I’ll lead with the bad. Evan Longoria is dealing with plantar fasciitis and the Rays have dropped two straight games to the Royals.  Blerg.

Now, for the good stuff.

Evan Longoria kicked off the Reading with the Rays program this week. The Rays shared this shot on Twitter:

Ready for some more cuteness?

Longo is getting ready to celebrate his first Father’s Day since the birth of his daughter. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times interviewed the All-Star and his girlfriend Jaime Edmondson to talk about their baby Elle. Click here for the story and a video.

A call missed at the plate.

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. » Continue reading “Rays: How ‘Bout That Human Element?”

Tampa Bay Rays southpaw Matt Moore picked up his fourth W of the season as his team extended their streak to four wins last night against the New York Yankees.

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).

When Matt Joyce homered to open bottom of the second inning, no one in Tropicana Field or watching at home could have imagined that being both the first and last run scored on the day.  In fact, it was, as the Tampa Bay Rays shut down Oakland’s bats for their seventh win of the season against ten losses.

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.

Gloomy weather everywhere. Okay, maybe not everywhere, but it’s at least in the Tampa Bay area and in Boston.

The opening game of this weekend’s Rays vs. Red Sox series at Fenway has been rained out. They’ll likely make it up in June.

Photo by Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays)

Let’s hope the weather clears up, in Boston at least, so the Rays can play tomorrow. A Rays Radio game watching party is set for Saturday at Crowley’s in downtown St. Pete.

Rainouts typically get me down, but tonight, I’ll cherish the fact that I can go into a cold-medicine induced haze and not worry about hating the Red Sox.

The Tampa Bay Rays tried to keep warm in Texas wearing retro letter style jackets and managed to pull out a 2-0 win in the final game of the three-game series.  While playing in the coldest day game in Arlington history, Matt Moore and four relievers kept the Rangers from getting warmed up, allowing only five hits in the shutout.  Ben Zobrist went two-for-four with an RBI, but more importantly threw out Adrian Beltre who was attempting to score on a throw to right in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Although Moore walked six, he managed to work his way out of jams in the third and fifth innings.  For anyone worried about his control, take a look at how he found a way to make a pitch when he had to.  Plus, the Rangers managed only a single to Craig Gentry in the bottom of the fifth.  I’m going to look at Moore’s outing and  ask just how good will he be when he puts it all together?  And I believe he will.  Meanwhile, he’s 2-0, with goose eggs for an earned run average. » Continue reading “Rays: Moore, Defense, Niemann, And Boston”

OK, this is the third time I have tried writing this post. My computer is acting up, and has inadvertently deleted the first two efforts. I am about as frustrated as the Tampa Bay Rays at this point, after they had a promising ninth-inning rally thwarted by a highly questionable umpire’s call. In dropping two of three games to the Baltimore Orioles, the Rays nevertheless showed heart and hustle, and made comebacks in both of the losses, while winning the middle game with a Matt Joyce walk-off solo homer.

Down 6-2 in the ninth, Sean Rodriguez was hit by a pitch before Ben Zobrist lashed a single to right. Evan Longoria smacked a drive off the left-center field wall, and was called out for passing Zobrist, who was retreating to first in an attempt to tag up if needed. First base umpire James Hoye glanced back over his shoulder at Zobrist and Longoria as he ran toward the middle of the infield. After the ball was thrown in, he called Longoria out. Manager Joe Maddon asked Hoye to request help from home plate ump Jim Reynolds, but Hoye insisted he had the call right.

Bad call or not, the Rays had run into Crush –uh, Chris Davis – while he was busy playing superstar. Davis had seven hits in twelve at bats, with a pair of doubles, two home runs, and eleven RBIs.

Takes from the series:

-The Rays looked very good on defense. Evan Longoria flashed his Gold Glove form, making plays to his left and right while throwing out batters from his knees and his backside. James Loney looked smooth at first base, and Yunell Escobar appears to be a good fit at short. And of course Ben Zobrist can play anywhere, and do the job. TB seems to have a lot of defensive flexibility, which Joe Maddon must love.

-The only negative – and it will be a short-lived negative – was the bullpen. The Rays gave up more runs in three games out of the ‘pen than you can expect to see over the next month. Seriously. The relief corps will put it together sooner rather than later.

-On offense, Tampa Bay looked good to me. They manufactured runs, hit the long ball, and battled from behind. Joyce had a base hit bunt when the Rays needed base runners in the second ball game, and then hit the ball out of the park to win the game in the ninth. This afternoon, four TB hitters in a row hit the ball up the middle, and Tampa Bay was able to tie the Orioles. The club took what the defense and the pitchers gave them – it appears they have an offense that will do what it has to do to score runs. They could be a lot of fun to watch this season.

-It’s tough blame umpires for game outcomes. I’ve never done it in over twenty-five years of coaching. All I could ever ask is “Did you see it well? If not, could you ask for help?” It didn’t appear the call on Longoria was well-viewed. How about asking for some help? Do whatever you can to get the call right. I’ll be curious to see what comes out about the call over the next couple of days. Sometimes, umps just miss the call – they’re human, and that’s allowed. But I wish MLB would encourage more umpires conferences when something out of the ordinary happens. It would only make the greatest game even better.

During Opening Day for the Tampa Bay Rays, a friend of mine said “But you don’t really like either of their mascots,” following a discussion about DJ Kitty. True, I’m not the biggest fan of DJ Kitty and Raymond, but that’s what we have so fine, I’ll deal with it.

But seriously, Raymond, did you have to do this?

» Continue reading “Rays: Eyeroll Please….Raymond Has A “Lapse In Judgment””

Outside of the Opening Day excitement, yesterday wasn’t the best day I’ve had at the Trop since the Baltimore Orioles beat the Tampa Bay Rays 7-4.

Tampa Bay came out on top tonight with an 8-7 win. My aunt sent over this photo just after Evan Longoria singled in the 5th.

This season, in addition to writing here, I’ll be posting as a guest over at DRaysBay. If you’re interested in talking about your Rays fandom with me for my first DRaysBay post, let me know over on Twitter (I’m @SarahMTyson)! And now it’s time for bed because my sleep cycle has not yet caught up to baseball season.

For the first time, I’m going to Opening Day! The Tampa Bay Rays host the Baltimore Orioles at 3:10 p.m. ET.

Will you be at the Trop this week as the Rays begin the 2013 season?