The Rays won both series this week finishing with a record of 4-2 and have moved into a tie with the Baltimore Orioles in the AL East with a record of 29-19. The Rays have kept their head above water despite having 10 players on the disabled list. The Rays have a record of 14-11 since Evan Longoria went down and 10-9 since Desmond Jennings joined him.

Being in first place on Memorial Day is a old school barometer of playoff success. Since the three division format with the wild card was instituted approximately 60% (56 of 97) of teams in first place on Memorial Day went on to appear in the post-season. It's not a very significant statistic but nevertheless it is a fun item to bring up while grilling with family and friends. According to Coolstandings.com the Rays have a 56.7% chance at making the playoffs (not to far off of the laymen Memorial Day odds) and Baseball Prospectus playoff odds have the Rays at an even better 68.1%.

Upcoming Schedule:

The Rays take on the White Sox for three games beginning today and enjoy a stay at home day off before welcoming the Baltimore Orioles for a three game series.

AL East Upcoming Schedules:

The Baltimore Orioles will travel to Toronto to take on the Blue Jays for three games prior to going to St. Petersburg to take on the Ray in a weekend series.

The New York Yankees will finish their west coast trip with three game against the Los Angeles Angels before heading back east for a weekend series against the Detroit Tigers.

The Boston Red Sox will travel to Detroit for a four game series against the Tigers before heading to Toronto for a weekend series against the Blue Jays.

The Toronto Blue Jays will host the Baltimore Orioles for three games and host the Boston Red Sox for a weekend series.

Transactions:

May 21, 2012: Traded a player to be named later or cash to the Pittsburgh Pirates for infielder Drew Sutton and placed Jeff Keppinger on the 15-day disabled list. To make room for Sutton on the 40 man roster pitcher John Gaub was designated for assigment.

May 24, 2012: Pitcher John Gaub was claimed on waivers by the Texas Rangers.

Injury Updates:

via: Tampa Bay Rays Game Notes

Desmond Jennings is expected to start an rehab assignment mid-week and may be activated as soon as next weekend.

Evan Longoria may be back for the Mets series June 12 through June 14th.

Brandon Allen and Jose Lobaton are both eligible to come off the disabled list and are currently on rehab assignments. Entering Sunday Brandon Allen had played 8 games for Port Charlotte and was hitting .207/.361/.379 with 9K/7BB and Jose Lobaton has played 9 games between Charlotte, Montgomery, and Durham and was hitting .067/.176/.100 with 7K/4BB.

Rays News:

The Rays had another themed road trip. This one was the Ken Rosenthal/Nerd trip and donated $3,000 ($100 for each bow tie) to Dhani Jones charity bowtiecause.org to be spread out over 18 different organizations.

via www.tampabay.com

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One mistake pitch changes the entire tone of a game. The stories had already been written and were just waiting to be finalized before being sent for final editing. The Rays were going to lose their second 1-run game and the series to the Red Sox, the Rays offense was going to suffer another loss where they mustered only 2-runs, the Red Sox were going to move to above .500 for the first time on the year, but then Sean Rodriguez came to the plate and worked the count to his favor before hitting a 2-run homer out of Fenway Park to give the Rays a 4-3 lead and force the writers back to their computers to rewrite their stories.

The story could write itself after Sean-Rods homer. Fernando Rodney, less than 24 hours after giving up the walkoff homer to Jarrod Saltalamacchia, enters the game to save a 1-run lead and his first batter - Jarrod Saltalamacchia. After serving him a steady diet of fastballs in their first two encounters of the season Rodney doubled up on the changeup and got Saltalamacchia to ground out to short. After Nick Punto grounded out to second for the second out Rodney struck out Daniel Nava to earn his 16th save of the year.

The Rays victory improves their record to 29-19 and into a tie for first place with the Baltimore Orioles who lost to the Kansas City Royals. The Red Sox were trying to get above the .500 mark for the first time on the year but see their record drop to 23-24 and they remain in the cellar of the AL East.

Sean Rodriguez on the Rays:

"There wasn't a guy in here that doubted we couldn't come back and win tonight. That's just the attitude of this team," Rodriguez said. "Everybody thought we still had a chance -- that's the one thing we do well here. As long as there's still a few outs on the board, we feel like we can still win." -mlb.com

Joe Maddon:

"We know exactly how [the Red Sox] feel today based on last night," said manager Joe Maddon-mlb.com

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Finally an off day and a chance to reflect on the season so far before heading to Boston to take on the Red Sox. The question bouncing around my head after Wednesday's Rays game was whether or not it was time to take a look at Jake McGee in a more consistent role as the 8th inning guy. Allow him to be called on to hand the ball to Fernando Rodney and move Joel Peralta into the 6th/7th inning mix with Wade Davis, Burke Badenhop, J.P. Howell, and Cesar Ramos.

While Joe Maddon does not like the closer label it has not stopped him from putting Rafael Soriano, Kyle Farnsworth, and Fernando Rodney into the closers role and building his bullpen from there. He has also preferred over the last few seasons is to have a dedicated eighth inning go to reliever. Joaquin Benoit filled the role in 2010 and Joel Peralta filled the role in 2011 and 2012.

Peralta was magnificent in his role last season appearing in 71 games, 36 of those appearances began in the eighth inning, and worked 67.2 innings striking out 61 and issuing only 15 non-intentional walks. He allowed 7 home runs which translated into a HR/9 rate of 0.90 which was slightly below the AL average for relief pitchers of 0.92. He was a very trusted reliever allowing only 26% (9 of 35) inherited runners to score and after Kyle Farnsworth's elbow put him out of action Maddon turned to him to work the 9th inning as the season rumbled on to a magical finish.

This season he has been called on to work in more games than any other relief pitcher in the AL (24) and 17 of those appearances have been in the 8th inning. He has worked 19.1 innings and has struck out 23 hitters while issuing only 6 walk. His only blemish has been the home run ball which he has served up 5 home runs which translates to a HR/9 rate of 2.3 which is far above the AL average of 0.95 (It should be noted that Peralta's HR/FB% is an unsustainable 21.7%). He has also allowed 44% (8 of 18) of his inherited runners to score. Which brings us to Jake McGee.

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The Rays offense struggled this week scoring three runs or less in four of the weeks seven games including being shut out on Sunday yet still finished the week with a winning record of 4-3. The Rays finish the week in 2nd place in the AL East with a record of 25-17 which is still good for the 3rd best record in the AL.

The Rays head into next week looking for a more consistent offense. On the bright side is B.J. Upton who is 7 for 14 in his last 4 games, Sean Rodriguez who has hit .306 with 7 extra base hits since May 1st, and Elliot Johnson who is hitting .321 (17 for 53) since beginning to receive regular play on May 5th will continue to hit. On the downside has been Carlos Pena who is hitting .121 (8 for 66) with 1 HR and 5 RBI in May and Luke Scott .184 (14 for 76) with 15 strikeouts and 4 walks.

The injuries continue to mount for the Rays who lost Jeff Niemann to a broken fibula earlier in the week and may have lost Jeff Keppinger as he was hit in the foot by a foul ball while in the Rays dugout and his status is uncertain. Following Niemann's injury Joe Maddon put it perfectly when he told reports "It's pouring right now, but we've got the umbrellas up, we're doing OK.

Upcoming Schedule:

The Rays will finish the current homestand with three games against the Blue Jays. After playing 16 straight days the Rays will enjoy an off day on Thursday before heading to Boston to take on the Red Sox in a weekend series.

Jeremy Hellickson vs Kyle Drabek

Matt Moore vs Drew Hutchinson

James Shields vs Ricky Romero

David Price vs Jon Lester

Alex Cobb vs Josh Beckett

David Price vs Clay Buchholz

AL East Upcoming Schedules:

The Baltimore Orioles will be at home all week and take on the Boston Red Sox for three games and the Kansas City Royals for three.

The New York Yankees will be at home for three games against the Kansas City Royals before heading out west to take on the Oakland A's.

The Boston Red Sox will be in Baltimore to take on the Orioles for three games before returning home to host a three game series against the Rays.

The Toronto Blue Jays will be in St. Pete for a three game series against the Rays before travelling to Texas to take on the Rangers in a weekend series.

Transactions:

May 14, 2012: Place Desmond Jennings on the 15-day disabled list (retroactive to May 12, 2012) with a left knees strain and recalled Steven Vogt from AAA Durham.

May 15, 2012: Placed Jeff Niemann on the 15-day disabled list with a fractured right fibula and recalled pitcher Josh Lueke from AAA Durham.

May 16, 2012: Signed IF Ryan Garko to a minor league contract.

May 16, 2012; Acquired Rich Thompson from the Philadelphia Phillies for Kyle Hudson.

May 16, 2012: Placed Brandon Guyer on the 15-day disabled list (retroactive to May 13, 2012) with a left shoulder strains.

May 16, 2012: Transferred Jeff Niemann from the 15-day disabled list to the 60-day disabled list and

May 19, 2012: Recalled pitcher Alex Cobb from AAA Durham and optioned pitcher Josh Lueke to AAA Durham.

Injury Updates:

Brandon Allen began his rehab assignment with the Charlotte Stone Crabs and on Saturday played an entire game in LF and went 2-4 with a walk and a run scored. Through Saturday he has had played in 3 games for the Stone Crabs and hit .273/.429/.636 with a double and home run in 14 plate appearances.

Jose Lobaton has been on the disabled list since April 15, 2012 due to a sore shoulder. Through Saturday he had appeared in 5 games total (2 in Port Charlotte and 3 in Montgomery) and has 1 hit in 17 plate appearances.

Kyle Farnsworth is throwing at 60 feet on flat ground and long tossing as he makes his way back from a strained elbow. If he has no setbacks he'll begin throwing off the mound this week.

Desmond Jennings has been hitting and throwing and is scheduled to return on or very close to May 27, 2012. Joe Maddon hasn't determined if he will require any minor league plate appearances or not.

Evan Longoria has increased his agility work on the infield and has been taking batting practice. He has told Joe Maddon that he feels good.

Rays News:

Through Saturday Hideki Matsui has hit .11/.158/.167 in 21 plate appearances but Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports that Matsui may join the Rays as soon as this weekend in Boston.

What does Sternfan have to say?

G'morning Rays fans

This week saw our Rays play to a winning mark of 4-3, with games against the Jays, Red Sox and Braves. The pitching was again outstanding except for James Shields and his second straight uninspired start. Alex Cobb came in to take Jeff Niemann's turn and actually turned it up a notch, going 7 IP with just 2 ER allowed in the only win we had versus Atlanta

The problem continues to be scoring runs as we saw our Rays get shut out for the first time yesterday. With Evan Longoria and Desmond Jennings sidelined it's imperative we get Luke Scott and Carlos Pena out of what now seems like prolonged slumps. Players like Will Rhymes, Elliot Johnson and Jeff Keppinger are nice complimentary players but they're not going to carry an offense.

The rumor mill says we might bring Godzilla up this week. Hideki Matsui with some pop left in his bat might put some oomph into this offense.

This week it's two series with ALE foes Jays (here) and Red Sox (there) with our first day off in ages on Thursday in between.

As Always Go Rays!!

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The Rays were shut out 15 times in 2011 and until today had been able to avoid the doughnut in 2012 as Tim Hudson improved his record to 3-1 and the Braves defeated the Rays 2-0. David Price, who entering today's game had received the highest run support per nine innings of any Rays starter (6.19), was the tough luck loser on the day dropping his record to 6-2.

The Braves jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a David Ross solo homer in the third inning and extended the lead to 2-0 in the sixth inning. With 1-out in the sixth Freddie Freeman singled and moved to second on a Jose Molina passed ball and came in to score on a 2-out RBI single by Jason Heyward.

The Rays had opportunities to score leaving the bases loaded in the 6th and 8th innings and stranding Sean Rodriguez at 3rd in the 7th inning. Carlos Pena flew out with the bases loaded in the sixth on a ball that was hit solidly to straight away center. The Rays were the victim of a bad break when a ground ball off the bat of Luke Scott which appeared ticketed to right field to tie the game hit Carlos Pena to end the rally.

David Price worked 7 innings for the 4th consecutive start giving up 2R/1ER on 6 hits while striking out seven and walking three. Burke Badenhop and Jake McGee worked a scoreless 8th and 9th inning to keep the game close. The Rays drop to 25-17 and remain 2-games behind the Baltimore Orioles in the AL East.

Sam Fuld was in the broadcast booth during today's SunSports telecast to assist in an intro to sabermetrics. Topics discussed included OPS, UZR, Catchers Framing Pitches, WAR, FIP, Clutch Ability, and Team Chemistry. There wasn't a great deal of action in today's game so for those who watched the game:

• Did you enjoy the sabermetric angle?
• Did you feel the Staats and Anderson were open to the ideas discussed by Sam Fuld?
• Did you feel that any of the concepts were explained poorly or could have been presented better?
• Did you see more positive or negative response concerning the broadcast in your twitter timeline?
• What was the #1 complaint observed about the broadcast?

I am a huge fan of the art of managing a major league team. Specifically, I am a huge fan of Joe Maddon and how he operates day in and day out. As we read in Jonah Keri's The Extra 2%, Joe Maddon came to Tampa from the Angels with a theory of how baseball should be played. He was brought to St. Petersburg for that purpose - to teach and guide the young players through the development phase and turn them into fundamentally sound major league players.

Recently I came across an article over at Through The Fence Baseball titled Why baseball managers are overrated. Although, for the most part I agree with the premise that managers who are given talent are going to be more successful than managers who don't and that a manager without talent is not going to suddenly compete because of the moves the makes but I don't agree with the following:

For all the talk about how managers change the culture of a franchise or how they handle the media or how great their clubhouse is and how they interact with the players … I have a little secret: It doesn’t matter. Baseball players are creatures of habit who are incredibly routine oriented. While some players may love, hate, or even be indifferent to their manager, it does not affect their performance on a day-in-day-out basis. The whole idea of a great baseball manager is a perception which is not rooted in reality.

The article cites Buck Showalter with the Yankees and after his dismissal the hiring of Joe Torre. The author of the article suggests the Yankees probably would have won the titles with Showalter anyways. Kirk Gibson is given a lot of credit for the turnaround of the Diamondbacks but the author suggest it was the performances of Justin Upton, Ryan Roberst, Ian Kennedy, Daniel Hudson, and the bullpen that deserve the credit. Art Howe is mentioned as a guy that left a winning team in Oakland and suddenly forgot how to manage.

We can play this game forever with guys that failed in one organization and succeeded in another The end result more often then not is that a manger does succeed if his players don't succeed. But the part of the equation that seems to be left out in the argument is managers who put players in the best position to succeed, maximize their teams chances of winning based on the personnel at their disposal, developing a strategy to limit the other teams effectiveness, and keeping a team united against any and all obstacles.

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WOW. What a reaction last night by Brett Lawrie on the called third strike by umpire Bill Miller. Probably certain to give him a lengthy suspension and a fine. Through the years umpires and players/coaches have been at odds with each other at all levels of baseball. Lawrie now joins the club of great blowup and below are a few of the more notable ones (The Wally Backman Ejection Has Great Audio [explicit language]):

The Rays lost both series they played this week in finishing the week with a 2-4 record and currently are one game behind the Baltimore Orioles in the AL East with a record of 21-14. The loss of Desmond Jennings on top of the absence of Evan Longoria has certainly had a negative impact on the teams ability to score although they have certainly had their opportunities to score but until Sunday's game have really failed to capitalize. After the errors on Saturday evening Joe Maddon said what can be best applied to the way the Rays have played over the last week plus of games:

"There's that fine line between winning and losing," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "Now we're doing the things that are permitting us to lose, or causing us to lose. Where we were doing things that were permitting us to win prior to this, we weren't making the same mistakes." - mlb.com

Interleague Coming:

This is the first segment of the 2012 Interleague schedule and each team will play a weekend series. Below are the matchups for next weekend.

• Rays will host the Atlanta Braves,
• Orioles will travel to play the Washington Nationals,
• Yankees will host the Cincinnati Reds,
• Blue Jays will host the New York Mets
• Red Sox will travel to play the Philadelphia Phillies

Upcoming Schedule:

The Rays will travel to Toronto for two games to finish off the current eight game road trip before returning to Tropicana Field to take on the Boston Red Sox for two and the Atlanta Braves for three.

Monday: Jeff Niemann vs Brandon Morrow

Tuesday: David Price vs Henderson Alvarez

Wednesday: Jeremy Hellickson vs Clay Buchholz

Thursday: Matt Moore vs Felix Doubront

Friday: James Shields vs Tommy Hanson

Saturday: Jeff Niemann vs Randall Delgado

Sunday: David Price vs Tim Hudson

AL East Upcoming Schedules:

The Baltimore Orioles host the New York Yankees for two games then travel to Kansas City to take on the Royals for two games and continue on the road for a weekend series with the Nationals.

The New York Yankees will travel to Baltimore to take on the Orioles for two games before heading to Toronto for a two game series with the Blue Jays then head home for a weekend series with the Reds.

The Blue Jays will host the Rays for two games, the Yankees for two games, and the New York Mets for the weekend.

The Red Sox will host the Seattle Mariners for two games before travelling to St. Petersburg for two games against the Rays and then on to Philadelphia for a weekend series with the Phillies.

Transactions:

May 9, 2012 - Placed IF Jeff Keppinger on the restricted list and recalled outfielder Brandon Guyer.

May 10, 2012 - Activated Jeff Keppinger from the restricted list and placed OF/1b/DH Brandon Allen on the 15-day disabled list.

Rays News:

Hideki Matsui has completed his time in extended spring training and he will join the club on the upcoming trip to Toronto to get his travelling visa paperwork completed. He may be able to report to Durham either Tuesday or Wednesday. The Rays have said that the trip to Durham is not on a timetable of any kind.

What Does SF1 Have To Say:

G'morning Rays fans

This week saw our Rays take it on the chin in two road series versus ALE foes in New York and Baltimore, knocking us out of first place.

The Cap'n Obvious in me is we're not scoring runs, but why not? In most of these games the opportunities to score are there, but the old GTMI isn't. Yesterday finally saw the bats come alive and we scored nine runs, seven without the aid of the HR which was great to see.

If Desmond Jennings goes on the DL our line up really becomes weak versus LHP and that could pose a problem. Hurry back DJ and Longo.

The late inning HR allowed by the pen in four of these games has also been very discouraging and hopefully that ends.

It's off to Toronto and then home to the surging Bosox, before the first inter-league games versus Atlanta

Let's stay healthy and as always

Go Rays!

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The upstart Orioles continued to pressure the Rays all the way up til the final out of the game as the Rays held on to a eke out a 9-8 victory. With the victory the Rays ended a three game losing streak and improved their record to 21-14 and they trail the Orioles by one game in the AL East. James Shields improved his record to 6-1 and Fernando Rodney earned his 10th save on the year.

The Rays built a 7-1 lead and James Shields was cruising along into the 7th inning but hit some turbulence with his command and was a victim of some poor defense behind him. Overall he worked 6.1 innings giving up 6R/4ER on seven hits while striking out six and walking two. The Orioles had cut the lead to 7-4 with three runs in the bottom of the sixth and knocked Shields out of the game with one out in the bottom of the seventh.

Shields left the game with two on and one out but both base runners should have been retired on a botched routine double play ball to Will Rhymes at second. Burke Badenhop came in and got a groundball back to the mound but J.J. Hardy beat the throw back to first to extend the inning for Nick Markakis who hit a two run double off Jake McGee to cut the score to 7-6.

The Rays knocked Orioles starter Jake Arrieta out of the game after 3.2 innings. He allowed 7R/7ER on 10 hits while striking out six and walking two. For the third game in a row the Orioles bullpen shut the Rays down until the top of the 8th inning when Elliot Johnson and Ben Zobrist hit back to back homers off Troy Patton. The homers extended the Rays lead to 9-6.

The Orioles still would not go away. In the bottom of the eighth Nick Johnson came to the plate to face Joel Peralta and once again Johnson homered to cut the lead to 9-7. The game moved into the bottom of the ninth and Fernando Rodney came in to close the door. He gave up a leadoff single to Ryan Flaherty before striking out Wilson Betemit for the first out. Sean Rodriguez made a diving stop on a sharply hit groundball off the bat of J.J. Hardy and from his knees he threw to second for the second out of the inning.

Rodney walked Nick Markakis to bring the wining run in Adam Jones to the plate. Jones hit a Baltimore chop off the dirt in front of home plate and Sean Rodriguez charged the ball and while sliding threw the ball to Carlos Pena who had it glance off the glove. The ball trickled down the right field line to score J.J Hardy to cut the lead to 9-8 and put runners at 2nd and 3rd for Matt Wieters who grounded out to Sean Rodriguez to secure the 9-8 victory.

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The Rays, no really the Rays, made 5 errors in the game, Matt Moore could not locate his arsenal, and needed 101 pitches to record 13 outs, and the offense was unable to deliver key hits as the Baltimore Orioles secured a series win by defeating the Rays 5-3 on Saturday evening. Matt Moore took the loss lasting only 4.1 innings (101 pitches/56 for strikes), giving up 4R/1ER, on 4 hits, while striking out 6 and walking 4.

A look at Matt Moore's pitches from Brooksbaseball.net

Wade Davis and Burke Badenhop kept the game close after Moore departed. Wade Davis tossed an impressive 1.2 scoreless and hitless innings striking out 2 and walking 1. Burke Badenhop worked a scoreless 7th giving up a hit and striking out the side. J.P. Howell worked the 8th inning and surrendered a solo home run to Bill Hall.

The Rays were unable to capitalize on opportunities against Brain Matusz who navigated his way through 5.2 innings giving up 3R/2ER on 7 hits while striking out 6 and only walking 1. The Orioles bullpen, which entering the game was ranked as the 2nd best bullpen in the majors with a 2.13 ERA, slammed the door on the Rays to preserve the victory for Matusz. The Orioles bullpen retired the last 9 Rays in order on 19 pitches on Friday evening and retired the last 10 Rays on Saturday evening.

The victory drops the Rays to 20-14 and they fall to 2-games behind the Orioles (22-12) in the AL East. The Rays will look to avoid a series sweep sending James Shields (5-1, 3.23 ERA) vs Jake Arietta (2-3, 4.23 ERA).

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It is early May and the Rays are off to a tremendous start in 2012 so its only appropriate to spend a minute and check in on one of the big reasons why. Rays outfielder Matt Joyce is quietly having one helluva good season. Not only does he have an impressive .967OPS (173 OPS+) by hitting .286/.375/.592 but he has an ISO of .306 (tied for 6th in the AL), a wOBA of .413 (tied for 7th in AL), and a wRC+ of 171 (5th in AL) and these numbers are generated without a huge boost from our good friend BABIPPY which is only .313. He leads the Rays with 7 HR, his .967 OPS is second behind injured teammate Evan Longoria, and his .375 OBP places him 3rd behind Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena. He has been a versatile outfielder in 2012 starting 17 games in LF and 17 games in RF during absences of BJ Upton and Desmond Jennings.

Matt Joyce has earned the honorable nickname MOM which is an acronym for the "Month of May". The genesis of the name MOM is traced back to 2011 when he was clubbing nearly every pitch thrown his way (as Sandy Kazmir so eloquently put it Matt Joyce: Takes No Prisoners And Asks For No Quarter) on his way to posting an OPS of 1.229. He accomplished this by setting a club record for batting average in a month hitting .414 (36-87), posting an on-base percentage of .470, and thanks to 5 doubles, 2 triples, and 7 homers he ended up with a slugging percentage of .759. With a month like that it would have been easy to call him Mr.May but that doesn't seem appropriate in a month that celebrates Mothers Day - so the name MOM was born.

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The Rays finished the week with 2 losses in a row to the Oakland A's but finished the week with a record of 5-2 and are now 19-10 on the season. The Rays have won 13 out of 16 at Tropicana Field but will take the show on the road for the next 8 games but first they will have a much needed off day today. The Rays are happy to have an off day as Sunday's game with the A's marked the end of a grueling 26 games in 27 days stretch. The Rays need to enjoy their rest as Monday's off day is the only day off for the club in a stretch of 30 games between April 24 and May 23rd and Tuesday game begins a 16 games in 16 days.

The Rays did receive a dose of bad news during the week with the injury to Evan Longoria. When you walk into Tropicana Field you are greeted by a smiling face that hands you a copy of Rays Inside Pitch which is a fans guide to the Rays and Tropicana Field. It includes little facts about the players, reflections of game 162 including Erik Hahmann's date night, and the team roster and notes. Right on the front page of the guide is a picture of Evan Longoria with the caption "Loose and Ready" in script and the caption "Evan Longoria is back at full strength and ready to start the 2012 season with a bang." Well he did start the year off with a bang but on Monday night the full strength part fell apart and he injured his hamstring running the bases and will be on the shelf for 6-8 weeks.

The Rays also announced the former first round pick Tim Beckham was suspended for 50 games for failing a drug test. Beckham's response:

"I regret that my poor judgment resulted in me letting my teammates and the Tampa Bay Rays organization down," Beckham said in a statement released by the Rays. "I take full responsibility for my actions and I will use this experience to refocus my commitment to baseball. I recognize that I am blessed to be able to play baseball for a living. I owe it to my teammates, my family, and to myself to respect the game and the responsibilities that go with playing it as a professional. I am sorry." - mlb.com

Upcoming Schedule:

The Rays will head out on the road for a 3-city 8 game road trip which includes 3 games against the Yankees, 3 against the Orioles, and 2 against the Blue Jays.

Tuesday: James Shields vs Ivan Nova

Wednesday: Jeff Niemann vs David Phelps

Thursday: David Price vs C.C. Sabathia

Friday: Jeremy Hellickson vs Tommy Hunter

Saturday: Matt Moore vs Brian Matusz

Sunday: James Shields vs Jake Arrieta

AL East Upcoming Schedules:

The New York Yankees will host the Rays for 3 and the Seattle Mariners for 3.

The Boston Red Sox will travel to Kansas City for 3 against the Royals before returning home to take on the Cleveland Indians for 4.

The Baltimore Orioles will host the Texas Rangers for 4 games and then 3 against the Rays.

The Toronto Blue Jays will play two games in Oakland against the Athletics before heading to Minnesota for a 4 game series.

Transactions:

Evan Longoria placed on 15-day disabled list with a torn hamstring. Will Rhymes recalled from Durham.

Kyle Farnsworth transferred from the 15-day to 60-day disabled list.

Brandon Gomes optioned to AAA Durham and Cesar Ramos recalled.

Hideki Matsui signed to a minor league contract. He is currently working out in Port Charlotte.

Tampa Bay News:

The Rays have released a full-color "Players and Pooches" calendar featuring Joe Maddon, Rays players and their dogs. The calendar can be picked up at the Pet Pal Animal Shelter (405 22nd St. S) and Pet Pal Veterinary Clinic (1900 24 St. N) as well the Rays Team Store at Tropican Field, the Rays Por Shop and Sales office in Tampa. THe Calendar cost $15 and all proceeds from the sales will go to Pet Pal Animal Shelter, a no-kill, non-profit organization committed to rescuing dogs and cats from animal shelters that may otherwise be uthanizeed due to limitations or lack of socialization or training. No word if this will be available on-line as of yet.

Excellent Opportunity to see the Charlotte Stone Crabs

The Rays are off Monday night and the Charlotte Stone Crabs will be playing the Clearwater Threshers at 7:00 at Brighthouse Field. Brighthouse Field is located at the intersection of US Hwy 19 and Drew Street in Clearwater, Florida (Directions Here). Wilking Rodriguez is scheduled to toe the rubber for the Charlotte Stone Crabs and fellow DRB writer John Gregg and myself should be in attendance and look forward to meeting up with any who may brave the rush hour traffic to make the game.

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Matt Moore was supposed to be a difference maker in the Rays rotation in 2012. With Matt Moore joining the rotation most fans felt safe to deal James Shields. He was supposed to be a rookie of the year candidate. We have spent a lot of time focusing on Jeff Niemann and his struggles and defining him as the weak link in the Rays rotation but maybe it's time we start to begin to take a look at Matt Moore with the same microscope and find out what's going on with him?

The A's entered the game last in the majors in batting average (.211), on-base percentage (.281), slugging percentage (.331), and hitting with runners in scoring position (.189) but found a way to batter Matt Moore (1-2, 5.71) on their way to a 9-5 victory on Sunday. On a day when the bullpen was spent and the Rays needed a quality start Moore was only able to give them 4.2 innings (105 pitches/63 for strikes). He gave up a career high 8 runs all earned on 7 hits walking three while striking out four hit two batters and uncorked a wild pitch.

The Rays offense jumped out to a 4-0 lead as they took advantage of the early control problems of A's starter Tommy Milone who loaded the bases by walking the first three Rays he faced. Jeff Keppinger hit a sacrifice fly to put the Rays up 1-0 and after Milone hit Luke Scott to reload the bases Sean Rodriguez delivered an RBI single and Matt Joyce knocked in 2 more to give the Rays an early 4-0 advantage.

Matt Moore was cruising along with the 4-0 lead into the 3rd inning when he lost his way. With 2-out an a man on first Moore walked Josh Reddick then gave up an RBI single to Yoenis Cespedes and Jonny Gomes before Brandon Inge tagged a 3-run homer to put the A's on top 5-4. The A's increased their lead to 8-4 on a 2-our RBI off the bat of Jonny Gomes which was followed by an RBI double on a very catchable ball off the bat of Daric Barton.

The A's had scored 8 unanswered runs until B.J. Upton broke that string by hitting a home run in the bottom of the 5th to cut the A's lead to 8-5.

The A"s got the run back and pushed the lead to 9-5 in the 7th inning off Wade Davis. Davis walked Josh Reddick to lead off the inning which was followed by a single off the bat of Yoenis Cespedes. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch and Reddick came home on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Brandon Inge.

The Rays were unable to score again off the A's bullpen and dropped the game 9-5.The Rays are off tomorrow and will evaluate the health of Desmond Jennings who left the game with left knee soreness before departing on a 3-city 8 game road trip through New York (3), Baltimore (3), and Toronto (2).

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On April 20th the Rays lost to the Minnesota Twins 5-4 and had a record of 7-7 on the season. Although at time the Rays starting pitchers were beginning to come around (2.86 ERA the previous 4 games) and the offense and defense were receiving a boost with the return of B.J. Upton from the disabled list one area of concern remained which was their bullpen. Heading into action on April 21st the bullpen had the highest ERA in MLB of 8.49 and not by a little by a lot. The next closest bullpen to the Rays was the Boston Red Sox who had an ERA over 2 runs less at 6.13.

Since that April 20th loss to the Twins the Rays have won 11 out of 12 games and one of the main reasons why has been the performance of the bullpen. Over the last 11 games the Rays bullpen has worked 34.1 innings and posted a record of 2-0 with 6 saves, allowing only 21 hits while striking out 42 and walking 5. To demonstrate how much of a turnaround this represents the Rays bullpen is still the 2nd worst ERA in the AL at 4.95 trailing only the Red Sox who have an ERA of 5.35.

Bullpen usage and effectiveness are always great discussions (and one of the topics addressed in the new Baseball Prospectus Book Extra Innings). On the day after Mariano Rivera tears his ACL and is out for the year there is a lot of discussion on how the Yankees bullpen will function moving forward. In Chicago there is discussion of replacing their closer Carlos Marmol and in Miami there are worries about Heath Bell.

Tonight the Rays will take on the Oakland A's who have already replaced former Ray Grant Balfour as their closer and have replaced him with Brian Fuentes. So often a game is decided by the bullpen and situational matchups late in a game and over the course of 162 games the bullpens will play a huge role - often well before the team gets to the 9th inning.

For the Rays, is Fernando Rodney the most important member of the bullpen because of his ability to cover the 9th inning and turn leads into victories. Is it Joel Peralta who can work the important late inning match-ups to get the ball to Rodney. With all the powerful LHB in the AL East combined with the number of games the Rays play those teams is the most important reliever Jake McGee or JP Howell?

A look at the Rays Relief Performances in 2012 after the jump.

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The Rays finished the week with a record of 5-1 and are now 14-8 on the season and completed a very difficult opening of the 2012 season which included 19 of their first 22 games against teams that finished .500 or better in 2011 and included their longest road trip of the season (3-city 10 game). Currently the Rays are in the middle of another difficult stretch of the schedule that hast them playing 26 games in 27 days.

Upcoming Schedule:

The Rays return home from Texas for a 7 game home stand which includes a 4-game series against the Seattle Mariners (Monday through Thursday) and the Oakland Athletics (Friday through Sunday)

Monday April 30: Jeremy Hellickson vs Felix Hernandez

Tuesday May 1st: Matt Moore vs Hector Noesi

Wednesday May 2nd: James Shields vs Blake Beaven

Thursday May 3rd: Jeff Niemann vs Kevin Millwood

Friday May 4th: David Price vs Tyson Ross

Saturday May 5th: Jeremy Hellickson vs Bartolo Colon

Sunday May 6th: Matt Moore vs Tommy Milone

AL East Upcoming Schedules:

The New York Yankees host the Baltimore Orioles for 3 games before travelling to Kansas City to take on the Royals for 4 games.

The Boston Red Sox are home for two 3-game series against the Oakland A's and the Baltimore Orioles

The Toronto Blue Jays host the Rangers for a 3-game series and then head out west to L.A. to take on the Angels for 4. (Special thanks to TimmyJ for catching the mistake h/t)

The Baltimore Orioles travel to New York for a 3-game series versus the Yankees before heading to Boston for a weekend 3-game series.

Transactions:

None

Tampa Chamber Luncheon:

Tickets are still available for the Rays Annual Tampa Chamber Luncheon on Friday, May 4 at 11:45 a.m. at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Tampa. The Rays will be represented by Joe Maddon, Matt Moore, Brandon Gomes, and Sam Fuld. Tickets are $50 for members and $60 for non-members.

Last year Joe Maddon allowed the audience to select the lineup for that evenings home game! To order tickets or for more information visit tampachamber.com. How did the audience selected lineup perform? Well, they moved Matt Joyce into the #3 hole for the second time in his career and he responded by going 3-4 with a double. The Rays won the game 5-2 and the offense put up 13 hits and afterward Joe Maddon said:

"Today he (Matt Joyce) really politicked his table … to get into the three-hole, and it worked and really paid dividends for us tonight," Maddon said of Joyce, who was among three players at lunch.

"I'm going to have to find another club to consult about tomorrow's lineup. I'll get up early tomorrow morning and go up and down Bayshore (Boulevard) and find somebody to choose tomorrow's lineup for us." - Tampa Bay Times

Rays Events & Promotions: Upcoming Homestand Events (Official Press Release)

• The Rays will begin their in-stadium All-Star ballot contest. Fans turning in 100 ballots will be eligible for prizes consisting of tickets to select Rays games or Rays memorabilia. The top 3 winners during each homestand will win Hancock Bank Club 105 Tickets good for a Monday through Thursday game this season (excluding NYY/BOS).
• On Friday, May 4, the first 10,000 women will receive a free Carlos Pena T-shirt presented by the Tampa Bay Times.
• On Saturday May 5, fans 21 and older can enjoy drink specials including Dos Equis and $5 Margaritas, as well as in-stadium festivities.

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Heading into Sunday evenings contest the Rays and Rangers had split the first two games of their three game series. The last team to win a 3-game series in Arlington was the Miami Marlins on July 1 through 3, 2011 but the Red Sox did take 3 out of 4 from August 22 through August 25. The Rangers were 13-1-1 in their last 15 home series including 8 series wins in a row, and they had won 6 straight rubber games including 3 at home. All those clean and pretty numbers can be reset as the Rays defeated the Rangers 5-2 and return home to meet Felix Hernandez on Monday evening.

David Price (4-1, 2.67 ERA) earned the victory (his first ever versus the Rangers) by working 6.1 innings giving up 2R/2ER on 6 hits, striking out 6 and walking 1. Price was followed by Joel Peralta who struck out Mitch Moreland and Ian Kinsler to end the seventh and a scoreless 8th and Fernando Rodney worked an eventful but scoreless ninth to earn his 7th save.

With the victory Price becomes only the 4th Rays starter to earn 4 victories in April joining James Shields (2012), Matt Garza (2010), and Andy Sonnanstine (2008).

From the something to look into category, according to Brooks Baseball David Price used a change up 11% of the time in 2011. Against the Rangers he went with his changeup 24 times (13.6% of his pitches), 18 for strikes, and got 4 swing and misses.

The Rays offense was a team effort as 5 different players (Desmond Jennings, Ben Zobrist, Jeff Keppinger, Luke Scott, and Sean Rodriguez) drove in single runs for the Rays. They also had 5 extra base hits - doubles by Zobrist, Upton, and Scott and triples by Zobrist and Jennings. It was nice to see Zobrist break out of his recent slump as he had entered Sunday nights game mired in a slump with only 6 hits in his last 60 PAs and over his last 14 games he had hit .128 (6 for 47) with 14 strikeouts. He went 3-4 and the out was a loud out line drive to 3rd.

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At the end of spring training Joe Maddon made the decision to put Wade Davis into the bullpen and insert Jeff Niemann into the starting rotation. Going into spring training Wade Davis had a career 25-22 record with a 4.22 ERA over 64 starts and 33 (51.7%) of his starts qualified as quality starts and Jeff Niemann had a career mark of 38-23 with a 4.16 ERA over 84 starts and 42 (50%) of his starts qualified as quality starts. During spring training Niemann posted a 4.05 ERA with a K/BB ratio of 11/3 and Davis had a 4.91 ERA with a K/BB ratio of 13/7. Joe Maddon said his decision was not based on spring training performance but really did not offer any in depth analysis in his explanation:

"It was not based on any kind of spring training performance," Maddon said. "The point I want to make is this isn't you’re typical other guy in the rotation kind of a battle, because we have such faith in both of these guys. Most organization may go into this moment searching and somebody has to earn other spot in the rotation, but with these two guys, coming down to the last two, it’s unusual to have that kind of quality in the decision-making, so that made it even more difficult. We just like the idea of Jeff in the rotation and Wade in the bullpen. The fact that Wade can come out of the bullpen and possibly throw some high velocity numbers and make an impact there." - Tampa Tribune

There are some fans who like Jeff Niemann as a starter, some that would rather have Davis start with Niemann in the pen, and then there has been the suggestion of a happy medium where Jeff Niemann starts and Wade Davis becomes his personal caddie. This idea was discussed yesterday in the Deep Thoughts: Jeff Niemann article which was all started by Tommy Rancel's piece on April 12th.

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The Rays finished the week with a record of 5-2 and are now 9-7 on the season. They are in the midst of a very difficult opening of the 2012 season both in terms of competition (19 of first 22 against teams that finished .500 or better in 2011) but also in terms of travel (longest road trip - 10 game 3-city), and 26 games in 27 days (only off-day tomorrow). The starting pitching and the bullpen have been getting better and the offense and defense has received a boost with the return of B.J. Upton. Fernando Rodney continues to be the most pleasant surprise of the 2012 season.

Upcoming Week:

Home versus the Los Angeles Angels (Tuesday through Thursday) and at Texas Rangers (Friday through Sunday)

Monday April 23: Off Day

Tuesday April 24: David Price vs Ervin Santana

Wednesday April 25: Jeremy Hellickson vs C.J. Wilson

Thursday April 26: Matt Moore vs Jerome Williams

Friday April 27: James Shields vs Netfali Feliz

Saturday April 28: Jeff Niemann vs Colby Lewis

Sunday April 29: David Price vs Yu Darvish

AL East Upcoming Schedules:

New York Yankees will play 3 games at the Texas Rangers and host the Detroit Tigers for 3 over the weekend.

Boston Red Sox are on the road against the Minnesota Twins for 3 games and then against the Chicago White Sox for a 4 game set.

Toronto Blue Jays finish a four game set at the Kansas City Royals on Monday before travelling for a 3 game series against the Baltimore Orioles before returning home to take on the Seattle Mariners for 3 games

Baltimore Orioles host the Toronto Blue Jays for 3 games and the Oakland Athletics for 4 games.

Transactions:

April 17: Sent Alex Cobb to AAA Durham and recalled Brandon Gomes.

April 19: Claimed Brandon Allen off waivers from the Oakland Athletics and transferred catcher Robinson Chirinos to the 60-day disabled list (concussion).

April 20: Activated B.J. Upton from the disabled list and optioned Stephen Vogt to AAA Durham.

April 21: Activated Brandon Allen and sent SS Reid Brignac to AAA Durham.

What does SF1 have to say:

G'morning Rays fans. The Rays go 5-2 with series wins over the Jays and Twins and even my cup is half full today. I love the run production this line up projects especially versus RHP, and I'm not certain I'd be sitting Luke Scott and Matt Joyce versus every LHP, when in many cases the trade off is Elliot Johnson or Ben Zobrist batting RH. I like how we now have a MLB bench, with the addition of Brandon Allen who as a late inning PHer with the Rays behind can change the score in a hurry. That's what a PHer is for. I'm starting to see the bullpen come around and assume their roles. Joe has weeded out the Luekes and DeLaRosas and now only needs to get Gomes and McGee getting outs. How about Jake with a huge K of Morneau? My only real negative is our starting pitchers, with of course the exception of James Shields who has been fantastic,, are not going deep into games, which eventually will tax that bullpen. All in all a great week. Let's beat up Price Albert and his Halos

Go Rays!!

Game Highlights After The Jump

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The Rays improved their record to 9-7 and won the series by defeating the Minnesota Twins 5-2 on Sunday afternoon in front of a crowd of 26,507. Jeff Niemann earned the victory working 5.1 innings giving up 2R/2ER on 3 hits while striking out 5, walking 2, and hitting 1 batter. He threw 80 pitches (47 for strikes). Jake McGee, Wade Davis, Joel Peralta, and Fernando Rodney worked the final 3.2 innings.

The Rays broke through against Francisco Liriano in the bottom of the 3rd without the benefit of a hit. Liriano issued back to back walks to Sean Rodriguez and Chris Gimenez and hit Elliot Johnson who was attempting to sacrifice bunt. Desmond Jennings and Ben Zobrist hit back to back sacrifice flies to plate the games first 2 runs.

The Rays extended their lead to 3-0 in the 5th after Evan Longoria led off with the first hit of the game a ground rule double off the B-ring in left, moved to 3rd on a sacrifice fly by Jeff Keppinger, and scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of. B.J. Upton.

The Rays pushed the lead to 5-0 in the fifth. Chris Gimenez led off with a single but was erased at 2b when Elliot Johnson pushed a bunt back to Francisco Liriano. Desmond Jennings made the failed sacrifice bunt irrelevant by hitting a 2-run homer to put the Rays in front 5-0.

The Twins cut the lead to 5-2 in the bottom of the 6th. Niemann surrendered back to back singles to Denard Span and Jamey Carroll and after retiring Joe Mauer on a pop out he hit Josh Willingham to load the bases. Jake McGee entered the game to face Justin Morneau and struck him out before Wade Davis was called on to face pinch hitter Ryan Doumit who lined a 2-run single to center field to plate 2 runs.

The Rays got one run back to extend their lead to 6-2 in the bottom of the eighth. Glen Perkins walked Carlos Pena to lead off the inning and he advanced to second on a passed ball. Evan Longoria singled to put runners at 1st and 3rd with nobody out. Jeff Keppinger's fly ball to center fielder Denard Span wasn't deep enough to score Pena from third but B.J. Upton's fly ball to Clete Thomas in right was.

The Rays held on to win 6-2 and will enjoy a well deserved day off and will host the L.A. Angels starting Tuesday. The Rays are in the middle of playing 26 games in 27 days (April 10 through May 6) with tomorrow being the only day off.

More after the jump

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In early February Buster Olney of ESPN.com ranked the Rays schedule as the third hardest early season schedule in the AL. In the article Olney noted that one manager discussed his theory of early season schedule suggesting that he would rather play the toughest teams early because "you want to get them before they're going on all cylinders."

A look at the Rays schedule backs up Buster as 19 of their first 22 games are against teams the finished above .500 in 2011. Additionally, 16 of their first 24 road games and 24 of their first 27 road games are against those same teams. Added on to the April schedule was the just completed 3 city 10 game road trip through Detroit, Boston, and Toronto which is the teams longest road trip of the season.

Even with a healthy roster the Rays knew that victories were going to be difficult to come by in the early season. The task became even more daunting as spring training progressed and the injury bug began to take a bite out of the Rays roster. First it was the starting depth that took a hit when B.J. Upton hit the DL with a back injury suffered in a collision with Desmond Jennings. Then the bench depth was weakened when Sam Fuld had surgery to stabilize a tendon in his wrist which will cause him to miss the majority of the 2012 season. Finally, the bullpen depth was dealt a blow when Kyle Farnsworth landed on the DL after a MRI of his elbow revealed a strained flexor muscle.

Despite the injuries the Rays opened the 2012 season by sweeping a 3 game series from the New York Yankees before struggling on the just concluded 4-6 road trip. The top 4 teams in the AL East are only separated by 1.5 games and after 13 games the Rays have a winning record of 7-6 and are only 1 game behind the Baltimore Orioles.

Despite the positive record through a very difficult schedule there are several areas of the club that the Rays need to clean up. The Rays play a certain brand of baseball that we have labeled as Raysian and thus far in 2012 we have won with a non-Raysian approach. It seems silly to be overly concerned about numbers and performances after a brief 13 game window which is why I'll refer to each problem listed below as a hiccup which is best defined by Merriam Websters dictionary as a "usually minor and short-lived interruption or disruption or change."

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We all knew the opening of the 2012 season was going to be a bear. We recognized that 19 of the first 22 games were going to be against teams that finished .500 or better in 2011. We knew that the first 16 road games and 24 of the first 27 games were going to be against those teams. We knew that wins would be hard to come by yet many seem ready to give up on the 2012 season already?

The Rays finished up the week 1-5 and are now 4-5 on the season and will meet up with the Red Sox today at 11:05 to try to break a four game losing streak. The one good thing about the Patriot Day game is that neither the Rays or their fans have to stew over the Sunday afternoon loss.

The Rays starting pitching has been inconsistent and the bullpen has struggled but opposing lineups like Detroit, New York, and Boston do not afford the opposing pitchers to get away with lack of location. Entering Sundays game against the Red Sox the Rays had walked an AL high 38 batters and allowed 11 of them to score. The Rays haven't walked more than 38 batters in their first 8 games since walking 43 to start the 2003 season. Entering Sunday the Rays had given up an ML leading 51 runs their most after 8 games since 2007 when they allowed 59.

The Rays will play their 8th straight day game today will head to Toronto to finish off their longest road trip of the season. The week will finish with a weekend series at Tropicana Field against the Minnesota Twins. The tentative pitching matchups for the Rays are below.

Monday - James Shields vs Daniel Bard

Tuesday - Jeff Niemann vs Ricky Romero

Wednesday - David Price vs Brandon Morrow

Thursday - Jeremy Hellickson vs Henderson Alvarez

Friday - Matt Moore vs Liam Hendriks

Saturday - James Shields vs Carl Pavano

Sunday - Jeff Niemann vs Francisco Liriano

The Yankees will host the Minnesota Twins for 4 games prior to heading to Boston for a weekend series. The Red Sox will finish their 4 game series with the Rays (today) and then host the Texas Rangers for 3 games before welcoming the New York Yankees for a weekend series.

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The pitcher that a team relies on to stop a losing streak before it gains legs, pick up a struggling bullpen, and keep the game close until the offense can bank a few runs is known as the "stopper." Matt Moore making only his 3rd big league start was called on to fill the role of stopper for the Rays today in Fenway Park.

Moore was needed to provide innings as Jeff Niemann lasted only 5 innings Thursday in Detroit and the Red Sox knocked David Price out after 3 inning Friday and Jeremy Hellickson after 5 inning on Saturday. In dropping their last three games the Rays had been outscored 32-9 and were hitting .189 (19 for 98) including .125 (3 for 20) with runners in scoring position.The Rays needed Moore to keep the Red Sox off the board while their bats get on a roll. Overall, on the current road trip the Rays are batting .203 (39 for 19), have a team ERA of 8.56 and the bullpen has been a real problem area losing 2 games and a 16.62 ERA.

The Red Sox bats were not willing to follow that script and after being retired on 8 pitch in the first inning the Red Sox bats went to work on Matt Moore. A leadoff single by Kevin Youkilis was followed by a double to David Ortiz and capped off by a 3-run homer to Cody Ross to give the Red Sox an early 3-0 lead. The Red Sox added a 4th run on a 2-out double by Kelly Shoppach in the bottom of the fourth.

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Justin Verlander and James Shields locked up in a pitchers duel in Detroit. Shields went 8 innings giving up 2 earned runs on 6 hits striking out 5 and walking 1. Unfortunately for Shields, he was paired up against an equally tough Justin Verlander who threw only 81 pitches through 8 innings while holding the Rays scoreless.

Saying that coming back against the Tigers is a tall task is an understatement. Dating back to opening day 2009, the Tigers held a record of 229-1 when leading after 8 innings. The last time the Tigers lost a game game when leading after 8 was July 31, 2010 versus the Red Sox when Phil Coke was pressed into the closers role and gave up a walk-off bases loaded double to David Ortiz to lose 5-4.

Jeff Keppinger pinch hit for Sean Rodriguez to begin the ninth inning and delivered a single. Verlander struck out Reid Brignac to get the first out of the inning before Desmond Jennings singled to put runners at the corners for Carlos Pena. Pena put up a professional at-bat falling behind in the count 1-2 and laying off two Verlander curveballs to run the count full. Verlander uncorked a 100-mph wild pitch to walk Pena and allowed Keppinger to score to cut the lead to 2-1. Evan Longoria followed Pena's walk with an RBI single to tie the game at 2-2 and send Verlander to the showers.

With Matt Joyce due up Jim Leyland went to the bullpen and summoned left hander Daniel Schlereth. Elliot Johnson came in to pinch hit for Joyce and after falling behind 0-2 came back and worked a walk to load the bases. Schlereth's day was done and he was replaced by Jose Valverde who was rudely greeted with a 2-run single off the bat of Ben Zobrist to give the Rays a 4-2 lead.

Fernando "Kung Fu" Rodney came in to work the bottom of the ninth to retire Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder, and Jhonny Peralta to earn his third save (to go along with 1 win) and make a winner out of James Shields and run his record to 5-0 lifetime versus the Tigers.

The Rays will look for a road series win tomorrow afternoon. Jeff Niemann will toe the rubber for the Rays tomorrow against left hander Drew Smyly who will be making his major league debut.

Again this season I will be providing a Monday Wrap Up to take a look at some of the highlights from the games of the past week and taking a look at the week ahead. As every baseball game begins with the playing and signing of the National Anthem I'd like to take a moment to kick off this years Wrap Up with B.K. Jackson's performance on Opening Day (link here).

The energy and anticipation for Rays baseball seemed to reach a fervor pitch in September as the Rays completed the improbable comeback culminating with an incredible comeback in Game 162 over the New York Yankees which in conjunction with a Robert Andino RBI single off Carl Crawford's glove catapulted the Rays into the post-season for the 3rd time in 4 years. A first round exit versus the Texas Rangers did nothing to dampen the fans spirit and over the winter the Rays did not trade any of its regular players nor did they have any Rays player with high fan attachment depart via free agency. Not only did the Rays maintain the integrity of the 2011 roster (sans Juan Cruz, Casey Kotchman, Kelly Shoppach, John Jaso, Johnny Damon,etc.) they went out and brought back fan favorite Carlos Pena, DH Luke Scott, and veteran relief pitcher Fernando Rodney. This past offseason was nearly the exact opposite of the 2011 offseason. The fans responded by selling out the home opener before the Rays even played a Grapefruit League game. Two observations that show me a really improving Rays fan base.

• I couldn't help but smile as I walked through Ferg's and the area surrounding Tropicana Field during the Opening Day festivities and saw the massive amounts of Rays gear and the noticeable lack of Yankees gear.
• Rays fans were extremely loud and boisterous during the game as well. Every time the Yankee fans did attempt to get the "Let's Go Yankees" chant going their efforts were immediately negated by the loudest "Yankees Suck" chant that I have ever heard at Tropicana Field

The short week ended with the Rays sweeping the New York Yankees for their first 3-0 start since 2002 (swept the Tigers). This was the third sweep of the Yankees - the other two cam at the end of 2011 and again on September 26-28, 2000. The victory also pushed the Rays record to 43-15 in front of home crowds of greater than 30,000 since 2008.

The Rays head out for a 10 game road trip that includes 3 games against the Tigers 4 games against the Red Sox, and 3 games against the Blue Jays. The schedule makers reached back into the pre-1950's baseball and including yesterday's Rays-Yankees game, the Rays will play 8 straight day games.

The Pitching Matchups

Tuesday: Matt Moore vs Rick Porcello

Wednesday: James Shields vs Justin Verlander

Thursday: Jeff Niemann vs Drew Smyly

Flashback: Rays Win 2-1 Over Tigers As Game-Changing Call Overturned By Instant Replay

Friday: David Price vs Josh Beckett

Saturday: Jeremy Hellickson vs Clay Buchholz

Sunday: Matt Moore vs Daniel Bard

The Yankees head to Baltimore to take on the quick start Orioles for 3 games and then return to Yankee Stadium to welcome Albert Pujols and the Los Angeles Angels. The Red Sox will travel to Canada to take on the Blue Jays before welcoming the Rays to Fenway for their home opener.

Injury Notes: B.J. Upton is set to begin his rehab assignment Monday in Port Charlotte. The hope is to have him get 20-25 plate appearances and return to the Rays on April 20th against the Twins. Luke Scott had to leave the game Sunday due to a tight hamstring and his status is day to day.

Rays Announcements: Evan Longoria along with Brighthouse Networks will donate $100 to the Pet Pal Animal Shelter, a no-kill, nonprofit shelter in St. Petersburg.

Sternfan1's Introduction 2012:

G'morning Rays fans.

What a great Monday morning it is. A three game sweep of the New York Yankees along with the Tigers sweeping the Sawx and things are looking up.

For those that may not know me, I'm sternfan1 a DRB blogger since 2008 whose glass is sometimes half empty, especially during a game. I'll be adding a weekly recap of the Rays as I see it and what's ahead. So sit back and enjoy what promises to be an exciting season of Rays baseball.

Go Rays! Let's sweep the Tigers, we owe them.

Last Weeks Game Highlights After The Jump

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Jeremy Hellickson celebrated his 25th birthday by remaining cool and calm in the center of the diamond. He was masterful in shutting out the Yankees and gave the Rays bullpen a much needed breather going 8.2 innings of shutout baseball throwing 118 pitches (66 for strikes) allowing 3 hits (all doubles) while striking out 4 and walking 4. Fernando Rodney who already has a win and a save on the season replaced Hellickson after a 2-out walk to Nick Swisher. Rodney was able to retire Raul Ibanez on a comebacker to the mound to complete the sweep.

Hellickson's was attempting his 3rd complete game of his career (all at Tropicana Field). He threw a complete game shutout against the Baltimore Orioles on May 13, 2011 and earned a complete game victory against the Orioles on September 4, 2011. The last pitcher to throw a shutout on his birthday was Doug Drabek in 1990.

Yankees starter Phil Hughes worked the first 4.2 innings throwing 99 pitches (66 for strikes) and gave up a RBI triple to Matt Joyce in the bottom of the first and a solo home run to Carlos Pena in the bottom of the third inning. Hughes took the loss giving up the 2-runs on 5 hits while striking out 5 and walking 1. The Rays scored their third run on a homer by Jeff Keppinger off Boone Logan in the 6th inning.

Sweep Notes: The Rays swept the Yankees to end the 2011 season and also on September 26-28, 2000. Today's sweep marks the second time the Rays have opened the season by sweeping an opponent since 2002 when they swept a 3 game series from the Tigers.

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In 2004 J.P. Howell was the Pitcher of the Year at the University of Texas and had the 4th highest single season strikeout total in UT baseball history with 186 punch outs. A single season total which was higher then fellow alumni Roger Clemens whose highest single season total was 151. Later that summer Howell was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 1st round (#31 overall) of the amateur draft. The 2004 UT baseball team can boast of having 11 members drafted - a list which includes current major leaguer players Sam LeCure, Huston Street, Drew Stubbs, and Taylor Teagarden.

After signing with the Royals he reported to their Rookie League affiliate Idaho Falls and made 6 appearances (4 starts) compiling a record of 3-1 with a 2.77 ERA. The Royals quickly pushed him through the minors and made his major league debut in June. With the Royals he made 15 starts (72.2) and went 3-5 with a 6.19 ERA and with the minor league affiliates he made 18 starts (101.2 innings) and went 8-2 with a 2.83 ERA.

On June 20, 2006 the Royals dealt him to the Rays for outfielder Joey Gathright. The Rays assigned him to AAA Durham where he made 10 starts and compiled a record of 5-3 with a 2.62 ERA. He came up to the Rays in August and September and made 8 starts and went 1-3 with a 5.10 ERA.

Howell started the 2007 season with the Bulls and made several trips up to the Rays during the season but was unable to find success. Although he was able to be an effective starter in Durham going 7-8 with a 3.38 ERA he wasn't able to get that success to translate at the big league level. He struggled with the Rays going 1-6 with a 6.59 ERA.

Entering spring training of 2008 the Rays had Scott Kazmir, James Shields, and Matt Garza holding down three rotation spots and Andy Sonnanstine, Edwin Jackson, Jason Hammel, and Howell fighting for the other two spots. Joe Maddon went with Sonnanstine and Jackson to fill the final two rotation spots but rather than send Howell back to the minors he decided to keep him as the second lefty in the bullpen. It marked the first time in his career that he made an opening day roster.

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Had an opportunity to read Danny Knobler of CBS Sports Rays Camp Report and on the side of the article CBS Sports fantasy baseball writer gives a very pessimistic outlook on Matt Joyce's season. Of course, he is more referring to where to draft him in fantasy baseball (so my headline is a little deceiving) but the numbers he floats, his opinion of 2011, and his overall outlook for Joyce is not very positive.

Bust ... Matt Joyce, OF: Wait, this one is labeled wrong. Joyce was a long-awaited minor-leaguer who did nothing but live up to hype when he finally got to play regularly last year, even making the All-Star team. Surely he's more of a sleeper than a bust in waiting, right? Right? Sadly, no. Most of his production last year stemmed from an exceptionally hot May in which he hit .414 with seven homers and a 1.229 OPS. From June 1 to the end of September -- a full two-thirds of the season -- he hit only .226 with 10 homers and a .691 OPS. For the year, he hit only .217 against lefties, likely condemning him to a platoon role again. And because he's already 27 he has less room for improvement than you might think. Joyce's final numbers may look OK but he was by and large a disappointment last year. And if his struggles prevent him from getting full-time at-bats this year, he'll be a waste of a middle-round pick in Fantasy. -- Scott White

Surely there is more to Matt Joyce's 2011 season than just the startling month of May. Putting so much value on May and then lumping from June 1st to the end of the season doesn't seem fair? Joyce had an outstanding April (.884 OPS) and May (1.229) and an awful June (.529 OPS) and July (.653 OPS) He also dealt with a shoulder injury in June and July that the writer neglects to mention and something that may of been more damaging than simple regression.

Looking at Joyce's numbers from August 1st he hit .274/.367/.425. in 169 PAs. One problem that players have when they finally land an everyday job in the big leagues is consistency. Matt Joyce whether through injury or being the victim of inconsistency and failure to adjust struggled for two months of the season. He did find his way later in the season and seemed to either get healthy or made the necessary adjustments.

I am a huge Matt Joyce fan so my viewpoint may be skewed slightly and I am looking at a very productive 2012 for him. Scott White is only downgrading him in terms of fantasy baseball but it does seem to me but I do take exception to the tone of the recap, especially this line:

Joyce's final numbers may look OK but he was by and large a disappointment last year.

Sean Rodriguez, who will turn 27 in April, was acquired from the Angels on September 1, 2009 as the player to be named later in the Scott Kazmir trade. During his first two seasons with the Rays he has filled the role of super utility player by starting 118 games at 2b, 50 games at 2b, 19 games at 3b, and 8 games in the OF(4 in CF, 3 in RF, 1 in LF), and 5 games at 1b. He has also shown the ability to hit left handed pitching posting a slash line of .292/.375/.442 in 136 PA in 2010 and .273/.389/.475 in 2011. He also is a threat to steal bases tallying 24 stolen bases while only being caught 10 times.

In 2010 he had 378 PAs and hit .251/.308/.397 with an wOBA of.316 and in 2011 he was given more opportunity and in 436 PA he hit .223/.323/.357 with an wOBA of .303. His drop off in his numbers can be seen in his decrease BABIP which was .324 in 2010 but decreased to .268 in 2011. There was some positive trends in his game as his walk rate increased from 5.6% in 2010 to 8.7% in 2011 and he reduced his strikeout rate from 25.7% in 2010 to 20.0% in 2011.

Rodriguez has been very good at hitting left handed pitching. In 2010 in 136 PA he hit .292/.375/.442 with an wOBA of .360 and in 167 PA in 2011 he hit .273/.389/.475 with an wOBA of .377. His BB% increased from 10.3% in 2010 to 12.0% in 2011 while his strikeout rate decreased from 27.2% in 2010 to 16.2% in 2011.

He has struggled in his career in against right handed pitching. In 2010 in 242 PA he hit .229/.270/.372 with a wOBA of .283 and in 269 PA in 2011 he hit .192/.280/.286 a wOBA of .259. His BB% increased from 2.9% in 2010 to 6.7% in 2011 and his K% decreased from 24.8% to 22.3%.

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