Buster Olney blogs about David Price’s one-year contract with the Rays to avoid arbitration.
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Major League Titles
AL Pennants: 2008
East Division Titles: 2008, 2010
Tampa Bay Rays 2013 Schedule
April
Apr. 2: vs Baltimore – Buy Tampa Bay Rays Tickets
Apr. 3: vs Baltimore - Buy Tampa Bay Rays Tickets
Apr. 4: vs Baltimore - Buy Tampa Bay Rays Tickets
Apr. 5: vs Cleveland - Buy Tampa Bay Rays Tickets
Apr. 6: vs Cleveland - Buy Tampa Bay Rays Tickets
Apr. 7: vs Cleveland - Buy Tampa Bay Rays Tickets
Apr. 8: @ Texas - Buy Tampa Bay Rays Tickets
Apr. 9: @ Texas - Buy Tampa Bay Rays Tickets
Apr. 10: @ Texas - Buy Tampa Bay Rays Tickets
Apr. 12: @ Boston - Buy Tampa Bay Rays Tickets
Apr. 13: @ Boston - Buy Tampa Bay Rays Tickets
Apr. 14: @ Boston - Buy Tampa Bay Rays Tickets
Apr. 15: @ Boston - Buy Tampa Bay Rays Tickets
Apr. 16: @ Baltimore - Buy Tampa Bay Rays Tickets
Apr. 17: @ Baltimore - Buy Tampa Bay Rays Tickets
Apr. 18: @ Baltimore - Buy Tampa Bay Rays Tickets
Apr. 19: vs Oakland - Buy Tampa Bay Rays Tickets
Apr. 20: vs Oakland - Buy Tampa Bay Rays Tickets
Apr. 21: vs Oakland - Buy Tampa Bay Rays Tickets
Apr. 22: vs NY Yankees - Buy Tampa Bay Rays Tickets
Apr. 23: vs NY Yankees - Buy Tampa Bay Rays Tickets
Apr. 24: vs NY Yankees - Buy Tampa Bay Rays Tickets
Apr. 25: @ Chicago Sox - Buy Tampa Bay Rays Tickets
Apr. 26: @ Chicago Sox - Buy Tampa Bay Rays Tickets
Apr. 27: @ Chicago Sox - Buy Tampa Bay Rays Tickets
Apr. 28: @ Chicago Sox - Buy Tampa Bay Rays Tickets
Apr. 30: @ Kansas City - Buy Tampa Bay Rays Tickets
Who would have ever thought that the next great rivalry in professional baseball would be between the Washington Nationals and the Tampa Bay Rays?
Well, that’s probably not entirely accurate. One interleague three-game series in the middle of June can hardly constitute as a rivalry. Yet if you talked to either manager, you’d think the two teams have been at each others’ throats for years.
A war of words took place via the media between Nats manager Davey Johnson and Rays skipper Joe Maddon after Rays pitcher Joel Peralta was ejected during the eighth inning of Tuesday’s game for having excessive pine tar on his glove. The catch is that it was Johnson who came out and told umpire Tim Tschida that Peralta had the foreign substance on his glove. And oh, by the way, pitched for the Nationals in 2010.
The Braves did just about everything they could over the last 8 games to try and get into first place in the NL East. But just about everything wasn’t good enough.
The team was 8-2 over their last 10 games. They won six games in a row. They got to within one game of the Nationals in the NL East. But the Nationals swept the Red Sox and the Braves lost the last game in the series with the Blue Jays and they find themselves two games back, again, just like they were before the win streak started.
In the American League, the story for the first full week of June remains much the same as it has been for the entire 2012 season – Rangers lead the way.
The Texas Rangers are still the best in the American League after 55 games. The Rangers are 32-23 and have a .582 winning percentage. Of late though, they have fallen off a bit going 5-5 over the last 10 games. It has done little close the gap between other teams in the AL West however. The Angels have been playing much better ball than earlier in the season going 7-3 for their last 10 but they are still 4.5 games behind the Rangers. Tampa Bay and the White Sox lead the AL East and Central divisions with the exact same records 31-23.
On Wednesday night, the Boston Red Sox will begin one of their most important series of the year to date, when they open up against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. The Red Sox, coming off of 5 straight wins, will look to remain hot against the Rays, who are currently tied for first place in the American League East division.
The Rays, coming off three straight wins of their own, will look to remain hot as well, despite injuries to outfielder Desmond Jennings, starting pitcher Jeff Niemann, and All-Star third baseman Evan Longoria. The Rays will also be looking to avenge an early April series at Fenway Park, in which the Red Sox won three out of four games.
The Orioles split a doubleheader with the Rangers yesterday to avoid a Texas sweep. Lefty Wei-Yin Chen continued his impressive start pitching 7 2/3 innings allowing just two runs on six hits and a walk. The Taiwanese import looks like a keeper. Chen-sanity has officially arrived in Charm City.
The Orioles will play host to Tampa this week in a battle for AL East supremacy. The Orioles have been dealing with a mix and match pitching staff since last weekend’s marathon in Boston and Jason Hammel’s sore knee. Dana Eveland will be added to the Orioles’ roster today in order to start the series opener. Eveland lost his bid to join the Orioles’ starting staff due to a rough Spring Training. Eveland is no stranger to MLB as he’s spent parts of seven seasons with a number of big league clubs. He went 3-2 with a 2.21 ERA in six starts for the Norfolk Tides to earn a chance in Baltimore. Eveland will battle Jeremy Hellickson in the series opener. Hellickson is 3-0 on the season.
The Los Angeles Dodgers demoted closer Javy Guerra earlier this week after he blew three of his past six save chances. Guerra’s loss was Kenley Jansen’s gain. The 24 year old Jansen will now serve as the Dodgers‘ closer. Los Angeles is just the latest in a long line of teams that have made changes at closer due to injury or ineffectiveness.
Last week the Chicago Cubs demoted longtime closer Carlos Marmol after an implosion in Cincinnati. Marmol struggled for the Cubs in 2011 when he finished the season with 10 blown saves and a 4.01 ERA. Marmol’s struggles acrried over to 2012 as he’s walked 15 batters in just 10.2 innings. Cubs’ manager Dale Sveum has been using Rafael Dolis as closer since Marmol’s demotion.
The Tampa Bay Rays once again have one of the best teams in all of baseball and once again, no one is watching. It is truly hard to believe just how few people support this team in person. It’s like throwing away an unopened present.
I have heard the arguments for years that the Rays can’t draw crowds because of there their stadium is or because the stadium isn’t “shiny and new” or any number of other lame excuses. The team resides in mid Florida populated by millions of people and on Saturday night a 19 and 9 team drew less than 23,000 fans. This leads to one conclusion.
