Tag: Tampa Bay Rays (Page 4 of 24)

      Cliff Lee once again shows his mastery in postseason

      October 6, 2010 /
      Texas Rangers starting pitcher Cliff Lee throws against the Tampa Bay Rays in the second during their American League Division Series MLB baseball game in St. Petersburg, Florida October 6, 2010. REUTERS/Scott Audette (UNITED STATES - Tags: SPORT BASEBALL)

      Cliff Lee pitched seven innings of one-run ball on Wednesday as the Rangers beat the Rays 5-1 in Game 1 of the ALDS.

      Lee was outstanding, striking out 10 batters to set a postseason record for the Rangers. He spread out five hits over seven innings and used only 104 pitches to complete his masterpiece today. The only run he allowed came on a Ben Zobrist home run in the seventh inning when the game was essentially out of reach for the Rays.

      David Price’s day didn’t go as well. He surrended five runs (four earned) over 6 2.3 innings, including two in the second. He also gave up a dinger to Nelson Cruz on a 3-0 pitch and had trouble with his off-speed stuff for most of the afternoon. Texas isn’t the lineup you want to face when you can only rely on your fastball.

      The other hero for the Rangers was an unlikely one, as catcher Bengie Molina finished 3-for-4 with a home run and two RBI. Jeff Francouer gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead with an RBI double in the second inning and Molina followed the near home run with a single to right. He added his home run in the fourth to give the Rangers a 4-0 lead.

      Game 2 will be held tomorrow afternoon at 2:37PM ET, as C.J. Wilson will take the hill against Tampa’s James Shields.

      External Sports, MLB

      Longoria and Price call low attendance at Rays’ game “embarrassing”

      September 28, 2010 /
      Tampa Bay Rays' Evan Longoria walks back to the dugout after striking out against the Boston Red Sox during the third inning of their MLB American League baseball game at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts September 6, 2010. REUTERS/Adam Hunger (UNITED STATES - Tags: SPORT BASEBALL)

      Following the Rays’ 4-0 loss to the Orioles on Monday night, third baseman Evan Longoria and David Price said it was embarrassing that Tampa could have clinched a playoff spot and only 12,446 fans (the fourth-smallest crowd of the season at Tropicana Field) would have seen it.

      Longoria’s take, Via the St. Petersburg Times:

      “We go out there and play hard for 162 games,” Longoria said, “and for the fans to show the kind of support they’re showing right now, you kind of wonder what else you have to do as a player.”

      Price said:

      “Had a chance to clinch a post season spot tonight with about 10,000 fans in the stands….embarrassing”

      David Brown of Yahoo! Sports had the best take on this situation that I’ve read so far:

      Jeez, what is it with Tampa Bay athletes who live in glass houses?

      No matter their good intentions, no matter their honesty, no matter if they have reason to be upset — even if they were 1000 percent correct — what Longoria (pictured right) and Price did was a mistake.

      It’s a cardinal rule: You don’t criticize your fan base. It’s stupid. It’s ignorant. It won’t get you what you want. It makes you look entitled, spoiled, narrow-minded and short-sighted.

      The timing was poor, too, after losing 4-0 to the Baltimore Orioles. No matter how well you’re doing — and the Rays are having a great season — nobody wants to hear how bad the attendance was on a night when your team is shut out. It’s an obvious lack of perspective.

      Longoria later said he was “just trying to rally the troops and get more people in here,” which I believe.
      Price already backtracked, saying, “If I offended anyone I apologize” — which is the classic non-apology apology. He’s probably sorry, though, for one reason or another.

      There are many reasons the Rays lag at 22nd overall in attendance. Start with: Bad stadium, bad location of stadium, bad economy. There’s more. It’s all irrelevant to Longoria and Price criticizing the fans.

      It’s just bad policy, scolding people for not paying their own money to watch you.

      Sorry for the long blockquote, but Brown made so many good points that I couldn’t cut it down. He hit a home run with his comments and I couldn’t agree more with everything he said.

      Tampa fans should pack the stadium on a night where the Rays could clinch a playoff spot, but Brown is right when he says there’s nothing to be gained by criticizing your fanbase. It’s in poor taste and imagine how the people feel who did go to the game last night. They spent upwards of $100 to attend a game that the Rays didn’t even show up for and now they have to listen to two of the star players bitch about low attendance.

      Dumb.

      External Sports, MLB

      Mikey’s MLB power rankings

      September 25, 2010 /

      Things have shifted a lot in MLB since I took a hiatus last weekend. Wow, have they ever shifted. The Rockies have now lost 5 in a row and are fading out of the race. The Phillies have won 11 in a row to take over the top spot. The Rays are ahead of the Yankees now in the AL East and the Twins are as hot as the Phils. The Braves are whopping 7 games back of the Phillies now. Damn, this is getting fun.

      1. Philadelphia Phillies (93-61)—Peaking but maybe too soon. Still, when you have Halladay, Oswalt and Hamels, it’s not really fair. And everyone else is getting healthy now.

      2. Tampa Bay Rays (92-61)—They finally overtake the Yanks, but have company up here. Still, they’ve been consistent all year and they have David Price at the top of their rotation.

      3. Minnesota Twins (92-61)—Even without Justin Morneau, this is a very dangerous team. But are they peaking too soon as well?

      4. New York Yankees (92-62)—When I heard the New York sports talk guys being all gloom and doom after a split with the Rays this past week, I didn’t understand it. But when you look at the remaining schedules of both teams, you get it. A loss to Boston last night probably didn’t do much for Yankees fans’ confidence.

      5. San Francisco Giants (87-67)—Making for one of the most compelling pennant races, because the winner will move on while the loser may not even take the wild card.

      6. San Diego Padres (86-67)—Looking back, that long losing streak came at the right time, and the wrong time, at the same time.

      7. Cincinnati Reds (86-68)—The magic number is 3. I wonder if Brandon Phillips will get a Christmas card from the Cardinals’ organization this year.

      8. Atlanta Braves (86-68)—Now trailing in the wild card race by a half-game. This is another compelling race that shouldn’t have been so compelling, but seriously, how do you hold off the Phils and that pitching staff?

      9. Texas Rangers (85-68)—Magic number is 2, will they be the second team to clinch?

      10. Boston Red Sox (85-68)—I don’t think they’ve officially been eliminated yet, but it’s getting very, very late. And what a shame for a team that really is as talented as most of the teams on this Top 10 list.

      External Sports, MLB

      Mikey’s MLB power rankings

      September 4, 2010 /

      The Yankees just keep winning, and suddenly the Padres keep losing, sitting with an 8-game losing streak, but still clinging to a three-game lead over the Giants. We may wind up with very few pennant races, but we are likely to have lots of new match-ups in the postseason this year. For that, I’m excited. And let me go out on a limb here. Watch out for the Rockies. They have this knack for winning 98% of their games in September and climbing fast in the standings.

      1. New York Yankees (85-50)—They haven’t lost since I did my last rankings. The Rays caught up, but then the Yanks jumped back out to a 1.5-game lead. I know I’ve been high on the Rays, but the Yankees ain’t gonna fold. And CC for Cy Young?

      2. Tampa Bay Rays (83-51)—With a 7-game lead in the wild card, that’s got to be what the Rays are gunning for. And they’d have to suffer a major collapse for that to happen at this point.

      3. Cincinnati Red (78-56)—No longer a flash in the pan, the Reds are not just for real, they are striking fear in every other MLB team. How about the addition of Aroldis Chapman? Did anyone thing he would be helping this team in a pennant race in September?

      4. Minnesota Twins (78-57)—The White Sox have Manny Ramirez now, but that won’t stop the Twins from pulling away this month.

      5. Atlanta Braves (78-57)—Hanging tough as the Phillies make a charge. This could be one division race worth biting your nails over.

      6. San Diego Padres (76-57)—Speaking of biting nails, how are you Padres’ fans feeling these days? Yikes.

      7. Texas Rangers (75-59)—Now with a 9-game lead, Nolan Ryan can print those playoff tickets.

      8. Philadelphia Phillies (77-58)—This team has caught fire at the right time, and we all knew they had it in them. One game back, and the Braves could wind up missing the postseason entirely after a great year.

      9. Boston Red Sox (76-58)—A good season, and they’d be in the divisional hunt in every other division but the AL East.

      10. San Francisco Giants (74-61)—With the Padres losing 8 in a row, the Giants have still not been able to capitalize. And now they trail the Phillies by 3 games in the wild card hunt.

      External Sports, MLB

      Mikey’s MLB power rankings

      August 28, 2010 /

      Wow, things are getting wild. The Rays and Yanks are now tied for first in the AL East, and the Red Sox are not going away. The Padres have a commanding 6-game lead. The Braves have lost four straight, but the Phils could not capitalize. The Reds are hot and the Cards are not. The Twins and Rangers have not been hurt by recent mediocre play. So there you have it, and here you have your power rankings….

      1. New York Yankees (78-50)—It was only a matter of time before the Rays caught up, but until Tampa goes ahead in the standings, the Bombers are still the team to beat.

      2. Tampa Bay Rays (78-50)—Joe Maddon’s team sure doesn’t mess around, do they?

      3. San Diego Padres (76-51)—If you keep waiting for the Padres to come back down to earth, you’re going to be waiting until possibly November.

      4. Minnesota Twins (74-55)—Watch out for this team in the postseason. All of a sudden, with Brian Fuentes and Matt Capps, they have a pretty sick bullpen. Joe Nathan who?

      5. Texas Rangers (73-55)—Josh Hamilton has an excellent shot at the triple crown, and this lineup has to send shivers through the collective spine of the Yankees’ pitching staff.

      6. Cincinnati Red (74-54)—Speaking of triple crown, how about Joey Freaking Votto?

      7. Atlanta Braves (73-55)—They can’t sustain losing streaks at this point in the season, but are still hanging tough.

      8. Boston Red Sox (74-55)—In what other division can you be 19 games over .500 and in THIRD place?

      9. Philadelphia Phillies (71-57)—They had their chance to close the gap this past week, and blew it.

      10. San Francisco Giants (71-58)—Lots of talent, but can they put it all together? P.S. What is wrong with Tim Lincecum?

      External Sports, MLB

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