The GBT - The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe.
Red Sox 1, RAYS 0 (boxscore)
THE GOOD: Chris Archer had his third straight start without allowing an earned run (I promise not to mention that all of these starts were on normal rest). The 1 unearned run was one of those tough breaks that happens. The Rays entered the game with an AL-low 3 errors. But when Archer appeared to get out of the 3rd with a come-backer double-play, a hard, but fair, slide at second base caused a wild throw and the runner scored from second base on the wild throw. After Archer’s last start we noticed that he was leaning much more on his 4-seam fastball and slider and much less on his 2-seam fastball. Well, on Tuesday night he took it to an even more extreme, with 93 of his 106 pitches (88%) being either the 4-seamer or the slider. And then there was that strikeout of David Ortiz. How great was that?
THE BAD: As good as the offense was to start the season, it has been just as bad recently, getting shutout in 2 of their last 3 games. And much like 2014, the Rays aren’t getting things done with runners with scoring position. They were just 0-1 on Tuesday night but they are 7-54 (.130) over the last 8 games and 0 for their last 16…Ryan Brett injured his shoulder while being picked off first base and is almost certainly going to be the 11th player to go on the disabled list. We are not even 3 weeks into the season…Kevin Cash is now 0-8 on manager’s challenges in his career. That is hard to do…Allan Dykstra was born about 30 years too late. He looks exactly like 90% of first basemen and right fielders from the mid-1980s. And back then most teams didn’t care if their big slugger hit .210 if he could hit 25 home runs.
THE TELLING: The Rays have not yet announced a starter for Friday and they have not announced a 4th rehab start for Drew Smyly. This almost certainly means that the Rays are planning on Smyly starting Friday for the Rays but they wanted to see first how he feels today after yesterday’s bullpen session…Jeff Beliveau’s shoulder injury may be more serious than thought and Jake McGee had his rehab stint delayed by a back stiffness…The Rays have now lost 4 straight and 5 of 6. Even worse, they are 1-6 at home…Game took 2:48, which equals the fastest Rays-Red Sox game of 2014. Last year, 9-inning games between these two teams averaged 3:20 and only 2 came in under 3 hours…New pickup JP Arencibia will catch occasionally at Durham, but will mostly be used as a DH and 1B (per Marc Topkin).
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- This was before last night’s game, but the Rays are at No. 9 in the Fox Sports power rankings with a 50.3% chance of making the playoffs. [FoxSports.com]
- Can Tim Beckham keep up his early success this season? [TampaBay.com]
- It’s early, but the weather isn’t even warm yet and home runs are already on the rise in MLB. [BI Sports]
- DOWN ON THE FARM [boxscores] Alex Colome worked the first 3.1 innings of the Durham Bulls’ 4-2 win, striking out 6, walking 3 and allowing 1 run on a home run. Mikie Mahtook was 0-3 with 2 Ks and a walk. JP Arencibia was the DH and went 2-3, driving in 2…Austin Pruitt allowed just 1 run over 7 innings in Montgomery’s 5-1 win. Daniel Robertson was 1-3 with 2 strikeouts and a walk. Richie Shaffer had 2 hits including his 2nd home run…Willy Adames went 1-5 with 4 strike0uts in Charlotte’s 8-3 win.
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13 Comments
Longoria and Jennings need to step up their games. Both are batting below .200 and Jennings missed a golden opportunity to win this game for his team and grounded out to short (again). Someone needs to be a leader on the field for this Durham Bulls squad. Dykstra is batting .080, so .210 would be a huge improvement.
I know we have a few guys on the DL, but I think Cash is getting a little too cute with the lineup. Guyer leading off? What has he EVER done to deserve that? Forsythe hitting third, Rivera at DH, and Kiermaier on the bench.... That's terrible. Sorry, but it shouldn't surprise anyone that we got shut out again.
^^^^^^^^^^
THIS!
KK has the flu
I'm the biggest Dirtbag fan on the planet, but Longo is screwing the pooch right now. Right now is when a superstar steps up and carries his team through adversity. The Rays need Longoria to play out of his mind while the pitchers are on the mend- instead he's sucking out loud. I know, I know, "he's not getting anything to hit because he has no protection"... hogwash!!
FWIW: Loney makes the scoop at first and that unearned run never happens.
Personally, I am not worried about any player not hitting for average.
They will come around, some time after the die is cast for the season. But by then...
Kudos to De Jesus, Souza, Forsythe, Kiermaier...
Arencibia is probably a better big league hitter than more than a few of the guys currently in the lineup.
This April is looking liking many feared in would. Longoria must dig down and carry them for a stretch.
Funny, I was thinking of Arencibia as soon as Brett went down.
At least the guys getting hurt now are guys I've never heard of.
Then you're not following things too closely.
Why is assumed that Jennings is a middle of the lineup bat? I understand that we are short on options but he has never shown any consistency or really the potential to be any kind of protection for Longoria. He's been a liability in center and underwhelming with the bat. Would anyone be disappointed if we were to lose him, would any one notice? Maybe instead of shopping DeJesus this off season we could have gotten something in return for DJ. Thoughts?
Not saying I love Jennings hitting 5th but who do they have who is better?
I know generally it would be Loney, who isn't all the terrifying a hitter either, but whether he is hitting 2, 3 or 6 he just has never been the hitter we though he was going to be but his name never comes up with trade rumors. I'm just curious as to the loyalty the team has in him.