True Believers: Tampa Bay Rays Franchise

[mkilcNYR]

Hey all, starting up a new franchise with the Tampa Bay Rays to coincide with the Colorado Franchise I'm running on my dynasty blog. Always loved the AL and the Rays home field so here goes! I'll update the franchise thread after every series that the Rays play.

Side note: I'll be using the OSFM Update 5 rosters and sliders will be set to TNK's sliders. They played fairly well so I decided to change it to have a bit more realistic gameplay. Hitting, Pitching, and Fielding are set to All-Star.


First off a quick run down of the depth chart:

Tampa Bay Rays Depth Chart - 2015

• Catcher
• John Jaso
• Rene Rivera
• Bobby Wilson

• First Base
• James Loney

• Second Base
• Tim Beckham
• Logan Forsythe

• Third Base
• Evan Longoria

• Shortstop
• Asdrubal Cabrera

• Left Field
• Kevin Kiermaier
• Grady Sizemore

• Center Field
• Desmond Jennings

• Right Field
• Steven Souza Jr.

• Starting Pitcher
• Chris Archer
• Alex Cobb
• Jake Odorizzi
• Drew Smyly
• Matt Moore

• Relief Pitcher
• Burch Smith
• Jake McGee
• Kevin Jepsen
• Ronald Bellisario
• Andy Oliver
• Alex Colome

• Closer
• Brad Boxberger

• Designated Hitter
• David DeJesus

The Rays are carrying an unusual amount of 3 catchers but that's mainly because Rene Rivera is not the full time back up. He will also be splitting duty as the backup first baseman and the backup DH behind DeJesus. Rivera is the muscle for the backups behind Jaso as Bobby Wilson is the far superior defensive catcher but whose hitting abilities leave a lot to be desired.

Probably the main strong point of the team will be the starting rotation led by young gun Chris Archer. Every pitcher across the board is a threat to go deep in games. The only issue here is that this is the strongest rotation the Rays can field as after this the 2 options on the major league squad to spot start or fill in would Colome (shaky on this option, prefer him in long relief role) or the rookie Burch Smith (great break and velocity to his pitches but he is a rookie). AAA isn't that much better with Erasamo Ramirez and Nate Karns looking more like career minor league starters or long relievers than solid MLB material.

There are no real power hitters on the team that could crush the ball but I'm fairly ok with that. Kevin Kiermaier, Steven Souza Jr, Evan Longoria, and John Jaso should provide plenty of offensive cover for most likely soon to be declining players like James Loney and David DeJesus. DeJesus as I mentioned before is the team's designated DH (redundant there) as Kiermaier will be the LF to start the season so I can have his powerful arm in left (sometimes right depending on the Rays opponent and how much of a speed threat they would pose to Souza Jr.'s arm since he's not an elite defender.)

Next post that I'll do will be the home and season opening series against the Baltimore Orioles! Hope everyone follows along as I am absolutely dedicated to riding the franchise out for the 3 years of my GM contract. Onward Rays!

[mkilcNYR]

Rays Open Season, Beat O's 5-3!

April 6th, 2015, St. Petersburg- The Tampa Bay Rays opened the 2015 season with hope, a new GM, and a retooled roster that looks to seriously compete in a weak AL East. Tampa Bay certainly looked like that roster could compete as they beat AL East rival Baltimore in front of a sold out crowd.

The Rays got the scoring started by scoring 3 runs off beleaguered Orioles ace Ubaldo Jimenez who was absent his best stuff in the game. Tampa managed to bang out 4 hits (a triple, 2 doubles, and a single) before getting the third out in the 2nd getting off to a quick start.

Chris Archer for his part was averaging only 10 pitches thrown per inning with 6 K's before having a rocky 7th. After a walk to Jones (his only BB of the game) and a base hit by Machado, Delmon Young rifled a hit into right field. The former Ray just managed to get the ball fair as it bounced to the left of the chalk. Jones came around to score but Souza played the ball extremely well and launched a throw into Beckham which held Machado at 3rd. A JJ Hardy at bat later and the score went up to 4-3 with the Rays lead evaporating.

Archer would only last 2 more batters as a walk to Pearce (after Matt Wieters popped up a fastball to Longoria for the 2nd out) and a hit batsman in Paredes led to Kevin Cash turning to Kevin Jepsen out of the pen. Jensen got Lough swinging to end the inning, preserve the score at 4-3, and most likely save the game.

Game Notes: Souza Jr. had a great day at the ball park. Besides making a good defensive throw (one that i didn't think he was capable of) to hold runners and save a run he broke out on opening day going 3-4 with a double and 2 singles. On top of all of that he stole second base off of Wieters. Including him in the trade from Washington seems to be an expert and cunning move now.

Boxberger struggled a bit in the 9th by loading the bases before getting Paredes to strike out and David Lough to fly out. Not at all in line to lose his job (its only game 1 after all) but his control was still troublesome and will be watched as the month of April carries on.

Baltimore Orioles at Tampa Bay Rays
Apr 6, 2015	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Baltimore (0-0)	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	3	10	1
Tampa Bay (0-0)	0	3	0	0	0	1	0	1	X	5	11	0
W: Archer (1-0) L: Jiminez (0-1) S: Boxberger (1)

Scoring Summary
SCORING DETAILS			BAL	TAM
TAM	2	Souza Jr. doubles to left-center. Jaso Scores. Souza Jr. on second	0	1
TAM	2	DeJesus doubles to left-center. Souza Jr. scores. DeJesus on second	0	2
TAM	2	Beckham sacrifice fly to right field. DeJesus scores. Cabrera on first	0	3
TAM	6	DeJesus doubles to right-center. Souza Jr. scores. DeJesus on second	0	4
BAL	7	Young doubles to right field. Jones scores. Machado on third. Young on 2nd	1	4
BAL	7	Hardy single to deep center. Machado, Young score. Hardy on first	3	4
TAM	8	Cabrera doubled to left-center. DeJesus scores. Cabrera on second	3	5

Quick run down of the next two games for the Rays:

Game 2: Alex Cobb vs. Chris Tillman
Game 3: Odorizzi vs. Gausman

Stay tuned as the Rays look to build off their success in game 1 and send once and future ace Alex Cobb to the mound! Onward Rays!

[mkilcNYR]

Davis, Wieters homer, Rays Get Shutout

April 7th, 2015 St. Petersburg- The Rays clubhouse was filled with energy after an uplifting win in game 1 of the series with the Orioles. Hoping to build off that energy manager Kevin Cash handed the ball to stud right hander Alex Cobb. For his first start of the year Cobb did not perform badly. Through 6 innings he scattered 5 hits and allowed 2 runs while picking up 6 K's. He managed the O's lineup better than the stat line looked as he held Jones and Davis hitless, only allowing Davis to reach on a HBP.

His performance however paled in comparison to Chris Tillman. The strong right hander out of Anaheim, California threw a complete game shutout. During his performance he scattered 4 hits, walked 2, and struck out 8 to hand the Rays their first loss of the season in front of a packed house.

Baltimore Orioles at Tampa Bay Rays
Apr 7, 2015	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Baltimore (0-1)	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	3	5	11	2
Tampa Bay (1-0)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
W: Tillman (1-0) L: Cobb (0-1)

Scoring Summary
SCORING DETAILS			BAL	TAM
BAL	4	Machado single to right. Paredes scores. Davis to 2nd. Machado on 1st	1	0
BAL	4	Hardy single to right-center. Davis scores. Machado to 3rd. Young to 2nd	2	0
BAL	9	Davis solo home run	3	0
BAL	9	Wieters 2 run home run. Young scores	5	0

Game Notes: Kevin Kiermaier went 1-4 with a single. He's now hit safely in both of the Rays games so far this season. The Rays bullpen underperformed as Bellisario gave up a run over 2 innings, although he did strike out 4. Andy Oliver suffered a mini-meltdown in the 9th allowing the 2 homers on 3 hits. He starts off the year with a 18.00 ERA

[mkilcNYR]

Injury Bug Bites Both Teams, Rays Drop Second Straight

April 8th, 2015. St. Petersburg- The Rays looked to rebound from being shut down and offensively held back on Tuesday with a solid win here on Wednesday afternoon in front of the faithful Rays Republic. Before the game even began though the Rays suffered a great scare when John Jaso grimaced in pain while taking warm up swings in the batting cage at Tropicana Field. Rays medical staff recommended that he be taken for X-Rays as his ankle didn't look that great. Quickly Rene Rivera grabbed his gear from the bench and suited up and went off the game plan with Odorizzi.

Right out of the gate the Orioles got things going with a Adam Jones double who seemed to destroy the fastball with intensity after being held hitless the night before. Paredes easily jogged around to give the O's a 1-0 lead.

Even though the Rays lineup does not have a lot of traditional power hitters in it, Desmond Jennings didn't seem to get the message as he launched the first pitch he saw from Kevin Gausman all the way to left field. The ball just cleared the fence and the leaping David Lough to tie the game up at 1-1 a piece.

The Orioles didn't wait long to strike back though as J.J Hardy said "Well played, and I raise you one". Hardy's homer also just cleared the wall in left and just escaped Kiermaier's glove to give the O's a 2-1 lead.

While the O's bench may have been celebrating the score the injury bug decided to return to the game as David Lough, who slammed into the wall in left an inning earlier, attempted to rob DeJesus of a single but missed the ball and instead came up grabbing his knee. Baltimore training staff rushed to the field concerned as Lough couldn't put any weight on his left leg. Travis Snider was then summoned from the bench by Buck Showalter to take over and would play the remainder of the game.

The injury seemed to almost be fortuitous in a way as it would be Travis Snider who would double home 2 runs in the top half of the 7th to push the Orioles out to a 6-1 lead. The Rays put up a valiant effort over the next 3 innings and managed to cut the deficit to just 2 runs in the 9th but the O's and closer Zach Britton held on just long enough to record the win and take the series 2 games to 1.

Baltimore Orioles at Tampa Bay Rays
Apr 8, 2015	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Baltimore (1-1)	1	1	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	6	11	0
Tampa Bay (1-1)	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	1	4	13	1
W: Gausman (1-0) L: Odorizzi (0-1) S: Britton (1)

Scoring Summary
SCORING DETAILS			BAL	TAM
BAL	1	Jones doubles to right-center. Paredes scores. Jones on 2nd	1	0
TAM	1	Jennings solo home run to center	1	1
BAL	2	Hardy solo home run	2	1
BAL	7	Wieters 2 run home run. Hardy scores	4	1
BAL	7	Snider doubles to center. Paredes, Pearce score. Snider on 2nd	6	1
TAM	7	DeJesus single to deep center. Longoria, Loney score. DeJesus on 1st	6	3
TAM	9	Cabrera single to left. Souza Jr. scores. Cabrera on 1st	6	4

Game Notes: David DeJesus is trying to prove that he is more than just an aging 35 year old veteran on the team. He went 4-5 driving in 2 of the Rays 4 runs and boosting his average to an insane .538. Kevin Kiermaier continued to hit safely as he boosted that streak to 3 games with a 2-4 day. He also walked. Ronald Bellisario struggled out of the bullpen as he came on in relief of Odorizzi in the 7th. While he did get the final 2 outs he also gave up 3 hits, 2 runs, and struck out 1. His ERA worsened to 10.12 on the season. Kevin Jepsen on the other hand pitched well out of the pen in the 8th and 9th. He scattered 2 hits while picking up 3 K's.

Injury Report: John Jaso's x-rays came back negative for a break on his ankle. It is actually just a sprain. He'll be benched for the next 1-6 games. Manager Kevin Cash has said that Bobby Wilson will start Friday's game if Jaso is still not well enough to play after the day off on Thursday.

David Lough on the other hand suffered a greater injury. The Orioles put their starting left fielder on the 15 day DL with cartilage damage in his left knee.


Up next will be the Citrus Series! The Rays travel to Miami to face off against their inter-league cousins to the south in a 3 game matchup. Those matchup's will be:

Game 1: Matt Moore vs. Jared Cosart
Game 2: Drew Smyly vs. Dan Haren
Game 3: Chris Archer (1-0, 4.05 ERA) vs. Jose Fernandez (1-0, 1.28 ERA)

Hope you all stay tuned as the Rays hit the road. Onward Rays!

[mkilcNYR]

Moore Masterful But Rays Fall to Marlins 2-0

April 10th, 2015. Miami, FL- The Rays rolled into town to begin the first game of the Citrus Series on the heels of back to back losses to their AL East rival the Orioles. Matt Moore took to the mound with a desire to start and start strong and that he did. Over 6 innings of work he struck out 8 Marlins and held dangerous Giancarlo Stanton hitless over 3 at-bats. His control of the zone though left something to be desired as he left pitches in hittable spots giving up 9 hits and walking 1.

The only 2 runs for Miami scored on a double by Jared Cosart. While it seemed so improbable that a pitcher could get a hit it was a mistaken fastball up in the zone by Moore that was intended to get Cosart to swing and miss but instead he swung and made contact. That double was set up thanks to James Loney who completely misplayed an Adeiny Hechavarria groundball allowing him to reach first on the error. Any Red Sox fans watching the game would've had flashbacks and heard "IT GETS BY BUCKNER!" on the play. J.T Realmuto singled to right with 2 out putting him and Big H on and setting up what turned out to be the game winning double.

For his part Cosart didn't just help himself out offensively but also pitched a great game and for that the Rays Republic tips our hats to him. He collected 10 K's over 7.2 IP although the Rays did pick up 7 hits off of him. A.J Ramos collected the save with a perfect 9th and the Marlins took game one of the series.

Tampa Bay Rays at Miami Marlins
Apr 10, 2015	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Tampa Bay (1-2)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	1
Miami (2-1)	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	X	2	10	0
W: Cosart (1-0) L: Moore (0-1) S: Ramos (2)

Scoring Summary
SCORING DETAILS			TAM	MIA
MIA	6	Cosart doubled to center. Hechavarria, Realmuto score. Cosart on second	0	2

Game Notes: While the Rays didn't get a run it certainly wasn't due to a lack of effort from Kevin Kiermaier. The lead off man went 3-4 with a double. Alex Colome came on in relief of Moore in the 7th and pitched 2 scoreless frames allowing 1 hit and picking up 2 K's. Moore's ERA sits at 0.00 still as the official scorer did not charge him with any earned runs in the 6th due to Coasts double. Moore will be working with pitching coach Jim Hickey on getting his pitch count down as he threw 104 pitches in the 6 innings he threw. Even with the single in the 6th, Marlins catcher J.T Realmuto is having a horrid start to the year. His average currently sits at 0.76, the worst in the MLB among starting catchers currently.

Up next Drew Smyly and the Rays will take on the Marlins and west coast transplant Dan Haren as Tampa Bay attempts to snap this little 3 game skid

[mkilcNYR]

Smyly Hit By Injury, Marlins Hit Around

April 11th, 2015. Miami, FL- The Rays couldn't wait for the 5th inning or the game to end as game two of the Citrus Series was a disaster from the start. Tampa Bay's prized Drew Smyly, who was acquired in 2014 from Detroit for David Price, could be seen touching his left shoulder in the dugout after tossing a scoreless first but nothing was though of it. After throwing a first pitch slider that Michael Morse swung through for strike one, Smyly grimaced and called over Rene Rivera. Rays medical staff came out and diagnosed him with a shoulder injury. Kevin Cash immediately turned to rookie Burch Smith to come out of the bullpen to replace the injured starter as Alex Colome had been used the night before and was feeling tired.

Smith did well enough through his first 3 innings mowing down the Marlins and picking up 2 K's while throwing only 28 pitches. The Rays were extremely impressed by the poise he had on the mound. On top of his performance the Rays were winning in the face of their recent injury issue as Logan Forsythe homered to center to put the Rays up 1-0 in the 3rd.

By the 5th though the rookie got rattled. After Longoria overthrew Loney at first allowing Dan Haren to score (who himself had reached base on an error by Forsythe (1 of 2 he would have in the game) Smith melted down. The Marlins ended up batting around and sending him 8 runs in the inning before Colome came out of the pen to get the final out of the 5th to end the bleeding.

The Rays would pick up 2 in the 7th thanks to an RBI single by Cabrera and some speedy and attentive baserunning by Evan Longoria and James Loney but it would be too little, too late. The Marlins would wind up winning game 2 by a final line of 9-3.

Tampa Bay Rays at Miami Marlins
Apr 11, 2015	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Tampa Bay (1-3)	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	3	6	3
Miami (3-1)	0	0	0	0	8	0	0	1	X	9	15	0
W: Haren (1-0) L: Smith (0-1)

Scoring Summary
SCORING DETAILS			TAM	MIA
TAM	3	Forsythe solo home run	1	0
MIA	5	Haren reaches on error by Longoria. Hechavarria scores. Realmuto to 3rd	1	1
MIA	5	Suzuki singled to left. Realmuto, Haren score. Gordon to 3rd	1	3
MIA	5	Stanton singled to left. Gordon scores. Suzuki to second	1	4
MIA	5	Prado walked. Suzuki scores. Stanton to 3rd, Ozuna to 2nd	1	5
MIA	5	Hechavarria singled to center. Stanton, Ozuna score. Prado to 3rd	1	7
MIA	5	Realmuto singles to right. Prado scores. Hechavarria to 2nd	1	8
TAM	7	Cabrera singles to right. Longoria, Loney score	3	8
MIA	8	Suzuki singles to center. Haren scores	3	9

Game Notes: Kevin Kiermaier went 0-4 snapping his 4 game hitting streak. After his single in the 7th inning Asdrubal Cabrera raised his average to .421 here in the first week of the season. Burch Smith's ERA ballooned to 10.80 thanks to the faulty 5th that he experinced

Injury Report: Drew Smyly was officially diagnosed with shoulder tightness in his left shoulder. The injury is not serious enough to go on the DL so for now the Rays will bench their #5 starter. He should be out for 1-6 days. If he is not well enough to throw for his scheduled start Thursday in Toronto then Alex Colome will do a spot-start. John Jaso has not yet been cleared to play. Today was his third game off and 4th day off overall including the off day on Thursday.


Up next the Rays send ace Chris Archer to right the ship and end their 4 game losing streak. It won't be easy as the Marlins will send Jose Fernandez to the mound but hopefully the Rays can beat one out.

[mkilcNYR]

Archer Solid, Rays Snap 4 Game Skid

April 12, 2015. Miami, FL- The Rays sent top of the rotation starter Chris Archer to the mound with the mission to prevent the hot out of the gate Marlins from sweeping the inter-league Citrus Series. Archer took that mission to heart and delivered a solid effort in his second start.

Archer threw 7 innings scattering 7 hits and giving up only 2 runs. To start off Archer had everything going right for him including the score. Rene Rivera crushed a 1-2 pitch to dead center to give the Rays a 1-0 lead in the 2nd.

The Marlins responded though with the only 2 runs Archer gave up coming off the bat of Michael Morse who slammed a mistaken fastball up in the zone over the right field wall in the 4th to give the Marlins a 2-1 lead.

Every good home run deserves another and Steven Souza Jr. only wanted to show the proper courtesy in that situation by taking Jose Fernandez deep on a 3-2 count. The home run sailed over the left field wall and tied the game up at 2-2.

It would be none of the usual productive bats in the Rays lineup but instead the young second baseman Tim Beckham who would lash an RBI single to right field that would score Asdrubal Cabrera who made a sharp turn around third and just slid across home plate under the tag of J.T Realmuto to break the tie and give the Rays a 3-2 lead.

That score would stand as Brad Boxberger came in for the 9th and delivered a 1-2-3 inning picking up a strikeout while recording his 2nd save of the year in only his second appearance of the year.

Tampa Bay Rays at Miami Marlins
Apr 12, 2015	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Tampa Bay (1-4)	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	3	6	0
Miami (4-1)	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	7	0
W: Archer (2-0) L: Cishek (0-1) S: Boxberger (2)

Scoring Summary
SCORING DETAILS			TAM	MIA
TAM	2	Rivera homers to center	1	0
MIA	4	Morse homers to right field. Stanton scores	1	2
TAM	6	Souza Jr. homers to left field	2	2
TAM	8	Beckham singles to right field. Cabrera scores. Beckham on first	3	2

Game Notes: Jose Fernandez, in spite of the loss, threw a gem for the Marlins scattering 4 hits across 7 innings giving up only 2 runs, walking 1, and picking up 4 K's along the way. Rene Rivera's homer in the 2nd inning was his first hit of the 2015 campaign. Tim Beckham's base hit was his first of the 2015 season and also what turned out to be the first game winning hit of his career.

League Update: During the Rays-Marlins game, the Astros and the Dodgers agreed to an early season trade in order to bolster and retool their rosters for the long season ahead. That deal went down like this:

Astros: Get RP Brandon League
Dodgers: Get 2B Marwin Gonzalez

The Dodgers had an extra arm in the bullpen in League and a desire to pick up a utility infielder which the Astros had. The Astros also wanted to add in some bullpen depth in the dangerous AL West. Win-win trade for both sides so early in the season

Injury Update: John Jaso sat out again today as he has not played since injuring his ankle in pre-game warmups last Wednesday. The hope is that he will return in time for the Toronto series. The Rays absolutely need him back as Rene Rivera can't hit homers every day and so far is batting only .083 since replacing Jaso.

As the Rays have wrapped up the Citrus Series they now board the team plane and head north of the border for a 4 game set against the Toronto Blue Jays. This series in Toronto will kick start a string of 22 straight games in which the Rays will face off against AL East Division opponents. The matchups for that series will be:

Game 1: Alex Cobb (0-1, 3.00 ERA) vs. Mark Buehrle (1-0, 0.00 ERA)
Game 2: Jake Odorizzi (0-1, 5.68 ERA) vs. R.A Dickey (0-1, 6.75 ERA)
Game 3: Matt Moore (0-1, 0.00 ERA) vs. Marco Estrada (1-0, 3.00 ERA)
Game 4: Drew Smyly/Alex Colome (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Marcus Stroman (0-1, 13.50 ERA)

Hope everyone stays tuned as the Rays look to build on this come from behind win and bring their A game against the Jays in Toronto. Onward Rays!

[mkilcNYR]

Longoria, Beckham Homer, Lead Rays To 5-4 Win


April 13th, 2015. Toronto, ON, CA- The Rays traveled north of the border to begin a 4 game set against AL East Divisional rival Blue Jays. Hoping to build off their win in the Citrus Series finale, manager Kevin Cash handed the ball to Alex Cobb and hoped to see an effective outing out of the franchise starter.

Cobb was ok over his 6 innings of work but he was tagged for 4 runs pushing his ERA up to 4.50 on this young season. He did manage to get 8 batters to go down swinging though through his start.

After the Blue Jays went up 1-0 in the first thanks in part to a single and then misplayed ball by Kevin Kiermaier, who was patrolling center in this game, the Rays responded back with a monster 2nd inning. The culprit in the Rays lineup however was unexpected to be performing like this to say the least.

Tim Beckham launched a 2-2 changeup over the wall in left to pick up a 3 run homer and give Cobb a 2 run cushion. The Blue Jays though came back quickly and launched a 3 run homer of their own thanks to Kevin Pillar who sent a 3-1 Alex Cobb fastball on the outside part of the plate all the way into the seats in right field. The Toronto faithful screamed and shouted as the Jays picked up a 1 run lead, 4-3.

It would be franchise corner stone Evan Longoria though who slammed a first pitch fastball from Miguel Castro deep into the Toronto night and over the left field fence. The Rays Republic was sent home happy with this Long-One from Longo as that would be the deciding hit. Boxberger shut down the Jays in the 9th 1-2-3 picking up 2 K's to end the game.

Tampa Bay Rays at Toronto Blue Jays
Apr 13, 2015	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Tampa Bay (2-4)	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	5	11	1
Toronto (3-3)	1	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	4	9	1
W: Belisario (1-0) L: Castro (0-1) S: Boxberger (3)

Scoring Summary
SCORING DETAILS			TAM	TOR
TOR	1	Reyes scores on fielding error by Kiermaier	0	1
TAM	2	Beckham homers to left field. DeJesus, Loney score	3	1
TOR	5	Pillar homers to right field. Colabello, Martin score	3	4
TAM	8	Longoria homers to left field. Sizemore scores	5	4

Game Notes: Even with the home run Tim Beckham still is sitting with only a .100 batting average although he does have the homerun and 5 RBI on the season. With his homerun Evan Longoria still sits with a paltry .178 average to begin the year. With his save Boxberger is now a perfect 3/3 in saves to start the year.

Injury Update: John Jaso was cleared to play today but manager Kevin Cash kept him out of the lineup as Buehrle was starting and Jaso is not the greatest at hitting lefties. Jaso will be in the lineup for the next game against the Jays though

The Rays are on a roll now as they've won back to back games for the first time this year. They'll try and go to an even .500 on the season as Jake Odorizzi is handed the ball next.