The GBT - The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe.
Yankees 4, RAYS 2 (boxscore)
THE GOOD: Thank goodness the Rays didn’t trade David DeJesus.
Slick ‘n’ slide, @David_DeJesus3. pic.twitter.com/6ybFtxqE5Z
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) April 29, 2015
THE BAD: The offense has been good, but it reared its ugly side on Tuesday. Rays hitters struck out 12 times and walked just 3 times, basically turning 4 mediocre pitchers into an All-Star group. To make matters worse, in four different innings the Rays had runners in scoring position with less than 2 outs and failed to score…Jake Odorizzi just didn’t have it last night. The first inning was ugly and he wasn’t helped by a throwing error. Then there was talk about pulling him in the 5th inning with 2 outs and 2 runners on. But that’s kinda silly. He had just struck out Mark Teixeira and the 2 hits in the inning were ground ball singles. It wasn’t like he was getting pounded or walking the ballpark. He’s one of your top starting pitchers, it’s his job to get out of that inning early in the game and this time he didn’t get it done. The move to be made there was probably intentionally walking McCann, something Kevin Cash took blame for after the game. But even that seems like 20-20 hindsight.
THE TELLING: The Rays activated newly-acquired reliever Xavier Cedeno and have designated Everett Teaford for assignment…Grant Balfour cleared waivers and is now a free agent…Jake McGee pitched 1 inning for Charlotte on his rehab assignment…Tickets for this weekend’s games at The Trop will be $15 on Friday and Sunday and $18 on Saturday. Seating will be general admission. The Rays will wear their road uniforms but will sit in their normal dugout during the game. The Orioles get all of the profits from the game but are also responsible for the expenses. So don’t expect a lot of in-game bells and whistles…The Rays are now 11-10, 2 games behind the Yankees.
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Marc Topkin has more on this weekend’s series being moved to the Trop. [TampaBay.com]
- If you have been following the Yankees closely, you know that their ace, Masahiro Tanaka, has an elbow that is a ticking time bomb. The feeling is that Tommy John surgery is inevitable but nobody knows when. Well, he is on the DL now with forearm soreness. This could just be precautionary, but forearm soreness is often a precursor to needing Tommy John. [NY Times]
- The Rays are one of three teams to show interest in recently DFA’d catcher Jerrod Saltalamacchia. [JonHeyman]
- The Rays players had some safety concerns and appear to be happy that they are not going to Baltimore this weekend. [USA Today]
- DOWN ON THE FARM [boxscores] Scott Diamond allowed just 1 run over 7 innings in Durham’s 3-1 win. Diamond now has a 1.29 ERA in 4 starts. Mikie Mahtook was 2-4 with a walk. Allan Dykstra went 0-3 with a walk. 2B Taylor Motter had a double and 3 stolen bases…Montgomery lost 7-6 in 10 innings. Daniel Robertson had 2 hits including a double and 2 walks. Richie Shaffer had a single in 3 at bats and C Jake DePew hit his 1st home run…Willy Adames was 2-3 with a walk in Charlotte’s 3-1 win…Brent Honeywell continues to dominate at Bowling Green. In his second straight start he struck out 7, walked none, and allowed just 1 hit in 6 shutout innings. In 22.0 innings he has given up just 2 earned runs on 8 hits and 6 walks with 29 strikeouts.
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The Rays kryptonite has always been the ability to throw waves of quality southpaws at the Yanks to neutralize thier lineup (sort of the opposite reason as to why we killed the Jays bats so far) Due to injury thats missing. Scoring 3 runs in 2 games doesn't beat many teams as well.
Hopefully after tonight we will all be smyling.
The White Sox @ Orioles game is the "free game of the day" on MLB.TV. It should be interesting to see what a televised game looks like with no fans in the bleachers.
Does anyone know what "general admission" means for the Rays "away" games at the Trop this weekend? Can you just plop down in any available seat- including those behind home plate? If so, $15 is a steal, even if the overall game presentation will be toned down.
Attention Chico Fernandez and anybody at Rays HQ: since the Rays are wearing road grays all weekend at home, please break out the Columbia Blue with the gray pants on Sunday. It is the sweetest uniform combination -- yet has never been worn.
I like the general admission aspect of the game. Does that mean when the doors open you can rush down to the dugout and get the good seats? Outstanding if that is the way it works.