Boston pulled out to a 3-0 lead in the first. Now, I’m sitting here in the third as the bases are loaded with Rays hoping for things to turn around.

Keep up with me on Twitter (@sarahmtyson) to see how things turn out/if my phone continues to work in the dead zone that is the Trop.

Evan Longoria homered the Tampa Bay Rays to a walk-off win over the San Diego Padres last night as the club reached the .500 mark for the first time since they were 3-3. And Kathryn, the mother of our daughters Sarah and Hannah, called the shot. [Video: Rays players thank the mothers of their children]

When Longoria stepped to the plate, she said, quite simply, “He’s going to hit a homer and win the game.” Interestingly, she had left the room with the Rays leading 6-2 with Jeremy Hellickson on the mound, and within seconds, the game was tied at six apiece.

Bottom line? The Rays might want to have my wife watching and playing prognosticator for them. All of us in the Tyson household feel the same way. Her quiet way of staying on task, unrelenting attention to detail, and endless hours of caring show that she was made for motherhood. As I write this, she is having breakfast with her mother at the physical re-hab facility my mother-in-law is in as she adjust to being on dialysis.

Yesterday, we delivered my mom a monster-sized box of Sweet’n Low and some liquid dairy creamer that needs no refrigeration. Kathy had taken notes when talking to my sister, and knew that simple gift would make mom’s Mother’s day.

Every day sees my wife living in the moment, doing what needs to be done. Yesterday, she said she wished she could do more for the community. I told her she is serving family, and that for now, that is her community.

Several years ago, for a number of months, and again recently, she has been playing the role of daughter caring for parents. Sort of motherhood in reverse. She does so without complaint, without request. She does it because it needs to be done, and she does it well. By the way, my mother-in-law spent her time raising eight children, and has been the backbone of the family. She also has been my greatest fan, and though she never spoke of baseball when I first met her, has become a great fan of the game, if only in support of me. I am eternally grateful.

In so doing, she reminds me of my grandmother, Mary Louise Rogero. Who wasn’t really my grandmother, but my great aunt. She raised my mother and her three siblings after her sister, my birth grandmother died as a result of childbirth. Mary Louise Rogero was, indeed my grandmother. We never called her anything else. She blessed our lives by giving of hers. As a result, my mother and her brothers and sister grew up to be fine, contributing members of society.

Grandma raised my mother to be strong enough to raise five children of her own while dealing with my father’s scourge of alcoholism. At almost 85, my mother is still going strong, works part-time with a full-time effort at her church, and makes sure to celebrate her Florida State Seminoles football team from the south end zone at home games. I do the driving, my sister is usually there, and the 750+ mile round trip wears mom out. And she gets the energy for the next Saturday, because she is resolute in the attitude that she is going to LIVE her life.

Our daughters, Sarah and Hannah, are products of a great number of strong women, but they are mostly the result of the time and effort of my wife. They managed to spend a good deal of time at the ballpark when I was coaching, and Kathy somehow found a way for them to have their own sports interests and lives along the way. I am very proud of both of them as they have become strong young women, and am pleased that they show so many of their mother’s positive traits.

So, motherhood comes in all sorts of packages. Mostly, it comes in hard work, and time spent, often from unexpected women.

In a recent article on tampabay.com, Matt Joyce spoke about the most important women in his life.

It comes in the little things that, when added up, amount to something so much greater. So, as you watch your favorite team play today and see the pink bats, or shoes, or the baseballs with pink stitching – very cool – maybe you can offer something to help the “Going to Bat Against Cancer” initiative. And think of your mother, or the person/persons you were blessed with to fill that role in your life. I think I’m going to visit Grandma’s grave site. She certainly deserves nothing less.

A foul ball that was ultimately called fair.

The Tampa Bay Rays lost an out and a run on offense on Tuesday, and on Wednesday they lost an out on defense.  The play at the plate was close, the foul ball call wasn’t even close.  The Rays got robbed, not by the umpires, but by baseball’s decision to use VERY limited replays to assist in questionable calls.

In a day and age where technology can send a game photo around the country in a matter of seconds, MLB has decided to stay its course and stick with the tired “human element of the game” argument rather than move forward with additional instant replay.  Last night, Oakland also lost an obvious home run when umpires couldn’t see what was obvious to everyone else at the park, in the announcers’ booth, on Twitter, and any sports show’s baseball highlights.

Tuesday night, the struggling Rays lost a 4-1 lead and the game to the Toronto Blue Jays, by a count of 6-4.  I’m not about to blame an umpire for that, and I’m sure the Rays wouldn’t either.  However, when Sean Rodriguez was called out it took Tampa Bay’s first run off the board.  The Rays did score four runs in the inning, but baseball folks will tell you that you never know what is lost when you lose an out.

Wednesday evening, on a ball that CLEARLY did not hit Maicer Izturis in the sixth inning, and the Rays lost an out when James Loney flipped the “foul” ball to first base ump, and crew chief Tim Welke, who had made the erroneous call.  Maddon was ejected from the dugout before getting his money’s worth at home plate with arbiter Scott Barry.

Why baseball won’t take a progressive step forward is beyond me.  They would save themselves embarrassment as well as time if they simply put a man in the booth to review such plays.  And those weren’t even the worst calls of the week.  The home run that Oakland lost could have very well cost the Athletics the game.  Baseball can do better.

If you don’t believe me, just think back to Jim Joyce’s missed call that took a perfect game away from Armando Galarraga on the potential last play of the game.  Joyce is a fine umpire, and well-respected throughout baseball.  He might have suffered more from his missed call than Galarraga.  Because that play would have been the last out of the game, Commissioner Bud Selig could change the books at any time.  But as we’ve seen this week, that ain’t happening.  Oh, and MLB did admit the umpires made the wrong call in that Oakland/Cleveland game. 

And right now, the Rays are hoping to top the Blue Jays and earn a 2-2 series split.  As I close out, Evan Longoria has just ripped a double to give the Rays’  a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first.  Hope there aren’t any close calls….

The Rays currently lead the Blue Jays 4-1 in the top of the fourth. Tampa Bay blew a 7-run lead last night to fall to the Blue Jays 8-7. Tampa Bay Times sports columnist Gary Shelton writes that the blown lead symbolizes the state of the Rays;

“Once again, mediocrity rose up to grab them and pull them deeper into the ooze of fourth place.”

It’s still early in the season and I’m not ready to be sad about the state of affairs, but gosh, it is frustrating when 7 runs isn’t enough.

The Rays rank 25^th in the majors in ERA, with only the Toronto Blue Jays being lower than them in the A.L. East.  They trail the Yankees, Red Sox, and Orioles in OPS among clubs from their own division.  In the all-important runs scored department, they are next-to-last in the division.  I’m thinking they will improve in all those categories before too long.  With 24/7 sports on TV and radio, many are trying to predict who’s in and who’s out of the playoffs already.  Way too early.  They play 162 games for a reason in baseball – something a good buddy of mine doesn’t understand.  Of course, he’s a soccer guy. And I don’t get the whole tie-game thing.

• James Loney has been hot for a while.  He’s batting .486 with only two strikeouts in the past ten games.
• An article in Rant Sports gives good reason for Jeremy Hellickson’s success in Tampa Bay.  Of course, they also mention that he could be traded either this season or next.  What would a Rays season be without the mention of them trading one of their top-line players? 
  

Tampa Bay will start a ten-game home stretch tomorrow, and will hope to get to .500 and above as they host the struggling Toronto Blue Jays, sub-.500 San Diego Padres, and A.L. East rival Boston.

For the first time in my baseball fandom, I hope James Shields doesn’t come away with the win.

Shields, now with the Royals, said of facing his former team:

“I’m going to go out there and compete and try to win a ballgame. It’s going to be a little chess game out there. They know me, I know them.”

Alex Cobb gets the start for Tampa Bay in the 8:10 pm ET game. The Rays said via Twitter today that Luke Scott is back with the team tonight.

Moore was dominant again, as he struck out six of the first seven he faced in the first two innings.  In all, he allowed three hits and a single walk.  It seems like this year Moore could always go one more inning if needed.  That has to be a good feeling for Joe Maddon and Jim Hickey, as the southpaw came into the spring ready to work on pitch economy.

Evan Longoria raised his average twenty-six points last night, and his OPS is now over .900 for the season, and he has thirteen RBIs on the campaign.  James Loney had three hits and raised his average to .379.  His OPS is a lofty .998, adding two RBIs.  Kelly Johnson went 4-5 with a pair of ribbies as well.

Today, the Rays will send David Price to the hill against righty Dylan Axelrod.  Both will be looking for their first win of the season.

• I heard a radio host talking today about how you can’t put much value on the season until the end of May, maybe the first of June. For all practical purposes, that’s true, unless a club is WAAAAY behind in the “W” column or has had catastrophic injuries.  The Rays are two below .500, but there’s a long way to go, and they know how to close.
• Interestingly, the Rays’ pitchers threw 164 pitches last night as opposed to 191 for the White Sox’ staff.  That might not seem like much, but it’s almost two innings worth of work.  Over the long haul of the 162 game season, that can add up.  Let it be noted that Chicago’s bullpen had great numbers before last night’s game.

Yunel Escobar won’t be in the lineup tonight after experiencing tightness in his hamstring.  Ben Zobrist will put on his infield glove and take over at shortstop until Escobar is back.  Good news:  Zobrist can fill in more than adequately.  Bad news? Escobar was six for his last twenty-one at bats, and has been playing stellar defense.

• Cobb threw only 106 pitches in 8.1 innings.  Seventy-two went for strikes.  Cobb featured a sharp breaking ball, and commanded both sides of the plate.  Lately, “both sides of the plate” has been the mantra for Rays pitchers, and it has served them well.
• James Loney’s batting average is up to .313, hitting .455 over the last ten games.

When I got home this afternoon, Ken “Hawk” Harrelson was battling with Brian Kenney on the MLB network over the use of statistical data in predicting winners in baseball.  Hawk doesn’t go much for metrics, except for the TWTW numbers.  As in “The Will To Win.”  Kenney, of course tried to pin him down on his disdain for numbers.  The subject of this weekend’s series came up, and Kenney stated that the Rays’ success came from metrics.

In fact, both are right.  Tampa Bay surely knows how to something out of very little when spending their money.  That doesn’t always translate to numbers, however.  The way they play the game indicates they also had TWTW.  The Tampa Bay Rays:  a Harrelson/Kenney conundrum.

When you have a last name like Moore, you have to know headlines are going to take advantage of it. This one from today’s tbt* had me reminiscing about Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor and trying to perfect his jubilant grunt in my head. (Click the image for the story.)

The stellar performance by Moore was backed up by Ryan Roberts’ bat. Roberts went 3-for-4 with two homers off of New York’s CC Sabathia in last night’s victory.

Here’s hoping another Tampa Bay lefty can come out on top when the Rays face the Yankees tonight at the Trop. David Price (0-1) will be on the hill for Tampa Bay as New York sends forth Phil Hughes (0-2).

Today, the Rays send Roberto Hernandez, (0-3, 5.79) to the mound against lefty Tommy Milone, (3-0, 3.86) at Tropicana Field.

• Hellickson has continued the trend of excellence among the youngest of the Rays’ starting staff.  Although he’s only 1-1, he has an ERA of 3.55 and a WHIP of 0.99, with at eighteen strikeouts while only allowing six free passes.  Matt Moore has a WHIP of 1.06 and twenty strikeouts in eighteen innings, along with a perfect three-and-oh record and ERA of 1.00.  Alex Cobb is 2-1, and has allowed only six walks in three starts.
• Hellickson took command of the game from the start yesterday, pitching inside very effectively with his fastball, then mixing in his breaking ball and his featured change up.  The highest read I saw on a gun was 91, but he continually had hitters off-balance and was also able to blow fastballs by them, due to his location and effectiveness of all three pitches.
• Moore throws harder, and has set hitters on their heels when ahead in the count.  He has pitched in with great success, and has elevated in and out of the strike zone very well.  He has also found a way to make the big pitch when his command has gotten him in a jam.
• Cobb has used his curveball as well as Hellickson has used his changeup.  He isn’t afraid to pitch inside, and sets up his fastball to look harder than its general top-end of 91-92.  And he isn’t afraid to pitch with men on base.  If the opposition doesn’t get him early, he gets them!  Fun to watch pitch because he’s such a tough competitor.
• Desmond Jennings used his glove and speed to record an unassisted double play, catching a short fly ball by Coco Crisp and running to tag first base and double up A’s second baseman Eric Sogard, who was running with the pitch. 
  

The Rays are trying to find consistency on offense.  At this time, they rank dead last in the American League East in average, OPS, and the all­-important category of runs scored.  David Price is scuffling, and Roberto Hernandez hasn’t found the winner’s circle.

The good news is that Price won’t scuffle all season, he will put it all together before too long.  Hernandez has shown the ability to get ground ball outs in the past, and hopefully finds command soon.  And the offense has shown signs of promise over the past week, despite yesterday’s small output.  The Rays won’t crumble under a rough start.  Joe Maddon won’t let them.  This is just the start of a very long season.  This club knows how to win, and if healthy, my money is on them to do just that.