the #3 guy, leaving Mendes and Prosecky to provide passable back-end starting. Ah the pen that could have been with Scanlon and Frankely Guzman, now it's mix and match and pray.

[Art Deco]

The Rays dropped their second straight series but didn't lose any ground as the Yankees continue to reel as well with the same result, so it's status quo at 5 games up.

LA's Carson McKinney dominated the Rays' bats to the tune of 7 2 0 0 1 9 as the Angels took the opener 3-1. Only an Arturo Guiterrez homer in the 8th (#24) kept them from being shut out as he had 2 of the team's 4 hits on the night. Wes Mendes (8-3) was 4.2 6 3 3 0 4 in the loss.

Transaction: Orlando Tosado was activated off the IL and Caleb Hampton was optioned to Durham.

The bats bounced back in the second game, leading Tampa Bay to a 9-4 win. Orlando Tosado celebrated his return from the IL by blasting a pair of homers (#14 & 15), including a 2-run shot in the 2nd that got them going. Dong-hwan Kim also went deep (#19) and Joshua Baez had a 2-run double to support Joe Marlette (12-3), who wasn't at his best tonight but didn't have to be at 5 6 4 3 3 8. Eddie Yean went the final 3 innings for his first save.

For the second time in three nights Rays bats were largely turned to sawdust as the Angels took the series with a 4-2 walk-off win in 12 innings. LA's Sam Weatherly came into the game with a 5.69 ERA but you wouldn't know it tonight as he no-hit the Rays into the 8th inning when Cristian Hernandez singled to break it up. That hit led to a 2-run rally in the inning which tied the game up, but that was about it as they managed only 4 hits in the 12 innings and fanned 17 times. Michael Prosecky was decent at 4.2 6 1 1 1 5 and the bullpen was pretty good except for Garrett Crochet, who gave up a solo homer in an inning of work in his Rays debut, and Mason Feole (3-1), who served up a 2-run walk-off blast in the 12th.

Team record: 56-30. Next up: A day off then back home for 3 vs Cleveland before we hit the All-Star break.

[Art Deco]

After dropping the previous two series it was good to take two of three from the Guardians. The Yankees however not only pulled off a sweep but shut the Mariners out all three times, so they're now within 4 games as we head into the All-Star break.

Francisco Morales had been in a mini-slump of late but broke out of it in the opener, going 6 2 1 1 1 6 to improve to 3-1 with the Rays (6-4 overall) as they handled Cleveland 4-1. Mike Moore had a 1-2-3 9th for his 3rd save. A 3-run 1st inning was enough for the offense, with Joshua Baez singling in a run followed by William Contreras' 2-run double, and Jonathan Gutierrez blasted HR #10 in the 3rd for good measure.

Kevin DiCostanzo had perhaps his worst inning as a Ray, giving up 6 runs in the 1st inning as the Guardians downed Tampa Bay 6-2. He dropped to 9-4 after going 4 6 6 6 2 6 as a grand slam he allowed was the difference. The only Rays highlight was Arturo Gutierrez extending his hitting streak to 19 with an RBI single.

Good pitching and the longball led the Rays to take the series with an 8-0 win the finale. Wes Mendes (9-3) and Christian Little combined on a 3-hit shutout with Mendes going 5.1 3 0 0 3 3 and Little taking the final 3 2/3 hitless for his first save. Meanwhile the Rays got solo homers from Orlando Tosado (#16), Arturo Gutierrez (making it 20 straight with a hit), and Nate Strickland (#12) in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th, and then in a 4-run 6th Arturo went deep again with a man on to give him 26 and Cristian Hernandez also found the seats with #17.

Team record: 58-31. Next up: The All-Star break then we return home on the Thursday to start a 4-game set with Boston.

[Art Deco]

Thanks to our subpar 2031 we picked higher than ever in this save at #24 overall.



Espinoza:

The Las Vegas high-schooler and Miami commit could be an Ohtani in the making:



Highly rated as a starting pitcher prospect (although heavier on the command/control), Espinoza also has off-the-charts batting potential as you can see on the right and more particularly below:



It's like getting two 1st-round draft picks in one!

Toliver:



The Arizona high-schooler projects to be an elite bat and while he isn't going to be Yadi Molina behind the plate, being just an average receiver will more than play if the hitting develops as projected.

Poynter:



A 17-year-old Nebraskan with an interesting pitch array, a potentially knee-buckling curveball and a forkball. It's a long road to the majors and we'll see how it plays out for him but he could be very interesting once it comes together.

Fambrough:



This Texas high-school lefty shows a lot of pitchability with potentially four plus offerings.

Beas:



This 20-year-old raked at an Illinois JuCo and could become a special hitter with an above-average eye. He also projects to play a pretty good corner OF.

Others of note: We took Georgia HS 3B Devin Boston with our 7th round pick and he homered in his complex debut yesterday. He has potential 55 power, 60 eye and 55 fielding. In the 8th we grabbed Vanderbilt 1B Jaiden Watts who has 75 contact/65 power potential and also homered in his complex debut. And in the 11th we took that rare bird, the high-school closer, in Ryan Twine (great name) from California, who has potential 75 stuff and threw 3 scoreless in his complex debut.

[Art Deco]

Rosters:





Rays are well-represented with 7 selections, although Josh Scanlon's is bittersweet since he's out for the year. It's DiCostanzo's 2nd after making it last year as a reliever, Marlette's 2nd, Crochet's 2nd, Sclanon's 1st, Crumpton's 4th, Wander's 6th, and Gutierrez's 2nd. Crumpton was the leading vote-getting in the AL.

The Home Run Derby:



Sadly our lone representative Crumpton went out in the first round.

The game itself:



A great game if you love pitching, but not exactly a font of excitement for the average or casual fan with the lone run coming in the 10th on a sac fly. The NL didn't even record a hit until the 7th inning when our Garrett Crochet gave up a pair.

[Art Deco]

A fine return to action for the Rays who took 3 of 4 from Boston at the Trop, and should have had a sweep if not for someone major issues with RISP in the loss. The Yankees split their 4 with Toronto so the lead is back up to 5 games.

Earl Weaver's formula for success was pitching, defense and the 3-run homer and the Rays got those tonight in a 10-2 rout of the Red Sox to kick off the unofficial second half of the season. Kelly Crumpton (#29) and Arturo Gutierrez (#27, extended his hit streak to 21) hit 3-run dingers in the 3rd and 4th to break the game open while Joshua Baez had to settle for a 2-run shot (#11) in the 8th. The pitching came courtesy of Kevin DiCostanzo (10-4) who went 5.1 6 2 2 2 4 and Christian Little who pitched 2 2/3 1-hit innings while fanning 6. And I'm sure there was some good defense in there somewhere.

It was another comfortable win for Tampa Bay as they handled Boston 7-1 in the second game. Dong-hwan Kim was 3-5 with 2 RBI, Kelly Crumpton appears cured from his pre-ASB slump as he homered again (#30) with a man on, and Arturo Gutierrez made it 22 straight with a hit as he went yard for the second straight day as well (#28). Michael Prosecky (6-5) dealt with a lot of traffic on the bases but put up the stop sign at home plate as he went 5.1 8 1 1 2 4 including a bases-loaded, one-out sequence where he got consecutive whiffs to escape.

The third game was a weird one that the Rays lost 5-4 primarily because they couldn't get a hit when they needed it. In fact they only had three hits in the entire game, but Boston starter Alex Sifontes walked 9 men and the bullpen 2 more while the Sox committed a pair of errors so they had plenty of baserunners. Things started poorly when Wes Mendes (9-4) gave up a first-inning slam and another run in the 2nd to finish 5 5 5 5 3 7 but the Rays immediately got 3 back with in the bottom of the inning with Carlos Colmenarez's 2-run single the only hit of the inning. Meanwhile they kept putting men on but ended up leaving 12 on base with Cristian Hernandez personally stranding 10. He was part of one sequence where they loaded the bases with nobody out and the next three men struck out. Unfortunately Arturo Gutierrez did not get one of the three hits and his streak ended at 22 games, still a season-best in the AL.

The Rays bounced back from Saturday's frustrations to take the finale from Boston 5-0 on a combined 5-hit shutout from Francisco Morales and three relievers. Morales (4-1) wasn't his sharpest, needing 97 pitches to go 5 4 0 0 4 7 but the pen was as Ruben Abeyta, Tommy Burpee and Mike Moore went a combined 4 1 0 0 2 5 to close it out. The offense came early with Kelly Crumpton's 2-run double in the first and Nate Strickland contributed a solo shot (#13).

Team record: 61-32. Next up: A quick 2-game series at home against Baltimore.

[Art Deco]

We split the two games with Baltimore but the Yankees split theirs as well, so the lead is still 5 and two more days have come off the calendar.

Joe Marlette was victimized by some bad defense (including his own) and then the bullpen let things gets out of hand in an 8-3 loss in the opener. Errors by Marlette and William Contreras on ground balls in the 3rd directly led to two unearned runs to put Baltimore ahead and Marlette (12-4) became a hard luck loser despite going 6 4 3 1 0 11. Christian Little, who had been so good recently in relief, wasn't today allowing 4 runs in the 7th and that was that. Contreras (#5) and Joshua Baez (#12) hit a couple of late consolation solo homers.

The Rays bounced back in the second game to annihilate the Orioles 13-1. Jonathan Gutierrez had the best game of his very young career, doubling twice, homering (#11) and driving in four, Kelly Crumpton was 3-4 with a 2-run shot (#31), Arturo Gutierrez banged out three doubles and drove in a run, and Cristian Hernandez launched a 3-run shot (#18) to lead the attack. The beneficiary of all this support was Kevin DiCostanzo (11-4) who was great even though he didn't have to be at 6 3 1 1 1 5.

Team record: 62-33. Next up: Another 2-game series, this time in Boston.

[Art Deco]

The Rays took both games at Fenway while the Yankees split theirs so the lead has grown to 6 games.

Tampa Bay packed all 11 runs it scored in the opener in the 4th through 8th innings as they bested Boston 11-5. Orlando Tosado had a mega-game, going 3-4 with a double, 3-run homer (#17) and 4 runs scored while Cristian Hernandez added a 3-run blast of his own in the 4th (#19). Michael Prosecky couldn't get through the 5th to pick up the win, finishing 4.1 7 5 5 2 3, so it instead went to Slade Cecconi (1-0).

Deja vu in the second game as the Rays once again got the better of Boston by the same 11-5 score as the first game. This one played out similarly to yesterday's as they scored 4 times in the both the 5th and 6th to break open a 2-2 game. Nate Strickland's RBI double snapped the deadlock and Cristian Hernandez clouted a 3-run homer (#20) for the second straight day before Kelly Crumpton hit a slam (#32) in the 6th. Earlier Joshua Baez had a solo shot (#13) and later Orlando Tosado went yard again (#18). Wes Mendes (10-4) wasn't great but made some pitches when he needed to, going 5 7 2 2 4 3 on 97 pitches.

Team record: 64-33. Next up: Back home for 3 vs Toronto.

[Art Deco]

The Rays roll on and made it six straight wins after sweeping the Jays at the Trop. The Yankees took 2 of 3 so they've dropped 7 behind.

They coasted to victory 7-1 in the opener behind Franklin Morales (5-1), who was a solid 6 7 1 1 1 4. Orlando Tosado, très hot of late, was 3-3 with a walk, 3 runs scored, a double and a 2-run homer (#19) - in other words, in the middle of everything. Kelly Crumpton also went yard with a man on for his 33rd and Arturo Gutierrez plated their first two runs with a single.

The second game was another day at the office for the Rays and Joe Marlette as they took a 6-3 win over the Jays. Marlette (13-4) was in fine form at 7 7 1 1 1 8 while his battery mate William Contreras drove in 4 of the 6 runs with a 3-run homer (#6) and a fielder's choice. Kelly Crumpton was big again going 3-4 with an RBI double in the 1st.

Tampa Bay had to work a little harder in the finale to win, coming back from 4-2 down in the 7th to come back and prevail 6-4. Kevin DiCostanzo wasn't his best today (5.1 10 4 4 0 4) but a couple of triples loomed large in the comeback. Cristian Hernandez tripled in a run in the 7th to make it 4-3 and scored on Joshua Baez's single to tie it up. Baez had earlier gone deep with his 14th homer of the season. And in the 8th Orlando Tosado tripled in the go-ahead run and scored on a Nate Strickland knock. They also got an earlier homer from Wander Franco (#10). Tommy Burpee grabbed his first Rays win against two losses in relief and Mike Moore handled the 9th for save #4.

Team record: 67-33. Next up: An off-day then the Yankees visit for 3 games. New York is probably going to need to sweep to make it a race in the division again.

[Art Deco]

Mentioned in the previous post that the Yankees needed to sweep this series to make the division a race again and they nearly did so, winning the first two before the Rays salvaged the finale to keep the lead only being whittled to 6 games.

The first game was a wild affair which saw the Yankees up 5-3 going into the bottom of the 9th when with two out Arturo Gutierrez blasted a clutch 2-run homer (#29), New York then score 3 times off Tommy Burpee (1-3) in the 10th before the Rays scored twice in the bottom of the inning only to fall short 8-7. Things started off very poorly with Michael Prosecky struggling again at 3.2 6 5 4 2 2 but the Rays stayed in it with Dong-hwan Kim's solo homer (#20) getting them to 5-3.

Whereas the opener was one out from being a 5-3 Yankee win before it ended up 8-7, the second game was in fact a 5-3 Yankee win. The Rays were doomed by another poor start, this time from Wes Mendes (10-5) who went 5 7 5 4 3 2. Also like last night a solo homer got them to 5-3 with Orlando Tosado hitting his 20th.

The Rays sent notice early that wouldn't be swept as they routed the Yankees 9-3 in the finale. Joshua Baez's 3-run shot (#15) capped a 4-run first to get things going and then Dong-hwan Kim launched a 3-run dinger of his own (#21) in a 5-run 4th that put it away. Wander Franco was also 2-4 with a double and 2 RBI. Meanwhile Francisco Morales (6-1) was dealing before having to leave in the 6th with a minor calf strain after going 5.2 3 0 0 2 7.

Team record: 68-35. Next up: Texas visits for 3 games.