Steven Souza had a fantastic reaction to losing rock-paper-scissors.
The GBT - The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe.
RAYS 5, Blue Jays 1 (boxscore)
THE GOOD: You can make the argument that Chris Archer is the best pitcher in the American League right now. He is already among the league leaders in several key categories. But if we ignore his first start, which came on short rest, things look even better. In his last 4 starts, Archer has thrown 26.2 innings, allowed 12 hits, 5 walks, struck out 32, and has an ERA of 0.00. The most impressive stat is that 32-to-5 strikeout-to-walk ratio. A good ratio is 3.0. Archer is at 6.4 strikeouts for every walk since Opening Day. That’s nuts. And once again, he relied almost exclusively on his 4-seam fastball and slider with 78 of his 93 pitches being one of those two including 12 of his 13 swing-and-misses And to really add to how awesome he was, consider that he was sick on Sunday, throwing up in the clubhouse between innings…Brandon Guyer drove in 4 with a home run, a sac fly, and a 2-run single. Kevin Cash said Guyer will likely remain in the leadoff spot against lefties…Tim Beckham has only started 9 games and thanks to one great catch and another long fly that bounced off the top of the wall, he is about 6 inches away from having 5 home runs. Only 6 players in the AL have more than 5 home runs…Evan Longoria is 7-7 over the last 2 games and has raised his batting average from .218 to .306. The club record for consecutive hits is 8.
THE BAD: Desmond Jennings did not play on Sunday due to a sore knee. It is the same knee he injured at the end of last season, missing the final month.
THE TELLING: The Rays, Marlins, and Pirates have all won 5 in a row, the longest winning streaks in baseball…The Rays are 11-8 and tied with the Yankees for 1st place in the AL East…Allan Dykstra has survived being DFA’d. He cleared waivers and has been outrighted to triple-A…Alex Colome made another rehab start this weekend with Durham and could join the Rays’ rotation this week…Nick Franklin is expected to start a rehab assignment this week.
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Evan Longoria says he is seeing the ball a lot better now, noting he has “the Little League mentality going right now. I’m just running until I get tagged.” [TampaBay.com]
- DOWN ON THE FARM [boxscores] Alex Colome pitched 6 strong innings in game 1 of the Durham Bulls double-header split. He struck out 6, walked none, and allowed just 1 run. Mikie Mahtook was 2-6 with a double in the 2 games. JP Arencibia was 1-6 with 2 Ks. Hak-Ju Lee went 1-5…Austin Pruitt struck out 6 and gave up just 1 run in 8 innings for Montgomery in their 3-2 win. Daniel Robertson went 0-2 with 2 walks. Richie Shaffer hit his 4th home run, his 3rd in the last 6 games. Justin O’Conner went 0-4 and is hitting .154…3B Pat Blair was activated on Sunday for the first time this season and hit a home run and added a single in Charlotte’s 5-4 loss…Casey Gillaspie was 1-4 and Justin Williams went 1-2 with a walk in Bowling Green’s 6-2 loss.
Great plays by Evan Longoria and James Loney. Even better replay with player reactions.
This no-look throw by Asdrubal Cabrera was nuts.
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You had to believe that Dykstra would clear waivers. He hasn't shown anything that anyone else would want, so he remains organizational depth for us.
Wouldn't it be fun to see Archer throw a no-hitter? His reactions would be priceless.... I think he's got the stuff, but I dunno if he can stretch out to 9 to nail one down...
One other thing on Archer... that first start was on short rest, yes... we know.
But it was also against the Orioles, who've scored the most runs in baseball to date.*
[* standard small sample size disclaimer... still, not completely irrelevant]
It wasn't really short rest, just short days. He didn't throw any more pitches or innings than he otherwise would have in a traditional throwing program.
Man, having Loney back is like getting an extra scoop of ice cream! He made 3-4 plays defensively, and of course his added offensive contributions (a la the HR in his first game back). Huge.
Cork:
What corresponding move do the Rays make when Franklin comes back??
With the way the middle infield is setup right now, Franklin would be sent to AAA I would imagine. For that reason, I suspect the Rays will make his return take as much time as is feasible including a full rehab.
Jake Elmore would seem to be the likely candidate if Franklin fast tracks in rehab. Also seems possible that Dez might land on the 15 Day DL, giving space for Jaso. The moves Cash/Silverman make will be interesting largely due to Beckham's and Forsythe's nice starts. Finally having pleasant problems to deal with is very refreshing.
Good point, but I guess I meant when Jaso AND Franklin are ready... Elmore and ???
Imagine (dream, if you will) if the Rays can win all 3 series against Boston, NY, and Baltimore. If they win 2 of 3 against each they'll be in the driver's seat with a little cushion and on the cusp of having the pitching staff ready to rock and roll... that would be awesome, and beyond our wildest dreams when the season started with 1/4 of the team on the DL.
they'd be 17-11... crazy.
Chris Archer is looking like 1984-5 Dwight Gooden reincarnated.
Quick, somebody tell Chris Rock . . . .
Realistically a team is never as good as it looks on a 5 game win streak, just as its not as bad as it looks getting swept by the Yanks last week.
We all are hoping to get to the elusive mythical team state of 'healthy' which modern teams rarely ever achieve.
One particular problem is that we rely so heavily on the young, baseball pitcher specialists of the travellling team generation, who grew up since age 10 trying to impress a radar gun instead of shooting free throws and playing HS quarterback in the baseball off season.
Tell me Archer, Smiley and Odorizzi, Box etc. were 3 sport lettermen in prep school instead of year round pitchers and I will feel much better about their ability to remain healthy during the Rays control years.
There is no guarantee we will ever have our 5 or 5 of 6 best arms in a rotation for more than a week this year but hopefully the 9 to make 5 recipe will get us through 2015 in good enough shape to win.
Right now the bullpen is very rested which is nice. And Forsythe has filled Zobrists role nicely which is a pleasant surprise.
This team's got "it". Even in short rest.
😀