Gabe Gross, acquired early in the season, helped the Devil* Rays to a series win over the AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox with a 10th inning lead-off home run. The homer secured a 4-3 win for the Rays and a 3-1 series win. The Rays finished their longest home stand of the year thus far with a 8-2 record and next visit Boston to keep fighting over first place in the AL East.
Andy Sonnanstine allowed 3 earned runs in six innings. J. P. Howell (4-0) picked up the win in relief.
Showing posts with label J. P. Howell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label J. P. Howell. Show all posts
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Yanks wreak revenge, take last 3 of 4-game series
Ack! Just when I was in gloat mode over the Rays' fine 14-4 walloping of the Yanks in the series opener, the Yankees stormed back to take three straight in dominating fashion, 7-3, 17-5, and (ouch!) 21-4.
I was going to write something about how starting out with a 10-run win made it seem like one of those series where you might want to use some of those runs in one of the other games, but when you lose games by 12 and 17 runs, 10 runs isn't much good. Probably the Yankees are wishing they could apply a few of those 21 to the first game.
The Rays were out of the three games primarily because of pitching. Tampa Bay had more hits than New York in the second game, but a bad inning by reliever Jae Kuk Ryu (1.2 innings, 4 hits, 5 earned runs) gave the Yankees the win when combined with missed offensive opportunities (24 runners left on base compared to 12 for New York).
In the final two games, the Yankees' offense was just too much for the Rays' pitching. Starter J. P. Howell improved modestly on his previous start--a first-inning exit against Boston--as he allowed 7 runs on 10 hits in just 4 innings of work. Building confidence with that type of improvement can be a drawn-out process.
In the finale, Rays' ace James Shields came out flat. When Shields is on, he throws first-pitch strikes. Shields walked the first batter and was never able to regroup.
A tip of the hat to the hated Yankees. Raspberry to follow.
I was going to write something about how starting out with a 10-run win made it seem like one of those series where you might want to use some of those runs in one of the other games, but when you lose games by 12 and 17 runs, 10 runs isn't much good. Probably the Yankees are wishing they could apply a few of those 21 to the first game.
The Rays were out of the three games primarily because of pitching. Tampa Bay had more hits than New York in the second game, but a bad inning by reliever Jae Kuk Ryu (1.2 innings, 4 hits, 5 earned runs) gave the Yankees the win when combined with missed offensive opportunities (24 runners left on base compared to 12 for New York).
In the final two games, the Yankees' offense was just too much for the Rays' pitching. Starter J. P. Howell improved modestly on his previous start--a first-inning exit against Boston--as he allowed 7 runs on 10 hits in just 4 innings of work. Building confidence with that type of improvement can be a drawn-out process.
In the finale, Rays' ace James Shields came out flat. When Shields is on, he throws first-pitch strikes. Shields walked the first batter and was never able to regroup.
A tip of the hat to the hated Yankees. Raspberry to follow.
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Shakeup of starting pitching bears fruit
Pitcher J. P. Howell got the call up from AAA Durham and responded by allowing just one run in eight innings in his 2007 debut for the Devil Rays.
Howell beat the Kansas City Royals 5-1 to salvage one game of a three-game series with the AL Central cellar-dweller.
Starters James Shields (4-0) and Scott Kazmir (3-3) have pitched pretty well, but the other three starting pitchers had combined for a 6-16 record, with Casey Fossum's swollen 7.74 ERA the lowest of the three.
Fossum has been assigned to the bullpen and Jae Seu (8.10 ERA) was designated for assignment at Durham.
Starting pitcher Andy Sonnanstine was also called up from Durham and is scheduled to make his major-league debut on Tuesday against the Toronto Blue Jays and pitcher Roy Halliday.
Sonnanstine had 6 wins and a 2.66 ERA with the Durham Bulls this season.
Many Rays fans have questioned why the club hasn't put more into this year's pitching staff. The club is using a wise plan, however. Small-market clubs need to pick their spots to temporarily balloon the payroll to put a team into the playoffs with a shot at the World Series. The young team has shown an ability to score runs, even with some of its young players going through batting slumps, and the defense makes up for many of its errors of inexperience with superior range. Rookie outfielders Elijah Dukes (4 assists) and Delmon Young (9 assists) have impressed with their arms and their range, for example.
Adding a year or three of maturity to the defense and the pitching should make it worth spending extra money on a couple of players to help put the team over the top.
[Update] I was caught once again by the four-game series where I expected three. James Shields beat the Royals the next day to enable the Rays to split the four-game series.
Howell beat the Kansas City Royals 5-1 to salvage one game of a three-game series with the AL Central cellar-dweller.
Starters James Shields (4-0) and Scott Kazmir (3-3) have pitched pretty well, but the other three starting pitchers had combined for a 6-16 record, with Casey Fossum's swollen 7.74 ERA the lowest of the three.
Fossum has been assigned to the bullpen and Jae Seu (8.10 ERA) was designated for assignment at Durham.
Starting pitcher Andy Sonnanstine was also called up from Durham and is scheduled to make his major-league debut on Tuesday against the Toronto Blue Jays and pitcher Roy Halliday.
Sonnanstine had 6 wins and a 2.66 ERA with the Durham Bulls this season.
Many Rays fans have questioned why the club hasn't put more into this year's pitching staff. The club is using a wise plan, however. Small-market clubs need to pick their spots to temporarily balloon the payroll to put a team into the playoffs with a shot at the World Series. The young team has shown an ability to score runs, even with some of its young players going through batting slumps, and the defense makes up for many of its errors of inexperience with superior range. Rookie outfielders Elijah Dukes (4 assists) and Delmon Young (9 assists) have impressed with their arms and their range, for example.
Adding a year or three of maturity to the defense and the pitching should make it worth spending extra money on a couple of players to help put the team over the top.
[Update] I was caught once again by the four-game series where I expected three. James Shields beat the Royals the next day to enable the Rays to split the four-game series.
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