Rays of Light

Game #100: Looks like we made it

I heard and read a number of commentators and columnists who said that you’d know if the Rays were real if they could make it to the 100th game of the season and still be in the race. 1st place in the AL East still counts as “in the race,” right?

After last night’s rough loss, the Rays can still take this series behind James Shields today. If he’s on the mound for a series clincher, you like your chances.

What to watch for: Any signs of life from the offense. Things still just haven’t clicked yet.

Scouting Report on today’s starters from MLB.com:
James Shields - Shields continued his home dominance on Friday night, notching his eighth win this season, six of which have been at Tropicana Field. The 26-year-old right-hander tossed seven innings of one-run baseball — allowing only a solo homer to Toronto’s Adam Lind — in the four-strikeout performance. Shields’ best pitch has always been his changeup, but he also has a plus fastball and curve and he’s added a cutter that has helped him throw inside to left-handers. He will be making his first start of the season against Oakland, a team he has traditionally fared well against. In four career starts, Shields is 2-1 with a 4.55 ERA.

Greg Smith - Smith struggled Friday night against the Yankees and exited after just 3 2/3 innings. He allowed six earned runs on eight hits in the shortened outing. He fell into long at-bats to contribute to the high pitch count. The lefty threw 62 pitches through the first three innings. Smith walked five and struck out just one in the game. He is 0-1 with a 2.57 ERA against the Rays.

Check out the Rays’ career numbers against Greg Smith.

View the game preview from Baseball Reference.

Be sure to join us in the chat room for some good Rays talk during the game!!!

Tags: A's
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A’s 8, RAYS 1: Nothing pretty about this one

(Box Score)

There’s not a whole heck of a lot that I can say about last night’s game, so I’ll make that part of this brief:

Andy Sonnanstine is only as good as his ability to limit the long-ball. He certainly wasn’t BAD last night, but one bad pitch and one trip around the bases for Jack “Irish Pub” Hannahan put the Rays in a hole they wouldn’t bounce back from. Again, not a bad performance from your #4 or #5 starter, but just not good enough last night.

Trever Miller and Al Reyes just aren’t that great. Certainly both has a little bit of value - Miller has been decent against lefties this season (which, by the way, are who he should be facing. Maddon’s decision to allow him to face righties on an almost-nightly basis has long run its course and is something I’ve been complaining about since April), while Reyes has actually been quite good against righties. The problem, of course, is that neither of them is being used to exclusively face the other side of the plate. If Maddon would leave Reyes to only face righties and Miller to only face lefties, both of them probably wouldn’t look nearly as bad as they do. I suppose in a game like last night you don’t have much of a choice, if you insist on saving the top arms in the bullpen and not trying to keep the lead at 2 runs.

Evan Longoria can’t do it by himself. Someone else needs to deliver a big hit. At the very least, Carlos Pena didn’t strike out with the bases loaded in the 3rd. A sac fly is better than nothing.

This Willy Aybar thing has run its course. He’s a nice bench player, but he shouldn’t be playing as much as he has been. What’s the more permanent solution? It’s not in-house, I don’t think, and we’ve all heard the rumors about Xavier Nady, but what about a guy like Ty Wigginton? Yes, I know we’ve gone that route before, but don’t you think he could be a capable DH against left-handed pitching? His OPS this year against southpaws is over 1.000 (and is more than .100 better than his line against righties for his career) and he gives the Rays similar defensive flexibility to Aybar. Wonder what it would take to get him back from the Astros, because I would certainly consider it.

Tags: A's
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Game #99: How about winning another series?

Tags: A's
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RAYS 4, A’s 0: Took me long enough to post this, eh?

(Box Score)

Could I have waited any longer to put up the recap of last night’s game? Sorry about that fellas…

Kid K: There was no bigger story last night than Scott Kazmir. Sure, he walked 4 batters and worked a ton of deep counts, but he gave the Rays 7 innings of 2-hit ball. With the back-end of the bullpen that we’ve got right now, that’s all you can really ask for. There might be no bigger key to the second half of the season than Scott Kazmir, and I don’t just mean throwing shutout innings. If he can give the Rays 7 innings each time out, it saves the bullpen and keeps the best arms on the hill in the key moments of the game. If you get 7 innings out of Scott Kazmir, it’s almost always going to be a win. He’ll have about 12 more starts the rest of the season, and the Rays are hoping for a carbon-copy of last night in the rest of those starts.

Evan (Still) Almighty: You might disagree, but I don’t think there’s any question who the star of this team is now. Yeah, he still strikes out a ton (on pace for about 150 of them), but when the Rays need big hits, who has been the one to deliver them this year? Not Carlos Pena. Not B.J. Upton. It’s been Evan Almighty. No player has been more important to the offense this year. 30 home runs is not just a possibility now; it’s a very real likelihood. If anyone still wants to tell you that Jacoby Ellsbury should be the Rookie of the Year, you have my permission to smack them.

Gettin’ On: When your top two hitters got 4-for-7 and are on-base a combined total of 7 times, you like your chances to win a ballgame. Akinori Iwamura and B.J. Upton form a dynamic duo atop the lineup, and one that I hope Joe Maddon sticks with for the time being. Now if we can just get Crawford out of the 3-hole until he starts hitting…

Walk This Way: Patience is a virtue, especially in baseball, and if the Rays are going to be walking 8 times a game, they’re going to score some runs. Unfortunately…

Big Hits? The big hits were few and far between, as the team continues to leave a lot of runners on base. 13 left on last night, to be exact. They got the win, which matters most, but you’d really like to see them convert some of those extraneous runners into ticks on the scoreboard.

Honeymoon Over? Big hits aside, Ben Zobrist hasn’t exactly been lighting the world on fire. Capable back-up? Certainly. Everyday solution? Probably not. Hopefully Jason Bartlett’s ready to come back soon so we can get back to some normalcy in the lineup.

Jonny Gomes Watch: Gomer did his part to try to stay on the roster last night, singling and drawing a walk (without a strikeout!).  If he can hit lefties, he will continue to be an important player for this team. If he can’t, then he’ll be gone before the end of the season. He’ll get two more chances here to prove himself.

Are You Taking It For Granted? 98 games into the season, and the Rays are still in first place. Don’t forget how bad things were last summer and make sure to enjoy this run the team is on right now.

Tags: A's
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Game #98: Feeling Athletic

2-out-of-3 ain’t bad, and the Rays aim to do that again against the A’s. If they can take 2 out of every 3 from her eon in, they are going to win the division, so that’s what the goal should be going forward.

Kid K returns to the hill after his win in the All-Star Game. A lot of people were critical about the decision to push him all the way back to today, but I’m okay with it because he’s the most important arm in the starting rotation. No reason to even tempt fate.

What to watch for: Jonny Gomes will get three straight starts against left-handed pitching. This could be his chance to save his job, period.

Scouting Report on today’s starters from MLB.com:
Scott Kazmir - Kazmir took the loss in his last start, against the Indians on July 13, when he allowed five runs on eight hits in six innings. Kazmir has not picked up a win since June 27 at Pittsburgh, and he’s 1-4 in his last five decisions. In addition, Kazmir has made it into the seventh inning just once in his last seven starts. The lefty is still working to gain command of his slider, which has historically been his best pitch. Without his slider, he has primarily used a fastball-changeup combination this season. He is 5-1 with a 2.96 ERA in nine career starts against the A’s.

Dana Eveland - First-inning struggles continued for Eveland in his last start against the Angels. He pitched well in 5 2/3 innings, giving up two runs in the first inning, on five hits with five strikeouts, but he also walked five. It was the third straight outing in which Eveland had trouble in the opening frame, but after the game he said toning it down to about 80 percent may be the solution to his early-inning woes. He pitched his first career complete game in his only start against Tampa Bay earlier in the year, giving up a lone run on just three hits while walking one and fanning five in the win.

Check out the Rays’ career numbers against Dana Eveland.

View the game preview from Baseball Reference.

Be sure to join us in the chat room for some good Rays talk during the game!!!

Tags: A's
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Game #47: One more, and then its back home

On the one hand, its great that the Rays are playing so many home games this early in the season. On the other, it means there will be a ton of road trips late in the year. The Rays close out this 6-game swing with one more against the A’s before heading home for a week and a half.

What to watch for: Cliff Floyd is the only Rays hitter to ever face Dana Eveland, walking in the only career plate appearance he has. Let’s see how the Rays handle the young lefty.

Scouting Report on today’s starters from MLB.com:
Andy Sonnanstine - Sonnanstine pitched well against the Cardinals in his last outing, holding the birds to one run on eight hits while walking none and striking out four in a 3-1 Rays win. The right-hander is a master of deception employing an array of pitches that he can throw from all different angles. But he has learned to primarily use his fastball to setup the other pitches. Since making that adjustment he has been a lot more successful. Sonnanstine is 1-0 with a 3.60 ERA in one career start against the A’s.

Dana Eveland - Eveland allowed just two hits in the first five innings on Friday against the Braves before running into trouble in the sixth. He was forced out with two out in the sixth after surrendering two runs. Eveland allowed six hits, walked three and struck out four in a no-decision. In the three starts prior to Friday, Eveland was 0-2 with a 4.42 ERA. He has walked a team-high 23 batters this season. Eveland has not won since April 25.

Check out the Rays’ career numbers against Dana Eveland.

View the game preview from Baseball Reference.

Be sure to join us in the chat room for some good Rays talk during the game!!!

Tags: A's
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RAYS 3, A’s 2: Killer Kaz

(Box Score)

Emil Brown’s great left-field adventure aside, Scott Kazmir came up big last night and pitched the Rays to yet another win to keep pace behind the Red Sox in the AL East race.

Hey, Hey, Kid K: Did Kid K REALLY throw 7 innings and only walk 1 batter? Yup, he really did. This was definitely the best he’s looked so far this season - and when you’ve got a 1.57 ERA, you’ve at least been pretty okay. His pitches seemed to have a little more bite, and he looked much more comfortable out there. He wasn’t forcing his way through the game. Is there a better 1-2 punch in baseball than he and James Shields right now? I don’t think so.

Better To Be Lucky Than Good: Yes, give Dioner Navarro a little credit for hitting a line drive the other way, but Emil Brown sure turned it into an adventure, didn’t he? Not that I’m complaining. I’ll take 3 free runs whenever someone offers them. I don’t care how we win; I just want to win.

Give Me a Heart-Attack Why Don’t You? I would LOVE if Troy Percival would stop giving up a run every time out. That would be great. :)

QUIT LOOKING! I am so sick of Carlos Pena sitting there and watching called third strikes go by. It’s really, really getting old. Are we ready to move him out of the cleanup spot so he stops killing us?

Apologies: For the shortness of this recap. I slept in and I have some work to do. There wasn’t a whole lot to last night’s game anyways.

Tags: A's
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Game #45: Hope You Like Good Pitching

Because you are going to get A LOT of it during this series. The A’s trot out a trio of pitchers with sub-3.00 ERAs, while the Rays send out their two best and the one with the most wins. Expect a low scoring affair for the next three days with two teams that have struggled to put up consistent offensive performances.

What to watch for: The “Big Four” - Aki, Carl, B.J., and Carlos - have all had decent success against Blanton. As they go, so goes the Rays’ offense. Fingers crossed.

Scouting Report on today’s starters from MLB.com:
James Shields - Despite a solid performance, the right-hander remains winless vs. the Yankees, yielding two runs over 7 1/3 innings and scattering six hits. Shields is now 3-1 with a 1.41 ERA at home, compared to his 1-2, 6.10 ERA on the road, and will look to better those numbers in Monday’s start vs. the Athletics. The hurler will face Oakland for the first time this year — he is 2-1 in three career starts vs. the A’s, posting a 4.05 ERA.

Joe Blanton - In his 10th start of the season, Blanton landed on the losing end of a pitching duel against Cleveland starter C.C. Sabathia. The A’s pitcher threw seven innings, scattering two runs — both solo home runs — on four hits while striking out four and walking two in the 2-0 loss. It marked the fifth time this year the right-hander allowed two runs or fewer. Blanton was 1-1 with a 4.38 ERA against Tampa Bay last year, allowing six runs on 18 hits while striking out 11 in two starts versus the Rays.

Check out the Rays’ career numbers against Joe Blanton.

View the game preview from Baseball Reference.

Be sure to join us in the chat room for some good Rays talk during the game!!!

Tags: A's
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