The 2020 (and beyond) Tampa Bay Rays

[Art Deco]

Game 1: Well that was interesting. Leo Ortega pitched only the 3rd complete game of his career and first as a Ray - and lost 1-0. Ortega was ridiculously efficient (45 pitches through 6 innings for example) and went 8 5 1 1 0 2 on only 72 pitches but gave up a pair of doubles in the 8th which allowed the Jays to score the only run of the game. Andy Cormier was equally tough on the Rays, going 8 3 0 0 3 3. Tampa Bay did get 2 on in the 9th with 2 out against Toronto closer Orlando Estevez, but Vlad Guerrero Jr. grounded out to end the game. Ortega lowered his ERA to 2.87 but hurt his chances at breaking the team wins record of 22 and now must win his final 2 starts as he sits at 21-4.

Durham Playoff Update: The Bulls evened up their best-of-5 IL Championship Series at 1 with a wild 12-7 win over Columbus. The Clippers came back from deficits of 5-0 and 7-4 to tie it at 7 in the top of the 5th, but Durham answered with 4 in the bottom of the frame to take the lead for good. Rob Ratzlaff went 4 1/3 shutout innings of long relief with 6 Ks to get the win, while the Bulls got homers from Mike McKee, Daniel Vasquez (who led the team with 3 RBI) and Danny Roush. We head to Columbus in 2 nights' time with Mike Champagne getting the call.

Game 2: The Rays' offense, which had been missing the last 3 games, came back with a vengeance this afternoon in a 22-3 (yes, 22-3) win over Toronto at Rogers Centre, which saw them blast 8 homers and score 15 times by the 5th inning. Andy Aparicio got the win going 6 5 3 3 0 8 with a homer allowed, he's now 17-8, 4.43 and Eric Riley went the final 3 innings for his first Rays save. This is one of those games where I'll just post the hitting section of the box since there's too much to recap but I'll mention Jon Jimenez had 2 doubles and 2 homers:



Game 3: The Rays picked up where they left off yesterday in the home run department, bashing 4 more in an 8-5 win over Toronto. Victor de Jesus had a 2-run shot in the 1st (#43) followed by #24 for Vlad Guerrero Jr., Danny Ayala belted a 3-run homer in the 3rd (#41, and he added an RBI double later to give him 145 for the year), and Jon Jimenez hit his 3rd in two days for #24 in the 9th. Nate Schultz needed all this run support because he turned in his third straight poor start, going 5 10 5 5 0 7 but still picked up win #19, giving him a shot at 20 in his final start of the regular season, but it would be nice if he got straightened out before the playoffs. Danny Medina went 2 scoreless, Tim Siqueiros got through the 8th and Kikuo Kawase loaded the bases in the 9th but didn't give up a run for save #30.

Durham Playoff Update: The Bulls are one win from their 4th straight Governor's Cup after getting past Columbus 4-1 in 10 innings to take a 2-1 series lead. Mike Champagne was great, going 7 6 1 1 2 4 but Durham had to survive not one but two serious jams in the bottom of the 8th and bottom of the 9th. Columbus had men on 2nd and 3rd and 1 out in the 8th and the bases loaded with one out in the 9th but David Sanchez made big pitches in both innings and notched the win with Edgar Rios getting the save. Stan Melton's homer in the 10th broke the tie and Parker Meadows tripled and scored on a wild pitch for insurance. Jimmy Steveson will look to wrap it up for the Bulls tomorrow.

Game 4: Extra innings is the last thing you want when you're playing out the string to get to the playoffs, so fortunately Bo Angeac took advantage of a 2-out Toronto error to club his 24th homer of the year after Vlad Jr reached in the 10th to give the Rays a 4-2 win. It was a tight 1-1 game until the 7th when Melvin Gutierrez of all people went deep with his 3rd of the year to give the Rays the lead, but Billy Hoyte coughed up a run in the 8th so extras we went. Nate Thompson started and while he was wild, he was effective going 6 4 1 1 5 6 to lower his ERA to 3.35. Tyler Jefferson got a couple outs in the 7th before giving way to Hoyte and Mike Wherry pitched the final two innings to pick up his 7th relief win of the year. Angeac drove in the Rays' first run as well.

Team record: 117-38. Next up: Four games at home vs the Yankees as we head into the season's final week.

Durham Playoff Update:



The Governors' Cup remains in Durham for the fourth straight year. Among the Bulls who won the title, look for Jeff Baez (taking over for Widmar at SS), Mike McKee (taking over for a likely-traded Luis Corpus at C) and Daniel Vasquez (taking over at least the LHB side of a platoon at DH for Vlad Jr) to be with the big club next year.

[Art Deco]

Before we get into the series, here's where things stand for the playoff races going into the season's final week. First of all the NL is all but over. Nominally there's a race in the NL Central but St. Louis is 4 up on Pittsburgh so we're talking epic collapse if things change there. Otherwise, Columbus and the Dodgers are the other division winners and the Mets will play Washington in the Wild Card Game. In the AL, it's death, taxes, and the Rays and Rangers winning their divisions, which leaves the AL Central and the Wild Card race, which is pretty wide-open and where the final week action will be:



The Royals are probably a lock at this point to at least take a wild card, so there are three teams fighting over two spots (Minnesota, Oakland, Seattle). We'll keep you updated.

Game 1: If this were earlier in the season the Tampa Bay area would be abuzz over the Rays' 3-run comeback in the 8th inning to take a 6-5 win over the Yankees, but instead it's just another game to get closer to the playoffs. Ricky Widmar's 2-run double tied it up and Will Quintana's sac fly brought home the game-winner as the Rays overcame a 5-3 deficit going into the bottom of the 8th. Eric Riley pitched a 1-2-3 8th and got his 2nd Rays win while Kikuo Kawase struck out the side in the 9th for save #31. Earlier Jon Soranno started and cruised through 4 before giving up 3 in the 5th to put the Yankees in front 3-1 at the time. He made it through 6 and the Rays tied it up but Danny Medina got hit hard for a couple in the 7th. Danny Ayala hit #42, a solo shot in the 6th, while Widmar and Quintana also brought home runs earlier in the game.

Game 2: No comeback today as Leo Ortega gave up a grand slam in the 6th and the Rays fell 7-4 to the Yankees at Publix Park. Ortega was cruising until he loaded the bases with nobody out and gave up the William Naranjo slam which cost him a shot at breaking the Rays win record as he would have had to have won this start plus one on the final day. Now he may not even make that start although he might go a couple of innings to see if he can get his ERA back below 3 as it ticked up to 3.01 after a 6 9 5 5 0 7 outing. Tyler Jefferson gave up a 2-run homer to Andrew Benintendi in the 7th to pad the Yankee lead. On offense, Jaiden Hardaway had a 2-run double and Dayle Jenkins had a couple of hits to allow him to reach the 200-hit plateau for the year. Ricky Widmar had to leave yet again, this time with a mild hip strain that's "minimal" and will last 2 weeks. He'll be shut down for the final 5 regular season games and play through it in the first couple of playoff games. He ends his final Rays regular season a very good 311/399/475 with 12 HR and 53 RBI in 366 AB, productive when healthy.

Playoff Race Update: Minnesota won, Kansas City lost, and Oakland beat Seattle head-to-head so here's where we stand: In the Central KC is 1/2 game up on Minnesota (even in the loss column), and in the wild card race, Minnesota and Oakland are tied for the wild cards although Minnesota has 2 games in hand (they have a doubleheader with the White Sox Friday) and Seattle is 1/2 game behind both of them. About as tight as it gets.

September 27: Optioned OF Michael Valdez to AA Montgomery, recalled SS Jeff Baez from AAA Durham.

Baez was needed with Widmar being shelved for the final 5 games.

Game 3: The Rays rode a couple of big homers and some fine pitching to a 6-2 win over the Yankees. Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the 5th, Will Quintana unloaded HR #6 of the season to give the Rays a 2-1 lead, and after the teams exchanged runs Jeff Baez, just called back up, also hit his 6th, a 3-run shot in the 8th to put the game away. Andy Aparicio started and pitched well, going 6 5 2 1 2 7 in his final start of the regular season but cost himself a shot at win #18 when Ivan Vega took him deep in the 6th to tie the game. After Billy Hoyte got out of a self-inflicted bases-loaded jam in the 7th, Omar Rodriguez singled in the go-ahead run and Hoyte ended up with his 2nd win of the season. Mike Wherry had a clean 8th and Tim Siqueiros whiffed a pair in the 9th to finish it out. Here's a look at Aparicio's numbers the last 3 seasons after his MVP/Cy Young 2031:



Amazing consistency in the BB/K numbers but look at how the ERA jumps around. Of course the main reason it ballooned nearly 1 1/2 runs/game this year is the home run ball as he allowed 37 this year as opposed to 23 and 25 the previous 2.

Playoff race update: Minnesota lost, Kansas City won, and Seattle shut out Oakland. So it's now Royals back up 1 1/2 in the Central, and Seattle 1/2 game up on Minnesota and Oakland in the wild card race. This likely comes down to the final day.

Game 4: The Rays took the final game of the series 9-4 from the Yankees as Nate Schultz reached the 20-win mark again despite a mixed bag of an outing. Schultz went 6 7 4 4 0 10 to grab the win, and the while the strikeouts were nice he gave up a pair of homers and finishes the year having allowed 19 ER in 18 1/3 innings over his final 4 starts. His ERA rose from 2.87 to 3.46 in that span and hopefully he can arrest this trend as he's slated to start Game 1 of the ALDS. Still with the win he finishes 20-5 and is now 46-7 as a Ray over two seasons including last year's playoffs. Danny Medina was nasty today, allowing only 1 hit and whiffing 4 over the final 3 innings to get save #5. On offense Bo Angeac had a first-inning slam (#25) while Dayle Jenkins (#11) and Victor de Jesus (#44) added 2-run blasts later. de Jesus is in an intrasquad battle with Danny Ayala for the AL HR crown and now has a 44-42 lead (former Ray Jasson Dominguez leads MLB with 50).

Team record: 120-39, our 4th 120-win season and 3rd in the last 4 years. Next up: 3 games at home vs Toronto to close out the regular season.

Playoff race update: A big day for the Royals, who beat Cleveland while Minnesota lost to Detroit. They've virtually wrapped up the Central now, 2 1/2 up on the Twins with a magic # of 2. The winner in relief today for KC was Rays legend Jose Alvarado, who's had a great bounce-back season with them after a miserable (5.10 ERA) year in Philly. He's 8-1, 1.95 and hasn't allowed a homer all year covering 73 2/3 innings. We could possibly see him in the ALCS. Elsewhere Seattle lost in Texas so the wild race shakes out as thus: Seattle and Oakland are now tied for the two wild cards while Minnesota is 1/2 game back of them with a doubleheader to play tomorrow.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: Nate Thompson and two relievers combined on a 7-0 shutout of Toronto at Publix Park to open the final series of the regular season. Thompson completed an outstanding season in fine fashion, going 7 4 0 0 0 8, and finishing 18-3, 3.22 with 182 whiffs in 179 innings in a year that kind of went under the radar. He's the likely 4th playoff starter unless we draw a very lefty-heavy lineup in which case it could be Jon Soranno. Tim Siqueiros and Eric Riley pitched the final 2 innings as the Rays broke open a 3-0 game with a 4-run 8th. Victor de Jesus staked his claim to the AL HR crown with a 2-run shot in the 1st, #45, and Dayle Jenkins singled in a run in the 5th before the 8th was highlighted by a 3-run Bo Angeac dinger (#26).

Playoff race update: A big day for Minnesota and a bad one for Seattle. The Twins swept the doubleheader from the White Sox rather emphatically by scores of 8-1 and 10-3, and the Mariners lost while Oakland (and of course Minnesota) won. The Royals lost as well, meaning the Twins are back within 1 game of them so suddenly we have a division race again, while at the moment the wild card has Minnesota and Oakland tied for the two spots with Seattle now 1 game out.

Game 2: The Rays took an 8-3 win over Toronto tonight in the regular season's penultimate game. Jon Soranno struggled early, allowing 3 in the first 3 innings, but settled in from there to finish 7 7 3 3 0 5 and finish his year 15-6, 3.56 as all 5 regular starters for the Rays won at least 15 games. Not counting what's happened elsewhere in this save over the last 15 seasons, the last team to do this was Atlanta in 1998. The offense was led by Vlad Jr., who hit HR #25 and drove in a pair, and Jaiden Hardaway, 2-3 with 2 walks and 2 RBI. Hardaway hit the 10-WAR mark for the second straight season and is the front-runner to win back-to-back MVPs.

Playoff race update: We got a lot more clarity tonight as everyone won except Seattle, meaning the Mariners are eliminated. The Royals need only to win tomorrow or for Minnesota to lose to clinch the AL Central, while the A's are in as a wild card. Seattle picked a bad time to go 3-8 over the last 11 games and tonight's loss was particularly painful as they blew a 6-1 lead after 7 to Texas before losing 11-6 in 11 innings.

Monthly Awards: Victor de Jesus was AL Player of the Month for September (.341-8-27) while Danny Ayala was AL Rookie of the Month (.289-7-29). Ayala is the presumptive Rookie of the Year.

Game 3: Mission accomplished as the Rays won their regular season finale 9-1 over Toronto and nobody got hurt, although their was a scare for a split-second when the PxP said the trainer was looking at Jaiden Hardaway's elbow, but it turned out to be nothing. Leo Ortega started, pitched a scoreless inning, and left as it got his ERA back below 3 at 2.99. Kevin Kerstetter took over and was brilliant going 5 1 0 0 0 4 to claim his 5th win of the season and Bob Sirna went the final 3, whiffing 7 and allowing a run in getting save #5, which seems like about our 20th 3-inning save of the season. As for the bats, Jon Jimenez capped a fine rookie season by going deep twice and driving in 3 to give him a final .312-26-83 season, while Omar Rodriguez hit #12 as part of a 3-hit day and Alex Buitrago launched #15. Hardaway was 3-4 with a walk to finish at 10.2 WAR. The Rays won a "team" triple crown of sorts with Hardaway taking the batting crown at .364, Victor de Jesus leading in HRs with 45 and Danny Ayala in RBI with 148. Hardaway edged out de Jesus for the OPS crown at 1.056 to 1.052, and Ortega led the AL in wins with 21.

Final Regular Season Record: 123-39. Next up: The ALDS against a team to be determined (more on that below).

Playoff Race Update: Well we're going to have a tiebreaker game for the AL Central crown as the Royals lost 8-4 to Cleveland while the Twins took a 7-2 win over the White Sox, whom they swept in 4 games and finished on a 15-game losing streak(!). The Sox were in it as wild card and division contenders until early-mid September but what a collapse.

Other items of note: Joey Gallo homered today for the Angels in what might be his final MLB game (LA released him earlier this year and there were no takers until they brought him back after Mookie Betts was re-injured), and if it is he'll end his career with a devilish 666 HR. Speaking of aged Angels, 43-year-old Mike Trout ended with 17 HR this year but only hit .195 and was worth -0.1 WAR. He's signed through 2036 so I'm sure he's back next year chasing Aaron and Bonds as he finishes the year on 742 career homers.

[Art Deco]

Kansas City, who looked like a lock up 2 1/2 games going into the final weekend, completed their collapse by losing to Minnesota. The Twins will now face the Rangers in one ALDS while the Royals will travel to Oakland for the Wild Card Game in a rematch of the one from 2014.

[Art Deco]

Team stats:



Man those defensive numbers are bad once again. Probably OK otherwise this team would be more ridiculous than it is.



Poor Victor de Jesus, puts up MVP numbers for a second straight year and will likely lose to a teammate.



Aside from the two guys who got hurt in their debuts (Bertone, Adams) we only used 17 pitchers this year as the staff stayed remarkably healthy with only three spot starts due to doubleheaders.

[Art Deco]

What a game! It had appeared the Royals were set to win in their first playoff appearance in 19 years after they scored in the top of the 10th. And Tim Levitt retired the first two A's in the bottom of the 10th (just check out that win probability chart above) before giving up a Jhon Diaz single, a walk to Tony Serrano, and then a double down the line by Pat Czernicki to bring them both home in walk-off delirium. The A's will now play the Rays in a rematch of their 2030 ALDS.

[Art Deco]

The Mets obliterated Washington to take the NL Wild Card, pounding former Rays starter Marc Wagner for 7 runs in 2 2/3 and never looking back. They'll take on Columbus in one NLDS while the Dodgers and Cardinals will meet for the 10 millionth time in the playoffs in the other.

[Art Deco]

Oops...


Not a great start to the playoffs, although in the two years we were unceremoniously dumped in the ALDS (2031 and 2032) we won the first game so maybe this is just a blip. The culprit tonight was the offense, which only managed 2 runs and 5 hits although Nate Schultz is not without blame. Unfortunately Schultz continued his poor end-of-season run, blowing up in the 4th inning for 3 runs and struggling throughout (he got out of the 3rd with three line drives at infielders). But the bullpen was great, especially Billy Hoyte, and 4 runs shouldn't be enough to beat this team. But it was today because outside of Jaiden Hardaway, everyone forgot their bats. We had a few chances wasted, like when Ricky Widmar was thrown out on a hit-and-run and then Luis Corpus doubled, and in the 9th with 2 out the A's made consecutive errors to put two on but Widmar grounded out to end the game. The pressure is now on Leo Ortega to come through tomorrow as we don't want to be in a position to have to win 3 straight.



The Rangers got a leg up in their ALDS thanks to a middle innings explosion which saw Edgar Medina hit a 2-run single to put them ahead to stay.

[Art Deco]

Back to even...


Order restored at Publix Park as the Rays evened up their ALDS with a 5-2 win over Oakland. It started off eerily similar to yesterday's game with the Rays taking a 2-0 lead through 3 but Leo Ortega thankfully did not follow in Nate Schultz's footsteps and left after 6 1/3 without allowing a run before Mike Wherry allowed his baserunner to score in the 7th. Victor de Jesus had an RBI single and Ricky Widmar a 1-out triple in the 4th but was stranded as the Rays once again had a hard time scoring against an Oakland starter. But they took advantage of Ethan Watkin in the 6th as he couldn't get anyone out and bases-loaded walks to Widmar and Jaiden Hardaway around a Luis Corpus RBI single gave the Rays a real cushion. They should have scored more as Watkin left with the bases loaded and nobody out but former Rays farmhand Tommy Mace got a short fly ball, a whiff and a fly out to escape and that failure to score loomed larger when Oakland got 2 in the 7th off Wherry. But Tim Siqueiros and Kikuo Kawase got their jobs done and we head to Oakland with Andy Aparicio looking to give us a series lead. Here's hoping the good Aparicio shows up and he maybe only gives up one solo homer.

Meanwhile, around the league:



Texas is one game away from yet another LCS while the Lightning and Cardinals get wins to open the NLDS.

[Art Deco]

Auggie Ziegler's 10th-inning RBI single gave the Columbus Lightning a 2-0 series lead after the Mets had rallied in the 9th to tie it up, while the Dodgers evened things up with St. Louis thanks to a 6-run 7th inning.

Also this:



Vasquez and Jeff Baez finished 1-2 and as I've mentioned before you'll be seeing both of them next year with the Rays. In fact I chose Baez over Melvin Gutierrez for the current postseason roster as if Widmar gets hurt again (always a good possibility) I'd rather turn to him than the light-hitting Gutierrez.

[Art Deco]

Backs to the wall...


Well they're in trouble now. Unfortunately the bad Andy Aparicio showed up (although he was bled by mostly singles, not homers) and put the Rays in a 5-2 hole. The bats weren't much better, only managing 5 hits with a pair of 2-run homers making the run total semi-respectable. They've gotten what they deserved so far, and it will be Jon Soranno going tomorrow to save the season as the A's have a very lefty-heavy lineup.

Meanwhile the Twins stay alive:



Ex-Ray Chris Sharp had a 2-run homer and a 2-run single to pace Minnesota.

[Art Deco]

Going back to Tampa (to play another game)...


Stayin' alive are the Rays, thanks to a closer-than-it-looked 10-1 win in Game 4 at Oakland to force a deciding Game 5 back at Publix Park in 2 days' time. For 4 innings it was shaping up to be more frustration as the A's held a 1-0 lead and the Rays couldn't rub two hits together. But they loaded the bases with one out in the 5th and although Luis Corpus struck out, Jaiden Hardaway came through with the hit of the series, a bases-clearing double into the LCF gap and they rode the strong pitching of Jon Soranno and Nate Thompson, who combined on a 3-hitter, to take the must-win. They tacked on a bunch of runs late to make it comfortable in the late innings and saved having to use the key guys in the bullpen.

In the other playoff games:



Like the Rays, Minnesota would not go quietly and got a Jose Serrano double in the bottom of the 9th to send that series back to Texas for a Game 5. Over in the NL, the Lightning struck for 5 in the 2nd and it was all they needed to win and sweep their NLDS from the Mets, while the Dodgers got a big road win in St. Louis to take the advantage in that series, overcoming Cardinal homers from former Rays Jasson Dominguez and Nate Clark.

[Art Deco]

Despite the best efforts of Nate Clark and Davis Sharpe, the Dodgers took their NLDS in 4 games from St. Louis and will face the Columbus Lightning in the NLCS. Jasson Dominguez was named MVP of the series even though he was on the losing end, having hit .312-3-5.

[Art Deco]

Phew...


It was a rematch of the Game 1 starters, but Alex Santamaria couldn't shut the Rays down like he did the first time and a 5-run 1st propelled the Rays to a decisive win in Game 5. Danny Ayala's 2-run double and Bo Angeac's 2-run homer, his third straight game with one, put the Rays up big early. But Nate Schultz stunk again, and was chased in the 4th inning. Kevin Kerstetter wasn't much better, giving up a 2-run single to get Oakland within a pair, and needed a man thrown out at the plate in the 5th to get out of that inning but he still picked up the win. Fortunately they kept tacking on runs, with 2 big ones in the 5th on RBI singles from Jon Jimenez and Jaiden Hardaway. Rays pitching coughed up 13 hits over the first 6 innings but Mike Wherry and Tim Siquieros combined to pitch effectively over the final 3 innings. Not sure I agree with Victor de Jesus as the MVP of the series, I might have gone with Angeac or even Jaiden Hardaway.

So who will the Rays face in the ALCS?



Surprise, surprise it's the Twins, who came all the way back from 0-2 down in the series to take a thriller in Texas with 4 runs in the 9th. Victor Presas only lasted 4 and Jordan Wicks 5 so it wasn't a classic pitchers' duel and the Rangers led 1-0 after 8 on a Leonardo Mendoza RBI single. But the Twins erupted off Texas closer Jeff Lavender, first with a 2-run homer from Arturo Jimenez to put Minnesota ahead, and then an RBI double from Jose Serrano and an RBI single from Tanner Witt. Texas wouldn't go quietly though as Adrian Ramos had a 2-out, 2-run double to make it 4-3 and put the tying run in scoring position, but former Ray (and former Ranger) Jim Connors got the extremely tough Edgar Medina (a career .341 hitter) to strike out to end the game. Chris Sharp was named MVP of the series. This will mark the first time the Rays have met the Twins in the playoffs, sparing us from Rays-Rangers V or VI or whatever it is.

[Art Deco]

It's going to be a struggle...


The Rays dropped a tough one in the ALCS opener at Publix Park 6-5 to Minnesota, after losing the lead, coming back to tie it and then seeing Minnesota go ahead for good. A couple of normally reliable pitchers had their struggles, although it didn't look that way at first for Leo Ortega, who struck out the first five Twins he faced and didn't allow them a hit until two out in the 4th, when that hit became a stolen base, then another hit to score a run and then a 2-run homer from Julio Rodriguez to suddenly tie it up. And in the 6th Ortega got the first out but then gave up a hit and with his pitch count in the mid-upper 80s (Ortega's only a 45 stamina guy), I considered taking him out but checked and didn't see the yellow next to his name so I let him pitch to Adanson Cruz, and of course he took Ortega deep to make it 5-3. A nice rally from the Rays in the 7th tied it a 5 on a 2-run single from Bo Angeac, but then the normally reliable Tim Siqueiros gave up a leadoff triple in the 8th and former Ray Chris Sharp got some revenge by singling the man in. Speaking of former Rays, last year's teammate Jim Connors came on in the 8th for the save. He's struggled in playoffs past with Texas and he hit Ricky Widmar to lead off the 8th but Luis Corpus then bounced into a double play and the Rays couldn't get anyone else on against him. After having their backs against the wall in the DS against Oakland, dropping Game 1 of a 7-game series isn't going to faze them, but Andy Aparicio is going to need to find his Cy Young form again tomorrow or they'll be in a real hole.

[Art Deco]

Way down in the hole...


What can I say? All the worst fears about this game were realized, starting with Andy Aparicio being largely terrible again. He gave up a homer to Chris Sharp, the second batter of the first inning, and gave up another one in the second to put the Rays in a 3-0 hole. Like yesterday they fought back to tie with homers from Jaiden Hardaway and Vlad Jr. but also like yesterday Minnesota quickly re-took the lead. And then Mike Wherry was horrible in the 9th, giving up 3 runs to put the game out of reach, although the 1-run Twins lead would have held up as the bats could only manage one hit in the final four innings against the Minnesota bullpen. Like a junkie who keeps needing a bigger fix just to feel something, perhaps these Rays were so bored with all the winning that they need to make things as difficult as possible to get up for the games. Well they now need to take 4 of the next 5 with two very unreliable "aces" in Aparicio and Schultz so we'll see.

Over in the NL:



Unlike the Rays, the Dodgers managed to come back from an early 3-0 deficit and win.

[Art Deco]

A nice game from Cristhian Rodriguez and 4 2/3 innings of quality relief got the Lightning even in the NLCS.

[Art Deco]

This is getting ridiculous...


Just when it seems the Rays can't sink any lower in this year's postseason, tonight happens. Jordan Wicks was channeling Don Larsen as he had a perfect game through 7 innings before Vlad Guerrero Jr. led off the 8th with a single. That would the sum total of the Rays offense tonight, which hit 307/381/522 as a team during the regular season and scored an MLB-record 1096 runs or 6.77 per game. Wicks is a good pitcher, but c'mon. Of course the tone was set in the first inning when Rays hitters hit three line drives right at Twins fielders, and then Nate Schultz continued to struggle by putting the first two men he faced on base and letting the third one take him deep for an instant 3-0 Minnesota lead. Nate Thompson will try to keep the Rays' season alive tomorrow as the only real question now is will they be swept?

[Art Deco]

Not dead yet...


If the Tampa Bay Rays pull off a 2004 Red Sox-style comeback from 0-3 down, one play will live in the annals of baseball lore, like Curt Schilling's bloody sock. Down 1-0 after 5 and on a seeming death march, Dayle Jenkins led off the Rays 6th with a hard-hit fly ball that hit the base of the wall at Target Field, took a funny bounce as a Twins outfielder slipped going after it, and Jenkins rounded the bases for the Rays' first-ever postseason inside-the-park homer to tie the game. That sparked the team as Victor de Jesus singled, went to second on a bad pickoff throw, and with two out Bo Angeac delivered a clutch hit to score de Jesus and put the Rays in front for the first time since early in Game 1. With the inning kept alive, Jon Jimenez stepped up and drilled his first career playoff homer to make it 4-1 and Tampa Bay was on its way. But equally important was the pitching of Nate Thompson. In a series and a playoff in which the Rays' "three aces" have been more like Jokers, Thompson was in command through 7 1/3, allowing just the one run and saving the season for another day. With a 6-1 lead we tried getting through without having to use Kikuo Kawase in case he's needed tomorrow, but Tyler Jefferson coughed up a run on two hits, and KK had to come in for the final 2 outs but only threw 15 pitches so he should be fresh. Leo Ortega will get another shot to right the ship tomorrow in what we hope is the first of three must-win games.

In the NLCS:



For the second time in three games the Dodgers erased a 3-0 deficit and now have the advantage in the NLCS. Catcher Danny Ramos' 2-run single in the 6th put LA ahead to stay.

[Art Deco]

Goin' back to Tampa (to play baseball!)...


The Rays took a playoff's worth of frustrations out on the Twins pitching staff tonight in a 17-6 rout which saw a 10-run third inning. Jon Jimenez got the party started by homering for the second straight game, a 2-run shot in the 2nd that got the Rays in front before all hell broke loose in the 3rd. You can see all the details in the box score above but the indelible image of the night was Jeff Baez's first postseason at-bat after he came in to replace Ricky Widmar who left with a bruised thigh. Not fazed by the big stage Baez drilled a grand slam in his playoff debut to cap the inning. Leo Ortega pitched much better tonight and worked around a 44-minute rain delay for the win. Of course the Rays have seen this scenario play out before. Just last year they went up 3-0 on Texas in the ALCS, lost Game 4 and then were blown out 16-3 in Game 5 before taking Game 6 and the series, so they know tonight just counts as one win and they still have to win two more games in Publix Park with the shaky duo of Andy Aparicio and Nate Schultz slated to start.

In the NLCS:



We're assured of a Game 6 in the NLCS as well with Columbus getting a 4-3 win to even up that series at 2. The winning run scored in the 7th on a Delvis Alegre (formerly of the Lightning) wild pitch.