The 2021 (and only 2021) Tampa Bay Rays

[Art Deco]

Texas advances to face Houston in a Lone Star State matchup.



And the Rays will face the Twins with the added advantage of starting off against the Twins' 4th starter thanks to this series going the distance.



After making quick work of their arch-rival Giants the Dodgers move on to play the Cubs and Melvin Archundia in the NLDS.



And the Cards will take on the Mets in the other NLDS.

[Art Deco]

They all won't be this easy...



Danny Charlton had a disappointing season by his standards but if he keeps on hitting in the postseason like he did today nobody will remember or care. The slugging first-sacker was 4-5 with a double, 2 homers and 3 RBI to lead the Rays to a Game 1 rout of the Twins. His first-inning double was an important response to Minnesota drawing first blood in the top of the inning and his solo homer in the 3rd kick-started a 5-run inning that blew the game open. His pair of dingers were two of the five the Rays had on the day as they showed the Twins they mean business, while one of our many other Dannys (Morales) settled down after that shaky first to pitch 6 brilliant innings. Gabe Bryant will toe the rubber in Game 2 tomorrow.

In the other ALDS opener, we look to be on a collision course once again with Houston:

[Art Deco]

Hold the coronation...



The Rays got a rude awakening in Game 2 as Minnesota took a 4-1 win to even up the ALDS at a game apiece heading to the Twin Cities. Gabe Bryant was brilliant and efficient taking a 1-hitter into the 7th on only 62 pitches with a 1-0 lead but things went bad when he gave up a 2-run homer, and then thanks in large part to a costly Jeremy Begley error, Eric Lewis and Branden Gammage combined to give up 2 more runs in the 8th and that was that as the offense couldn't get out of third gear. Lefty Leo Gutierrez will try to get the Rays back on top in this series in a couple of days.

In the other DS action, the NL got underway while the Houston machine rolls on:

[Art Deco]

[Art Deco]

Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat...



It was a day like today that we had in mind when making the blockbuster deal last winter for one of the best players in baseball in Jeremy Begley and the future Hall-of-Famer came through when it mattered most, capping a 4-hit day with a 3-run homer to give the Rays a come-from-behind 7-6 win over Minnesota to win the pivotal third game of the series and put Tampa Bay within one win of the ALCS. It looked like a day of frustration for the Rays as they banged out several hits but couldn't get the big one, and trailed after Leo Gutierrez gave up a 2-run homer in the first. They did claw their way back in the 6th to tie it at 3, but some bad bullpen work from Stan LeVea and Jamie Arnold saw them behind 6-3. The Rays then answered back as Billy Doughty's 2-out RBI double kept the 8th inning alive and set the stage for Begley's blow. We'll have our erstwhile ace Joe Marlette on the mound for Game 4 tomorrow to try and clinch it, hopefully he can turn back the clock 4 months and give us a great start.


Elsewhere Houston's clinching party was put on hold:

[Art Deco]

The Fisher King...



Tony Fisher had a special regular season, setting the club record with 50 homers, and is now having a special postseason after nearly single-handedly leading the Rays to a clinching win in the ALDS by hitting for the cycle in a 9-1 win. Unless it was done elsewhere in this save, Series MVP Fisher became only the second player in MLB history to have a postseason cycle with Boston's Brock Holt the first in 2018. Fisher tripled in the first Rays run in the third after his first-inning double went for naught, and then delivered the blow of the game with a 3-run shot in the 7th to make it 5-1 after Justin Blackwell's sac fly broke a 1-1 tie. He added a 9th-inning single to complete the cycle ahead of Luis Berumen's grand slam which made the rubble bounce. And lost in all the offensive heroics was a brilliant outing from Joe Marlette. He didn't quite turn back the clock as he only fanned three in 7 innings, but this was the best version of his new self and hopefully he can replicate in Game 4 of the ALCS.

And speaking of the ALCS, they have yet another date with Houston as they match up with the Astros for the third straight season with the teams splitting their previous two tilts:



Houston was led today by former Rays C Willie Gutierrez.

[Art Deco]

October 13:



October 15:

[Art Deco]

Oh that bullpen...



The 107-win Rays dropped a back-and-forth Game 1 to the 111-win Astros in MLB's Clash of the Titans. After finally forging ahead in the 6th on RBI singles from Danny Rivera and Billy Doughty, Tampa Bay found the lead short-lived as Stan LeVea's recent slump continued as he gave up the tying and go-ahead runs and then Branden Gammage gave up another and despite putting two men on in the 9th against former Ray Jadon Smith, they fell short. One encouraging sign was Rivera, who also had a solo homer as part of a 3-hit day after needing almost the entire season to finally get over the Mendoza Line. Gabe Bryant will try to keep us from falling into an 0-2 hole tomorrow.

[Art Deco]

Another tough one...



For about 4 1/2 innings it looked like things might be different as the Rays took a 3-0 lead and Gabe Bryant was pitching effectively. But Bryant gave up a 3-run homer in the 5th to put Houston ahead, and although Luis Berumen's RBI single in the 6th tied it up, all it ended doing was prolonging the agony as the Rays fell into an 0-2 ALCS hole after the Astros won it in the 14th off the hapless Stan LeVea who now has taken both losses. As much as LeVea was the goat, blame needs to fall on the offense which took the last 8 innings off and had a chance to go ahead in the top of the 14th with two men on. To make matters worse we've lost slugging 1B Danny Charlton for the rest of the season with plantar fascitis after legging out a double, so "bleak" is the operative word right now as the Rays now need to win 4 out of 5 against a 111+ win team. Leo Gutierrez will take the mound at the Trop in two days to try to right the ship.

Meanwhile life is a little better for a couple of former Rays as Joe Stack and Orlando Tosado each homered in the 8th to give the Mets a 4-3 win over the Dodgers in their NLCS opener, spoiling a great outing from another former Ray, James Hays:

[Art Deco]

Stick a fork in them...



It's just not happening. Today Leo Gutierrez was brilliant and they took a 2-0 lead into the 8th but the bullpen (and the offense really) let them down again as Tony Alicea, who had a brilliant 3.5-WAR season, gave up a 3-run homer to lose Game 3 4-2. Meanwhile Jadon Smith, in our pen last year with Alicea and whom we let go in free agency while we re-signed Alicea, shut the door on Rays' hitters for the third time in three games. But once again the lack of offense doomed Tampa Bay as it's lot to ask to beat Houston when you only score twice. One guy who wasn't to blame was Ines Monts, activated when we put Danny Charlton on the IL as the rookie singled and doubled off Smith to try and start something in the bottom of the 9th to no avail. So who's our last hope to avoid a sweep tomorrow? None other than one-time ace Joe Marlette, for whom the scouts just gave me another report showing he's lost even more stuff, down to a 40-rating. I'm sure that will play well against the powerful Astro lineup.

Over in the NLCS:

[Art Deco]

A fitting end...



Well it looked like the Rays might just get a consolation win in this series after jumping out to a 5-1 lead and for 5 innings Joe Marlette turned back the clock and got through on only 46 pitches. You can see above what happened thereafter. This Houston team was just too good for them and even though they were separated by 4 wins in the regular season the gulf seems even larger than that (I guess it is since they're now 8 games better). They even had a chance to come back after Houston made it 8-5 when they loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the 7th but only pushed across one run while three batters struck out. One of them was Luis Berumen, and I've had it with him after a terrible regular season followed up by a miserable postseason, so as a spoiler to my upcoming "State of the Team" post, expect him to be traded. Especially as we have a replacement in Ines Monts, who added an RBI double today to his fine Game 3 fill-in performance.

Over in the NLCS, where they're playing for the right to be eviscerated by the Astros:

[Art Deco]

Here's a summary of the NLCS which had the Mets up 2-1:



So much for the Mets. It will now be the Dodgers who are taking on the Houston juggernaut in the World Series.

[Art Deco]

Upset time!




In shades of historic World Series upsets like 1960 and 1990, the 87-win Dodgers downed the seemingly-unbeatable 111-win Astros. And while the Rays couldn't stop the Houston train a former Ray in Kevin DiCostanzo did the job in Game 7, taking a 1-hit shutout into the 9th and hurling a complete game win.

[Art Deco]

It was another bitter playoff loss as we were swept by Houston in the ALCS after putting together a 107-win season and going all-in. This is going to be a definite offseason of transition as pending free agency and some bloated salaries will mean a substantial makeover of the roster, including almost a completely rebuilt buillpen.

The salary outlook:



We were given a budget of $170M and keeping everyone here would cost $155M. We're not keeping everyone though and I'll get into that in the position-by-position outlook.

C: Billy Doughty was one of the best catchers in baseball in his first full season and we're set there for a while. Art Bing was a decent enough backup.

1B: Our first possible change. Danny Charlton had a down season and he's getting very expensive so I'm going to explore trading him as we have a bunch of 1B/DH types ready to go at Durham.

2B: Justin Blackwell bounced back with a big season after it looked like his days were numbered, initially ceding his job to Isaiah Jackson before winning it back.

SS: Jeremy Begley is a superstar.

3B: Danny Arroyave returns for one more year but after that we have a couple of very good 3B prospects in the minors who will hopefully be ready in 2040.

IF: Jackson will return as the primary IF backup, as will Agustin Lopez who kills lefty pitching like no other.

LF: Tony Fisher had a 50-homer season and returns.

CF: Danny Rodriguez should be Rookie of the Year and is a superstar in the making.

RF: Going to give Danny Rivera a mulligan on 2038 as he did come on late and in the playoffs. Hopefully he returns to his 2037 form with Seattle when he was a 5-WAR player. He's still young.

OF: Alex Rivas was the primary backup and his speed and defense are useful but we may have other options that will be cheaper than the $4M he's projected for.

DH: Luis Berumen. With elite ratings and a great track record, Berumen was the biggest disappointment last year (232/303/448, down to 0.2 WAR after 5.1 last year). Since he'll make $14M this year he is officially on the block as we have plenty of hitters ready to take his place (Ines Monts, who hit during his September callup, Danny Perez, Frank Duron, Danny Arevalo, Willie Maldonado, I could go on)

SP: Here's where the holes start to show. Ace Danny Morales is back for his last year of arbitration, Leo Gutierrez returns as well, as does (unfortunately since he picked up his $29.8M player option) one-time ace Joe Marlette and his stuff which diminished from about 70 to 40 over the course of the season. If we can get someone to take Marlette in trade we'll deal him. Gabe Bryant is a big loss and we're making him an $18M qualifying offer, but my guess is he goes free agent. Also a FA is Chris Ericson, who was so good for us down the stretch and to whom I've made an extension offer. Moises Baca will likely fill one of the holes although we might need him to close. So we could have anywhere from 0-2 slots to fill and if we deal Charlton and/or Berumen it's likely to be for pitching.

Bullpen: If you thought the rotation was in for a shakeup, get a load of the pen. ALL of our top guys are free agents (Alicea, Lewis, Gammage, LeVea, Arnold, Montgomery) leaving only Jon Coggin, Ken Battle and possibly Baca if we don't use him in the rotation. Rebuilding the pen will be the offseason's primary focus.

The tl;dr version:

1. Find about 4-5 relievers including a closer.
2. Find 1-2 starting pitchers.
3. Make salary room for 1 & 2 by dealing Charlton and Berumen.

Going to be an interesting winter.

[Art Deco]

As always we start off with the in memoriam section, noting those who have hung up the cleats after the season.

Notables: MacKenzie Gore, Andrew Vaughn (350 HR), Riley Greene, Gavin Lux, Jarred Kelenic, Gunnar Henderson.

Former Rays: Raimfer Salinas (469 homers, 29 in his lone season in Tampa Bay), Shane Baz, Vidal Brujan, Isaac Paredes, Kelly Crumpton, Joshua Baez.

Now onto business. I hinted at several trade candidates in the State of the Team post above, and they turned out to be more than hints as we moved several big names who were key pieces of the squad over the last several years.

We start with the biggest of the lot:



Farewell to Luis Berumen, who once looked like the second coming of Miguel Cabrera only to crater this past season but who's still rated 75 contact and 70 power so should rebound in Chicago. Fortunately despite coming off a replacement-level season (0.2 WAR) Berumen still commanded quite a bit on the trade market and we filled one of our rotation holes with quite an addition in the 26-year-old lefty Cedillo. He was 12-1, 2.22 in 24 starts with the Cubs last year after leading the NL in ERA at 2.65 the year before and has earned 9.5 WAR combined in 2037 and 2038. And he'll come in about $8 million cheaper than Berumen as he hits his first year of arbitration. We also picked up a future bullpen piece in Baylor, who has 65 current stuff with potential for 70 and just needs to get his control up from its current 35 to the potential 45 to be MLB-ready. The fan interest "almost crashed" as it will again with the next deal:



Berumen and Charlton were the 3-4 hitters in the lineup the last several years and while Charlton didn't fall hard like Berumen last season, he was down just below 3 WAR and was ready to command $18M in arbitration while we had a parade of 1B/LF/DH types to replace the two. I was hoping to grab another quality starter for Charlton but in the end the best deal I could get was for another first-sacker in Lopez, the #75 prospect in baseball. He made his debut with San Diego and raked (317/381/653 with 9 HR in 101 AB) and rates out 60 across the board with 65 potential. He's also a RH hitter which will help us with lineup balance should he win the job.

The next one:



Ironically it was Rivas, another long-time Ray but a backup the last couple years, who brought us a starter in Blake. Rivas has given us speed and good hitting against LHP but with the emergence of Danny Rodriguez really had no shot at regular playing time anymore. With several OF types in the system, there was no point in paying him $4M to ride the pine so we shopped him and made this deal. Blake is a back-end rotation guy, but solid at 50/65/60 and went 12-8, 3.63 and earned 2.3 WAR splitting the season between Arizona and New York. He'll earn $3.2M next season and we now have 2 rotation spots filled.

However, we did create another rotation hole with this deal which came as a shock even to me:



Anyone following knows the Joe Marlette story this year, and after he exercised his player option at $29M (to no one's surprise) I figured we were kind of stuck with him and hoping he'd do OK as the 5th starter. Nevertheless I gave shopping him the ol' college try and by retaining 40% I found a taker in Houston. This is either great news for us as we save $17M we can spend on the bullpen and/or another starter and saddle the Astros with a rapidly depreciating asset, or our current rivals for AL supremacy somehow manage to work wonders with him and squeeze out a good season from him and he beats us in the ALCS. This deal was a salary dump and Trejo is a pending free agent, so ignore the return.

Phew! So where does all the wheeling and dealing leave us? With an approximate $113M payroll, down $37M from when we started and giving us up to $55M to play with to fill a rotation hole or two and build the business end of the bullpen.

Speaking of the bullpen:

November 9: Signed RP Jamie Arnold to a 2-year, $3M extension and RP Chad Montgomery to a 2-year, $2.4M extension.

These aren't big moves but both pitched well for us in middle relief and are welcomed back with open arms. Along with fellow MRs Battle and Coggin, we at least that part of the bullpen in decent shape; now we need to find the 7th-9th inning guys. These deals are included in the $113M payroll I just mentioned.

November 10: We found a starter, and we didn't have to look far:

Signed SP Chris Ericson to a 2-year, $13M extension.

We're getting the band back together (kinda) as Ericson will give us another rotation arm after pitching quite well in his return last season. He's a 40-stamina guy so we'll have to squeeze 5 innings but they should be good innings. So now the rotation looks like Morales-Gutierrez-Cedillo-Ericson-Blake which should be pretty good and we can turn our attention to the bullpen. I still wouldn't rule out getting another starter if we can find a #2 or #3 somehow but this crew will do. That could be Gabe Bryant if he accepts our qualifying offer but I'm not expecting him to.

Awards Season:

Gold Glove: Danny Rivera didn't hit for us last year (205/306/412) after coming over from Seattle but he continued to play a fine RF and won for the third consecutive year. Former Rays star OF Orlando Tosado made the transition to 1B with the Mets and took home the gold there as well.

Reliever of the Year: The former Ray beat out the current (and probably soon to be also former) Ray as Houston's Jadon Smith got the nod over our Tony Alicea 26-6 and 148-106 for the AL award. Smith, who had his issues last year with us (3.82 ERA) bounced back to save 53 games with a 1.92 ERA for the AL champion Astros. The Mets' Brad Jones was a unanimous NL winner thanks to a 39-save, 1.68 ERA season.

Silver Slugger: We took home a trio of them as SS Jeremy Begley, LF Tony Fisher and CF Danny Rodriguez were all honored. We'll see if their names are called again for more.

Rookie of the Year: As if there were any doubt:



D-Rod had an incredible first year earning 6.4 WAR and I look forward to seeing what he does for an encore. In the NL the winner was also unanimous as St. Louis LF Jared Brown had a fine .302-24-99, 3.6-WAR season.

Cy Young: It was a threepeat for Baltimore's Joe White, who took home the hardware again after a 12-11, 3.20 season with an incredible 353 whiffs in 208 IP, good for 6.4 WAR. It was somewhat close though as he beat out Cleveland's Wayne Weir, who might have had a better year at 16-10, 3.41 with 282 Ks and 7.3 WAR. White bested him 17-8 in first-place votes and 172-134 in points. Our Danny Morales finished fourth. In the NL the Mets' Juan Ramires went 16-8, 2.53 with 233 whiffs and 5.0 WAR to take a comfortable win with 28 first-place votes.

MVP: Our Jeremy Begley was a bridesmaid once again (he finished 2nd last year and 3rd in 2036), this time losing out to San Antonio slugger Darius Williams, who did have a monster year at the plate, leading the AL in runs, hits, RBI, AVG, OBP, SLG (and of course OPS) after hitting 350/420/689 with 46 HR, 144 RBI and also leading the league in WAR at 8.9 to Begley's 8.0. Williams took 29 first-place votes and Begley the other three (including mine). And who else could it be in the NL but Melvin Archundia, who tied Barry Bonds' single-season homer record of 73 while knocking in 167 and batting .333. He earned an MLB-best 9.0 WAR and was a unanimous winner. The scary thing is that he's only 23 and this was his 2nd MLB season.

November 27: We lost one and tied one in arbitration as Danny Morales (in his final arb year) and Tony Fisher (in his first) both wanted long-term contracts instead of 1-year deals. Morales was awarded a whopping $20.6M instead of the $19M we offered while Fisher demanded the same $5.7M we ended up offering so we're calling it a draw. Unsurprisingly Gabe Bryant rejected our qualifying offer and became a free agent, so we'll earn a compensatory 1st-round pick when he signs elsewhere.

November 29: Free agents have filed and ironically the top 3 relief options are all former Rays closers - the aforementioned Jadon Smith as well as Eric Lewis and Tony Alicea who were in our pen this past season. They want $16-18M/year but if the market softens a bit on whoever the odd man out is we could see a reunion as I have $46M to spend at the moment. I was hoping for a top Asian reliever to come over as a free agent and not cost as much but this year's crop of professional IFAs was weak.

December 5: Traded for a back-end bullpen guy:



The veteran Washington is coming off a down year (6 saves, 4.86 ERA) but still is rated 75/50/65 and had 32 saves with a 2.17 ERA in 2037 so he's a worthy gamble. The cost wasn't too high either as the Nats will eat just over half of his salary so he'll only cost $4.2M while Gotay is a decent but not spectacular prospect at a position we're a mile deep in.

December 6: Gabe Bryant signed a 3/57 deal with Milwaukee. As good as he'd been for us this might have been pushing it considering he's 35. And since it came in a bit lower than expected we're getting a compensatory 2nd round pick, not a 1st-rounder.

December 15: We have our closer:



Kelly saved 33 games for the Rockies last year and although his ERA was bloated at 4.87 it was due to playing at Coors and suffering a .363 BABIP against - it was still good for 2.1 WAR, an excellent total for a reliever. He's rated 60/70/65 and fanned 81 in 68 IP

December 20: Added IF Jim Vroom and P Omar Sears to the 40-man roster.

These were the two guys I wanted to protect from Rule 5 as Sears will likely have a bullpen role with the big club this year after saving 35 games between Montgomery and Durham, having come over last winter in the deal with Seattle that also brought us Danny Rivera and Ines Monts. Vroom was our #1 pick in 2034 and still has 60/55 contact/power potential with the ability to play 2B, SS, 3B and LF. We do have a 40-man spot open in case anyone catches our eye in the draft.

December 21: Selected P Sebastien Burns from Minnesota in the Rule 5 Draft; lost OF Rocky Corniell to Memphis and P Jordan Rodriguez to Cleveland.

You win some, you lose some. Burns is a 26-year-old righty with good stuff (65) and decent movement and control (50) as reliever and also has the capability to be a 45-stamina starter so he could make a useful swingman. Corniell had a couple of cups of coffee with us in recent seasons and should make a decent 4th OF for Memphis as he can defend in the corners and hit some, but was well down our depth chart. The same goes for Rodriguez, who almost made a few cameos but whom we viewed more as AAA depth.

December 25: In the OOTP world they work on Christmas Day, and the Dodgers signed our free agent reliever Stan LeVea to a 3/25 deal.

December 29: The Nationals seem set to recreate our 2037 bullpen as they signed closers Jadon Smith (3/35) and Tony Alicea (3/33), so no reunion with those guys on our end.

December 30: And another member of our 2037 (and 2038) bullpen has found a new home as lefty Branden Gammage goes to division rival New York for 3/21.

[Art Deco]

January 5: The Hall of Fame voting is in:



To nobody's surprise Mike Trout sailed into the Hall in his first time of asking and he was nearly unanimous, while Christian Yelich made it through on his fifth attempt. Bryce Harper should make it soon, and it was an impressive showing for Bieber in his ballot debut.

January 31: Fernando Tatis Jr. may be 40, he but still commanded a 3/80 deal with Atlanta. He only had a 2-WAR season last year but was good for 5 WAR the year before so we'll see.

February 3: Owner Jon Paige decided to give me $10M to spend, so stay tuned.

February 7: News update:



Yes, it's true:



I took that extra $10M the owner gave me and offered it to Lewis, and he bit. It's a 2-year deal but he has an opt-out after this season so it's probably another 1-year deal. This marks the fourth time we've acquired Lewis, twice in deadline deals (2033 and 2038) and twice as a free agent (2036 and 2039). He still puts up elite numbers and will probably be our closer, shifting Walt Kelly to a setup role.

February 8: Made a trade:



Needed to make room on the 40-man for Lewis and didn't want to waive Stephens and risk losing him for nothing so we dealt him for a minor league reliever in Guerrero, who'll be the last man on the staff if things go well but isn't a total longshot. We have a glut of OFs and Stephens had gone way down the pecking order after spending significant chunks of 2037 and 2038 with the big club but is still worthy of being on an MLB roster.

That should conclude our roster tinkering as we head into the exhibition schedule.

[Art Deco]

The Rays had a great spring, going 17-5-3 in the exhibition season and more importantly suffering no injuries of significance. Here's how the 27-man roster shakes out:

C-Doughty, Bing
1B-J.Lopez
2B-Blackwell
SS-Begley
3B-Arroyave
IF-I.Jackson, A.Lopez
LF-Fisher
CF-D.Rodriguez
RF-D.Rivera
OF-D.Perez
DH-Duron

Perez will platoon with Duron at DH. Lopez won the 1B job over Ines Monts, who will go back to Durham.

SP-D.Morales, Cerrillo, L.Gutierrez, Black, Ericson
LR-Baca
MR-Battle, Arnold, Montgomery, Coggin, Burns, Washington
SU-W.Kelly
CL-E.Lewis

Burns is the Rule 5 guy and made the club over Danny Mauricio, who had been in our pen the last several years but still had an option, and Omar Sears. What's good is we have depth at the plate and the mound even though we said goodbye to a bunch of guys who had been at the core of the team lately (Berumen, Charlton, Marlette, Gammage, Alicea).

What does OOTP think of the (somewhat) new-look Rays?



To paraphrase Sally Field "they like us, they really like us", picking us to have the best record in baseball (along with the Cubs) and Cerrillo and Gutierrez to be among the league's top pitchers. In fact they think our pitching will be MLB's best by a significant margin. They also see a big comeback year from Berumen in Chicago (40 HR).

Time to bring on the season - we open with a pair at home against Toronto.

[Art Deco]

Opening Day:



Things got off to a great start when Jeremy Begley homered to lead off the game and the season and from there it was kind of back-and-forth with the Rays finally going ahead for good on Tony Fisher's 2-run double in the 7th. Danny Rodriguez had a big game as he tried to dispel the sophomore jinx, falling a homer short of a cycle. Danny Morales was decent in his start but Eric Lewis had a shaky save, giving up a 2-run homer yet hanging on.

Tampa Bay made it a mini-sweep with a 4-1 win over Toronto in the second game but it was a costly one. In the 3rd inning Danny Rodriguez suffered a broken collarbone in a collision at second base and will be lost for 4-5 weeks. We'll have to scramble to find a CF as most of our high-minors OFs are corners; Danny Rivera is the best-suited to move over from RF as he's rated 55 for center. As for the game Ruben Cerrillo had a brilliant Rays debut, going 7 4 0 0 2 7 for the win, and Walt Kelly got the call in the 9th today and converted the save in his first game for Tampa Bay as well. Jeremy Begley led off the game with a homer for the second straight game as part of a 3-hit day, and Justin Blackwell had a key RBI double.

Team record: 2-0. Next up: Another 2-game series at home, this time against the Yankees.

MLB News: Former Ray Orlando Tosado hit career homer #300 while Luis Berumen homered in his Cubs debut after we traded him there for Cerrillo this winter..

[Art Deco]

The Rays continued their undefeated start to 2039 by taking a pair at home against the Yankees.

The offense came to play in the opener as Tampa Bay drubbed New York 11-4. The big bats were swung by Tony Fisher, who hit his first two homers of the year (a pair of 2-run shots) and rookie Danny Perez, who was 3-4 with a 2-run single, an RBI double and his first MLB homer, a solo shot. Perez didn't even start the game but came on in the 2nd after Danny Rivera melted down following a called third strike, getting in the ump's face and then throwing equipment on the field after being ejected, earning him a 3-game suspension. Leo Gutierrez got the win after a fine 7 4 3 3 1 6 performance in which he allowed a couple of homers in the 4th for the runs but nothing else the rest of the way.

The second game was a less fiery affair as the Rays scored 3 times in the 8th inning to take a 4-1 win. Mike Blake made an impressive Rays debut going 6 7 1 1 0 5 but ended up with a no-decision as the game was 1-1 before the 8th inning rally. Jeremy Begley led off the inning with a single, stole second, advanced to third on a Frank Duron single, and scored on a wild pitch before Danny Arroyave and John Lopez hit back-to-back RBI singles to pad the lead. The bullpen was perfect over the final 3 innings with Walt Kelly winning his first Rays decision after pitching the 8th, and Eric Lewis had a much easier outing this time for save #2.

Team record: 4-0. Next up: A proper 3-game series as the Angels visit the Trop.

[Art Deco]

The Rays tasted defeat for the first time in 2039 but still managed to take 2 of 3 from LA to continue their hot start to the season.

Transaction: Danny Arevalo was called up from Durham to take Danny Rivera's spot on the roster while the latter serves his 2-game suspension. We seem to have a never-ending supply of Dannys.

And the loss came in the opener as they fell 5-3 to the Angels. Chris Ericson (0-1) looked good for the first three innings and only allowed 1 run through 4, but the dam burst in the 5th when LA scored 3 against him and he finished 4.1 8 4 4 0 3 in his first start of the season. The Rays got homers from Jeremy Begley (#3, a 2-run shot) and Willis Ramirez (#1) in a losing cause.

Danny Morales was outstanding (as usual) and the Rays took the second game 2-0. The ace righty went 6 4 0 0 2 9 in winning his first decision of 2039 and Eric Lewis completed the shutout with a perfect 9th for save #3. The offense came courtesy of a Willis Ramirez solo homer (#2) and Frank Duron's RBI single in the 3rd.

Rays pitching dominated again in the finale as they recorded their second straight shutout of the Angels 5-0. Ruben Cerrillo remains unscored upon as a Ray in his two winning starts after today's 7.1 5 0 0 1 4 with Isaiah Washington going the final 1 2/3. Frank Duron got things going with a 2-run blast in the 1st and Willis Ramirez stayed red-hot with an RBI single and an RBI double. Danny Rivera returned from suspension and was 0-4, making him 0-9 to start the year as his quest to show his poor 2038 was a fluke is not off to a good beginning.

Team record: 6-1. Next up: We strike out on a road trip starting with 4 in Baltimore.