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).

The Rays made a major news splash when they traded James Shields and Wade Davis to Kansas City for Jake Odorizzi, a righty who had a cup of coffee last season, Wil Myers, who is a highly-regarded prospect, and two other minor leaguers.  Everyone expected Shields to be traded sooner or later, but no one saw Davis being part of the deal.  As for Myers, he’s projected to be a middle-of-the-lineup hitter.  Projections can be tough, but the Royals have a pretty good recent history of drafting and developing young position players.  The deal could work out well for both clubs.

Making up for some of the innings Shields took with him could come from within last season’s Tampa Bay rotation.  Matt Moore and Jeremy Hellickson should both be able to take more of the work load as they mature.  Jeff  Niemann, who was injured much of last season, should be able to help the “innings cause” as well.

By the time the Rays headed to the bottom of the second inning against the Yankees on Wednesday night, it looked like Mark Teixeira had crushed Tampa Bay’s playoff hopes with one swing of the bat.

New York jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first when Ben Zobrist committed an error allowing Curtis Granderson to score.

In the second, starter David Price’s troubles continued when Teixeira launched a grand slam. Price would last just four innings.

Fast forward to the middle of the eighth, and the Rays were down 7-0. Like many others, I was still glued to the game and I held out hope.  If Tampa Bay couldn’t make a grand comeback, at least the Orioles were just a run down from the Red Sox when they were delayed by rain in the seventh.

We believed. Somehow, some way, we could make it to the postseason.We just needed the stars to align.

The tide turned at the Trop in the bottom of the eighth.

Johnny Damon singled. Ben Zobrist doubled. Casey Kotchman was hit by a pitch. Sam Fuld walked, and Johnny came home. Down in the count, Sean Rodriguez was hit by a pitch and Ben Zobrist crossed the plate.

Then Desmond Jennings struck out.

B.J. Upton got the Rays back on a roll with a sacrifice fly to score Kotchman. Evan Longoria approached the plate with Sam Fuld and Sean Rodriguez on the bases.

Longoria came through with a three run shot to pull Tampa Bay within one run of New York.

Johnny Damon, who had begun the magical inning with a hit, ended it with a pop up.

And so we went to the ninth inning. With Joel Peralta on the hill, the Yankees went three up, three down.

In what could have been the final frame, Ben Zobrist flied out and then Casey Kotchman grounded out. But it wasn’t midnight yet and the Cinderella story of the team that was as many as nine games back in the month of September wasn’t over.  Dan Johnson, a man affectionately nicknamed The Great Pumpkin, struck again.  With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Johnson faced a 2-2 count.  He hit a solo home run to right field.

Johnson spent most of the season with Triple-A Durham. The homer was his first MLB hit since April 27.

The Rays didn’t walkoff in the ninth, so bonus baseball began.

Kyle Farnsworth, Brandon Gomes and Jake McGee each threw an inning and did not allow the Yankees to add to the seven runs they scored through the first five innings.

When the game was going into the 11th, Dirk Hayhurst, a former member of the Durham Bulls tweeted:

You know, the #rays do a great job of nurturing a culture where any player believes he can be a hero. Who will it be tonight?

After watching Dan Johnson get the Rays to extras, it was easy to wonder which former Durham Bull would come to the rescue.

With the bottom half of the 12th inning starting in St. Pete, the Orioles made a stand against the Red Sox in the bottom of the ninth in Baltimore.

B.J. Upton struck out swinging to begin the bottom of the innings at the Trop and as Evan Longoria stood in the on-deck circle, Baltimore beat Boston 4-3.

Longoria stepped to the plate and sent a solo shot over the left field wall. On Wednesday, the Rays’ roster had room for more than one hero.

As the AL Wild Card winners, Tampa Bay will face off against Texas in the ALDS beginning on Friday.

If all goes well tonight for the Rays and the Orioles, Tampa Bay’s regular season will be over and they’ll advance to the playoffs by clinching the American League Wild Card.

No matter what, the Rays control their fate. If they win and Boston is also victorious, they will host the Red Sox tomorrow for a “win and you’re in” game.

When the season began, most of us Rays fans just wanted to see our guys play meaningful games in September. Well, folks, we got what we wanted. It’ll mean a hell of a lot if Tampa Bay can sweep New York in the final series of the regular series by taking the W tonight in game 162.

This time of year makes me a bit (okay, more than just a bit) sentimental about baseball. If you’re a regular reader of Cowbell Clankers, you know that baseball is a family tradition for the Tysons.

My dad, Wayne, contributes to this site regularly and that’s not only because I like to take a day off every week. I like to get his opinion on what has become our team. I like to learn from him. And I like sharing this experience with him.

When I was in third grade and my sister was in first, Dad coached the Florida Air Academy Falcons to a Class 3A State Championship. He shaved an “F” in his chest hair because he promised his team at the beginning of the season that he would do that if they became state champs.

Every once in a while, you’ll see a quote from my mom land on this page. She watches the games with dad and not because she just wants to spend time with him. She genuinely enjoys baseball and instilled the values of a true fan in me and my sister as we grew up watching Dad coach.

My sister and I both served as Dad’s scorekeeper when he coached our high school team. I was thrilled when she joined me at Florida State university, especially when spring rolled around. With Hannah in Tallahassee, I knew I’d always have a baseball buddy during the Seminoles’ season.

» Continue reading “Game 162: A Family Affair”

After Monday night’s win over the Yankees, Rays skipper Joe Maddon said something, as he often does, that resonated with me.

“If we take care of the seconds, the minutes, the hours, the days take care of themselves.”

With that statement in mind, I watched the Rays take care of the Yankees again on Tuesday night. As an added bonus, I had the pleasure of attending the game (read: I asked to leave work early so that I could make it to the Trop shortly after first pitch).

Here’s the video I took right after Kyle Farnsworth picked up the save. Note: The high pitched scream belongs to a high school girl who was sitting behind me.

As a Rays fan, my heart sank a bit on Sunday night when the Red Sox defeated the Yankees in 14 innings. Yet, I held onto my postseason hopes despite that unfortunate outcome.

All we needed was for Tampa Bay to defend their home turf when New York visited for the Rays’ final series of the season while the Orioles fended off the BoSox in Baltimore to close out their seasons.  That’s all.  Seems simple enough…

Game one of each crucial series is in the books.  It’s official: The Rays are tied with the Red Sox in the chase for a Wild Card spot.

Excuse me while I dance around my living room for a moment.

James Shields (16-12) had yet another big game for Tampa Bay as he and the Rays beat the Yankees 5-2.  The righty didn’t notch complete game number 12, but he lasted eight and two-thirds innings and gave up just six hits and two runs to the AL East Champions.  Quite impressive.

Veteran player Johnny Damon spoke to FOX Sports Florida’s Laura McKeeman following his team’s victory.  When asked about Tampa Bay’s offense, Damon said:

Obviously we wished we could have scored more, to give James Shields some breathing room but we’ll take five. Especially for him.

While Monday was a big night for the Rays, it was also a night in which Damon reached a personal milestone.  McKeeman asked the designated hitter how it felt to tie Lou Gehrig on the all-time hit list with number 2,721.

Well ya know, playing in New York for four years and seeing all the accolades that came with Derek Jeter passing Lou Gherig a couple years ago, it’s something that I always wanted to remember.  And hopefully I can carry on and get to 3,000, but I want to enjoy every step I do take.

And what does the 37-year-old have to say to the youngsters on his team about this final series of the regular season?

Just relax and have fun.  The Yankees aren’t gonna lay down for us, you know.  They have to prepare and get ready for the post-season also so we have to come out and be sharp.

Then Damon said smiled and said he was “absolutely” when McKeeman asked if he was man after Joe Maddon’s heart.  Guess what Johnny?  You have my heart too.

Joe Maddon called the 5-2 win a “Rays kind of game.” The skipper said he didn’t even want to look at the TV to follow the Red Sox vs. Orioles game in Baltimore, and just sat back and waited for David Price to scream.

After sitting nine games back from Boston in early September, the Rays now control their destiny.  Baseball is a beautiful thing.

I need to take my mind off the game in progress so let’s just have a laugh at this photo from @RaysRepublic via SB Nation.

Somehow, Sam Fuld manages to look adorable, even when dressed as Mr. Potato Head.

It’s safe to say these guys should look very different if we see them with the Rays next year.

Tampa Bay could still find a way into the playoffs.  That’s my perhaps overly optimistic opinion and I’m sticking to it.  But while we try to take down the O’s before heading into a four game series against the Red Sox, we can look ahead to next season.

Major League Baseball announced the 2012 season schedules today and the Rays have some great series ahead of them.

They won’t get any break on Opening Day because they’ll be hosting the Yankees from April 6-8.  Then, we’ll see how the road treats them when Tampa Bay leaves the Sunshine State for a 10 game trip during which they’ll face Detroit, Boston and Toronto.

The Braves, Mets and Marlins will visit Tropicana Field for interleague play.  I’ll gain some ground in the “favorite granddaughter” contest if I get my grandma some tickets to at least one game when the Braves come to town May 18-20.  I may lose those points if I grin a little too much when my team takes down her team.

The Rays interleague road play will feature the Marlins, Nationals and Phillies.  Hmmm….I have some friends’ couches to crash on in our nation’s capital.

Tampa Bay will close out the 2012 regular season against the Orioles, the same team that is beating them 4-2 in the top of the seventh as I type.

You can find the Tampa Bay’s full 2012 regular season schedule here.

At least if the Mayan calendar is correct in “predicting” that the world will end in December 2012, I’ll get another season of Rays baseball in before it’s all over.

When I woke up on Monday morning, the Rays were 6.5 games back from the Yankees in a race for the Wild Card spot.

The Tampa Tribune included this headline: Thanks to pitching, the Rays keep hanging in race.

Columnist Martin Fennelly admitted playoff hopes for Tampa Bay are “a long, long shot.”  But still…there was a shot.

Over at DRaysBay, the Monday Morning Rays Wrap Up included “Yankees hearing footsteps?” in the headline.

I was ready to go all Isla Fisher in Wedding Crashers on the Yankees.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycuZqJzSocE

But, following last night’s Rays loss against the Blue Jays and the Yankees win over the Orioles, Tampa Bay sits 7.5 games behind second place New York in the AL East.  Of course, I might still tell the Yankees “I’d finnnnnnddddd youuuuu” if they continue to pull away just because I like the voice.

Now, the uphill climb to a Wild Card spot looks even more formidable as Tampa Bay travels to Texas to start a three game set against the Rangers tonight.

That said, the Rays should be used to having the underdog status by now. Sort of comes with the territory of being a member of the AL East whose name does not begin with Boston or New York. I’ll hold onto playoff hopes until the last cowbell clanks, or our playoff chance becomes mathematically impossible.

For reliever Dirk Hayhurst, yesterday morning probably felt a lot different than this morning.  That’s because on August 29, 2011, Hayhurst, who had been playing with Triple-A Durham, was released.  Hayhurst announced the news via Twitter.

The author of the New York Times best-seller The Bullpen Gospels, reflected on his release on his blog. It’s heartfelt, and deserves a read from any fan of the game, and business, that is Major League baseball.  I wish the best for Hayhurst in the future, whether or not it involves a pitcher’s mound.  Craig Calcaterra of NBC Sports’ Hardball Talk put it well:

There is always a place in the world for people who walk through it with their eyes open, their minds functioning and their spirits unbroken.

I have no doubt that Hayhurst will find a new place, and I’ll be following him on Twitter (@TheGarfoose) so I’ll know when he finds it.  May the force be with you, ‘Foose.

Hayhurst’s next book, Out of My League, will hit the shelves in April 2012.

One fall day back in 1956, my father came home from work for lunch, which he did occasionally, and found me watching a World Series game on TV. My sister Cheryl had been born two weeks before, so mom was probably glad that I was engrossed in the game. Which actually should have been very telling. You see, I hadn’t reached the age of three at that time.

No matter, Dad always pointed back to that day, October 8th, the day of Don Larsen’s perfect game which helped propel the Yankees to yet another championship, when describing how he knew I would love baseball.

And that is probably about the time Dad decided it was alright for me to be left-handed. Up until then, he deemed the trait of being a southpaw to be unacceptable. Once he realized I might be a baseball player, being lefty became not only acceptable to him, but actually a positive attribute in his eyes.

Over the years, Dad would miss too many of my games due to the demons that make up being a workaholic/alcoholic. He wasn’t there to play catch with me every day after work,, as I wished he would. I could have been angry, hurt, or bitter. Instead, I simply wished to spend more time with him, and was ready to ask any question I could regarding baseball, I looked forward to every little story he had to share with me.

I could have allowed disappointments regarding Dad’s lack of attention to me to have a negative effect. Instead, I was lucky that the game forged a strong enough bond between us that it would eventually become a positive thread that kept our relationship together, not unlike the red thread that is used to keep the two pieces of cowhide together that cover the baseball itself. » Continue reading “Baseball Leather-The Fabric of This Life”