Just nine days ago, the Tampa Bay Rays were 20 games over .500 and headed for a 118-win season, if only they could keep it up.

If you thought they could, though, you were dreaming.

No team has kept the pace they were on for an entire season. The major-league record for wins in the regular season is 116.

I mention this for a couple of reasons. It illustrates just how well the Rays navigated the first seven weeks, and it also shows this current patch of rough road is not really surprising.

One of the reasons “Moneyball” became popular to the point of cliché in baseball is that it showed that performance really is mathematically predictable. Little more than a week ago – on May 23 – the Rays were 32-12 after beating Houston 10-6. They’ve lost six of eight since then, including a supremely frustrating 3-2 setback Monday night at Toronto.

Click here to read the full article – By JOE HENDERSON of The Tampa Tribune

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Matt Garza allowed one run in eight innings for the Tampa Bay Rays in another sparkling performance against the Baltimore Orioles, and Carl Crawford went 4 for 4 with a homer in a 5-1 victory Monday night.

The game drew 9,129 fans, the smallest crowd in the 19-year history of Camden Yards.

Reid Brignac also homered for the Rays in their first road game of the season.

Felix Pie connected for the Orioles, who fell to 1-6 with their fourth straight loss. Baltimore has scored only three runs in its last three games.

Garza (2-0) gave up six hits, struck out five and walked three in beating the Orioles for the second time this season. The right-hander is 8-1 lifetime against Baltimore, including 5-0 with a 3.00 ERA in six career starts at Camden Yards.

Click here to read the full article – By DAVID GINSBURG of Associated Press

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Because he was pitching against the Blue Jays that day, David Price needed to find someone else to complete his new pregame routine. Price, Tampa Bay’s rookie left-hander and recently appointed lineup card attendee, had to designate someone else to bring the card to the umpires before the day’s first pitch.


Price decided on Wade Davis, his quiet, sharp-eyed, square-jawed fellow rookie starter.

After Davis returned to the dugout, home-plate umpire Mike Estabrook walked to Rays manager Joe Maddon and whispered that he’d never seen anything like it.

“[Davis] didn’t say one word,” Maddon said, laughing in his office after the game.

Such is the deadpan reality of Davis. There are few aspects in baseball he doesn’t take seriously.

As the 24-year-old right-hander has emerged over the course of the past two weeks for Tampa Bay, the seriousness of his pitching ability has also rounded into focus. The fierceness of his breaking ball only matches the looks he gives when squinting over his glove on the mound.


Click here to read the full article – By Zach Schonbrun of MLB.com

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With an off-day on the horizon Monday, the Rays have not set their rotation past Sunday. But don’t expect a lot of change, particularly where the rookie pitchers are concerned.

Currently, the rotation includes rookies Jeff Niemann, Wade Davis and David Price, but Rays manager Joe Maddon doesn’t believe any of them will be shut down before the end of the season.

“We’re OK with all three right now,” Maddon said. “They’re all on the border, on the top side of the borderline, so we can, but we’re not overtly concerned right now.”

Davis has thrown a total of 168 1/3 innings, Niemann 165 2/3, and Price 144.


Click here to read the full article – By Bill Chastain of MLB.com

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A year ago, Carl Crawford was stuck on the disabled list waiting to see whether he would even return for any part of the regular season after surgery on his right hand.


Today, Tampa Bay’s All-Star outfielder would be the first one to tell you about the difference a year makes.

Crawford, a legitimate American League Most Valuable Player candidate, joins teammates Evan Longoria and Jason Bartlett as the Rays’ three candidates for this year’s Hank Aaron Award. Fans can vote starting Wednesday on which player they think should be the finalist for their club.

Click here to read the full article – By Zach Schonbrun of MLB.com

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It’s still only a few months into his rookie season, yet so much has changed for Jeff Niemann since the last time he took the mound in Seattle.

It was late April and a milestone of sorts for the 26-year-old right-hander: his first win of what has been a remarkable first full season. Few thought at the time he’d be the leading American League Rookie of the Year candidate and the Rays’ leader in wins by August.

He’s blossomed from a fringe Spring Training hanger-on into a bona fide rotation stabilizer for Tampa Bay this season, first on the team in wins (10) and ERA (3.65) and third in innings pitched (114 1/3). And Rays manager Joe Maddon has noticed a definitive difference in his demeanor over the past two months.

Click here to read the full article – By Zach Schonbrun of MLB.com

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He’s become an afterthought to history, and Scott Kazmir’s name may very well end up as the answer to a few trivia questions down the road.

It’s the understandable, if not unfortunate, fate of a starting pitcher whose opponent happens to be utterly perfect. Kazmir has resigned himself to the fact that his performance may have been slightly overshadowed. “It didn’t really matter too much what I did,” Kazmir joked. Kazmir’s 14th start of the season will be remembered primarily because he went against Chicago’s Mark Buehrle, who hurled a perfect game against Tampa Bay and muted an otherwise decent outing by the Rays left-hander.

Click here to read the full article – By Zach Schonbrun of MLB.com

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Weary and dehydrated during his last start, Rays lefty Scott Kazmir was forced to leave before he pitched the seventh inning on Saturday against the Royals with a cramp in his lower left forearm.

Oddly enough, Kazmir considered that a good thing. In some small form, it signified, to Kazmir at least, his resurrection as a power pitcher. Instead of throwing 89-90 mph, a disappointing pattern that had developed over the past year because of injuries, he was popping the radar guns in Kansas City at 94-95 mph. And Kazmir’s muscles had about had it.

Click here to read the full article – By Jesse Temple of MLB.com

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World Series champions change. Stadiums change. Stars of the game change. Baseball’s All-Star Game winner is always the same.

On a night to savor defense and relief pitching, Carl Crawford pulled back a home run with a leaping grab an inning before Curtis Granderson tripled and scored the tiebreaking run in the eighth inning. That boosted the American League to a 4-3 victory Tuesday night at new Busch Stadium, its seventh straight win since the All-Star Game has been used to determine home-field advantage for the World Series.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

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