Ryan Brett picked up his first big league hit in the 9th inning.
The GBT - The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe.
Yankees 5, RAYS 3 (boxscore)
THE GOOD: Steven Souza has Rays fans saying ‘Wil who?’ Souza has 10 hits in the last 6 games including 4 multi-hit games, 2 doubles, 3 home runs, and 8 RBI. He is even running wild. His 4 stolen bases are second only to Desmond Jennings (5) in the AL. And he showed on Sunday that he has a cannon for an arm when he nearly nailed the not-slow Jacoby Ellsbury at the plate on a sac fly. In other words, it is early, but Souza is everything the Rays had hoped Wil Myers would be and never was and now we can see why they made the deal…The final score on Saturday was 9-0 which doesn’t reflect how well Jake Odorizzi pitched. That was a 0-0 game in the 6th before things just got out of hand. Odorizzi actually showed some dominating stuff, striking out 9 in 6+ innings…Ryan Brett is the Rays’ 10th rookie on the roster already this year and he picked up his first big league hit in the 9th inning, a well-struck double off the wall in deep left-center.
THE BAD: Desmond Jennings had quite an adventure in the outfield this weekend. On Saturday in a scoreless game in the 6th, Steven Souza tried to make a catch against the wall and then had to chase the ball more than halfway back to the infield because Jennings was nowhere to be found. That made the game 2-0 and the floodgates opened the next inning. On Sunday, Jennings tried to slide for a catch and missed, leading to the Yankees’ 5th run. The Jennings move to center field was never a good one and now the Rays actually have a good center fielder. Jennings needs to be back in left and kept there. If Kevin Kiermaier needs a day off because of a tough lefty or because he is sick (as he was this weekend), fine, put Brandon Guyer out there…Let’s face it, the Rays have 3 starting pitchers right now and until others return all they can do is hope to catch a break or two when the others are starting.
THE TELLING: The Rays are 6-7, tied with the Jays for last in the East, but only 1.5 games behind the O’s and Red Sox…The Rays are back to leading MLB in defensive shifts with 138 entering Sunday’s action. Houston was second with 111 and Blue Jays were third (79)…Chris Archer did not work on short rest Sunday and did not get shelled…More local people are watching the Rays than the Lightning playoff games…Drew Smyly had his 3rd rehab start on Sunday. It is unclear if he will make one more rehab start or rejoin the Rays this week…Jake McGee is expected to start a rehab assignment in the minors this week.
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- John Jaso now not expected back until Mid-May. [TampaBay.com]
- Jeff Passan called the Rays’ potential rotation the “best rotation outside D.C..” [@JeffPassan]
- DOWN ON THE FARM [boxscores] Dylan Floro worked 8 innings on Sunday in the Bulls’ 3-2 loss, giving up just 1 earned run, striking out 3 and walking 1. Mikie Mahtook was 2-4 with a double. Newly acquired JP Arencibia was0-3 with a walk and a strikeout. Hak-Ju Lee went 0-4 with 3 Ks…Drew Smyly struck out 4 but also walked 3 in 3.2 scoreless innings for Montgomery. SS Daniel Robertson went 2-4, one day after going 3-5 with his first home run. Justin O’Conner hit his 3rd home run…Willy Adames was 1-3 with a walk as DH for Charlotte. SS Andrew Velazquez was 3-5.
A fan caught Steven Souza’s home run with his cap and appeared to save a young girl at the same time.
Man, Big Tree got bombarded by teammates during his in-game interview. Brutal.
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6 Comments
please say smiley can start on friday or saturday even if he can only give 4 good ininngs.....
Agreed, Andrise and Erasmo will provide the same result. Might as well see what Smyly is able to do.
I'm a Dykstra fan, and think he may still be a decent player at some point, but it's time for Loney to get back out there, because Dykstra is all or nothing at the plate, and more often that not it's nothing.
Any word on Franklin?
BA has dubbed Sousa "The Scorpion" because of how he wraps the bat around his head like a scorpion's tail, always ready to strike. I can get on board with that nickname.
Might be time for Lee to be packaged into a a trade deal.
Can anyone get ahold of ELo and let him know that it would be greatly beneficial if he could please hit the ball once in a while. Thanks.
Respectfully disagree Cork on your opinion that Guyer is better than Jennings in CF. I believe Jennings is the Rays 2nd best OF.
I used to feel the same way, but what has Jennings shown in the last 2 years to show you that he is anything above average in the OF? His angles aren't always great, he gets a slow jump on balls in front of him, and does not time his slides/jumps well a la KK. I think Guyer is a more fluid fielder- of course DJ is a better all around player as of now though.
Cork: "Let’s face it, the Rays have 3 starting pitchers right now and until others return all they can do is hope to catch a break or two when the others are starting."
angrybuddha: "... and we can't afford blowout losses when the likes of Archer & Oro pitch."