He tried to ride to the rescue. He did not save the day, but you have to give Steven Stamkos credit for trying. He was rusty, and he was out of tune. Sitting out for 22 games, since March 31, will do that to a player. It was asking an awful lot of Stamkos to be a difference maker for the Tampa Bay Lightning in less than 12 mintues of play in Game Seven of the Stanley Cup. What it…
At the start, the problem for the Tampa Bay Rays may be closing. The Rays have lost all-star closer Brad Boxberger, whose 41 saves led the American League in 2015. Boxberger had surgery to repair an abdominal muscle injury and will miss eight weeks. That would keep Boxberger sidelined for the season’s first month. The Rays had depended heavily upon Boxberger. They traded away Jake McGee, their other reliever with extensive closing history. Instead, manager Kevin Cash said, the team…
For most players, excellent springs are nice to have. But they aren’t essential. You get a few at-bats. You field a few fly balls. You work on your timing. You fine-tune your conditioning. But for most, it really doesn’t matter if you hit .210 or .340. It’s practice, for goodness sakes. It’s a dress rehearsal. For Desmond Jennings of the Tampa Bay Rays, however, spring is essential. Jennings, the left-fielder for the Rays, has always been a bundle of potential…
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before. Desmond Jennings is ready to play. He’s optimistic about the season. He thinks this will be the year that everything comes together. Won’t it? Jennings, 29, played in only 28 games last year. But general manager Matt Silverman has said that anytime Jennings is on the field, he has a chance to be the best player there. So once again, the Rays are caught between hope and expectations. “Every year, I come…
Two girls were injured, a police cruiser was damaged and five men were arrested in separate celebratory gunfire incidents. According to St. Petersburg Police statements, a 17-year-old girl watching fireworks in a backyard was struck in the leg a bullet falling from the sky just after midnight Thursday. No suspects were identified, but St. Petersburg Police say five men were arrested in separate incidents early Friday after officers were alerted to other reports of celebratory gunfire. Also in St. Petersburg,…
Now that the football is getting good, Tampa Bay Bucs’ defensive tackle Gerald McCoy is hoping that a “small” surgical procedure on his left hand will not slow him down. McCoy, a three-time Pro Bowler who has been slowed much of the season with a bad shoulder, injured his hand during Sunday’s loss to Indianapolis. He hopes to play Sunday against Atlanta. “I had an injury the first half of the game, got it looked at, kept playing – it…
The Tampa Bay Rays, struggling to stay alive in the AL East playoff race, has suffered another blow. Relief pitcher Jake McGee has been diagnosed as having a torn meniscus in his left knee and will miss 6-8 weeks. McGee had made 36 apperarances for the Rays and had 2.57 ERA with six saves. The injury comes at a bad time with Brad Boxberger, the Rays’ other late-inning specialist, in a nosedive. Boxberger has a 3.19 ERA and 29 saves,…
