The Tampa Bay Devil* Rays continued atop the AL East division with a sweep of the Detroit Tigers at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.
The Rays overcame a dominating pitching performance by Armando Galarraga to win in 10 innings. Galarraga allowed just four hits and one earned run in 7.0 innings, but the Rays started hitting once Detroit's bullpen took over the game.
Carlos Pena gets my series MVP award because of solid defense, a key homer in the first game of the series and for drawing a walk in his 10th inning at-bat to salt away the third win over the Tigers. Pena's batting average has continued to gradually creep up toward .250 since the All-Star break after his cold-hitting start.
Showing posts with label Detroit Tigers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Detroit Tigers. Show all posts
Sunday, August 03, 2008
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Rays split 4-game series with Tigers
Thanks to solid pitching by James Shields and Scott Kazmir, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays won the second two of four games with the Detroit Tigers and even won the season series with the defending American League champs, 4-3.
The Rays have a long way to go to finish near .500 for the year, however. A pair of extended losing streaks have put them in a deep hole (44-70), and the pitching staff around Shields and Kazmir has been erratic at best--and the bullpen has been nothing short of horrendous.
The Rays gave up Ty Wigginton and a few minor leaguers to shore up the bullpen. Losing Wigginton from the batting lineup hurt (he was the cleanup hitter for much of this season), but improving the bullpen toward average should help the team tremendously.
If the team can get away from the sloppy defense that has been a trademark over the past month, the second half might look quite respectable.
The Rays have a long way to go to finish near .500 for the year, however. A pair of extended losing streaks have put them in a deep hole (44-70), and the pitching staff around Shields and Kazmir has been erratic at best--and the bullpen has been nothing short of horrendous.
The Rays gave up Ty Wigginton and a few minor leaguers to shore up the bullpen. Losing Wigginton from the batting lineup hurt (he was the cleanup hitter for much of this season), but improving the bullpen toward average should help the team tremendously.
If the team can get away from the sloppy defense that has been a trademark over the past month, the second half might look quite respectable.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Jackson starts, Rays win
The Devil Rays posted their first victory of the 2007 in games started by pitcher Edwin Jackson, defeating the Detroit Tigers in come-from-behind fashion with a two-run single in the bottom of the ninth.
There had been a movement to refer to Jackson simply as "Ed" until he posted a win, but it was a solid start so I'm cutting him a break.
Jackson appeared to be on the ropes in the second inning when the Tigers reeled off four straight hits to take a 2-0 lead. On the fourth hit--still with no outs--Jackson got hit in the face with Carl Crawford's overthrow of home plate. Apparently that woke something in Jackson, as he struck out the next three batters with an impressive mix of fastballs and change-ups. The hard-throwing righty gave up just two earned runs in six innings of work.
During the second inning, a fan caught a foul pop that Aki Iwamura was reaching after. The third-base umpire ruled no interference. Rays' manager Joe Maddon argued the call--and for some reason the fan was ejected.
If the umpire ruled no interference, what could have caused the ejection of the fan, I wonder?
I may be a bit fuzzy on the rules, but to me it looked like Iwamura would not have caught the ball even if the fan had not been there. It looked like it would have missed his glove by 6-10 inches, and the umpire had a good look at the play, alertly moving close to the wall to follow the path of the ball.
I'd prefer for Devil Ray fans to set aside their zeal for souvenirs in favor of letting the home team have a shot an an out, but I don't think this fan affected the outcome of the game even if he should have gotten out of the way to give Iwanura a better shot at the foul ball.
There had been a movement to refer to Jackson simply as "Ed" until he posted a win, but it was a solid start so I'm cutting him a break.
Jackson appeared to be on the ropes in the second inning when the Tigers reeled off four straight hits to take a 2-0 lead. On the fourth hit--still with no outs--Jackson got hit in the face with Carl Crawford's overthrow of home plate. Apparently that woke something in Jackson, as he struck out the next three batters with an impressive mix of fastballs and change-ups. The hard-throwing righty gave up just two earned runs in six innings of work.
During the second inning, a fan caught a foul pop that Aki Iwamura was reaching after. The third-base umpire ruled no interference. Rays' manager Joe Maddon argued the call--and for some reason the fan was ejected.
If the umpire ruled no interference, what could have caused the ejection of the fan, I wonder?
I may be a bit fuzzy on the rules, but to me it looked like Iwamura would not have caught the ball even if the fan had not been there. It looked like it would have missed his glove by 6-10 inches, and the umpire had a good look at the play, alertly moving close to the wall to follow the path of the ball.
I'd prefer for Devil Ray fans to set aside their zeal for souvenirs in favor of letting the home team have a shot an an out, but I don't think this fan affected the outcome of the game even if he should have gotten out of the way to give Iwanura a better shot at the foul ball.
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