The 2021 (and only 2021) Tampa Bay Rays

[Art Deco]

It's Jake Westfall's world...



...and we're all living in it. The Tampa Bay CF has been on a tear this postseason and today he drove in five, including a grand slam off (his briefly) former teammate Shane Panzini to lead the Rays to a 12-5 rout of Tigers and one game away from a return to the World Series. Westfall now has a ridiculous 18 RBI in 10 games this postseason. The Rays didn't waste any time getting going today after yesterday's stinker with Danny Arroyave, who had been seriously scuffling and dropped to 8th in the lineup, breaking the ice with an RBI single and they never looked back from there. Kevin DiCostanzo had a few early hiccups but pitched around them and ended up turning in a fine start. Chris Ferguson will try to help the Rays clinch this thing in a couple days at Tropicana Field.

[Art Deco]

How about those Cubs? Down 3-0 they've forced a Game 7 and are one win away from exorcising the ghost of Bartman:

[Art Deco]

Not happy unless it goes the distance I guess...



Just as they did in the ALDS the Rays are going the limit in the ALCS after a day of offensive futility in a 4-0 loss. The best offense in the game and one which just got done scoring 12 in Game 5 could only manage two hits against a Tigers team which lost its starter in the 3rd inning and had to piece together a bullpen game, which included two scoreless from former Ray Osvanni Gutierrez. So it's down to Game 7 and of course the Rays have their ace (Joe Marlette) in the hole once again but it's unfortunate it's come to this.

Meanwhile in the NLCS the Marlins have done their part to make the World Series the Battle of Florida as they finally eliminated the Cubs on their fourth try:

[Art Deco]

Time to establish Sunshine State supremacy...



They did it the hard way again, but the Rays are heading back to the World Series for eighth time in the last eleven seasons and looking to win their second straight and fifth overall after an 8-1 win in Game 7 of the ALCS over Detroit. A 5-run second inning gave Joe Marlette the kind of lead you knew he wouldn't lose, and the game was in little doubtt most of the way. And the Rays even got Joe Stack, their top-tier 1B prospect who was added to the roster when Nate Strickland went on the IL, into a game to make his MLB debut. They'll now face the Miami Marlins as the baseball world turns its attention to the State of Florida.

[Art Deco]

Can't win if you can't hit...



Outside of Orlando Tosado, who homered for the first Rays run and doubled and scored the other, Tampa Bay bats were put on ice by their neighbors to the south and the Marlins took Game 1 of the World Series 5-2. Kevin DiCostanzo was dominating through the first 3 with no hits allowed and 5 whiffs but it all fell apart in the 4th when Miami scored three times and that was enough for them to get the win even though they tacked on a couple more. Ethan McElvain will get the ball tomorrow for Game 2 as the Rays do not want to head down Alligator Alley in an 0-2 hole.

[Art Deco]

The kid is alright...



Rookie Danny Arroyave may become Tampa Bay's next superstar, but right now he's a 23-year-old who was hitting .176 this postseason coming into today's World Series Game 2. But he came of age today as his clutch 2-out, 2-run double in the bottom of the 8th gave the Rays a 4-3 win over Miami and evened the Fall Classic at a game apiece. And not only was it clutch given the game situation the timing was even better after Josh Scanlon had just allowed a 2-run homer in the top of the frame to allow the Marlins to go ahead 3-2. Eric Lewis came on for the save and made it a bit dicey with a pair of walks, but he got a ground ball to none other than Arroyave at 3B to end it. For the second straight game Miami saw their starter leave early with an injury and for the second straight game the Rays struggled to take advantage, failing to break through until the rare sight of back-to-back triples in the 6th from Orlando Tosado and Jake Westfall gave Tampa Bay its first lead of the series. They'll now have the unbeaten Joe Marlette toeing the rubber in 48 hours as they take the series and their talents to South Beach.

[Art Deco]

A tough one...



Things didn't start off great today for the Rays when they found out Joe Marlette wouldn't be able to start due to a stomach bug; he'll take the mound tomorrow for Game 4 instead. And they fell behind 4-1 against Miami ace Jerrod Keeshan. But it looked like they might just salvage the day after all when they put on a huge rally in the late innings to tie the game at 4 in the 9th with Danny Arroyave coming through in the clutch again with an RBI double to even it up after Orlando Tosado had homered. But all that ended up doing was prolonging the misery as the bats couldn't get anything going at all in extras and eventually the Marlins scored in the 14th to win it as the Rays put a lot of wear and tear on their bullpen for nothing in the end.

[Art Deco]

This wasn't in the script...



After last night's tough loss surely the ship would be righted with Joe Marlette on the mound, right? After all he hadn't lost a game all season, setting an MLB W/L record in the process. Well, after Marlette had his start pushed back to Game 4 for a stomach bug it was the Rays' fan base feeling queasy after the lefty was knocked around for 6 runs in 3 2/3 innings and the Rays couldn't quite complete the comeback in a 7-6 loss that sends them one loss away from losing the World Series. It really was stunning to see them down 5-1 after 3 innings, and while they nearly pulled off another comeback when Orlando Tosado (who's having a helluva series) doubled in 2 runs to cut the Miami lead to 7-6 with 2 out in the 9th, they fell just short. Aside from Marlette another culprit is their longtime slugger Kelly Crumpton, who isn't doing any slugging at all, 0 for 17 in this series and killing rally after rally. In fact going back to the ALCS he's 0 for his last 24. Do we sit him and maybe go with the rookie Joe Stack tomorrow? Stay tuned. One guy we do know will be starting is Kevin DiCostanzo, who will need to improve on his erratic postseason since coming back from injury if the Rays want to have any chance of keeping their season alive.

[Art Deco]

Not dead yet...



The Rays got off the mat and beat Miami in Game 5 to force the series back to St. Petersburg for a sixth game, and they can only hope to do what the Cubs did to the Marlins in the NLCS: win three straight games while facing elimination. The Cubs of course didn't win a game before doing so while a Rays repeat of the feat would mean a World Series triumph thanks to their Game 2 win. Kevin DiCostanzo was outstanding in his best start since coming back, and Arturo Gutierrez was a force at the plate, homering to lead off the game, coming through with a big single in front of Billy Carlow's 3-run homer in the 7th inning rally that won it for them, and then homering again in the 9th to provide some breathing room when Josh Scanlon and Eric Lewis crapped the bed allowing 3 runs to make it a nail-biter. Also the speculated move happened: Kelly Crumpton was benched for rookie Joe Stack, making his first MLB start. Stack got off to an unfortunate beginning, grounding into a double play with the bases loaded and one out in the first to short-circuit a bigger inning, but he came through later with a sac fly to score the 2nd run and it was his single - his first MLB hit - that began the 4-run 7th. Still undecided whether he starts Game 6 or we go back to Crumpton now that he's had a chance to clear his head, and for those refreshing this thread Game 6 (and 7 if hopefully necessary) will be played tomorrow so I'll have 24 actual hours to think about it. What we do know is that Ethan McElvain will be starting it on the mound.

[Art Deco]

Bring on Game 7...



You had to know the Rays would not going quietly into that good night, and despite some mid-game (and 9th inning) hiccups they handled the Marlins and forced a deciding Game 7 tomorrow. The key was answering the Marlins' 3-run 5th which put them ahead with 4 runs in the bottom of the frame in true Untouchables fashion to regain the edge. And Joshua Baez's 3-run homer in the 7th made things cushy and kept us from having to use the back end of the pen until Ruben Abeyta lost the plot in the 9th and gave up 3 runs on 2 homers to let Miami within 2, necessitating Eric Lewis to get the final out but he'll still be more than ready for Game 7. Slade Cecconi was the unsung hero, going 4 scoreless despite allowing all three runners he inherited from Ethan McElvain with nobody out in the 5th to score on an HBP and a single. Chris Ferguson will get the start but Joe Marlette will be ready to pitch multi-inning relief on three days' rest as of course it's all hands on deck.

[Art Deco]

Back-to-back champs!



They did it again! It took them the maximum 19 games but the Tampa Bay Rays are back-to-back World Series winners and five-time champs after a tight, tense 2-1 win over the Marlins in Game 7 at Tropicana Field. Jake Westfall will forever live in Tampa Bay lore after he was single-handedly responsible for both runs, tripling and scoring in the 2nd to answer Miami's run in the top of the frame and then hitting the game-winning homer in the 7th off a very tough Jerrod Keeshan, one of the game's best starters. It capped a glorious postseason for Westfall, who hit 6 HR and drove in 22 in those 19 games. Also our pitching plan worked out perfectly. Chris Ferguson may have pitched with a lot of traffic but with one exception the stop light stayed on at home plate, then Joe Marlette did his thing on three days rest with 3 dominant innings of relief to get the win. And Eric Lewis, our ballyhooed closer acquisition at the trade deadline who had a checkered run in August and September for us, was pure gas in whiffing four of the four Marlins he faced to clinch the game, the series and the title and therefore was worth every penny. The celebration:



It'll be an interesting offseason as usual with potential free agent departures (Carlow, Lewis, Burpee, Baldino), some big arbitration raises (A.Gutierrez, Marlette) and room will need to be made for some young players.

[Art Deco]

Before getting down to serious business we'll bask in the glow of another trophy:



Now the bloodletting begins. Despite another series win and all the extra revenue that comes with it we've been given a payroll of $160M which will not allow us to keep everyone (well I could but we'd be eight figures in the hole and hamstrung from any moves during the upcoming season). This is the projected payroll:



This all adds up to $191M so I'm going to have to shed over $30M just to get even. Ideally I'd like to get rid of Contreras, who was a bit of a panic overpay after J.T. Realmuto suddenly retired, even though we just won a pair of World Series with him as our catcher. Wander isn't going anywhere and neither are Marlette and DiCostanzo so that leaves Crumpton and Joshua Baez as prime candidates to go - those two would shave about $26M off. I'd non-tender or deal Reiner and Yean to save close to $5M more, and maybe deal McElvain away. The question is can I get anything for Crumpton? Early shopping yielded meager results.

Stay tuned in that department, in the meantime here's a position-by-position outlook:

C: Contreras will return and I'll probably pony up for Cartaya to back him up.

1B: Joe Stack is ready to take over for Crumpton once I successfully deal him.

2B: Arturo Gutierrez remains.

SS: Wander again.

3B: Danny Arroyave stays.

IF: Mu-Sang Park should return as a backup, as might Mike Calhoun.

LF: Orlando Tosado is back.

CF: So is Jake Westfall.

RF: Billy Carlow leaves via free agency and as mentioned I will be shopping Baez. That would leave Masahuru Shimizu, who has a big power bat.

OF: The three starters would be the only ones left from this year's squad which means I have to find some backups. Jimmy Powell is ready to hit in the bigs but is only a 35 RF; Taiwanese signee Ka-Pa Yue could be an answer since he's a good defensive OF with 60 power (only 45 contact). Stud prospect Luis Berumen (#4 in baseball) might be ready but if he's up he's going to start in RF and not be a backup.

DH: Nate Strickland returns.

Rotation: Good shape here as the big 3 of Marlette, DiCostanzo and Ferguson will return. McElvain is #4 if he's not traded, Danny Morales will have a full-time spot, and Wes Mendes could return to a starting role. Frankely Guzman or Slade Cecconi might also get a shot to start.

Bullpen: Josh Scanlon will likely get his closer's job back and Mike Moore will be available to set him up. We're going to need a lefty reliever since Burpee and Feole are both free agents. Cecconi, Guzman, and Abeyta are back, and Jeremy Brooks could figure in despite a brutal 2033. We're depth-tested here for sure.

Prospects: Stack should be the 1B, Morales will be in the rotation and I already discussed mega-prospect Berumen and our other mega-prospect (#7 in MLB) SP Leo Gutierrez is going to need a least another year in the minors unless he takes a big leap forward.

Notable retirements (*former Rays): Matt Chapman*, Shane Bieber (Cleveland retires #57), Adley Rutschman*, Austin Riley, Kris Bryant, Corbin Burnes, Pablo Lopez*, Yasunari Uehara*.

In the next post we'll start the offseason doings and see what kind of deals we can make. It's going to be pretty much all subtraction so it's not going to be a lot of fun.

[Art Deco]

With no money to spend this is going to be a dull offseason outside of the guys we have to dump.

So let's start with the dumping:



We had to retain a little salary, and throw in Yean (whom we were non-tendering anyway to save $) but we did address a need other than payroll reduction in this deal: a pretty good lefty reliever in Adkins who was good for 1.5 WAR in 61 innings with Toronto with a 3.94 WAR as a swingman, rated 55/65/60 as a reliever. It is a bit of a sad day to say goodbye to Crumpton, a product of our farm system who turned into a star, hitting 286 homers in 7 seasons and passed Evan Longoria (261) as the club's all-time home run leader.

And it was sayonara to another stalwart of recent seasons:



So long to Baez, who hit 142 homers in 5 seasons for us plus 17 more in the postseason including 9 in 2029 to lead us to a World title that year, the first of his three rings with us. Ericson isn't as exciting as Adkins, but he's a useful pitcher who has 573 MLB innings under his belt with a 3.91 ERA, having started 102 of 155 games.

These two deals get the payroll down to $165M, still $5M over what we're supposed to have to work with. I explored a Ethan McElvain deal which will get us under 160 but nothing I've liked so far.

Awards season:

Gold Gloves: Nope, none for us.

Reliever of the Year: Tommy Burpee was a surprise second-place finisher behind Oakland's Isaac Washington, who saved 46 games with a 2.28 ERA to take the AL award while Chris Bohlig took the NL nod after saving 47 games with a 1.29 ERA.

Silver Sluggers: A clean sweep across the OF for the Rays with Orlando Tosado (LF), Jake Westfall (CF) and Billy Carlow (RF) all winning as well as Nate Strickland at DH.

Rookie of the Year: Seattle's Nate Miller won it (.266-20-78, 2.5 WAR) with Danny Arroyave taking third in the AL. In the NL Philly's Ed Turley was a unanimous winner, hitting .258-38-96 with 3.5 WAR.

Cy Young: Expected Joe Marlette to win but in a shocker Houston's Chad Weeks (15-7, 2.96) won the AL award. In fact Marlette finished third with Chris Ferguson ending up fourth. The runaway NL winner was Josh Johnson of Memphis, 19-8, 2.81 and 6.4 WAR. It was Johnson's third straight NL Cy Young.

MVP: Jeremy Begley and his 9.6 WAR was the runaway AL winner. He hit .326-26-86 and played incredible D at SS (26.8 ZR). Our Nate Strickland finished 3rd, Orlando Tosado 4th and Jake Westfall 7th. Over in the NL Kevin Aguillard and his monster .329-56-151 season took 29 of 32 first-place votes.

December 7: The first big-name free agents signed as Luis Robert returns to Chicago but this time with the Cubs after several years in Washington on a 3/60 deal. MacKenzie Gore, who finished 2nd in the AL Cy Young voting and led the league in pitcher WAR, parlayed that into a big 4/105 pact with the Dodgers. Of course the Rays with our empty pockets are the kid with his nose pressed against the store window.

December 9: Veteran C Luis Campusano, who had spent all of his career with San Diego, joined the spendthrift Cubs on a 3/55 contract.

December 10: The Mets wrapped up longtime Giants closer Jorge Ochoa on a 4/46 deal. He racked up an even 200 saves over the last five seasons.

December 15: Nathan Deschryver, who averaged 5+ WAR/season the last 9 years as the ace of the Dodgers, joins the division rival Yankees on a 6/174 deal.

December 18: The first of our free agents signed elsewhere as Jake Baldino joined Atlanta for 2/19.

December 21: Claimed OF Nahele Soamoa in the Rule 5 Draft from the Washington Nationals.

With our penny-pinching ways this winter Rule 5 was a chance to bring in somebody and what I wanted was a RH-hitting OF. We got that in Soamoa, who has an interesting profile:



He's only 24 and was Detroit's supplemental 1st round pick in 2027. With those ratings it shouldn't come as a shock he hit .343 in AA and even hit .393 in 28 at-bats with Washington last year. We did lose a couple of AAA types in the draft but given we had 5 spots open on the 40-man you can tell they were guys I didn't care if we lost.

December 30: Signed South Korean free agent OF Duk-Yoon Ko to a minor league contract.

Ko was part of the international free agent class and profiles as such:



A definite three-true-outcomes guy, he could be the Korean Kyle Schwarber with a good outfield glove. He's a lefty hitter and we have enough of those on the roster for now so he'll start at Durham most likely.

December 31: Carlos Correa is still kicking around at 39, and joined the Padres for 1/12.6. Even at his age and with injuries curtailing his playing time, he's still been a 2-WAR player the last two seasons.

[Art Deco]

January 3: A couple of former Rays sluggers found new homes as 38-year-old Luis Castro, who spent late 2027 with us, signed a 3/30 deal with the Mets while Jose Aguilar, traded to Atlanta for Cristian Hernandez a few years back, parlayed a 39-HR, 93-RBI season into a 5/91 contract with the Phillies.

January 4: The Hall of Fame voting is in, and one guy was enshrined:

SP Clayton Kershaw 98.7 (1st year) Inducted HOF
1B Joey Votto 73.4 (6th year)
LF Ryan Braun 72.0 (9th year)
RF Ichiro Suzuki 57.6 (10th year) Dropped
2B Jose Altuve 57.2 (2nd year)
SP Jacob deGrom 47.4 (1st year)

Congrats to Clayton Kershaw, a first-ballot no-doubter, and close but no cigar for Votto and Braun. And sadly (and undeservedly) Ichiro fell off the ballot.

January 7: Reid Detmers, who toiled for Durham the last couple of seasons and pitched for us in September, signed a 1-year deal with Washington for $980K.

January 20: The international signing period has begun and we nabbed this guy:



"The light of his star could be blinding" says my head scout Rob Metzler. Let's go!

And we also signed this guy, who doesn't look too shabby:



Could be "an elite starting rightfielder" says Metzler.

Meanwhile Pedro Avila, who turned in a nice season for us after being claimed early in the year on waivers from the Angels, signed a 1/5.3 contract with the Dodgers.

February 3: Another of our free agents is gone as Tommy Burpee signed a 1/1.3 deal with the Cubs, who plan to use him as a starter.

February 25: Signed OF Elijah Green to a minor league contract with a major league option.

Green has been the Cardinals' starting CF the last several years but they waived and released him earlier in the month to make room for some free agents they signed. He's still an elite defensive CF, having won Gold Gloves in 2030 and 2032 and he put up a 13.8 ZR in CF. He's still good for 15 HR/20 SB a year as well. The drawback? a 40 contact tool which has resulted in BAs in the .210-.230 range during this span. Still he earned about 2 WAR last year and although he may start the year at Durham he'd make a great 4th OF and defensive replacement should we need one.

[Art Deco]

First off, a spring training report. We did not escape March unscathed as our closer Josh Scanlon was lost for the season with shoulder inflammation and lefty reliever Mason Feole will miss the first week or two of the season with a hamstring strain. The bullpen already was weakened with free agent losses from last season and our pitching depth is paper-thin right now. Mike Moore is now the closer and Frankely Guzman and Wes Mendes are the righty/lefty setup guys. All three of them were pitching in middle relief last year, which tells you how we're hurting in that department. We have no money to spend to pick someone up, so unless we do a dollar-for-dollar trade or deal a stud prospect to get the other team to retain 100% salary outside help will not be forthcoming.

In transaction news, we signed veteran IF Oneil Cruz to a minor league deal to give us righty hitting depth. He'll report to Durham. Interestingly the two biggest free agents still unsigned are two of our stars from last year: OF Billy Carlow and closer Eric Lewis.

Never done this before, but why not? Here are the spring training stats:



A few points of interest. Agustin Lopez got to play when Wander missed a couple of weeks during spring training and he certainly hit. He's rated for 70 contact and that's not potential. He's a mediocre but not terrible defender who will make a great utility guy but we already have a couple right now in Park and Calhoun. When we signed him over the winter I noted that Duk-Yoon Ko was a true three outcomes guy, and sure enough he either homered, walked or struck out in 29 of his 46 plate appearances. He'll be at Durham as well. Joe Stack had a fine preseason and looks to be ready to take over at 1B and Danny Arroyave is ready to take the next step to superstardom.



While the bullpen is questionable, the starting rotation should be really good if it stays healthy, and Danny Morales is ready to step in. If he should falter guys like Cecconi, Guzman and Mendes can all start.

The Opening Day roster:

C-Contreras, Cartaya
1B-Stack
2B-A.Gutierrez
SS-W.Franco
3B-Arroyave
IF-Park, Calhoun, Kasper
LF-Tosado
CF-Westfall
RF-Shimuzu
OF-Saomoa
DH-Strickland

This is one more hitter than we usually carry with Zack Kasper out of options and giving us a RH 1B bat to spell Stack against tough lefties (not a straight platoon). Kasper will probably go anyway when Feole comes off the IL and we'll return to 13 hitters/14 pitchers.

SP-Marlette, DiCostanzo, Ferguson, McElvain, Morales
LR-Cecconi, Brooks
MR-Abeyta, Adkins, Ericson
SU-Mendes, Guzman
CL-Moore

Jeremy Brooks made the staff pretty much by default. Not sure I've seen anyone with such a discrepancy between their ratings and their performance, and he'll be our mop-up guy.

Check out these handsome devils:



A look at the farm:



Berumen should be our next star and could play in the majors right now if he had to. He'll got a shot at Durham and it's not out of the question we seem him up in the second half. Gutierrez isn't quite ready yet and will need more seasoning. Stack is already up of course and keep an eye on Marin, who's already rated 65 contact/55 power presently. Our OF depth on the big club at the moment is a bit thin but with Beruman and Marin close and Elijah Green at Durham we should be fine there.

The preseason predictions:




Wasn't sure what to expect but BNN likes us, projecting 100 wins. Of course that would be a 15-win drop-off from last year so some of my pessimism (mainly around the bullpen) is warranted but it still should be a really good team (albeit a thin one).

[Art Deco]

I'll let Pete Campbell describe Opening Day for the Rays:





Joe Marlette couldn't keep the ball in the park (3 homers allowed) and the offense was stifled by former Ray Michael Prosecky. Another ex-Ray also got in on the act as Jonathan Gutierrez was 3-5 with 2 RBI. The only bright spot was the first MLB homer from phenom Joe Stack, and it came off a lefty as well.

Order was restored in the second game as the Rays took a 6-2 win over Baltimore behind a dominant performance from Kevin DiCostanzo. The righty retired the first 12 Orioles and finished 6.1 4 2 2 1 10. He had plenty of early run support as it was 5-0 after 3 with Wander Franco leading the charge. He tripled and scored in the first, singled in a run in the 2nd, and wasn't retired once by Baltimore pitching as he was 3-3 for 2 walks on the day. Jake Westfall and Orlando Tosado each had 2 hits and an RBI and Joe Stack was on base three times with a single, walk and HBP and the one time he wasn't he delivered a sac fly.

Team record: 1-1. Next up: Another two-game quickie series as the Yankees come to town.

We have money! I pulled off this trade:



Didn't think anyone would want Scanlon with his $6.8M salary and season-ending injury but Atlanta took him off our hands. Peterson is a non-prospect but I don't care. Look at that - available money! I couldn't even pull off a waiver claim to pick up a reliever without the cash, so now I can at least do that.

[Art Deco]

Rays took both games of their mini-set with the Yankees and now have won three straight.

Tampa Bay had three big homers in the opener to lead them to a 6-4 win over the Yankees at Tropicana Field. After Arturo Gutierrez got them on the board leading off the game, Wander Franco had a solo shot in the 4th to tie it and later in the inning rookie Joe Stack homered again with a man on to put them up 4-2. It was the first homer of the year for Gutierrez and Franco and the second in three games for Stack. William Contreras added a 2-run single in the 6th and it turned out to be the difference. Chris Ferguson won his first 2034 start going 6.1 5 3 3 3 4 and Mike Moore earned his first save.

Joe Stack can't stop homering and Ethan McElvain was excellent in his season debut as the Rays took both games of the series with New York after a 6-2 win. Stack hit his third in the 2nd inning to break a 1-1 tie and Arturo Gutierrez broke it open with a 3-run shot (#2) in the 4th. McElvain meanwhile was a fine 7 4 2 2 1 5 for the victory.

Team record: 3-1. Next up: Houston visits for 3 games.

MLB News: Old friend Kelly Crumpton is off to a good start with the Jays and hit a 3-run walk-off homer to lead them to victory yesterday. He also can pitch although rarely did for us but the Jays have put him in their rotation and he went 6 innings and allowed only a run a couple of games ago.

[Art Deco]

The Rays took 2 of 3 from Houston in their first three-game series of the season.

Transaction: Claimed Ty Madden off waivers from the Yankees, designated 1B Zach Kasper for assignment. Madden was the waiver guy I was referring to in the previous post and thanks to our ability to unload Josh Scanlon we were able to claim him. As a reliever he has 65 stuff, 65 movement and 50 control and could start if needed but they'd be short starts with his 40 stamina. Kasper cleared waivers and was outrighted to Durham.

The opener was a Tampa Bay rout as the bats were bashing and Danny Morales was dealing in a 9-0 win over Houston. Nate Strickland had an RBI single and a solo homer among his three hits, Danny Arroyave was 3-5 with a 2-run homer, and Orlando Tosado contributed a 3-run blast, the first round-trippers of 2034 for all three. Morales no longer qualifies as a rookie, having thrown 19 too many innings last year, but won his debut as a regular rotation fixture going 5.1 2 0 0 3 6 with Chris Ericson and Jeremy Brooks completing the shutout.

The bats went largely silent in the second game as they fell to the Astros 3-2. Nate Strickland had a 2-run homer in the first (#2) to give them a quick 2-0 lead, but they only managed two hits the rest of the way and Joe Marlette (0-2) was up and down at 5 8 3 3 0 10. Ty Madden did have a 1-2-3 inning in his Rays debut.

Things weren't looking much better for the bats in the finale through 7 innings as they trailed 3-2 again, but a 4-run explosion in the 8th gave them a 6-3 win and the series. Jake Westfall's 2-run homer (#1) was the winner making it 4-3 and Nate Strickland added an RBI double for insurance. They trailed 3-0 before Wander Franco's 2nd homer with a man on in the 6th got them on the board. Kevin DiCostanzo went 6 6 3 3 2 5 in the no-decision with Dillon Adkins grabbing his first Rays win and Mike Moore striking out 3 in the 9th around a couple of hits for his 2nd save.

Team record: 5-2, tied with the Jays atop the AL East. Speaking of the Jays our latest Kelly Crumpton update is that the former Ray pitched 7 shutout innings and homered to lead Toronto to victory on Sunday. I guess I didn't know what we were missing by not having him on the mound although we certainly didn't need him there. Next up: Our first road trip of the season starts with 4 in Boston.

[Art Deco]

Rays split their first road games of the season at Fenway.

Chris Ferguson was solid in the opener and the Rays opened their 2034 road schedule with a 4-2 win at Fenway Park over the Red Sox. The righty went to 2-0 with an excellent 6 6 1 1 2 5 outing and Mike Moore converted his 3rd save. Rule 5 guy Nahele Soamoa was the hitting star as his RBI double in the 7th put the Rays ahead to stay before adding an RBI triple in the 9th for insurance. Mike Calhoun was 2-3 with an RBI after coming on for an ejected Joe Stack.

The Rays fell 7-5 in the second game after their bullpen couldn't hold a lead. Ethan McElvain (1-1) was handed a 5-2 lead in the 5th, gave up a couple in the bottom of the inning, and then got into 7th inning trouble by putting a couple of more on before Dillon Adkins coughed up a 3-run homer for the losing runs. McElvain ended up with a rough 6.1 7 6 4 2 4 line with all 3 7th inning runs unearned due to a Mu-Sang Park error. The early lead was courtesy of 2-run homers from Danny Arroyave (#2) and Joe Stack (#4) as the kids continue to hit.

Danny Morales continues to dazzle as he once again combined on a shutout in a 3-0 Tampa Bay triumph. The righty went 6.2 3 0 0 2 5 and has yet to allow a run in 12 innings over his two starts. Mike Moore finished up for save #4. Mu-Sang Park had the big hit, a 2-run double in the 6th which made it 3-0.

Transaction: Masaharu Shimizu is suffering from knee tendinitis and it's listed as "moderate" so off to the 10-day IL he goes and he's replaced by another Asian OF, Taiwan's Ka-pa Yue. Yue has 60 power and hit 38 homers at Durham the last two years; the lefty swinger will take Shimizu's place in the lineup in RF against righties.

The bullpen lost another one in the finale, and this one was a bit more egregious than two days ago as the Rays fell 6-5 in 12 innings to Boston. They ran out to a 4-1 lead in the 6th behind Joe Marlette, who was not terribly efficient and had to leave after going 5 4 1 1 3 4. That was too many innings for the pen to hold it as Ruben Abeyta started by giving up a couple in the 6th and Chris Ericson and Ty Madden combined to allow two more to let Boston tie it up in the 8th. Finally Jeremy Brooks (0-1) took the loss in the 12th when he sandwiched two singles allowed around a walk without retiring anyone. Joe Stack was 2-5 with HR #5 and 2 RBI and Mike Calhoun went 3-6 with an RBI double.

Team record: 7-4, 1/2 game up on Toronto. Next up: Off to Seattle for 3 games where the Mariners are off to a middling 5-5 start.

[BatboyGM]

Nice run you are having there, 5 WS wins would sure be nice to see irl eh? Is Wander on track for the HOF? I traded for him in a Tigers run and have been loving him.