Tagged: Cliff Floyd
ALCS game 2 – …But they get up again
The old football (soccer!) cliche says that it’s a game of two halves. Judging by game 2, baseball may need to adopt it as well.
The game was almost ridiculous in its pattern. So much so that I don’t really know where to start. I guess the best thing is to start at the beginning, but you have to understand that by the time the game finished, 5 hours and 27 minutes after Scott Kazmir threw the first pitch, I was already struggling to remember back to that first inning. A (sleep-deprived) day and a half later, and I’m still not that much clearer. But start at the beginning I shall.
Top of the First. 2-0 Red Sox.
Scotty K actually got off to an encouraging start. Unfortunately for him, the Red Sox had an at-bat with 2 outs…
You can read the rest of this entry, along with my thoughts on game 1, HERE at RAP’s new home.
Not the answer you might expect
The question? You have two pitching duels, AJ Burnett against James Shields, and Roy Halladay against Matt Garza. Who is going to come out on top?
I’m betting most people would pick the Jays’ hurlers to get the better of things nine times out of ten. Well, not this week. This week, two out of two have gone to the Rays.
Friday night, it was James Shields on the hill, looking to end our 7-game losing skid, and get the second half off to a good start. And boy did he ever do it…
And Sonny makes 10
As it turns out, Zack Grienke is a pretty good pitcher indeed. Not quite good enough to stop the rolling Rays, however.
From a offensive show friday night, we moved to a pitching spectacular last night, with probably the rotation’s biggest surprise this year, Andy Sonnanstine, on the hill. I don’t think Sonny would be offended if I were to say that he was the least of the Rays’ five, in terms of pure natural ability. But he does have something really very special. A knack of getting the job done…
Net lag: Gold Gloves all round
Wow.
What a play that was.
So, last night I just about managed to watch the whole of Tuesday night’s series opener against the Cubs, and boy am I glad I did. It was a truly fantastic game of baseball that had just about everything. I mean, the first eight innings were entertaining enough, but the top of the ninth… Wow, just wow.
Scott Kazmir got the start, and was pitching pretty well – he didn’t allow a hit through the first four innings, but was throwing a lot of pitches. By the time he came out for the fifth, the Rays were 1-0 up thanks to a Cliff Floyd homerun. Unfortunately, Kaz couldn’t get out of the inning, allowing three hits and a run, and leaving with two outs and the bases loaded, having thrown 110 pitches on the night.
Thats ok, here come the cavalry. Grant Balfour, who has been solid since getting called up…
Maybe hits are overrated anyway…
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…
Notta lotta hits
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…
Net lag: Another series win
Just a quick note on games 2 and 3 of the Rangers series, as I was rather doing other things while I had the two games on, and while Tuesday’s loss was very disappointing, Wednesday’s was extrememly encouraging.
On Tuesday, Andy Sonnanstine made his second poor start in a row, giving up 7 runs…
Two from the Jays, and an Angels sweep
What is it, a week since I last wrote something? Well, while I basically haven’t seen the Rays play in that time, we have, I think it is fair to say, had a good week.
It started with the Rays taking two of three up in Toronto, the third game a 13-inning spectacular that, despite Troy Percival blowing his first save of the season, saw the players keep on battling, finally being rewarded with the win thanks largely to a grand-slam from Dioner Navarro…
And more…
So now we can add Cliff Floyd to the Disabled List. But of course. That makes it 8 players on the DL, including our starting catcher, DH, and two of the top three in our rotation. Not good.
In Floyd’s absence, we lost 7-1 to the Mariners last night in a game that I didn’t watch any of. Prospect Justin Ruggiano made the start in right field, having been called up to replace Floyd…
Series split, now back to the Trop
This entry can also be read at RAP’s new home, HERE
For the first time this year, I didn’t watch the Rays last night (snapping an impressive 5-game watching streak, which may well turn out to be my longest of the year!). I had intended to watch some at work today, but the computers here disagree with Windows Media Player, so I shall just have to catch the highlights when I get home.
Not that there were that many highlights to be honest. Three hits, one of which was a Jonny Gomes homer. And that was it. Jason Hammel looks like he did ok, but unless he can really break out soon, I’ve got to believe that he will be departing the Rays (either to the minors or elsewhere via waivers) when Kaz is ready to return.
So a 2-2 split of the series at Yankee Stadium, and a 3-3 road trip to open the year. Not bad, but I think that the players are a bit disappointed not to be returning home with a winning record. Which is a very encouraging sign indeed.
Bad news, which considering my entry yesterday will come as no surprise, is that Cliff Floyd was a late scratch from yesterday’s game with a sore knee. No word yet on how serious, but hopefully it isn’t too bad. Elsewhere, Ben Zobrist has also had a setback in his return from a broken thumb, and it will likely be at least another 3 weeks before he is ready to rejoin the team.
Today’s home opener will see Matt Garza go up against Eric Bedard and the Seattle Mariners. Ordinarily I would be very positive going into this game, but looking at the numbers that some of our players have put up against Bedard in the past, and well… Lets just say that I’m holding out hope that sometimes stats don’t mean anything!
Rays from across the Pond 