Rays of Light

RAYS 6, Tigers 5: Comeback kids

(Box Score)

Well that sure was a wild one, wasn’t it? Troy Percival’s issues with the longball will certainly get buried underneath the stories of Trever Miller’s first win in nearly 2 years and the late injuries to Jason Bartlett and Shawn Riggans, neither of which sound like they are too serious.

Percy Me: When do Troy Percival’s struggles become an issue? Personally, I’m inclined to believe it’s more of a slump that he’s in than a real serious issue that needs to be addressed, but we can’t have him giving up a run per game every single time out, either. At least he had a sense of humor about the situation:

“People were saying the turning point of the season was in Toronto when I stunk it up, so I thought I’d do it again today, see if I could get us going again.”

Bossman Delivers: The real B.J. Upto returned during this series, and when he’s hitting the ball, the Rays are flat-out a much better team. He was aggressive at the plate (i.e. he wasn’t taking pitches right down the middle for strikes anymore) and was really driving the ball from gap to gap. His home run on Sunday was a bomb, and was – of course – one of the key plays of the game.

Tip Your Cap: For 7 innings last night, the Rays’ offense was stagnant. That wasn’t their fault, though. Armando Galarraga is as good as he’s been advertised this year; he took control of this game, and the Rays’ bats couldn’t do thing one against him.

Walk This Way: Willy Aybar’s walk to lead off the 10th inning was fantastic; he came back from a 1-2 count to work the free pass and was the catalyst to the entire inning.

Thanks For Nothing, A’s: Despite the sweep, the Rays didn’t gain a single game on the Red Sox because the A’s threw up a big goose-egg this weeked in Boston. The team also gained just one-and-a-half games on the Yankees since Thursday because the Bombers split with the Angels.

Tags: Tigers
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Game #110: Bring out your brooms

After two straight wins, including the break-out performance we’ve been waiting for from the offense yesterday, the Rays have a chance to sweep the Tigers and maintain control of the AL East. It’s just too bad that the Red Sox have been winning the past few days, too.

Who better to have on the hill when trying to close out the sweep then James Shields? It’s a great match-up of young righties between Shields and Armando Galarraga.

What to watch for: Jason Bartlett is the only Ray to ever face Galarraga before, doing so twice in 2007. It should be interesting to see how the Rays hitters approach him, especially after their fantastic at bats of the past few games.

Scouting Report on today’s starters from MLB.com:
James Shields – Shields took his seventh loss of the season Monday night against Toronto despite the fact he made his 15th quality start of the season by allowing three earned runs in 7 1/3 innings while walking none. The 26-year-old right-hander’s 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 is 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA in two career starts against the Tigers.

Armando Galarraga - Just when you think the American League has finally figured out Detroit’s rotation savior, the rookie right-hander shows he can win without his best stuff. He allowed three runs over 5 1/3 innings on Tuesday at Cleveland but limited the damage enough to avoid cleanup work for the bullpen and take advantage of a Detroit offensive onslaught for a victory. He has won his past two starts to take the lead in wins among Tigers pitchers, and he’ll try to get into double digits against a Rays team that has never seen him.

Check out the Rays’ career numbers against Armando Galarraga.

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: Tigers
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RAYS 9, Tigers 3: Oh offense, how I had missed thee

(Box Score)

It’s wicked late and I’m tired, so this is going to be brief, but a few things of note from tonight’s game.

Man-Crush: I’ll admit it: I have a man-crush on Evan Longoria. Don’t lie; you do too. In case you forgot, he’s going to be playing third base in Tampa Bay for the next decade. I love it.

More Great At Bats: Tons of full counts, and B.J. Upton and Carlos Pena again looked like professional hitters up there. Even if the results aren’t always what we want, their at bats the past few games have been markedly better than before.

Doin’ Just Enough: Andy Sonnanstine wasn’t great, but he sure was good enough to earn himself his 11th win of the season. I got a little worried when he threw up a 2-spot right after the Rays scored 4, but he settled back down and gave the Rays 6 solid innings. I don’t know who keeps track of these things, but doesn’t it seem like Sonny might have an awful ERA during the inning after the Rays score a few runs for him? It always seems like he’s giving some back.

Do the Bart-man: Jason Bartlett remembered how to swing the bat tonight, as he roped a couple of line drives. He’s been much better against southpaws than righties this season, so that stands to reason. Hopefully this points him in the right direction and makes him a catalyst at the bottom of the order.

Al Reyes: Still stinks. I find it hard to believe that one of the arms at Durham right now (Scott Dohmann, Dale Thayer, Mitch Talbot) wouldn’t be better. He’s getting hit hard every time out.

Willy Aybar: Also stinks. Time to send him to Durham and bring back Ben Zobrist. At least he can play shortstop.

Jonny Gomes: Should be very worried about his job right now.

Who was that guy? And why was he wearing Jason Hammel’s jersey during the 8th and 9th innings?

Tags: Tigers
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Game #109: Ladies Love Cool Sonny

Andy Sonnanstine and Kenny Rogers are very similar pitchers (aside from the whole throwing from different sides of the plate thing). When good, they are both really good. When bad, they are both really bad. This season has been a mix of both for each of them; to Sonny’s credit, though, he does lead the team in the over-rated “wins” stat and has a slightly lower WHIP this year than Rogers. The key to both pitchers is the ability to work ahead in the count and keep the ball down in the zone. If either pitcher gets elevation to his pitches, chances are he’s going to get hit.

Needless to say, I worry about Sonny against Los Tigres.

What to watch for: Last night, there were some good things from the offense. B.J. Upton looked a lot more like B.J. Upton. Carlos Pena took some good hacks despite striking out twice. Jason Bartlett found a gap. Now it’s time to build on that.

Also, with all of the innings the ‘pen threw last night, I’m sure Joe is hoping for at least 7 innings out of The Duke tonight.

Scouting Report on today’s starters from MLB.com:
Andy Sonnanstine – Sonnanstine expressed disappointment at the offense’s lack of fire power and with good reason. In his last start, a loss to Kansas City, he got one run of support. Before that, he also got one. Against the Royals, he did well for the first six innings, allowing three runs. Then in the seventh, he allowed two runners on base before exiting the game. Reliever Al Reyes came in and gave up a three-run homer. Sonnanstine finished with 6 2/3 innings, allowing five runs.

Kenny Rogers - Rogers is 9-4 with a 3.10 ERA in his career against the Rays, but just 1-4 with a 5.04 ERA at Tropicana Field, where he hasn’t won since 2001 and hasn’t pitched at all since 2006. He returns to find an obviously much-improved Rays team that probably won’t make his task any easier. The Gambler has alternated quality and non-quality starts over his past six outings, most recently a Monday loss at Cleveland that sank on an unlikely Asbdrubal Cabrera two-run homer on what ended up being a cut changeup, a pitch Rogers had neither invented nor intended.

Check out the Rays’ career numbers against The Gambler.

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: Tigers
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Game #108: Back home to tame the Tigers

Somehow, someway the Rays went 4-3 on that last roadtrip and have to be feeling pretty good about themselves as they head home to take on the Tigers and Indians in 6 winnable games. It gets started out on the right foot (or is that left arm?) tonight, as Scott Kazmir toes the slab for the Tigers against Zach Miner, who has spent most of this season as a relief pitcher.

As we all know, the Rays didn’t make a single trade-deadline move, so they go into battle with the same team that put them 3 games ahead of the Red Sox in the AL East. I’m okay with that.

What to watch for: Even without Pudge Rodriguez, the Tiger offense is very scary. It will be interesting to see how Scott Kazmir attacks their hitters and tries to keep the Rays in the driver’s seat.

Scouting Report on today’s starters from MLB.com:
Scott Kazmir – Kazmir was sharp on Saturday against the Royals, just not as sharp as he had been recently. He lasted just five innings, giving up two runs and picking up the no-decision. An hour long rain delay struck in the middle of his outing, possibly causing some problems. Kazmir’s previous outing was one of his best. He threw seven scoreless innings with nine strikeouts. Recently, Kazmir said the key to his recent success was relaxing more on the mound and not over-analyzing every decision.

Zach Miner - Miner’s transition from the bullpen to the rotation took another positive step in his last start. After shutting out the Royals over six inning his first time out on Monday, Miner held the AL Central-leading White Sox to two runs on five hits in six innings Sunday. He did not walk a batter, tossing 61 of his 92 pitches for strikes. He also didn’t overthrow, as he has shown a tendency to do in relief appearances, and his sinking fastball registered in the 89-91 mph range. In his two starts this season, he has allowed eight hits and one walk in 12 innings.

Check out the Rays’ career numbers against Zach Miner.

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: Tigers
Posted in Game Thread | 9 Comments »