Chicago White Sox 3 - Tampa Bay Rays 4 (10 innings)
At the moment, its really fun to be a Rays fan. Really, really fun. And its not just because of the winning either. I mean sure, thats a very nice bonus after 10 years of losing, but it is just a bonus. Because this team is just flat out great to watch.
Its a very strange combination that we've got going at the moment. Its part never-say-die battling, and part super-clutchness. I can't think of any other way to explain it.
We're 57 games into the season now, and still our offense isn't working at its best. Carl Crawford is hitting comfortably below .300. Carlos Pena hasn't seen .250 yet. And our tendency for leaving men on base is alarming.
But when the game is close, when its on the line late, time after time after time we are coming up with the big hits. Yesterday it was the turn of Gabe Gross. He was making a rare start against a lefty, partly, according to Joe Maddon, because of his defense, but in my eyes solely because CC was getting a day off. Well, he made the most of his opportunity. The Rays had gotten on the board in the fourth, thanks to a triple by BJ Upton and a single from Pena. But, come the bottom of the fifth, we were trailing 3-1.
Jonny Gomes leads off with a bloop single into right. Shawn Riggans follows with a double. Up steps Gross, 1-9 on the year against leftys. He slaps the ball into the gap, and motors round for a 2-RBI triple, tie game.
Fast-forward to the bottom of the tenth, game still tied at 3, and the Rays haven't had a hit since that triple. It is Gross who is leading off, facing another lefty, Matt Thornton. Fastball, fastball, 0-2. But he stays with it, gets a curveball next up and connects, sending the ball over the fence in right, another walk-off, another win.
Of course, if not for great, and at times battling pitching, our hitters wouldn't keep getting these opportunities for glory. And it was no different yesterday. Andy Sonnanstine was still a bit out of form. But he went 5 2/3 innings, and while he gave up 10 hits, he kept working and only allowed 3 to score. Then he handed over to the bullpen.
And this season, for the first time ever, that isn't something that Rays fans dread. Grant Balfour pitched 1 1/3 scoreless, with 3 K's. Al Reyes pitched a scoreless eighth. And then came JP Howell, erstwhile inconsistant starter, in his new role as Mr Clutch the Reliever. He gave up a lead-off single in the ninth, but it didn't affect him one bit, as he got the next three, including a strikeout of Nick Swisher to end the frame. And when the hitters couldn't get it done in the bottom of the ninth, he came back and pitched a perfect 10th, earning himself a well-deserved W. It makes his record 4-0, and in 20 appearances out of the pen (37 1/3 innings) he has worked to a 3.38 ERA, giving up only 27 hits, while striking out 33. It is fair to say that he has taken to his new role well.
A seventh-straight series win keeps us a game clear of the Red Sox in the east, at an AL-best 35-22. We're off tonight (while the Sox take on Baltimore) before heading to Fenway for what could be a big series. Last time there, we were swept comprehensively, which in many ways fired us up for what has come since. I cannot wait for it to get started on Tuesday night (well, Wednesday evening when I watch game 1). Matt Garza will be on the hill to kick things off.
Showing posts with label Al Reyes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Al Reyes. Show all posts
Monday, 2 June 2008
Sunday, 1 June 2008
Maybe hits are overrated anyway...
Chicago White Sox 0 - Tampa Bay Rays 2
Our series of ever-decreasing hits continued last night, as we racked up only five against the Sox and Javier Vasquez. To be fair, Chicago only managed four themselves, and our five looked as though they would be plenty, thanks to having number 19 on the mound.
Scott Kazmir continued his fantastic start to the season, throwing 7 innings, allowing only 3 hits and striking out six. With the win, he becomes the first Ray to win five in a month, and moves his record on the season to 5-1 with a 1.22 ERA. In fact, excluding his first, shaky start off the DL, he has pitched to a ridiculous 0.55 ERA. And you know the scary thing? He's still not quite at his best - yesterday he was plagued by foul balls, ramping up his pitch count prematurely. When he really gets his slider going, he's...well, I can't wait.
The last six outs to complete the shutout of Chicago came courtesy of five pitchers in the temporary closer-by-committee. Actually, I somewhat suspect that Joe Maddon would have preferred to use fewer, but both Al Reyes and Dan Wheeler were a little shaky, getting one out, but allowing baserunners. Trever Miller and Grant Balfour (making his first appearance since being recalled, and earning his first save) got the final two outs, following Wheeler in the ninth, but the key effort was from JP Howell in the eighth. He came in with a runner on second, and struck out Jim Thome and Carlos Quentin to end the threat.
Thanks to the great effort by the pitchers, the two runs that our hitters put on the board were more than enough. The first scored on a groundout from BJ Upton in the third, and the second on Cliff Floyd's second homer in as many games in the fourth.
That moves us 12-over, at 34-22, still a game ahead of the Red Sox. Tonight, Andy Sonnanstine is on the hill against Mark Buerhle. Sonny needs to put in a good display after two consecutive weak outings - with so many pitchers on good form, and more waiting in the wins, the pressure is on in every start. Its a great situaion to be in!
Our series of ever-decreasing hits continued last night, as we racked up only five against the Sox and Javier Vasquez. To be fair, Chicago only managed four themselves, and our five looked as though they would be plenty, thanks to having number 19 on the mound.
Scott Kazmir continued his fantastic start to the season, throwing 7 innings, allowing only 3 hits and striking out six. With the win, he becomes the first Ray to win five in a month, and moves his record on the season to 5-1 with a 1.22 ERA. In fact, excluding his first, shaky start off the DL, he has pitched to a ridiculous 0.55 ERA. And you know the scary thing? He's still not quite at his best - yesterday he was plagued by foul balls, ramping up his pitch count prematurely. When he really gets his slider going, he's...well, I can't wait.
The last six outs to complete the shutout of Chicago came courtesy of five pitchers in the temporary closer-by-committee. Actually, I somewhat suspect that Joe Maddon would have preferred to use fewer, but both Al Reyes and Dan Wheeler were a little shaky, getting one out, but allowing baserunners. Trever Miller and Grant Balfour (making his first appearance since being recalled, and earning his first save) got the final two outs, following Wheeler in the ninth, but the key effort was from JP Howell in the eighth. He came in with a runner on second, and struck out Jim Thome and Carlos Quentin to end the threat.
Thanks to the great effort by the pitchers, the two runs that our hitters put on the board were more than enough. The first scored on a groundout from BJ Upton in the third, and the second on Cliff Floyd's second homer in as many games in the fourth.
That moves us 12-over, at 34-22, still a game ahead of the Red Sox. Tonight, Andy Sonnanstine is on the hill against Mark Buerhle. Sonny needs to put in a good display after two consecutive weak outings - with so many pitchers on good form, and more waiting in the wins, the pressure is on in every start. Its a great situaion to be in!
Saturday, 31 May 2008
Notta lotta hits
Chicago White Sox 5 - Tampa Bay Rays 1
Chicago White Sox 1 - Tampa Bay Rays 2
7 hits on Thursday and 6 hits yesterday isn't much to show from the first two games against the White Sox, but fortunately, thanks to some battling performances, and the first run scored against the Chicago bullpen in 30 or so innings we did at least manage to win one of the two games.
The White Sox, like they were when we faced them earlier in the season, are a tough opponent. Possibly the toughest we've come up against so far. John Danks pitched a great game on Thursday, with only an RBI-single from Carl Crawford blotting his copybook. Even four stolen bases (three by Jason Bartlett couldn't get the offense going). Edwin Jackson pitched ok - he kept the team in the game for six innings, but certainly wasn't at his best.
It was a similar story last night as well, with James Shields on the hill. Definitely not at his best, Shields did what he has done all year - battled hard, and refused to get bullied. It says volumes that despite needing double plays to get out of big jams in the second and third, he kept fighting, and only gave up a solitary run, a long ball to Alexei Ramirez in the fifth. The double plays were just another demonstration of our great defense, and it when you play great defense, you start getting the breaks in the field as well. Take an AJ Pierzynski pop-up in the fifth. Aki, Bartlett and BJ Upton all drifted towards it, but all of them just stood and watched as it dropped between them. Fortunately, Evan Longoria was awake enough to move across the cover second, so when BJ saw Pierzynski heading that way, he could just pick the ball up and toss it to Evan to get the out.
After Shields left the game, Al Reyes, JP Howell and Dan Wheeler followed with a scoreless inning each, sending the game into the bottom of the ninth tied at 1. Scott Linebrink came in to pitch for the Sox, facing Cliff Floyd leading off for the Rays. He never got to face another hitter, as Floyd deposited the second pitch over the fence in left-centre, for a walk-off homerun, the Rays fifth walk-off win of the year.
It moves us back to 11 games over .500, at 33-22, and keeps the gap over the Red Sox in the East at 1 game. Tonight, looking to keep up the pressure is Scott Kazmir, who faces Javier Vazquez in what I think should be a pretty exciting matchup.
Chicago White Sox 1 - Tampa Bay Rays 2
7 hits on Thursday and 6 hits yesterday isn't much to show from the first two games against the White Sox, but fortunately, thanks to some battling performances, and the first run scored against the Chicago bullpen in 30 or so innings we did at least manage to win one of the two games.
The White Sox, like they were when we faced them earlier in the season, are a tough opponent. Possibly the toughest we've come up against so far. John Danks pitched a great game on Thursday, with only an RBI-single from Carl Crawford blotting his copybook. Even four stolen bases (three by Jason Bartlett couldn't get the offense going). Edwin Jackson pitched ok - he kept the team in the game for six innings, but certainly wasn't at his best.
It was a similar story last night as well, with James Shields on the hill. Definitely not at his best, Shields did what he has done all year - battled hard, and refused to get bullied. It says volumes that despite needing double plays to get out of big jams in the second and third, he kept fighting, and only gave up a solitary run, a long ball to Alexei Ramirez in the fifth. The double plays were just another demonstration of our great defense, and it when you play great defense, you start getting the breaks in the field as well. Take an AJ Pierzynski pop-up in the fifth. Aki, Bartlett and BJ Upton all drifted towards it, but all of them just stood and watched as it dropped between them. Fortunately, Evan Longoria was awake enough to move across the cover second, so when BJ saw Pierzynski heading that way, he could just pick the ball up and toss it to Evan to get the out.
After Shields left the game, Al Reyes, JP Howell and Dan Wheeler followed with a scoreless inning each, sending the game into the bottom of the ninth tied at 1. Scott Linebrink came in to pitch for the Sox, facing Cliff Floyd leading off for the Rays. He never got to face another hitter, as Floyd deposited the second pitch over the fence in left-centre, for a walk-off homerun, the Rays fifth walk-off win of the year.
It moves us back to 11 games over .500, at 33-22, and keeps the gap over the Red Sox in the East at 1 game. Tonight, looking to keep up the pressure is Scott Kazmir, who faces Javier Vazquez in what I think should be a pretty exciting matchup.
Thursday, 3 April 2008
Threw it away
Tampa Bay Rays 6 - Baltimore Orioles 9
Wisely or not, I decided to stay up and watch last night's effort - partly because I wanted to see Matt Garza's debut, but mostly because I'm just plain excited at having baseball to watch again.
By the time that Jonny Gomes popped up to end the game however, I was left with a distinct feeling of deja vu.
If I'm honest, it wasn't the greatest all-round performance by the Rays anyway. Two nicely timed homers (a 3-run Cliff Floyd shot, and a 2-run blast from Carlos Pena) aside, and it was a story of missed opportunities at the plate. Twice we loaded the bases - once failing to score with only one out, and once scoring only once despite having nobody out. You've got to convert in those situations.
That being said, in truth the six runs we did manage looked like they would, and indeed should have been enough. Garza pitched nicely without ever completely getting on top of the Orioles' hitters, and, as often seems to be the case with the Rays, was hurt by the longball - a two-run shot by erstwhile Ray Aubrey Huff being the blow that saw him lifted in the sixth. But with a one-run lead, and Gary Glover and Dan Wheeler shutting down the rally through the seventh, and things seemed ok.
Despite all the changes, we are still the Rays, however. And I was wary of the way things were going from one (non-)decision in the top of the eighth. I suppose that the choice that Joe Maddon had was in a way a question of baseball philosophy. One run up, two innings left, do you want a good hitting outfielder or a good fielding outfielder in the game? Perhaps I'm biased because one of the players in question is Jonny Gomes. But look at the situation. One out, facing a difficult lefty (Jamie Walker), Nathan Haynes coming up. Now Haynes was in the team because left handed hitters beat up on Daniel Cabrera, the O's starter. But now its a lefty - and of Haynes' 48 ML plate appearances before last night, all but two had come against right handers. Which, while far from conclusive does indicate that maybe he's not so good facing the lefty.
So what do you do? Do you pinch hit with Gomes, who hits 70 points better against leftys than rightys, and is actually a much better outfielder than people either realise or give him credit for. Or do you leave in Haynes, which is all but surrendering an out, because he plays superior defense. Now I don't know about you, but I always do whatever I can to go after that insurance run.
Maddon of course saw things the other way, and Haynes struck out rather pathetically on three pitches. And, just to rub salt in the wound, he went on to make an error, misplaying a Huff drive of the wall in the bottom of the inning, ultimately leading to another Baltimore run.
Not that I'm blaming Haynes for the loss. Or Maddon for that matter - although once again he showed his rather worrying habit for leaving a pitcher in when it was clear he didn't have his stuff. The guy in question last night was Al Reyes, who coming into the game in his new setup role, walked the first hitter he faced on 4 pitches. Even watching on TV it was obvious that Reyes just could not find his groove, and by the time there were two men on and Huff was at the plate, the right course of action was pretty clear. Bring on the lefty from the 'pen (we've got two of them this year!) and look for the ground ball double play to escape the inning.
But he didn't, Huff doubled, and by the time the inning was over the O's had turned a 6-5 deficit into a 9-6 win.
If I sound overly frustrated about all that, then its most probably because I'm tired. And I know that its early days, but if the Rays are serious about progressing up the standings, then we absolutely have to be able to close out games when we have a lead going into the home stretch. Especially against teams like the Orioles.
Wisely or not, I decided to stay up and watch last night's effort - partly because I wanted to see Matt Garza's debut, but mostly because I'm just plain excited at having baseball to watch again.
By the time that Jonny Gomes popped up to end the game however, I was left with a distinct feeling of deja vu.
If I'm honest, it wasn't the greatest all-round performance by the Rays anyway. Two nicely timed homers (a 3-run Cliff Floyd shot, and a 2-run blast from Carlos Pena) aside, and it was a story of missed opportunities at the plate. Twice we loaded the bases - once failing to score with only one out, and once scoring only once despite having nobody out. You've got to convert in those situations.
That being said, in truth the six runs we did manage looked like they would, and indeed should have been enough. Garza pitched nicely without ever completely getting on top of the Orioles' hitters, and, as often seems to be the case with the Rays, was hurt by the longball - a two-run shot by erstwhile Ray Aubrey Huff being the blow that saw him lifted in the sixth. But with a one-run lead, and Gary Glover and Dan Wheeler shutting down the rally through the seventh, and things seemed ok.
Despite all the changes, we are still the Rays, however. And I was wary of the way things were going from one (non-)decision in the top of the eighth. I suppose that the choice that Joe Maddon had was in a way a question of baseball philosophy. One run up, two innings left, do you want a good hitting outfielder or a good fielding outfielder in the game? Perhaps I'm biased because one of the players in question is Jonny Gomes. But look at the situation. One out, facing a difficult lefty (Jamie Walker), Nathan Haynes coming up. Now Haynes was in the team because left handed hitters beat up on Daniel Cabrera, the O's starter. But now its a lefty - and of Haynes' 48 ML plate appearances before last night, all but two had come against right handers. Which, while far from conclusive does indicate that maybe he's not so good facing the lefty.
So what do you do? Do you pinch hit with Gomes, who hits 70 points better against leftys than rightys, and is actually a much better outfielder than people either realise or give him credit for. Or do you leave in Haynes, which is all but surrendering an out, because he plays superior defense. Now I don't know about you, but I always do whatever I can to go after that insurance run.
Maddon of course saw things the other way, and Haynes struck out rather pathetically on three pitches. And, just to rub salt in the wound, he went on to make an error, misplaying a Huff drive of the wall in the bottom of the inning, ultimately leading to another Baltimore run.
Not that I'm blaming Haynes for the loss. Or Maddon for that matter - although once again he showed his rather worrying habit for leaving a pitcher in when it was clear he didn't have his stuff. The guy in question last night was Al Reyes, who coming into the game in his new setup role, walked the first hitter he faced on 4 pitches. Even watching on TV it was obvious that Reyes just could not find his groove, and by the time there were two men on and Huff was at the plate, the right course of action was pretty clear. Bring on the lefty from the 'pen (we've got two of them this year!) and look for the ground ball double play to escape the inning.
But he didn't, Huff doubled, and by the time the inning was over the O's had turned a 6-5 deficit into a 9-6 win.
If I sound overly frustrated about all that, then its most probably because I'm tired. And I know that its early days, but if the Rays are serious about progressing up the standings, then we absolutely have to be able to close out games when we have a lead going into the home stretch. Especially against teams like the Orioles.
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