Once, this was the way Matt Moore used to look. The profile is the same. The motion is the same. And the results were what they used to be. Yep, this is the guy you remember, all right. Moore was his old self Thursday night. Once again, he was the guy who won 17 games. The guy who was an all-star. The guy who looked like he would be a very good thing on the mound for the Tampa Bay…
Better than James Shields. Better than David Price. Better than Alex Cobb. Unfortunately, Chris Archer was not better than the New York Yankees. Archer set a Rays’ strikeout record Wednesday night, punching out seven Yankees to bring his season total to 243. However, Archer also absorbed a 3-1 loss to lower his record to 12-12 on the season. Archer passed former Rays’ pitcher Scott Kazmir, who set the record with 239 in 2007 in a year he finished only 8-7.…
For the Tampa Bay Rays, today is inching in the wrong direction. Where better to look than yesterday and today? The Rays looked to their past and signed first baseman Carlos Pena, one of their most powerful, most strikeout-prone hitters in all their history. Pena, a popular player, hit 163 home runs as a Ray, including 46 in 2007. He was the cause of perhaps the most exaggerated infield shifts ever against the Rays. Pena led the team in homers…
Nick Franklin? You could just imagine the players of the New York Yankees, shaking their heads and saying, “Nick Franklin?” Franklin, who was hitting only .133 in a sputtering season, cranked a two-run homer in the sixth to give the Tampa Bay Rays a lead. The Rays won, 6-3, to break a three-game losing streak. It was a while coming. Franklin, expected to contend for a middle-infield role on this team, had only one home run and only three RBI…
For the optimists, there was Erasmo Ramirez, flirting with history. For the pessimists, there was Brad Boxberger, letting another one slip away. For the realists, there is the ever-daunting problem of trying to get back into the AL wild card race while falling. The Rays are now five games under .500, their lowest point of the season. The New York Yankees put them there Monday night with a 4-1 voctory on a ninth inning comeback. With the Rays one out away from…
The Tampa Bay Rays are moving in the wrong direction. Supposedly interested in the American League’s second wild-card berth, the Rays instead seem to be chasing last place in AL East. The Rays lost a 2-0 decision to the Boston Red Sox Sunday in 13 innings, their 11th consecutive extra inning defeat. The Rays, now within a game of Boston and the AL East cellar, managed only three hits in 13 innings against the Red Sox. Boston, on the other…
According to the original plan, David Ortiz was supposed to be on the bench Saturday night. Instead, he spent the evening circling the bases. Ortiz hit two home runs – his 499th and his 500th – to lead the Boston Red Sox to a 10-4 victory over a Rays team that continues to try to get on a hot streak. Ortiz hit a three-run homer in the first and a solo shot in the fifth for reach his milestone. Ortiz becomes…