The Tampa Bay Rays have only one game remaining in their brutal 8-game road trip. Thursday night’s game in Houston will determine whether they break even or finish at 3-5.
The Rays will enjoy an off day on Thursday after traveling back from the Pacific Time Zone. Their most recent road trip ended on a couple of sour notes, but there is plenty to be pleased about. Tampa Bay lost the final game in Oakland on Wednesday, Jake Faria lost his first game as a Rays starter, and Steven Souza, Jr. suffered a hip injury. But the good far outweighs the bad.
Seattle’s Robinson Cano hit a leadoff home run in the 10th inning off Wade Davis of the Chicago Cubs, and the American League topped the National League 2-1 in the All-Star Game on Tuesday night. It was the first extra-inning home run in an All-Star Game since Tony Perez hit one exactly 50 years ago – July 11, 1967. Perez threw out one of the ceremonial first pitches before Tuesday’s game.
Aaron Judge dominated the All-Star Home Run Derby in the same manner he has smashed his way through his rookie season. The larger-than-life New York Yankees slugger beat Minnesota’s Miguel Sano 11-10 with two minutes to spare in the final Monday night, reaching 513 feet and displaying remarkable power to all fields. Judge, 6-foot-7 and 282 pounds, sprayed balls off the glass behind left field that supports the Marlins Park retractable roof, hit one over the Red Grooms home run…
With the Major League Baseball All-Star Game coming to Florida for the first time, a large number of the All-Stars will be returning to their home state. During Tuesday night’s game at Marlins Park in Miami, 9 Floridians, including one of the starting pitchers, will be joining the game’s best. Left hander Chris Sale of the Boston Red Sox and the starting pitcher for the American League, is a native of Lakeland and a graduate of Lakeland High School. He…
Tampa Bay Rays designated hitter Corey Dickerson has been voted into the American League starting lineup for this year’s All-Star Game. He will join baseball’s best in Miami on July 11. Dickerson trailed Seattle’s Nelson Cruz since balloting began a month ago, but came on strong to take a 60,000-vote lead when Major League Baseball announced the final update this week. Balloting closed on Thursday night, and the entire team was announced Sunday. Dickerson is having the best season of…
The late Pete Rozelle was known to strive for “parity” during his days as NFL Commissioner. Perhaps the first 26 games of the Buccaneers’ franchise, when they went 0-26, influenced his mindset. Rozelle and the NFL tweaked schedules to help more teams reach 8-8 and make it harder for teams to regularly go 14-2. While the elite teams mostly remained elite for a reason, the end result saw most teams in the playoff hunt as the seasons reached their final…
